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?

[rockhillmanor]

PapaRomeo wrote:
Hey thanks everyone for your input and comments. There is a wealth of information there which my wife and I are digesting.
.... 3. have my own

buyer's agent

(who listens pretty well but I still check out information myself) ....So thanks for all the advice.PapaRomeo

Just one more FYI. :B
A "buyers agent" is NOT a licensed real estate agent.

I became REAL frustrated with this.
I finally called the broker and asked for clarification of just what a 'buyer's agent' was.

These are just people hired to show buyers around for the Real Estate agents. This practice became real popular during the housing crash. So many foreclosed homes on the market and a glut of buyers prompted the Real Estate Agents to hire personal 'buyers agents' to just show the properties for them so they didn't loose potential buyers to other agents in the office.

They can NOT write up contracts, usually paid by the hour employees, they to do nothing more than schlep the buyers around to look at property, that's all. And basically know nothing about real estate law and/or professionally assisting you to find just the right house. Their only job is to meet or drive you to a house you want to look at.

I think this practice is a very slippery slope for the buyers being 'led to think' they are being taken care of by a licensed agent.

Some of them keep quiet like you mentioned just listening but some yak on about the houses you are being shown as 'if' they knew about real estate law and/or anything about the property. Don't listen or take as fact any thing a "buyers agent" tells you.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

ncrowley wrote:
I wish you the best. When we were looking for a place to retire, we went through the same process. We found a neighborhood that has a lot of RV garages and lots big enough for them. There are CC&Rs but no HOA but there are many "toy" garages in the neighborhood.

As stated, do not trust anything a realtor tells you. Get the information yourself.

Good advice - and....

even if the real estate agent was 100 percent correct on what you can or can't do (AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE), and *NO* HOAs....beware of a county area that may incorporate sometime (even years) after you purchased.

"New" city councils often pass new ordinances!
Home buyer beware/ready - "down the road"!

Of course, there's no way to predict that - BUT the first part of this post is important. (Strength -clout- in numbers!)

BTW - ya gotta love the bantering about of hiring attorneys, law suits, etc. in this thread.

UNLESS *You* have really, REALLY deep pockets - that's just chatter from the un-informed!..:R

~

[ncrowley]

I wish you the best. When we were looking for a place to retire, we went through the same process. We found a neighborhood that has a lot of RV garages and lots big enough for them. There are CC&Rs but no HOA but there are many "toy" garages in the neighborhood.

As stated, do not trust anything a realtor tells you. Get the information yourself.

[PapaRomeo]

Hey thanks everyone for your input and comments. There is a wealth of information there which my wife and I are digesting.
Our class B has a 10 foot height so an oversized garage is needed. That said, I would ideally like to find a house with an out building to store it in. That way CCRs don't apply. But most houses don't come with RV garages.
We are planning to/already doing 1. avoid HOA's, 2. write contingencies into the purchase agreement, 3. have my own buyer's agent (who listens pretty well but I still check out information myself) 4. will have my own's escrow and title agent looking specifically for CCR's, 5. talk with neighbors, 6. look for RV's in the neighborhood, and 7. don't trust past non-enforcement of RV parking.

Changing our house criteria (looking out of town, choosing to store the camper, etc) is also being considered.

Had a "red alert" experience upon finding a really nice house where we were reassured that there were no RV parking restrictions. No campers around though!! Talked with neighbors and discovered one resident got head up about another resident parking a camper, took him to court and resurrected expired CCR's and ultimately won. So now he stores his camper. Needless to say, we are still looking.

So thanks for all the advice.
PapaRomeo

[Bumpyroad]

Mr.Mark wrote:
s.

But, if a person is buying in an HOA, have the Realtor get the minutes for the last full year from the Association. This is where you will see problems that have come up and how they were addressed.


MM.

an excellent suggestion. get minutes of the annual meeting and the various board meetings.
bumpy

[Mr_Mark1]

HOA's are good and bad depending on what you are looking for. We have homes in two different HOA gated communities. The purpose of an HOA is consistency and conformity. This will help keep up property values and not allow a 'junk' collector pile up junk (cars, etc.). It also keeps the look of the development in check (no wild colors, odd additions, etc.)

We keep our coach in a RV storage garage which works fine for us.

But, if a person is buying in an HOA, have the Realtor get the minutes for the last full year from the Association. This is where you will see problems that have come up and how they were addressed.

We had a problem with our CA HOA where a couple home owners were renting their homes out on a daily basis and for commercial purposes. We had that put to a quick stop but attorney's had to be involved. Those homeowners have now gone bankrupt and the houses (one owned 3, the other owned 1) have gone back to the bank. Good riddance.

MM.

[Bumpyroad]

rockhillmanor wrote:


HOA's etc have a committee with an elected President. You can be in possession of a CCR's that states you CAN park an RV on your property only to have elections be held the following year and a new president elected and he or she can CHANGE the HOA, CCR. rules and if enough residents agree and pass the new rules AND they can omit any grandfathered in clause's.......
B

It does not matter who the president is or wants. at any annual meeting the members can vote on any issue and change the covenants. I indicated that unless grandfathering was done they would no doubt face some lawsuits. our development has grandfathered RV parking, fence types, etc. Our directors,etc., wanted to hire a HOA specialist lawyer and there were at least three lawyers in VA that specialized in HOA issues. with that many lawyers being supported only by HOA payments, it is evident that a lot of stupid unnecessary requirements have been proposed. and sometimes the members pass silly proposals. our HOA has an architecture review committee who examine all proposals. it was originally established that the committee had x days to rule on a proposal and if no rule in that time period the proposal passed. it was changed to giving them a pocket veto, just don't act on it and it passed, based on a recommendation of our lawyer. it can always be passed up to the board for resolution. and that lawyer recommended what was in the best interest of the commmittee/ board members, not what was in the best interest of the residents.
I would avoid purchase where there is a HOA.
bumpy

[infogeek]

Before I purchased my current house I did check into the town ordinance regarding RVs as at my last house I was concerned I might be breaking it as the RV wasn't set back behind the house but right next to it on a small lot.

My town allows RV parking anywhere in the yard, cannot be used to live in, and must be registered and operational. ie no junkers.

My current set up is out of view of everyone. I did live in it while I had my floors redone, but I don't consider that actually living in it, since it was temporary.

Good luck with your home search. I'm also anti-HOA.

[rockhillmanor]

PapaRomeo wrote:
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?

Been there done that. And went crazy trying! :B

First of all no matter how much you like your agent NEVER believe what the sales agent tells you they don't know, don't care and more importantly can NOT be held responsible for incorrect information.

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.

This is incorrect. you do NOT have to pay for a title search. You can do it yourself. Just go down to the country court house where the property is located and they will provide you with ALL the paperwork attached to that property including all the covenants that must be filed with the county. For all of maybe 10 or 15 bucks. It is the exact same place a title company gets their info from.

If you want to put in an offer and you don't have all the info, You can also protect yourself on your offer to purchase by putting a statement in the contingencies pending verification of "NO" HOA, CCR's.

Be sure you get a "sellers disclosure" on each and every offer you put in, which 'by law should be provided'. There is a line for HOA's etc. that the owner has to divulge where there is or is not one. He lies on that sellers disclosure and you get all your money back and also sue him if you feel like it.

BUT. Here is a VERY important piece of info which is what took me off the path of even looking for a home in a densely populated sub division.

I found one that even though it HAD an HOA it did state you COULD park an RV on your property. After talking with the seller he informed me of a VERY important fact that I did not know:

HOA's etc have a committee with an elected President. You can be in possession of a CCR's that states you CAN park an RV on your property only to have elections be held the following year and a new president elected and he or she can CHANGE the HOA, CCR. rules and if enough residents agree and pass the new rules AND they can omit any grandfathered in clause's.......

Yup, you can move in with your RV and the next year be SOL on being able to park it on your own property. 😞

After I quit all that nonsense I started looking for property in 'unincorporated' areas. Just found my sweet spot house for the winter in Florida on 2 ac, unincorporated, and the old MH is parked on the property where ever I choose to put it!

Good luck. I don't envy you. I spent a year pulling my hair out trying to find property where I could also park my MH. Just reading your post of frustration got my blood pressure raging for you! :B

[creeper]

Stay away from any HOA's, people tend to make their own rules up. I bought in an HOA that specifically said I could park a RV on my property as long as it was shielded from view, the HOA just had the say on what kinds of shielding from listed examples. I have 1 1/2 acres. When I asked them what kinds of shielding, they said they were not going to approve any.

Big fight and in the end, I ended up taking over the HOA and stopped all the nonsense and making up of rules. The neighborhood has never been so quiet and no more fighting.

[down_home]

Taxes eat you up in Michigan and Indiana, unless it is farm land.
Buy the spot, you would like, to have a home in, and have a home built. I know it cost some up there to get a foundation below the frost line but generally you can have a home built, for a third, of what you will pay, for a home, already built and it is probably not up to your standards. Yo uwill save a lot on taxes outside of towns, if you have fire service. Many places do have fire service and water service beyond town or city limits. You could save more than enough to have the motor home garage with hookups and even heat. Be sure to put in an auxilary generator and tank for when the power lines go down.

[fcooper]

Walaby wrote:
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

The opposite situation can also occur where you have an active HOA (still responsible for maintaining common property, etc) but where the convenants have expired. I live in one like this.

Fred

[bukhrn]

I'm with beemerphile1 on this,rather than stressing out about what's in an HOA, just find somewhere without an HOA or county ordinances against where/what you park on your own property.
This usually means staying outside of a city/village.

[Bumpyroad]

mowermech wrote:
If there is no HOA, the CCR's are not a problem. Local law enforcement in most states will not enforce CCR's. A CCR is not a law!
We have a short page of CCR's, but no HOA. RV parking is not forbidden.
Not far away, there is a new development that has very restrictive CCR's, and the developer has created an HOA. However, I see RVs parked beside house there, so perhaps it isn't too bad. I have to wonder, though, what prompted the developer to put in the CCR's that no aircraft are allowed on the properties??
Here are the preliminary CCR's:
http://www.pioneerroadestates.com/pre-covenants/
Perhaps the buyers forced changes on the developer. The referenced website is the current list.
Needless to say, I would not buy land there.

we have a fella who has used a helicopter to get to my development. 🙂

[mowermech]

If there is no HOA, the CCR's are not a problem. Local law enforcement in most states will not enforce CCR's. A CCR is not a law!
We have a short page of CCR's, but no HOA. RV parking is not forbidden.
Not far away, there is a new development that has very restrictive CCR's, and the developer has created an HOA. However, I see RVs parked beside house there, so perhaps it isn't too bad. I have to wonder, though, what prompted the developer to put in the CCR's that no aircraft are allowed on the properties??
Here are the preliminary CCR's:
http://www.pioneerroadestates.com/pre-covenants/
Perhaps the buyers forced changes on the developer. The referenced website is the current list.
Needless to say, I would not buy land there.