Forum Discussion
westernrvparkow
Sep 10, 2018Explorer
PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:Pretty dim view of the country considering unemployment is near record lows. We are strictly a vacation park and are turning people away on a daily basis. Visitations at Glacier and Yellowstone are at record highs. Housing prices are increasing because people are buying properties. Same with rental rates. Obviously there are plenty of people making the money to afford those properties. That is simple supply and demand. If people are making low wages it is likely because they either do not have the skills needed in the workforce or they are not willing to relocate to where the jobs are. South of Saint Louis Missouri is not exactly the best place to find a good paying job. As of July, the unemployment rate in Missouri was 3.4 percent which is .5 percent better than the national average. There are eight counties in Missouri where the unemployment rate exceeds 5.9 percent and 6 of them are in the Southeastern corner of the state known as the Boot Heel area. It sure looks like a local problem which would solved by moving. You are much more likely to find a job by going where the jobs are rather than sit around hoping a job comes to you. If all these displaced people actually exist (and I actually doubt it) it is likely the cause is their own poor decisions, not a failing economy.
The manufacturers are telling their stockholders that they can barely keep up with the demand for new RVs.
Yes that are a lot of them sitting on dealer lots, on resale lots.
What I'm seeing most in regions south of St Louis is an increasing number of small 20-40 sized RV parks being built. They are bare bones gravel lots with no amenities except a small two or three washer / dryer laundry.
They are intended for full-time residents who never travel.
My personal opinion is that much of the growth in new RV sales is not for recreation, but as a primary residence for young families with no money for a home or apartment.
Middle ages families squeezed out of homes or apartments by being unable to afford that housing any longer with low wage jobs and poor skill levels.
Older families and seniors without an income to support traditional housing.
Those long term residents are in the new near slums, and more and more people are being forced to that as the only option to being completely homeless.
And as most RVers know, an RV in a RV park is not some panacea for cheap living. If there are people buying new and used RVs as some sort of solution for their financial issues they aren't bailing themselves out, they are digging a deeper hole.
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