RVs and Condos

Why don't your take her to Florida on a vacation and rent a vacation condo thru VRBO.com. Let her see how she likes condo life for a few weeks. It will also give you the time to check out some other areas. Also, if you do purchase a condo; depending on how much traveling you do, you could rent the condo to other vacationers while you travel and help pay for the HOA fees, etc. Just a thought.

Hiker_01 wrote:
She Who Must Be Obeyed has decided that we will be moving from our current house in Texas to a currently undecided place in Florida. Once we decide where (what city) in Florida, the next task will be deciding what kind of home to look for.

Have you RV'd extensively in Florida. I'd be hesitant to buy a condo without having stayed in the particular area. If socializing is important to you, make sure the clubhouse is an active one. Talk to folks living there. It's easier to socialize in a RV park because people are outside more. In a condo they don't sit outside in front so it could be difficult to meet others. I'd recommend that you RV in different cities of Florida before buying. Some might even be more lenient with how long you can leave the RV parked at your place. Some might even have their own storage area onsite. Good luck!

donn0128 wrote:
And therein lies the big problem people have with their RVs off site. I have never had, nor will I ever own an RV if I have to store it off site.

Good for you, but this thread is about helping the OP.

wing_zealot wrote:
I don't know about other places, but a large percentage of condos where I live look just just like a regular house. The only difference being who cuts the grass. You can bring your RV home for loading and unloading. I think your shopping for the wrong kind of condo.

And there are communities with HOAs that don't allow RVs parked in your driveway, even though it's your property. My brother lived in Floral Park NY on Long Island and you weren't allowed to park overnight on the street and if you had a pickup, it needed to be in a garage or otherwise not visible from the street. So yes, you do need to consider these types of retrictions when looking for a new home.

We've never had any of our rigs over the years parked at our home. The yard where we store our MH is less than 10 minutes away. It could be further and it wouldn't matter. I don't need to stare at it everyday.

At first we didn't have power to hookup to, but set the generator to auto start. It always keeps the batteries topped off. Now there's power to hookup too so that isn't needed. They have a dump and water if required. Any maintanance I do can be done in the storage yard, including washing it.

Never a issue. The fridge can be turned on and loaded at anytime. It's a paved and secure facility.

We bought a house last year in Florida - the community maintains an owner RV lot in our subdivision. It's right at the end of our street, but it's less than a mile from anywhere in the community.

We can pull the RV up and leave it in the driveway for 24 hours, once a week. So we do all the maintenance right in front of the garage. And, when we pack, we park overnight and head out the next day. Very convenient.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and ideas. Tells me there are solutions to the question of the motorhome - just need to figure out about some of my other issues with condos (non-RV related).


Don

Our condo community in FL doesn't officially allow RV's on the premises except to unload and load ONCE EACH per year. (Our Canadian owners usually travel down in their RV's, unload their clothes, park in an off-site lot, repack up and return North 182 days later.)

However, since our individual condo association controls our own parking lot, if you can get the association President or Board of Directors to let you use the lot to load/unload, you're OK for up to 24 hours at a time. (You can even use the 120 VAC outlets in the Golf Cart parking to cool down your refrigerator.)

Since DW is a full-time electric wheelchair user and we have a 3rd floor apartment, we have an automatic dispensation from our building Board to use the lot whenever the elevator goes out of service. (It doesn't hurt that we are both BOD members!)

But, our off-premise storage has all the amenities you'd want (potable water and air, dump site, vehicle wash location, and they'll run a 15A line to your spot when needed). Owner is an RVer and built this operation to give us what he would want in a storage facility.

donn0128 wrote:
And therein lies the big problem people have with their RVs off site. I have never had, nor will I ever own an RV if I have to store it off site.

:hOh good for you but what, exactly, does that have to do with the OP?

in Florida there are communities that have homes with RV garages and RV Resorts with cassitas that have a kitchen, bedroom and bath and storage. Another alternative is a park model in an RV park where they also have storage. One near Tampa is Quail Run RV Resort.