Hello, welcome and congrats on being a lottery winner:); didn't even know UK citizens were eligible for it lately.
I'll concentrate on your most recent questions as it seems you've pretty much made up your mind about which Class of RV to purchase.
We are thinking about full-time RV'ing from January to September/ October and commute to NYC, this will help us save on rent with the look of buying a house later on.
There are 3 options:
1) Boondocking - Can be done temporarily but not full time, I just couldn't put my wife through that, specially not really knowing the areas that well
2) RV Parks - Really expensive at 30$+ a night + commute, it would cost as much as a small apartment
3) Mobile Home Parks with space for RV - This seems to be a cheaper option, but I've looked online and cant seem to find any that are close to NYC (40 mile radius)
4- Park on someone elses land - Put a Craigslists advert with "I would like to park my RV in your land" and pay a couple hundred dollars.. thoughts?
Obviously if we did this we would need a bigger rig, probably a class A or C, but the savings would be there ($2000 a month rent in NYC would get you very little this days..)
Anyway, I'll keep researching, feel free to post any advice!
The year-round RV options are scarce in this area in part due to the weather. Closest is
www.Libertyharbormarina.com which is located across the river in NJ. NOT inexpensive (daily rate ranges from $50.00-80.00 daily), not much in the way of amenities but really close to NYC via a commuter train.
You can also check various commuter lines (Metro North, PATH, NJ Transit and LIRR) to see if there are other parks within a 1-2 hour commute time into NYC. Hate to say this but when you do the math you may well find that the RV spot plus commuter costs will bring you quite close to the $2,000.00 mark or even over. Like London, NYC, is not cheap but of course you make more money here than most other places.
You are right about the monthly rents in the city. For the best bang for your buck I'd look into the following neighbourhoods: Astoria, Queens; various parts of Ocean Avenue, Midwood and Prospect Park environs in Brooklyn; Executive Towers in the Bronx (amazing bargain for the amenities and transportation options)and in Manhattan, the neighborhoods of Inwood, Marble Hill and Central Harlem.
GL and have fun!
