Ideas to Address RV Parking

[PapaRomeo]

I am a 12 veteran of RV camping in a class B motor home. I am presently looking to relocate to the eastern Ohio area (Mahoning and Trumbull Counties) and am working with a real estate agent. Important to my lifestyle is being able to park my camper on the property that I purchase (the agent knows this).

I am having difficulty finding camper parking restrictions so as to avoid purchasing in a restricted area. I have researched the community zoning ordinances, however many properties independently have covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&R's) attached to the deeds which are frequently filed separately from the warrantee deed and buried deep in the county records and forgotten by the owner. Only a full title search would reveal them.

The real estate agents I have worked with usually have simply asked the owner or the listing agent or pointed to community ordinances assuring me that "There shouldn't be a problem." I do not trust this kind of response as the real estate agent does in fact have a deeper agenda which is to sell a house. I would like to avoid going to the effort and expense of making an offer (writing a purchase contract) and securing the due diligence (inspections, title search etc) only to find that camper parking is restricted on the property of interest.

Does anyone have experience in this kind of problem?
Does anyone have ideas or suggestions how I might navigate through this issue?

[Walaby]

Im sure most folks know there is a difference between a neighborhood that has an HOA, and a neighborhood that has a covenants . My neighborhood, as an example, has a covenants , but did NOT have an HOA. We ended up establishing an HOA when the developer tried to sell a section off to another developer, and that developer wanted to change the zoning to allow duplexes. We formed an HOA and fought it, and the developer that wanted to buy decided to give up.

Only point Im making is you can have covenants that you may not be knowledgeable of, if you don't have an HOA. Once our issue came about, I learned about several covenants issues I wasn't particularly keen on.

So, just because there's no HOA, doesn't mean there's no covenants.

Mike

[coolmom42]

In general police are not concerned with RV parking unless it's in a street or somehow creating a safety hazard. If they are, the town has too many police with too much time on their hands.

[camperforlife]

You need to check 3 things. #1 Is the property governed by a HOA? If so contact them. #2 Contact local zoning office & ask if there is zoning against parking an RV. #3 Ask the local police if they ticket RV parking.

Our town does have an ordinance limiting parking to 48 hours but the police rarely ticket. I just traded trailers and had my new one in the driveway for 2 weeks.

I was out messing around with it and a cruiser pulls in the driveway. Certain that I was going to get a ticket or warning the officer gets out says "I see you got a bigger trailer". He proceeds to say this winter is killing me, I just want to get out and camp and hung out for a few minutes talking about past trips and trading campground suggestions. Pleasant surprise.

[mlts22]

HOAs can change. One week, parking is OK, next week, you find a citation and a hefty fine.

Best, if at all possible is no HOA whatsoever. The goal is to have as few governing agencies determining what you can/cannot do with the property you purchased.

[gbopp]

PapaRomeo wrote:
The real estate agents I have worked with usually have simply asked the owner or the listing agent or pointed to community ordinances assuring me that "There shouldn't be a problem."

Keep looking until you find the right real estate agent. When they say 'there shouldn't be a problem', that is a major red flag for me.
Find an agent who is familiar with the area. Not just someone who wants to sell you a house.

[path1]

Ideas to Address RV Parking

I wanted to find out what was totally legal and what wasn't it. This was after being in the neighborhood for many years with no problems. More to it than what I thought. I found out there are many RV parking laws that effect me. And looking up those laws up I found it even more confusing. And not that any of them are enforced in my neighbor, that is until somebody complains.

For example:
(parked on street outside of my home)... Have to have vehicle attached to any pull unit. And no vehicle (even my car) can't be parked over 72 hours and must not used as living quarters. And no "over size" vehicles. "Over size" means able to park in single size parking spot and not over so high (can't remember how high)

(physically parked on my property) ..."Parked and Stored" is OK, but can't be lived in and no utilities hooked up nor used a sleeping quarters. Unless a permit is issued. Permits are issued for temp living quarters for no more than 6 months to build or "restore" primary living quarters, such as living in RV to re-build your house after a fire or major re-model. But totally OK if RV is used by a "caregiver" to provide care to the occupant of the primary residence. But can't park closer than 5 feet from property line (set back).

Basically between my city, county and health department, fire and police it's hard to spell out common since.

[blangen]

As has been said a few times above, make the offer contingent. The above has said to make the offer contingent on seeing applicable paperwork but all that does is have you going through it, yourself. If it were me, I'd make the offer contingent on there being no restrictions whatsoever on parking your RV on the property and then having your closing attorney review it for that purpose. Word it so that, if any restrictions are found, the deal is null and void with all funds returned. Your Agent may not like it (or may even try to tell you that you can't) but there are plenty of hungry Agents out there who will do what you ask.

[Old-Biscuit]

IF HOA then chances are pretty high no RV Parking.
Ask to speak with 'President' (or any officer) of HOA. THEY will have multiple copies of any CCR's and a simple question 'RVs OK' will be meet with YES/NO

Then due diligence at city planning office/clerks office.

[Bumpyroad]

my hoa has a welcome/what you need to know packet with all of this information in it. I would "assume" that any good (and that is an oxymoron) HOA would have the same
bumpy

[DSDP_Don]

Maybe it's different elsewhere, but in California, you first look for neighborhoods where there are lots with enough room to park an RV. If they are large enough, you'll typically see several RV's in the neighborhood. If you don't, you'll know there is an HOA that prohibits parking. Many neighborhoods that don't have RV sized lots will have RV's parked in the driveway. Not something I like to see, but lets you know there is no HOA.

[Dustytuu]

You could buy property just outside of city limits or town limits and make sure there are no H.O.A,
If you see RVs there that is a good sign but do not entirely trust that. Do not buy where there is an H O A and not enforced.....takes one complaint to get it in effect.

[DutchmenSport]

I have relatives that live in Warren, Niles, and Youngstown. We do on occasion take our trailer to my cousin's house in Youngstown and stay a few days. We park next to his garage and plug in. His house is adjacent the Youngstown City Park. I'm 60 years old and my Aunt and Uncle have lived in Warren since WW2. So, lots of trips over my lifetime to visit them.

I will say, thinking back, I've not seen any RV's parked at homes anywhere along that Warren to Youngstown corridor. And in the last 20 years, I'm always noticing RV's everywhere, and when I see one at someone's house, I wonder why they are not on the road. So I take notice, and really, I've never noticed any along that corridor at anyone's home.

That may be a bad sign.

[beemerphile1]

I would never buy anywhere with an HOA. That way you only need to deal with the real laws of the city/town not with busybody neighbors.

[PA12DRVR]

Simple.....have done this 4-5 times:

- Find a property you are interested in;
- Tell YOUR real estate agent (you have your own agent, right?) that you want to see the CCR's before making an offer
- The seller's agent (who is different than your agent) will bellyache about how you can't see them until you make an offer and only if you are in the ____ (typically 72 hour) due diligence period.
- ^^^^ That is of course incorrect. The HOA is required to provide a copy of the CCR's at some point (offer, closing, something) but there is no prohibition on seeing the CCR's for review. Agree to something reasonable (at the Seller's agent's office from 1-4 on Thursday, etc), but you can see them;
- If the Seller refuses to let you see them, don't make an offer.

[mgirardo]

You can also ask your real estate agent who the President of the HOA is and get in touch with that person. They should be able to get you a copy of the Covenants.

-Michael