I think there are some questions you must ask yourself first. Do you want a home that you're comfortable in, and can just lock up and go whenever you want, or is the resale value more important?

But why are you just looking at MH parks? Why not a nice small piece of property where you can build what you want, and just contract for the lawn maintenance with a landscaper? Have a low maintenance yard where they can just come in and mow the lawn once a week whether you're there or not.

Your post made me think of an article I read recently about a development of "motor condos." These are a bit different than what you're talking about as they're built for car enthusiasts. But it shows there is a market (albeit niche) for those who want more garage than home. Link to article Another article

Why do you need to live where you store an RV? You could move to a condo. There you pay maintenance fees for board members to decide who to hire to provide whatever maintenance they deem necessary.

Move to a small(er) condo with no yard and outside maintenance. Store the RV at a local storage location. Building a house around an RV, in a less than ideal lot/location doesn't make much financial sense.

I like this idea, but for after do retires, not before.

If you want or need a home to maintain its value, a realtor told me that people want to buy houses like their friends have. Your idea doesn't fit this maxim.

I've seen properties like what you describe, but they are hard to sell.

Do it when resale is not important to you.

"Christopher_H

I think there are some questions you must ask yourself first. Do you want a home that you're comfortable in, and can just lock up and go whenever you want, or is the resale value more important?"

Both are equally important.

"But why are you just looking at MH parks?"

We're not looking at any mobile home parks. Here, a MHP is owned completely by one person or company and people who live there can only rent lots.

"Why not a nice small piece of property where you can build what you want, and just contract for the lawn maintenance with a landscaper? Have a low maintenance yard where they can just come in and mow the lawn once a week whether you're there or not."

That is what we are trying to find. Unfortunately, it's impossible to find an acre or smaller anywhere except fairly undesirable areas, or in neighborhoods zoned for mobile homes. They are not mobile home parks, btw.

"chicagoans

Your post made me think of an article I read recently about a development of "motor condos." These are a bit different than what you're talking about as they're built for car enthusiasts. But it shows there is a market (albeit niche) for those who want more garage than home. Link to article Another article"

I don't have a subscription to read those articles, but I bet they are similar. Homes like we are thinking about are very popular in areas like Florida, Arizona, and south Texas. Snowbird areas.

"chisue (and chispa too)

Why do you need to live where you store an RV? You could move to a condo. There you pay maintenance fees for board members to decide who to hire to provide whatever maintenance they deem necessary."

There aren't any condos where I live. We did look for a duplex for quite awhile, but there are very few and they almost never come up for sale. As far as storing the RV where we live, it's a personal choice. It's safer for the RV and easier for us.

jn3344

I like this idea, but for after do retires, not before.

If you want or need a home to maintain its value, a realtor told me that people want to buy houses like their friends have. Your idea doesn't fit this maxim.

I've seen properties like what you describe, but they are hard to sell.

Do it when resale is not important to you."

Thanks, that's what I needed to know. Unless we were to only build a garage on this lot, so that it would be what a future mobile home owner wanted to buy, it probably wouldn't work.

I am in Texas, 50 miles from Houston. I live in an agricultural type community/county. Here, five acres with a barndominium would be a plus. My daughter bought nine acres and they will be building a barn/garage/apartment. Their plans are to move to the apartment, sell their current house, build a new house. Our market might be different than yours.

Your idea might work with some acreage. Enough acreage, you can either lease it to someone with animals, or let them bale the green stuff if it is something used for forage.

agree with new beginnings this type construction is fairly common here int Tx and resale prices seem to be quite good also. they're also pretty common in nw ar also... keep looking for land

It would seem that your best option is a smaller house where you hire out the yard work. Then store the RV wherever you can. We used to store a sports car at a garage during the winters. Have you ever used an RV? Sure you want to buy one? "Life on the road" isn't for everyone.

More acreage means a lot more work on the property!

In our area there has been a rise

of maintenance-free communities designed for empty nesters. Maybe one like that is an option?

more acreage is not more work if you can lease it out, grass can get baled, or have farm animals that belong to someone else, enough brush, hunters.

Is there a property with a home already on it that you can modify or tear down? Are you sure the new property will be less maintenance than the old property?

Many neighborhoods, communities, developments have HOA's with rules re:RV, boat being on the property as they are deemed 'unsightly'. However, the exception may be if they are behind a fence, and unseen. These rulings usually apply to condo/townhome/duplex developments also. Many older neighborhoods may have never had an HOA established, so it may be an 'anything goes' situation, but with that you usually get junk cars as well as yards gone to weeds, and other things which HOA's have control over. Buying a plot of land in a rural area is your best bet, but if you have neighbors, do check out what their property and it's surroundings look like.

There are several smaller, older (60's, no HOA) homes that I drive by frequently (meaning they are on busier roads and less desirable, but in good neighborhoods), that have really tall garages built on - and I'm pretty sure they are for RV's. No zoning issues at all. Perhaps you could look for something like that?

Our city has code that you can't have RV's, trailers, boats, etc in the front yard or driveway or on the street, so it's not an HOA thing here. Storing an RV or trailer is pretty expensive - I was paying $100/mo to store a 20' boat trailer that was only worth about $1200 - do the math on that! - we only kept it in case of hurricane evac. We now keep it at a friend's property. Another friend bought a warehouse just to keep all his toys in (RV, boat trailers, work trailers).

Having backyard (alley access) or side-yard space to store a trailer/boat is highly desirable here, so resale on those types of properties is good. RV's are generally too big though, so I imagine resale on the RV garages would be solid.