Full time rv living

[edwin251]

Is there any advice for my friend who is tired of rising rental properties. His rent for a 3000 sq ft house went from 1500.00 per month to 1,700.00 per month. He just bought a 2021 keystone 291ubh 30 ft travel trailer with bunk beds and intends for his wife, son who is 10 and daughter is 4 years old, one 11 year old dog and one 12 year old cat. The rv park is real nice with pool and rent will be appox 820.00 and he is planning on renting a 8x16 pod to store needed items near by and can store items they need in the pod. They will go to the pod often to get kids clothes etc. They home school the kids. Does this sound do able? I wonder if he has lost his mind or am I too stuck in the mud?? His family appears to be looking forward to it... Any opinions??

 

[Russellvh]

First thought. Some states limit how long you can “camp” in an RV Park.
Be sure to plan school “field trips”. Gonna be tight quarters but it can be done.

 

[TheLooks]

Rents are going nuts here. My sister in law is going to take a 1 bdrm apartment for $1200/month plus utilities......It is more then our house payment. I would think the climate where he is doing this would have some bearing on it.

 

[FL-JOE]

Is there any advice for my friend who is tired of rising rental properties. His rent for a 3000 sq ft house went from 1500.00 per month to 1,700.00 per month. He just bought a 2021 keystone 291ubh 30 ft travel trailer with bunk beds and intends for his wife, son who is 10 and daughter is 4 years old, one 11 year old dog and one 12 year old cat. The rv park is real nice with pool and rent will be appox 820.00 and he is planning on renting a 8x16 pod to store needed items near by and can store items they need in the pod. They will go to the pod often to get kids clothes etc. They home school the kids. Does this sound do able? I wonder if he has lost his mind or am I too stuck in the mud?? His family appears to be looking forward to it... Any opinions??

What your friend is doing is the trend in many large metro areas across the U.S. About 3 years ago we were trying to book a camp site around Denver and/or Ft. Collins. We were extremely limited and everything was taken. While camped in the area we spoke to numerous younger folks who had given up on the regular housing market and were living in RVs full time. As we traveled the next couple of years we began to notice this around the larger metro areas. I suspect it won't be long before this trend will drive the price of camp sites up in some areas of the U.S.

 

[hellosarah]

Overall — yes, doable/worth a try!
It'll be a change and an adventure.

I've been FT for about 2 years (w/ my grumpy old cat who loves her spot at her window + a 2nd adult human).
We've met more than a few families that are similar to your friend, @edwin251. Both FT at a semi-permanent location and more transient on the road.

The general sentiments seem positive.
Any transition can be especially difficult on kids/families but there are more resources than ever — including lot of people talking about variations of this lifestyle online — Facebook groups, social media hashtags, online forums, meetups.

Having the ability to reduce financial stress is probably really helpful for everyone's mental health.

As for the preverbal mud, I think it's subjective. Sure there's good reason for caution and serious concern. You can have a little mud on your shoes while being a supportive friend. Even better that you're doing some work to be informed.