RV for Second Home - RV-Dreams Community Forum

mabanker · RV-Dreams Community Member

RV for Second Home

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tony,

First of all, welcome to the RV Dreams forums. You have certainly found one of the friendliest forums with a lot of knowledge in just about every type of RV. Feel free to ask questions as we all learn from them.

I would start with looking at RV dealerships within a reasonable distance of where you would want to park your RV. That will involve first finding a place to park it. You can get into RV parks, but you can also look and see if any mobile home parks also have sites for RV's.

Once you have found a place, check those nearby dealerships to get an idea of size, price, and amenities that you would likely need. It might be possible that if you bought from a dealership, or even a private individual, they might be able to tow your choice of RV to the site and help you set up.

Your biggest issue will be finding something in your price range that would be suitable for weather conditions in your area. I would start out by looking at used RV's at those dealerships.

I noticed that you are in Mabank, TX, but since I don't know where you will actually be working and parking the RV, I can only mention the existence of PPL Motorhomes in Houston. Based on their website, I take it that they sell all kinds of RV's. They seem to have a good reputation as they mentioned quite a bit when folks are looking for used RV's. Below is a link to their website.

PPL Motorhome website.

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Saturday 31st of December 2011 06:36:36 PM

kb0zke · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tony, I'd suggest that you focus on fifth-wheels and travel trailers that are commonly used by full-timers. Since you are going to use your coach as a "permanent" residence, rather than towing it, running gear may not be as much of an issue for you as it would be for someone who was going to travel with the coach.

Some brands or manufacturers to look at are, in the order in which they popped into my mind, are Airstream, Arctic Fox, Excel, DRV (formerly known as Doubletree) Suites, and Nu-Wa. There are others, and others will chime in with them. Also, Heartland makes three lines that are full-time rated: Landmark, Bighorn, and Big Country. All three are fifth-wheel coaches.

As Terry suggested, go to PPL in Houston and look at the various coaches. Look past the glamor and glitz, and pay attention to the construction. Make note of the brands that interest you, and go to their websites. Look at what they tell you about how they build their coaches. If you go to IRV2.com, you can look at some of the subforums for particular brands. Others have separate discussion boards. A day at PPL and a week's worth of evenings on the computer will do a great deal to bring you up to speed.

In the meantime, keep asking questions. You are about where we were a year or so ago, and we're still learning.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tony one thing I will tell you, if you need a true Four Season Unit in your price range, your choices will be down to about 2 different manufacturers with very few actual units to choose from. I would personally look into Northwood Manufacturing (Artic Fox). The quick explanation for this, most companies do not have a long history of building campers that can SUCCESSFULLY be in freezing temperatures (and guarantee it in writing). additionally most companies will tell you by upgrading this and adding that you will (do fine in the winter) not what you want to hear. After adding thermal pane windows, heated tanks, additional insulation, etc... The $ begin to add up quickly. Most of the market caters to camping in Moderate conditions IE warm weather. Northwood has been building Four season units (stock) for many years, the entire Artic Fox line I believe, is all Guaranteed to sub freezing temps. An early 2000 can probably be found in your price range. Do not compromise on this, there is nothing worse than being in a cold camper all week......PS, if you will not be using your unit in the winter, IGNORE THIS ENTIRE POST.....LOL, welcome to RV Dreams.....G

mabanker · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thank you for your responses. This gives me a lot to think about.

- Tony

HomeSweetRV · RV-Dreams Family Member

We found the first order of business was to narrow down to what kind of unit we wanted. We quickly ruled out class C, 5ers and trailers, as we want to full-time, and travel. A park model is good for residence, or anything smaller, and less expensive. Trailers and 5-ers are generally larger interiors providing more living space for the dollar. Heed the post above regarding winter living. We did over 2 years of research and looking prior to purchasing, but when we made our purchase, we were certain it was the right one for us. Some companies are willing to deliver o your site and set up with you. Good luck!

-- Edited by HomeSweetRV on Wednesday 1st of February 2012 01:20:14 PM