New - Buying a Tralier - No Clue What I'm Doing

[RentSlave]

Hello,

Please excuse the screen name but my Landlord just raised my rent to $3,500.00 month.

I would like to stop renting and do this to save up money to buy a house outright. I have an SUV with a V8 Engine and want to by a Travel Trailer. Is there a website that lets me search by options? I need:

1) Satellite Internet
2) AC
3) Separate Shower
4) Kitchen

etc. etc. etc.

I don't know what I'm doing.

The plan is to live in this thing and drive around the country for a year. But I need a map of places I can park it, empty it, fill it etc. I will be office working on the road I need electricity and internet. Most important is a place to park it around the country.

I don't know anything about any of this. Does anyone have any resource links they could share for maps etc?

[CFerguson]

troubledwaters wrote:

CFerguson wrote:

Jebby14 wrote:

big difference between pulling your camper to the campground and towing AND carrying ALL of your stuff. I don't know about you but I leave a ton of stuff at home when I go camping given its only temporary. If I was living out of my rig I would need way more than I bring and that's without all the extras to make being on the road long term possible. Tools alone would use a few hundred lbs as would the battery setup.

I see no way this is cheaper than a reasonable apartment in a reasonable part of the country

Apparently you travel a LOT heavier than I do. Realize too that the OP seems to be willing to stay in one place.

Wish he would come back and kick around all the ideas expressed, but I still think Workamping may be a good option for him. Spend a few hours a day doing chores leaving him time for his regular internet work- cuts out the biggest recurring expenses (site, utilities, gasoline).

If he has to work two jobs to pay the rent (workcamping) then he is still a "RentSlave".

Sometimes folks have to work more than 1 job (albeit even a part time one) to get what they want. Life can be unfair. I personally had to work 80 hours a week during crunch times and have lived my life emotionally scarred from the experience. (not)

I wish OP would come back and discuss some of our ideas so we could better tailor our responses.

[troubledwaters]

CFerguson wrote:

Jebby14 wrote:

big difference between pulling your camper to the campground and towing AND carrying ALL of your stuff. I don't know about you but I leave a ton of stuff at home when I go camping given its only temporary. If I was living out of my rig I would need way more than I bring and that's without all the extras to make being on the road long term possible. Tools alone would use a few hundred lbs as would the battery setup.

I see no way this is cheaper than a reasonable apartment in a reasonable part of the country

Apparently you travel a LOT heavier than I do. Realize too that the OP seems to be willing to stay in one place.

Wish he would come back and kick around all the ideas expressed, but I still think Workamping may be a good option for him. Spend a few hours a day doing chores leaving him time for his regular internet work- cuts out the biggest recurring expenses (site, utilities, gasoline).

If he has to work two jobs to pay the rent (workcamping) then he is still a "RentSlave".

[Jebby14]

I see NO way you could workcamp cheaper than rent an apartment. 1000 bucks a month is wasy to find. much less if you look. Heck across the river from me in Detroit houses can be BOUGHT by paying the back taxes. Good luck pricing that in an rv that you don't own while maintaining reliable internet and staying up with maintenance. rv payment alone will be near thet when you factor in how fast it will get trashed.

[CFerguson]

Jebby14 wrote:

big difference between pulling your camper to the campground and towing AND carrying ALL of your stuff. I don't know about you but I leave a ton of stuff at home when I go camping given its only temporary. If I was living out of my rig I would need way more than I bring and that's without all the extras to make being on the road long term possible. Tools alone would use a few hundred lbs as would the battery setup.

I see no way this is cheaper than a reasonable apartment in a reasonable part of the country

Apparently you travel a LOT heavier than I do. Realize too that the OP seems to be willing to stay in one place.

Wish he would come back and kick around all the ideas expressed, but I still think Workamping may be a good option for him. Spend a few hours a day doing chores leaving him time for his regular internet work- cuts out the biggest recurring expenses (site, utilities, gasoline).

[Jebby14]

my mortgage is less than half that on a nice 3=1 2 bath with a pool.........
and I live in expensive Canada.

[troubledwaters]

rexlion wrote:

gmw photos wrote:
Dragging a travel trailer around the country is not a way so save money, it's a way to spend money.

Yeah, but $3500 per month will go a long way toward the expenses of RV travel. That said, if the OP isn't crazy about traveling he'd be better off getting a house or apartment in some other part of the country; there are so many places where he could do that for less than $1000 per month. I have a friend who took a ministry position at a church in a small town about halfway between Tulsa and OKC, and he's renting a 3BR house set on an acre in the woods for $350... an anomaly, I'll admit, but the bargains are out there.

If the only thing he has been exposed to is CA, then $3500 is his reality. You don't know what you don't know. He probably has no concept of how bad he is being screwed, and it's not just rent.

[rexlion]

gmw photos wrote:
Dragging a travel trailer around the country is not a way so save money, it's a way to spend money.

Yeah, but $3500 per month will go a long way toward the expenses of RV travel. That said, if the OP isn't crazy about traveling he'd be better off getting a house or apartment in some other part of the country; there are so many places where he could do that for less than $1000 per month. I have a friend who took a ministry position at a church in a small town about halfway between Tulsa and OKC, and he's renting a 3BR house set on an acre in the woods for $350... an anomaly, I'll admit, but the bargains are out there.

[ppine]

RVs are used in all kinds of ways. They can be expensive, fuel ineffecient, and expensive to park.

Or at the end of their lives, they can be cheap and parked and lived in full time by people with little money.

[gmw_photos]

Dragging a travel trailer around the country is not a way so save money, it's a way to spend money.

[sgfrye]

rbpru wrote:
As a rule trailers are meant for part time leisure occupancy. Those who are full time have the gear and experience needed.

good point here. wife and i are experienced rv'ers and have traveled all over the east coast north and south. we are not experienced enough to full-time even though we have the equipment

[Jebby14]

anyone think OP is coming back?

[myredracer]

Saw a show on TV the other day about thousands of homeless people in California living in RVs parked on city streets. Apparently block after block of RVs and some neighborhoods full of them and many on the nicest streets in LA. It's become an epidemic with no solution in sight. They're not all down-and-outers. Some are there escaping the sky high rental rates and some enterprising RV owners are even renting them out.

Never thought I'd see the day and it's not just in CA either.

[troubledwaters]

How handy are you at fixing things? A big part of owning an RV is fixing and maintenance. Living in it full time that is going to be a really big part. Can you live with an absorption refrigerator (slightly more efficient than an ice chest), mediocre heating and cooling (at best), and only 6 gallons of hot water?

[theoldwizard1]

rbpru wrote:
As a rule trailers are meant for part time leisure occupancy. Those who are full time have the gear and experience needed.

I could not have said it better !