Rv ownership in the land of HOA's

You are just going to need to do some research guy. Call your local self storage places, check craigslist, etc. Prices vary depending upon region and amenities. Indoor storage with electricity costs more than covered storage which costs more than uncovered but secure storage which costs more than parking on a gravel lot. The closer you are to an urban area, the more expensive the land costs are and the more expensive the storage fees are.

Another issue you might run into is "waiting lists". Some of the best storage lots are full-up.

If you could get by with "seasonal" storage, many State/County Fairgrounds rent the barns out for RV/Boat storage in winter.

Price also varies but security, "covered", etc.

Locally the cheapest place's gate is open Mon-Sat from 8 to 8. But open means open, anyone can drive in at any time.

Some friends wanted covered storage, had been "wait-listed" for several years, then found out a mutual friend was the grand-daughter of the owner, they had a covered slot the next month.

Our local self storage place has fenced, uncovered storage. But I have no idea what it costs as I park mine in my driveway next to my house.
Many campgrounds store RV's, if you can find one out away from the city, it may be a little cheaper.

You want a storage facility that is gated with video surveillance (SP). As said covered storage is much more expensive, our area about 150/mth.

Check with your lcoal police department and see if they will give you stats on theft and vandalism for the facilities you end up considering. The numbers may sway your opinion.

How true this is. The first place I stored at had multiple break ins over a couple of months. My friend who was also storing there told me he talked to the Sheriff deputies about the theft rate. They told him that they are always at this facility for theft, but have never in ten years been to the facility 3 miles away. That week both of our trailers were moved to the new facility. So far after seven years no problems.

Check local farmers or classified listings to see if anyone wants to rent barn space.

bukhrn wrote:
Our local self storage place has fenced, uncovered storage. But I have no idea what it costs as I park mine in my driveway next to my house.
Many campgrounds store RV's, if you can find one out away from the city, it may be a little cheaper.

We used to store the 31' TT we had here in the Mooresville, NC area at a self storage type of place. It was fenced in, no assigned spots and on gravel/dirt. Got real muddy when it rained. It cost us I believe $40/month. Other places that were paved, were nearly twice as much. We did park it at our home for a while as we do not have HOA. But we live on a slope and could only park in the side yard towards he back. If it rained, we could not get it out. Often when it was dry, I would have to put the truck in 4 wheel drive to pull it out. That got old and so we put it in the storage lot. The motorhome we can park in the driveway. It's still on a slope, but has brakes to keep it from going anywhere.

Most places don't charge by the foot, just a flat fee per month for a space. When we lived in northern VA (near Leesburg) we stored our RV near Winchester. The 45 minute drive was inconvenient, but spaces were available and a bit less expensive.

First - find out the limits for the HOA you live under.

We could park ours in front of our house for 48 hours before being in violation of the agreement we signed with the HOA. (There was no room to park a 30' TT at our home - so that was never an option. I always tried to avoid parking it in the street in front of the house over night. Never trusted some of the local teenagers, or their parents, ability to see a TT at night.)

If you have to store off-site - most likely - start driving around and look for storage locations. Many great suggestions above about watching for theft potential.

Remove high value, easily re-salable, items like TV's and electronics. Some places you have to remove things like batteries. Depends upon the local crime rate.

I stored my boat in a locked indoor storage at $125 per month for a couple years. When I bought the TT, I moved the boat and new TT to an outdoor lot for $77.28 per month (have to pay sales tax on TT storage in Texas, but not boats ???)

That lot had one theft during the over two years I used it. The owner called us on a Sunday at 10am to report there was a theft at one unit at the lot. (We were out with out TT and boat at that time. After finding evidence of the break-in and theft, and notifying the owner of the rig involved - he called every person who had something stored in his lot and made them aware of the situation. Which I think is great customer service. Only one person decided to move their rig out after the theft.) Someone cut through the back fence, crossed three quarters of the way across the lot, jacked up a Cardinal and took all four wheels/tires and the spare.

I prefer to rent storage space from a local person who is at the lot daily. However, there are a lot of chain type storage locations which have an apartment and someone living on the lot full-time. That would be my second choice.