Advice on getting into RV life in campground in city

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urbankid12

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I done van life and I love it during winter in quartzite Az. ..living in the Oklahoma City area for now trying to make some money..

I have 2 options rent an apartment 700 a month waste.. 

OR

Buy a RV (likely trailer? Idk) from like camping world and rent a camping spot for cheaper 550 with electricity or 350 without a month.. (likely with electricity for AC and electric heater)

Then whenever I am ready to leave (saved up enough money and online business is successful I can do it remotely) I can leave for Quartsite for the winter again ! I can stay on BLM land for a few more months (2weeks at a time) and then head back into town on a campground for 3-4 months and have the ULTIMATE flexibility! 

This seems waaaaay to good to be true! I don’t think I’m able to fully understand the downsides so that’s why I want to ask if people see flaws in my concept...

Right now I have a minivan so pulling a trailer is out of the question I like being a minimalist but not having a nice office makes minivan life to difficult plus a freezer be nice to help eat healthy and a bigger fridge to load up a bit more.. 

I was looking at pop up trailers but I don’t know about that with a dog if I’m leaving to work. I seen some trailers for 8-11k at camping world around 19 feet. 

I figured I could rent a truck for moving day. And eventually switch my minivan for a truck if everything falls together like I envisioned. 

In stead of renting another apartment I could make payments on a trailer that I could OWN and move to wherever I please.. plus I could stay on BLM land if I had to or move into a town to get a job or I could park the trailer in a self storage lot while I go to quartsite for the winter and just do van life !! I already have a storage locker I pay for so why not have my parked RV on a self storage be my storage locker ..

This seems like to good of a solution for me there must be something I am missing! 

I wouldn’t want a teardrop trailer or one that I couldn’t stand up in.. I thought about a bus conversion (or trailer conversion but without a truck that’s to complicated right now) which that’s MUCH more my style but I want to be able stay at RV parks for affordable monthly rates like 300-600 instead of paying an apartment. 

What am I missing.. why is my plan awful because I’m overlooking something.. thanks in advance
 
Leasing a monthly spot at a decent campground can be a good thing. You have their amenities like make sure there is a laundry room on the premises to make your life easy.....hopefully a nice pool or something LOL cause that way you get more bang for your buck you do pay.

Also if you are at work alot of campgrounds offer dog sitting services or you can 'tag your camper' as DOG inside if the power goes out in the campground and your dog is inside and it would alert the camp staff to save him.

On BLM depending on weather unless you have a generator you can't leave your dog in the rv without power for AC etc. so something to be aware of on that.

Standing up is a must for me too :)
There are a ton of great smaller campers to check out for reasonable costs too. A hard sided rv beats a pop up in that you are dealing with canvas that can get wet and all....4 dry walls believe me is best alot of times LOL
A nice desk etc. would be a nice thing if you are working in your rv.

Many do monthly lease and if you go a quarterly lease sometimes it is more discounted, so check on it all :)

yea, you have a good option for you....just think and take your time on what will work best for you and go for it.
 
All campers aren’t equal and there are some very, very bad ones and shifty dealers (Camping World).

I just wouldn’t buy from them at all.

Have you considered a used camper?

Most campers have little insulation but a popup has nada. If your dog got stressed enough she could rip right thru that canvas and it’s also a pain to put up and down. Forget about staying in parking lots for the night when you are traveling.

There are some brands of campers that are four season campers and offer much more. Maybe do a search on those.

Whatever you find, join an online forum or FB group that is for that specific camper and start reading.

I think what you want to do is great but by buying a camper you need to do your homework.
 
One issue you can run into in a city is that there might not be an openiing in the RV park of your choice when you need it.
I think you need to talk to the park owners how to reserve in advance to ensure you do not get locked out of having a space with a part time situation. No one here can predict what those responses by owners will be.
 
You are not talking about living for weeks at a time in remote areas. You are talking about living near places with grocery stores.
Therefore you do not need either a large refrigerator or even a freezer. It is a waste of space, energy and financial expenditure to buy
big appliances to fit in a small space when you are not long distance from food supplies.

Start using this mantra for decision making...is it a real need or just a want?

You can not fit a lot of big stuff into a small space and still live comfortably in it.
 
thing is in an rv like a smaller tag-along trailer they all come with small fridges and most do offer a small freezer wtih that and those fridges come standard in all rv's nowadays......so it isn't a waste of space really cause it is just fit into the standard floorplan so it kinda becomes mute on that one.

An 18 or 20 or up to 22 ft camper can pack a ton of great features in it :) everything you need, it is a tiny house after all LOL

yea Maki is right about calling and reserving. I tell ya some campground site spaces, the competition to get can be super fierce.....when you see something ask info real fast on it and check it out and commit fast if you got available spots etc. Finding a great campground sometimes is damn near impossible :)
 
If I understood right, you are weighing renting an apartment vs buying/renting an RV and then paying for the site to park it on. What is the cost difference?
 
You've tried vanlife, so no need to tell you to try it first. But it wouldn't hurt to rent a few to see which layout is better for you. It becomes a matter of priorities. What are your most important things? What are you willing to go without to get them? Try to have a back up plan if things don't work out, even if you love the lifestyle. You never know what might happen. 2-3 months income buffer is pretty standard to care for emergencies. Remember that your home is moved and shaken around as you drive with little to no building codes imposed in making it. DEFINITELY do your research. What brand, year, type of rig you choose will make a huge difference. Shop around. Your aforementioned seller has mixed reviews. Personally, I wouldn't want the 'closeness' a park offers, so I avoid them. To each their own. Hope this helps.
 
Keep in mind many RV parks now require your RV to be 10 years old or newer so check into parks where you are considering parking while working.

Have you considered a Class C that can pull your minivan?
 
I'm recently new (4-months) to living in my RV (Truck Camper) in the city.

One obstacle I had not anticipated is that virtually no campgrounds/RVParks will accept a rig that is More than 5-Years Old... you can "Apply" for a waiver of this rule, but in my case (a 20yr old RV/Truck) I was Rejected Every Time... "Your rig is Unsightly"(!)

I literally only found (1) Place that would rent to me; a private party way off in the sticks
 
Alex is there any way to spiff it up so you pass inspection?
 
What we did was buy the cheapest, smallest camper that would meet their requirements. Having an old restored motorhome towing a new tiny utility trailer worked for us by simply using the trailer license plate to register. When they started to require a camper we simply traded for the smallest, cheapest self contained camper we could find which was salvaged and stripped out but was fairly new and still had the tag. It was fine as we used it for storage mainly.
 
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