Anyone have campers who cant park them at their house/apartment/condo?? how?

[scottraycraft]

I have a 30' tt and can fit it in my backyard, fenced in...city and neighbors don't care (asked them)...I will still store it at a fascillity when not in use though.

But I was wondering what people do who have apartments, condos, end lots, basically live somewhere where they cant park their tt/5th wheel/motor home...

do you just keep it at storage and load it up there before trips?
do you winterize/dewinterize it there?

just curious as to who out there cant bring their rv's home

[RedHorse1]

The 5th is 39' and our deed restrictions don't allow storage at the house. I use a storage facility and have had no problems over the 3-ish years I've used it. Prior to a trip I will bring the 5th home and park it in front of the house for roughly 24 hours to load. I could get the X23B into the drive with a little effort which was very convenient. Our street ends in a cul-de-sac so there's no thru traffic and I've had no complaints so far. Making the turn at the end of the street is complicated if there are cars parked as I need the full circle when pulling.

[bgermane]

We have enough room in front of our house to park on the street, but our association won't allow it. We keep out coach in a covered storage facility that's about 20-25 minutes away. Bring it home a couple days before a trip, and it stays for a couple days after the trip. We occasionally get a letter from the association, but by the time we get it, the motorhome is already back in storage..

[TWP723]

I can't. HOA keeps us from doing it. Therefore, I'm forced to pay $480 per year for storage.

[Flapper]

We pay for storage, even though it fits in our driveway. We do as others - bring it home for about a week before a major trip to prep it, and then keep it a week after to unload/clean it. Then back to storage. Might keep it around for a few weeks if we think we are going to do some quick "get aways".
Would love to be able to keep it on the property year round, but that won't work. Been looking at new houses, and one of the big things that eliminate them are the HOA restrictions, or drives that are too short/too difficult to get it in to. Restricted enough as it is, don't want to make it worse!

[TexasRT]

Originally Posted by TWP723

I can't. HOA keeps us from doing it. Therefore, I'm forced to pay $480 per year for storage.

$480 A YEAR, that's a deal...

[Jagiven]

I was concerned about parking at our old place. We lived on a big hill, will an Alley, no off street parking except for a single car garage, with no parking pad in front of it. City rules at the time was you can park on the street for 24 hours without moving. When we bought the HTT, we figured we would have to get a space at storage lot. The DW and I lived on the edge for two years, figuring we would get a parking ticket. All summer it parked on the street in front of the house with no issues at all. No parking tickets, no complaints. Typically it moved every two weeks. When we moved, most of the neighbors were sadden, even had neighbors over the two years state we could park it in there yards if we wished.

At one secured facility we talked with ($50-$60/mth), they stated you drop the unit off at their door and they park it, when you want it back, the asked if you could give them 24 hour notice and it would be sitting at the door for pick up. They stated if they found a problem such as a flat tire, they would contact us, and if we wished they would take it off and fix/replace it per our instructions. They stated if they had access to the inside of the camper, they would light the refrigerator so it was cold at the time of picked it up.

We moved last spring, and it now park’s in the back yard on the concrete driveway, all summer long. No more concerns. Very glad not to have an HOA!

[Scoutr2]

Our villiage has an ordinance against storing a trailer of any kind, or motorhome, on the property if it sticks out beyond the front line of the house. Side yards and back yards are OK, but I don't have enough room or easy access for that. That said, unless they get a complaint, they don't enforce it. The ordinance does allow a trailer or MH to be parked in the drive for up to 72 hours - which I do frequently to do work, winterize/de-winterize, etc.

I pay $30/month for a fairly level spot at a storage facility about 1 mile from my house, so it's easy to take things there and back when needed. I also stop by the night before a camping trip to start up the fridge on propane, so it will be cold the next day when I load the trailer.

There was a big stink in the village about 10 years ago when they passed the ordinance. I think a couple influential people around town complained about having to stare across the street at a ratty camping trailer, or something similar. I, and several hundred others showed up at board meetings regularly to protest. I and another Good Sam member brought ammunition from the Good Sam "Parking Rights Advocacy" website to point out that if the ordinance was for beautification purposes, it is unconstitutional. Safety is another thing, entirely, which was their claim. In some cases, a large motorhome blocks others' view as they try to back out of their driveways. And some could prevent access to the home, in case of a fire. Those reasons are valid and they do enforce if there is a complaint about safety. Good Sam will go to bat for you, though, if it is a beautification ordinance and they have lawyers who will argue your case. No matter where this occurs, it threatens all our freedoms in the name of "usual and acceptable."

That said, some HOAs have rules against it and if you bought property that is governed by an HOA, that's the way it is - unless you can get the HOA to change the rule. Also, some properties have covenants and restrictions that are permanently tied to the deed that prevent it. These can never be changed unless all folks owning property in the area agree to it - which is unlikely. So it is prudent for one to examine the deed before buying a piece of property. (One such instance didn't allow anyone to put a flagpole in their front yards or to put a fence in the front.)

I used to have a real estate license and this is just one thing a good realtor should make buyers aware of.

[kvangil]

Small subdivision with short driveways in an urban area, so we store our X23b during the camping season at a nearby RV/boat storage place for $75/month (2 miles from our home). From November through April, it's stored indoors at a county fairground for the winter (about 90 miles away) for $240 for the whole season.

For our camping trips, we pack up our things into bags, and then I pick up the camper from storage. We then load up the camper, and head out. On our return trip, we empty the camper, and it heads straight to storage afterward. Considering proximity to storage and the 24/7 access, we have no issues with this method.

[TWP723]

Originally Posted by TexasRT

$480 A YEAR, that's a deal...

Yeah..it really is. I guess I really can't complain. I have friends that pay close to $1200 ($100 per mo.) annually.

[Quahog]

Originally Posted by TexasRT

$480 A YEAR, that's a deal...

Costs me that in 3 months.

[Camping Couple]

We live in a subdivision. There was not any HOA in place when we built this house. Our TT is parked in our backyard on a concrete pad I installed. We fenced in the backyard 10 yrs ago with a 10' gate for the TT. Have never had any complaints. In the future if someone decides they want to establish an HOA, they better be prepared for battle because I won't let someone else dictate what I can and cannot park on my property. I would have never built a home here if there was an HOA in place.

[rryman]

If you happen to be in an area where there are farms, that may be a less pricey alternative to parking. Our neighbor across the street has 28 acres and there are two 5th's parked there in his field at different times of the year. Also a trailer with two wave runners on it is there sometimes. I don't think he charges much for the storage, and is accessible 24/7. Ours is parked in our driveway. So far, no complaints from the cows on either side of our property!

[Scoutr2]

Originally Posted by Camping Couple

We live in a subdivision. There was not any HOA in place when we built this house. Our TT is parked in our backyard on a concrete pad I installed. We fenced in the backyard 10 yrs ago with a 10' gate for the TT. Have never had any complaints. In the future if someone decides they want to establish an HOA, they better be prepared for battle because I won't let someone else dictate what I can and cannot park on my property. I would have never built a home here if there was an HOA in place.

If an HOA does get formed, most folks there have grandfather clauses, so your trailer could stay. (You'd want to make sure that language is in the agreement.) You are probably paying a little extra on your property taxes, as that concrete slab is an "improvement" that is taxable. But that grandfather clause usually doesn't extend to any potential future owners. However, you could advertise it as a "patio!"

[Quahog]

Originally Posted by rryman

If you happen to be in an area where there are farms, that may be a less pricey alternative to parking. Our neighbor across the street has 28 acres and there are two 5th's parked there in his field at different times of the year. Also a trailer with two wave runners on it is there sometimes. I don't think he charges much for the storage, and is accessible 24/7. Ours is parked in our driveway. So far, no complaints from the cows on either side of our property!

I've been looking for something like this for a while but so far, no good options have come up but I'll keep looking. It bites having to pay so much for secure storage in these parts. One place not far from here charges $360 a month for an enclosed 14'x40' space. I thought that was insane.

[Jmooney]

we have a 24 hour limit for having an RV on our residential streets - for loading / unloading only, otherwise off to the storage lot


and I have been " red tagged" by the code enforcement officer before

[charles_cincy]

Originally Posted by Scoutr2

That said, some HOAs have rules against it and if you bought property that is governed by an HOA, that's the way it is - unless you can get the HOA to change the rule. Also, some properties have covenants and restrictions that are permanently tied to the deed that prevent it. These can never be changed unless all folks owning property in the area agree to it - which is unlikely. So it is prudent for one to examine the deed before buying a piece of property. (One such instance didn't allow anyone to put a flagpole in their front yards or to put a fence in the front.)

I used to have a real estate license and this is just one thing a good realtor should make buyers aware of.

Not necessarily...just because the HOA has a rule against it doesn't mean the rule would stand up in court. The question is do you want to pay to fight it?

Great example would be the miniature satellite dishes...as I understand it, many HOA's banned them originally. But the courts ruled they couldn't ban them.

I have a hard time believing that a HOA rule the bans temporary storage for a limited amount of time to load / unload would stand up. But IANAL.

[DocBrown]

Originally Posted by Scoutr2

Good Sam will go to bat for you, though, if it is a beautification ordinance and they have lawyers who will argue your case. No matter where this occurs, it threatens all our freedoms in the name of "usual and acceptable."

I can store my trailer next to my house, and I do. In fact, it's a side-by-side and my dad's trailer is in front of mine. They are on a well kept gravel pad. It's one of the reasons I like living where I do.

That said, I have no issue with so-called "beautification ordinances". We have one in my city. It was started because people parked semis, 5vers, and everything else in their driveways, or on the side of their homes with weeds growing around them, or on thier front lawns. That said, many people abused the privileged. The beautification ordinance they passed doesn't ban trailer storage, it moves them off of the front lawns, driveways, and streets to the sides of homes or in back yards with the stipulation that they must be kept neat if visible from the road. A very reasonable application of the law.

There are two sides to this. You can call laws like this threatening our freedom, but the flip side is that exercising a right doesn't make it right. As an RV owner I respect the rights of others to expect a clean and neat looking neighborhood as well as enjoying my right to store it on my property. I don't want to look at my neighbor's RV on the street any more than they want to look at mine.

[clubhouse]

I could easily park my TT at my house, but prefer not to. I don't like to look at it on a regular basis, as such I also don't like to look at others stored out in plain sight. Maybe I'm an odd RV owner, but that is just how I feel.

We pay $50 for a secure lot with 24hr onsite manager. I just prefer it that way.

Our HOA specifies that RVs, boats, project cars and the like must be parked behind the leading edge of the house and behind a good neighbor fence. If it was permitted that these items, including project cars, could be parked indefinately in the driveway or front yard I would not live in the neighborhood. Since living on acreage wasn't an option for us, we seeked out neighborhood with a strong HOA and CC&Rs. Our previous neighborhood wasn't this way and it just didn't maintain an aesthetic we wanted. I guess that is why there are choices so everyone can find what they would like.

[okieinalaska]

HOA rules, short driveway, close neighbors all mean I store mine at m parents house in the country. It sits in their field. I am over there all the time anyway and someone is almost always home there so I don't worry much.