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Couple looking for advice/info

Heirloomandfill
Explorer
Explorer
Hi there! My boyfriend and I are thinking about RVing as an alternative to the outrageous rent prices and terrible roommates of San Francisco Bay area. My only experience with rv's is camping in my grandparents small one over 20 years ago.
We are looking for advice/tips/recommendations/tutorials from you all.
What kind of rig to look for, buying a used rig, life at rv parks, urban rv parks (we still want to work) etc.
Tell us your stories!
Thanks in advance!
Sarah & Felipe
21 REPLIES 21

allen8106
Explorer
Explorer
Take a look at technomadia.com. They have a wealth of info plus links to many other full timers blogs.
2010 Eagle Super Lite 315RLDS
2018 GMC Sierra 3500HD 6.6L Duramax

2010 Nights 45
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2020 Nights 68

Finally_Time
Explorer
Explorer
If you are looking for monthly RV parking near San Francisco you might check out Treasure Island RV Park in South San Francisco. It is very basic but the location very convenient to local transit and shopping.
'17 Tiffin Breeze 31BR, '13 Honda CR-V
Ready Brute Elite Tow Bar & Brake System

rblake39
Explorer
Explorer
jplante4 wrote:
What campgrounds can charge for a site is directly proportional to local land values, which also is the reason that rents are expensive. Moving far enough out to get reasonable monthly rates on campground sites will also put you into a lower rent zone. I don't think anyone has ever saved money by full time RVing instead of renting and apartment in the same real estate locations.


I dont know about that. The place we will be living in Florida is $400.00 per month. Including cable, wifi and water. Wifi is actually great believe it or not. Got a Verizon jet pack just in case. We pay electricity. There are 2 pools, a gym, a library, clubhouse, food market and 2 lakes with giant bass in them. And the grounds are kept immaculate. We did go down and look at over 70 parks though before we found this one. Rent for a decent apartment with nowhere near the ammenities starts around 1100.00 per month. So it is very possible to live cheaper. Just do your homework.

westend
Explorer
Explorer
there just aren't many places to stay long-term, other than mobile home parks.

Check out my link above. That campground is in Daly City, actually a suburb of SF.
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
'71 Starcraft Wanderstar -- The Cowboy/Hilton

bikendan
Explorer
Explorer
the biggest issue will be finding any long term place to stay near San Fran.
you'd have to move to the outside edges of the Bay Area.

there just aren't many places to stay long-term, other than mobile home parks.
Dan- Firefighter, Retired:C, Shawn- Musician/Entrepreneur:W, Zoe- Faithful Golden Retriever(RIP:(), 2014 Ford F150 3.5 EcoboostMax Tow pkg, 2016 PrimeTime TracerAIR 255 w/4pt Equalizer and 5 Mtn. bikes and 2 Road bikes

jplante4
Explorer II
Explorer II
What campgrounds can charge for a site is directly proportional to local land values, which also is the reason that rents are expensive. Moving far enough out to get reasonable monthly rates on campground sites will also put you into a lower rent zone. I don't think anyone has ever saved money by full time RVing instead of renting and apartment in the same real estate locations.
Jerry & Jeanne
1996 Safari Sahara 3530 - 'White Tiger'
CAT 3126/Allison 6 speed/Magnum Chassis
2014 Equinox AWD / Blue Ox

westend
Explorer
Explorer
Call the San Francisco RV park and ask them about rates. They have long term rentals.

You can find RV's from a few hundred dollars to thousands, from 12' to 60', motorized or not. Do you have a truck to pull a trailer?
'03 F-250 4x4 CC
'71 Starcraft Wanderstar -- The Cowboy/Hilton

tatest
Explorer II
Explorer II
Traveling, or something permanently parked in the Bay area?

Continuously traveling, a motorized RV can make sense. Permanently located somewhere, or staying in any place a long time, a towable RV usually works better. If not moving around, manufactured housing is usually more space for the money, and often lower cost rent, compared to RVs and RV parks.

You'll need to figure out how much space you really need, to determine the size of the RV. RV floor space ranges from less than 80 square feet, up to about 400 square feet. Manufactured permanent housing starts at just over 400, can go to at least twice that size. These are definitions, because when a RV/housing manufacturer crosses that 400 square foot threshold, the construction standards change.

Life at the kind of RV park that lets people stay six months or longer is usually not that different from life at a permanent living trailer park, and the quality of life, the services provided, the kind of people you have as neighbors, will often depend on how high the rent. Rent, in turn, will depend on location and land values, with the cheapest RV or trailer lots renting for about half the rent of the least expensive apartments or small houses in the same neighborhood. You won't find RV parks in particularly nice neighborhoods, but you will find them at recreational destinations, and those can be much more expensive than permanent housing (but still less than hotels at the same place).

Most of my experience has been in the middle of the country, staying at the kinds of parks used by people who are there for seasonal work or temporary work. Most of the time these people are neighborly, helpful when help is needed, and look after each other. It is a bit like small town life, even though you don't have the long-term relationships that hold small towns together.

I've paid rents ranging from $300 to $1200 a month. At the lower end that usually includes a power and water hookup, but no sewer connection (there will usually be a dump station on the property), and if it is a public park there will often be a limit on length of stay. It gets a lot more expensive when the park is close to an urban area, it can go a lot higher than the highest I will pay, so I don't spend much time RVing in or near major cities.

There is a class of urban dwellers who pay no rent at all, living in cars or vans, parking on the streets. This can be harder to do if it is seen as a problem in the area, and is more difficult using something that clearly looks like a RV. I'm thinking that this is not what you are thinking, but if it is, I might be able to find some references to this lifestyle.
Tom Test
Itasca Spirit 29B

philh
Explorer II
Explorer II
You're not going to like this... but move out of CA 🙂

If you're going to look for camping, we started with a small inexpensive camper first to see if we liked it, second to identify where we might want to go next.

Naio
Explorer II
Explorer II
donn0128 wrote:
Coyote valley rv park in San Jose charges $950. A month plus electricity. Throw in gas and electricity and you could be nearing $1300. A month for 350 or less sq feet. Are you sure this works out to your benefit?


x2. Plus payments on the RV, and frequent, expensive repairs. Plus data charges. And no streaming youtube or tv.
3/4 timing in a DIY van conversion. Backroads, mountains, boondocking, sometimes big cities for a change of pace.

NYCgrrl
Explorer
Explorer
RVing to save rent costs in SF is like Rving in NYC. Really isn't going to happen but I wish you well in the pursuit. Last I heard avg 1 BR apartment rental is about 3K monthly which currently surpasses NYC's average.

pira114
Explorer II
Explorer II
donn0128 wrote:
Coyote valley rv park in San Jose charges $950. A month plus electricity. Throw in gas and electricity and you could be nearing $1300. A month for 350 or less sq feet. Are you sure this works out to your benefit?


That's well south of most rent prices in the Bay Area.

I will say that $1300 might be less than average. Coyote is not really considered Bay Area. I looked at RV parks since I live in the Sierras but work on the Peninsula. Nothing cheap enough to make it worth it. But if you don't have a mortgage or rent to pay elsewhere, it could be worth it.

Average rent for a studio on the Peninsula is roughly $1500.

donn0128
Explorer II
Explorer II
Coyote valley rv park in San Jose charges $950. A month plus electricity. Throw in gas and electricity and you could be nearing $1300. A month for 350 or less sq feet. Are you sure this works out to your benefit?

rekoj71
Explorer
Explorer
Living in SF with their rent prices I can see where fulltiming in an RV could be appealing, and it might be cost beneficial but do the homework before you get too excited.
To scratch the surface on your questions.....
If you aren't going to move very much then a trailer or a fithwheel is better for less maintenance and initial costs.
A fithwheel can be bigger with more storage but the bigger you go the bigger the truck needed to pull it.
Before you do much, look into weather there are RV parks near enough to where you want to be and if they allow for year round camping or if they have time limits as to how long you can be there, then find out how much (urban means more expensive) and add that to the cost of any RV you are searching for to determine if it's actually cheaper. In touristy areas the campsite can be pretty expensive, so much so that if you have to make payments on an RV and a Tow Vehicle (TV), it may not be viable.

Good Luck and use the search function as you can learn lots from other posts that are similar to yours.