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Please share your experiences and tips for RV living on private property. What did you come across that you found useful to know? Did you find any loopholes to regulations and zoning? What else do you have to share about RV living on private property that may be useful to others who are trying to do the same?
I’ve been living in an RV full time for over 2 years with my gf Mimi, and our two border collies. We live in a 5th wheel toy hauler. It is like a house with washer and dryer, central vac, separate rooms and plenty of storage. We travel with a side by side and our two motorcycles. We have made it as comfortable as possible, but it does get tiring!
I listened with great interest on your recent video talking about how exhausting full time travel can become.
With that idea in mind, we started land shopping last spring in Lake Havasu area of AZ. Woah, found out its too hot and too expensive there. Raw land requires a well or storage for hauled water, electric and a septic system. Before you buy the land, you’re going to be spending 20-30 thousand just to use it. They want 100 grand for a dumpy in town single wide that may have enough room to park your RV.
When Havasu got too hot last spring we high tailed it to the four corners area for cooler temperatures.
We ended up buying property in Montezuma County CO. We tried shopping for raw land. Even here, raw land required a similar commitment of capital to make usable. I found an existing 1971 double wide with 2 acres of land with an on site full RV hookup just outside the city of Cortez CO. …with motivated sellers! Montezuma County has no zoning. After we moved here, we lived in the RV for a month or so and when it started getting too cold for the RV, we moved into the house.
The house needs lots of fix up, but we were contractors in our last life and learning that remodeling is just like riding a bike. We’re demo-ing two bathrooms and the kitchen, installing hardwood and tile floors everywhere and full painting and fixtures. We’re done with the back half now and pleased with how its coming together.
We love it and we love the potential. We’re planning an AirBnb for the tourist season and possibly building a separate structure as a rental unit.
We’re kicking around the idea of becoming “nomad angels” for full timers like you. We know how tiring travelling all the time can be. We can be an “oasis” where nomads can come and stay for a while. We are 5 minutes from a Walmart and conveniences. We are still working on details, but hopefully, we’ll have something ready in the spring. We’d love it if you came our way for a visit sometime.
Pippi, after 4 yrs of fulltime RV living/travel, I decided I wanted a homebase for summer & winter. I bought raw land in rural southern NM and in the south central mountains of Colorado. I lived in my motorhome on the land while I developed them into seasonal retirement homebases. You do have to do some due diligence ahead of time and its mostly controlled by the County zoning & building codes. The more rural, the more lenient those codes usually are. The more rural the farther away your nearest neighbor will be. Its usually the neighbors who complain to the County enforcement officer. The County doesn’t go out looking for RV’s parked on rural land unless someone complains. As you said, you wont get away with living in an RV anywhere close to existing single family homes.
I built both mine about 10 yrs ago, so my costs are a bit out of date, and these costs vary greatly depending on the specific location, the access roads and the ground conditions. My water wells costs about $5000 each; my septic systems cost about $2500 each, and my electrical service at the NM ranch cost $10,000 including 1/2 mile of power line to my property. The Colorado mountain property had existing power at the property line and only cost $5000 for the 200 amp service install. After living on these properties for several years in my Motorhome, I did eventually build small homes on each. I still travel part time in my motorhome, using these 2 properties as seasonal bases. Let me know if there are any specific questions, but when I did my research many years ago, each and every County had difference requirements and restrictions. Know what those are before buying any land.I have been living full time in my RV for 6 years. I bought 5 acres in west Texas about 8 years ago. It is desert land but very comfortable hot summers, cold winters and windy most of the time. With that said all of that is manageable. Summer may be hot but if you build some kind of shade is fine. Winter is cold at night but mostly warms up after the sun comes up. As far as the cost, that is why I am here. I paid about $1,500.00 for my 5 acres, it is too far to have power run but when I was staying on that land I used solar and augmented it with a generator. I have now bought another piece of land that has power right at the property line, I’m in the process of getting the power connected. You must have a septic tank installed and what is considered a permanent structure. Most of the people here either put their RV’s on blocks and remove the wheels or buy a small storage building, there are some that are like small cottages. If the power is not at the property or across the road you would have to have it run and that can get expensive. There is a company here that sells 20 acres for $18,800 with $0 down and $148.00 per month. This area is exactly 1/2 way between El Paso TX and Carlsbad, NM. Water is not a problem. I have a friend here that delivers water to you, 800 gal for $80.00 dollars. I also have a frontend loader that I do land clearing and driveways for people in the area for a small fee. If you want to contact me you have my email If you interested in this area you are welcome to come and stay on my property and see what you think.
One more thing I failed to mention is the county here doesn’t bother you about anything. You are free to build or not build. You can live fully off-grid if you want and never see anyone. My 5-acre property is 3 miles to my closest neighbor and my new property is on the highway but is 1/2 mile to my neighbor. the closest town from my property is 15 miles. only 400 people live in the town. This is where you can get your food, water, and fuel. Pippi contact me on my email,I know I can help.
Hi Pippi,
My wife and I have been following you on Youtube for a few years.
We have been fulltiming since 2016, and been to every state, except Hawaii. Been looking at all states for a homebase.
Like your topic and I’ll share what we are doing. We have a similar size 5th wheel (40ft) and Ram dually like you.
We purchased raw land outside of Tucson last year. The land is surrounded by National parks land and also land that the city of Tucson purchased to own the water rights. Not many neighbors, but access is easy for any size rig. Location is 30 minutes to downtown Tucson.
The land is only under the jurisdiction of Pima County, not the city of Tucson. There are no CCRs. (Covenants, codes, or restrictions). We only need to comply with county regs, which makes this much less beauracratic. Pima county allows full time living in RVs.
After buying the land we wanted to put in septic. As you point out, it required an address. We went to county office, and they let us select the address number (they gave us a range). No building on the property required. We then permitted through the county for the septic. Had a local contractor install septic on land that has no buildings, although we did do a “future” diagram map of the property to show the county what we wanted for a future home placement.
The county required the septic to be full (1000 gallons) of water on final inspection. We paid to haul out the water ($150) to fill the septic, and the remaining water we had put in a 2500 gallon water tank we purchased to store water. We built a small structure (pole barn) above the water tank for rain water collection. It is currently over flowing, so we are in the process of getting a second tank.
Our RV has a 1000w solar system, and we have backup generator.
So now we have septic, water and solar/generator. All on 10 acres of land.
This year we plan on expanding the water capacity to 5000 gallons, putting a water pump and pressure tank on it so we can simply hook up to use like an RV park. We are also looking at covered garage like space to shield the RV from the summer sun. We have to use the generator in summer to run the ACs. A covered space should help alot.
If you come back through AZ, send us an email if you want to stop by.
When I had my Class C in Florida, I was in my RV on a friends property. Local code states you can’t ‘Live In’ an RV.
So if asked by code enforcement, you answer no, I live ‘out’ of my RV. It worked but I moved on because my idea of RV living is being mobile. Im looking for land too and would probably just build a structure like a garage first and go from there. I’m still in explore mode. Happy Trails. ✌@coating Thanks for sharing! That was a dilemma I had, too, the heat! It’s hard to think about off gridding when it gets to 110+ for at least a month of the year! Congrats on your purchase and new life. Best of luck to you both!
@JimP Good job on getting that done! I feel I’ve skirted around doing something like that for years. Thank you fr sharing!
@Kjoyner That definitely is rural! I’m glad you got it all sorted for yourself though. 😀@Mike and Sabine I was also looking in Pima County since I spent so many years in Tucson. I just love the area. How do you guys do with the summer heat? Do you rely on the generator for that exclusively? Does the rig get hotter than a house? Sounds like you guys have some great projects going. Fun!
I hear ya @Phantomrider sometimes it’s all about the semantics! Best of luck and happy trails!
Hi Pippi,
I have traveled in Nuclear Construction for many years. Some has been in RVs, some apartments and so on but I have researched this very topic in depth. What I have found is what you are learning. Much of this just depends on the state, and county. I can give a few tips however. Southern states tend to be less expensive and have fewer restrictions set by counties. Southern states can also have a lower cost of living. But sometimes harder to find work usually go hand in hand. The more rural you go the less restrictions but you have to find that delicate line of not going to far because if you get too far you will be looking at digging your on well, no internet, and possibly no electricity. Some states as a whole are just expensive and set too many restrictions. I would stay clear of California, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Montana….if they have high tourist cities you can bet land is high. I have found that North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama are great RV friendly states. Some of the older towns that never developed into a modern booming city with fancy subdivisions are great places to find the land. You really want a piece of land that is already tied into city water so you can just tie in and have them install a meter, usually all for less than a thousand. It would be great to find one with septic installed as well. They are out there! But I will add this, If you are dead set on a piece of property, it may have a restriction stating something like- the RV can be there for 180 days. You can always push is to the limit, there are not county employees driving around counting the days you are there. As someone said above, its always neighbors that report you. But you can always fights it and say the RV did leave for a few days and you brought it back. I purchased a piece of land that is in a touristy area in the Colorado mountains. I am restoring and old 1956 Spartan that I will be parking there but because I love the area so much, I have decided to take my chances. Realtors can save you some time, let them hunt while you do your own hunting. If they are from the area they already know where to begin to look. And just FYI Texas is a great place to start this journey!! I grew up in SW Louisiana and have spent lots of time there. I don’t think you need to go to the extreme and go too far into west Texas.Most summers we are not here. This past summer, we came back for a few weeks before going east to visit family. While here we had to run the generator to keep the ACs going.
I am exploring the covered RV port (garage). My issue is that it will cover my solar panels on the rig. If we build the RV port, I am thinking we will put a larger array (~2500 watts) of panels on the RV port and use MC4 connectors to “plug” into the existing combiner box on the roof of the RV. That will eliminate the need for a whole new system (charge controller, inverter, etc.). In the future, when we can afford it, we would like to get LifePO4 batteries.
So I bought a 1 acre property in an unincorporated ” area ” near a desert
town in Southern California. Great deal with 2 Br house. Peaceful? Nope,
my neighbors had roosters that screamed all morning. One guy lived in a trailer and
played LOUD music right next to my property. There were no city ordinences, so I couldn’t complain. The sheriff visited and monitored the situation, but little
was done. My other neighbor was ” fixing ” a run down shack and living in a giant RV near my home, which lowered my property values. He never really worked on the shack, just lived in his RV. I guess he knew he could skirt the law this way. There are also loud barking, mangy type dogs that live in these areas, and once again, no city ordinences to limit this, so they can bark forever. Be prepared for loud dune buggies and motorcycles too. I would recommend going for a larger parcel like 10 acres to help resolve these issues. Additional people add trailers to these type of 1 acre semi-rural neighborhoods, and live there for free, right next to your property. Once again, it pulls down real estate values. They don’t want to pay for an RV Park. Eventually the County will give them a notice, if you are persistent. Bottom line, I sold the house/land and moved on with my life. PS, if there is crime, it takes the sheriff a while to get there, I kept protection just in case.This is the perspective of someone who didn’t have an RV, but I did put a small tiny house on my land and used it as an art studio. RVs can work if done discreetly, without blasting music…but I found most of my neighbors didn’t care.
I had thought about this back in the early 2000’s before I retired. While talking about moving where there was no snow (just after a blizzard) one of the guys who used to live in NM talked about the weather out there. Now I was thinking northern NM he said they get snow would have to be farther south, so while talking I started looking on Ebay for property. After a few days I was the new owner of 2 building lots south of Deming,NM with electric on the pole across the street. Now the reason I bought this was both lots where adjoining so 1ac the lots allowed camping for 50 weeks of the year, water for a well was stated to be as low as 50ft and septic as also easy to do.Now I also looked at buying land in AZ there was 5 lots with no power so I called the electric co. and she was very nice and explained that to run power to those lots would cost about 25K not that they where way out there less than a mile if I remember. It was they have to follow where the roads would be and every corner is another pole even though they can rum 300ft between poles so by the time you got to the lot it was 25k. But there was caveat to this for 20 years anyone who tapped into the line would have to pay half of the cost, she said once you run electric the lots tend to sell along it and after 20years or less you will more than likely have paid zero. Just off the cuff I suggested the trick would be to buy all the lots along the the power line before installing it:)
In Park county Wyoming. I bought 18 acres of land in Clark (an unincorporated location. I build a pole barn. The building permit was $25. I got a street address for $150. I then moved in to the barn with a camper and started living full time. I got a well drilled and power added to the building. The electrical required a $50 permit from the state. The well permit from the state was $150. Thee were no inspections. I have done all of the building and wiring in the building since my self. I plan to add solar in the future by getting solar panels and using micro-inverters and wiring them into the electrical system my self. I use a composting toilet and just take care of everything on my land. No cost for a septic system which would also require a permit from the state and inspections. I was lucky in that my building was very close to a power pole so that getting power was not a problem.
HI, So I’m new to watching Pippi but VERY impressed with her. I follow other youtube RV nomads learning and watching what the lifestyle entails. THIS topic seems to be coming and evolving into a category of importance ALL by itself.
Here’s MY spitball of thought… I own a 4 bedroom house on (5) acres of land in CENTRAL rural NH. It has well water and 16kw backup propane generator with 300 gal. propane tank. I was thinking of setting up (5-8) parking SLOTS in the woods like a camping site… Put 50 amp power to each site. Install a hookup to my current septic system etc. Now look for 4 to 7 of my best RV friends or PARTNERS to trade use on their property in other regions across the country… Like RV time share community, but small scale with 5 to 8 people. Besides use of my property, I would pitch in to develop property in other areas. Anyway just throwing it out there, because I will be looking in FL. and Southwest for winters, and back up to NH. for Summers and Fall. So basically RV base camps in different regions owned by a small group of people….Then there could be MANY groups all over the country… OH well…I will be looking soon… GL everyone!I wanted property in Florida. I looked for a few months in late 2018 and finally found 1.2 acres for what I thought was a good deal in Florida. It’s in Crestview, in the Pan Handle, but about a 45 minute drive to the beach in Fort Walton. It is outside of an incorporated area (outside city limits), but still within walking distance of Publix and some restaurants and a movie theater. The county will not allow you to live in RVs. They’re trying to bolster their expensive property values and I suppose there are concerns about hurricanes, even 30 miles inland. I plan to landscape the property for maximum privacy and build a garage for my Promaster van camper. That will get around RV living restrictions. I’ll position the garage on the lot where someone could build a house later, but I doubt I will ever build a normal home there. In Florida, property taxes are high, so the less you can build, the better. Power is adjacent the the property. All they have to do it install a transformer on the nearby pole and run about 50 feet of line to the property’s pole. I have yet to get that done. Water is available, but the water company wants $2,500 to set a meter. You don’t have to drill very deep in Florida to hit fresh water. I may consider a well instead because I don’t want a water bill. I will need a septic system to go with the bathroom in the garage. So, all in, it won’t be inexpensive. The most critical thing the property needs right now is a gravel drive since it is mostly a mix of sand and clay soil. I’m afraid to drive my van on the property until I get the drive done.
You may want to check out Boondockerswelcome.com.
It’s a site that puts property owners that are RV enthusiasts in touch with each other and do exactly what you are proposing.
@Pippi
Just to clarify, I said Pima county allows people to live in their RVs, but the property must be zoned for it. The acceptable zones are TH (Trailer Homesite) and RH (Rural Homestead).
A TH zone is typically your RV parks and mobile home parks. RH zone has a minimum lot area of 180,000 sq.ft. (4.13 acres) and are typically outside of the suburbs.
Today we applied for a permit to designate our RV as the primary structure on the property. Once a primary structure is built or designated you can apply for permitting of accessory structures, like a garage port for the RV (to shield it from the summer sun).
A work around the accessory structure code is to keep any structures under 200sq.ft. No permits required then. We used this loophole to build a shade structure over a connex (metal storage container) and one over our water tank. Both of those structures also act as rain water collection surfaces.
When we travelled the country and were looking at properties we had several items that were important to us.
1. We wanted to be near civilization (town or city), but not surrounded by it. Access to medical, food, and shopping/entertainment was part of that reason.
2. We had to have connectivity via cell phones.
3. No CCRs (covenants, codes or restrictions) or HOAs (Home owners association.)
4. Had to allow RVs.
5. The property had to have legal access and had to be relatively easy to get to during the entire year.
6. The state had to somewhat embrace conservative values. To us this is important because ultimately your handing over your tax dollars and want it to foster your values.
Honestly, the best “monetary value” properties we found were in the south/south east. These were the states mentioned in a post above, like the Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia…for a similar price of land out west, these states often included better natural resources like water and trees. They are also relatively low cost of living and somewhat RV friendly. But we felt that part of the country still struggles with division and didn’t really want to be entangled in it, especially when you start looking at properties in the “boonies”.
Although extremely beautiful, the west coast (Cal, Oregon, Wash) was ruled out due to mismanagement and conflicting values.
Most of the North East was ruled out due to properties not being accessible year round. Same with the beautiful central north states, like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Dakota’s.
For us that left basically the South Central part of the US. Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana.
Ruled out NM due to values, ruled out Louisiana due to divisiveness. OK didn’t really appeal to us. We looked hard in Colorado, but ultimately their water rights restrictions, cost of land, and changing values prevented us from buying there. We are lucky to have a friend that has a 35 acre ranch that we stay on during the summer.
We are Texas residents, so it was very appealing, but remote West Texas is not. If you get near a major city you can’t overcome the restrictions.
My wife and I grew up in Arizona, so we are very comfortable here also and ultimately it’s where we landed outside of Tucson. Tucson reminds us of Phoenix in the 80s. There was only 1 freeway. Today it’s a mega-metropolis. I suspect Tucson will follow in it’s footsteps and it meets all the items listed above.
Could you buy a some land and then put up a garage that you could park your RV in? You could have a concrete pad poured and then bring in your “city” water and sewer hookup to it. You could have the electric and all utilities brought in under ground.
You could put in solar un the roof. The best thing would be if the backside was facing away from the street and facing south. I’m sure you could figure out a way to bring the solar in to the garage and plug in to it. You could have water inside that you could hookup to. The sewer could be the hard part. I’m sure you could have a connection to the city sewer if you had an inside bathroom. Perhaps you could find a friendly plumber that would put in a connection that would fit you blackwater discharge system.
I would have garage doors so you could drive in park and then another set so you could just open up the second set of doors and drive out.
I’m sure you could also put in a well and septic system as well.
Just a thought.
Could you buy a some land and then put up a garage that you could park your RV in? You could have a concrete pad poured and then bring in your “city” water and sewer hookup to it. You could have the electric and all utilities brought in under ground.
You could put in solar un the roof. The best thing would be if the backside was facing away from the street and facing south. I’m sure you could figure out a way to bring the solar in to the garage and plug in to it. You could have water inside that you could hookup to. The sewer could be the hard part. I’m sure you could have a connection to the city sewer if you had an inside bathroom. Perhaps you could find a friendly plumber that would put in a connection that would fit you blackwater discharge system.
I would have garage doors so you could drive in park and then another set so you could just open up the second set of doors and drive out.
I’m sure you could also put in a well and septic system as well.
Just a thought.
Pippi,
Well, I suppose we are all tempted to find the magical formula. I actually followed your alternate path, joining the Air Force and spending 3 of those 4 years in Electronics school, then 2 years in England. It wasn’t until the fourth year back in Arizona that I started a halting entry into what would result in two degrees, one in the Arts, and one in Engineering.
So, in the end, I dId do the investment path and would share with you what took me 20 years of investing to finally realize.
Here it is: Buy 12 to 15 large cap companies and hold them for a year. The big list should be composed of the “obvious” companies that everyone should know about. The final list should be parsed from them by looking for best of breed. I use the Annualized returns for starters, seeking a 20% return on the 10 year Annualized. The more big returns, the better.
I invite you to connect on LinkedIn and I can cover it in more detail and share my spreadsheet. Search therein for Harley Jones, (the guy on the Intel CPU Design team). Send a request and I’ll approve.
See you therein.
Harley
Oh, coincidence: I’m in the Portland area.Oh, and as has been mentioned, you might look at the sheds at Home Depot. I walked around in one unit costing like $6k that was like small two story cottage! So, add a foundation, butt two of them back to back and let your genius fly. That should satisfy most of the criteria for a structure.
There’s that thoht😉
HarleyI own a three bedroom house. I have thought about putting a tiny house in the backyard and renting out 2 of the bedrooms. Although living in the backyard is not allowed as long as I retain a bedroom in the house it shouldn’t be anyone’s business how much time I spend in my “studio”. The other advantage is I still have access to my house so I can see what the renters are doing. Just not sure I want to deal with renters so I would prefer selling and finding a safe area to have my tiny house so I’m very interested in this thread.
@Charmon
Hi Charmon,
It sounds like you might have some research to share. I would be interested in your research too.
If you like, you can follow the same instructions I gave in my message to Pippi and join me on LinkedIn. See my message. Linked in offers an easier method for sharing actual documents while still maintaining some anonymity.
Request and I will approve.
Cheers,
Harley@katewels
You know, I enjoyed watching a TV couple convert hovels to riches. These were vacation rentals rather than permanent residents. Would that be a better model for a backyard rental?@Mike and Sabine
Did you use a realtor? So could you share the name? We just went to Williams and we’re thinking about that area.@Mike and Sabine
my apologies… I meant if so, would you mind sharing the realtor info… I haven’t been able to find a realtor familiar with the type of property I’m looking for, or any one willing to work with me. We are looking for land very similar to what you mentioned… Thank you!We did not use a realtor. We used a title company and surveyor. That’s all you need to buy/sell land.
The title company will ensure the property can legally be sold and that there are no claims or liens against it. The survey identifies the specific boundaries and provides details that are filed by the title company to the county property records upon sale.
Raw land is a straightforward process to buy and sell. If you don’t feel comfortable engaging the two companies mentioned above, then you need a realtor.
We found the land on our own using Zillow and Realtor.com apps.
Keep in mind all realtor transaction are overpriced. There is an expectation that offers and negotiations will take place. So without a realtor, that’s up to you to negotiate the price.
We chose not to use a realtor because we have transacted land before. Drafting warranty deeds is very simple and filing is also simple. The cost of the land was also insignificant versus the value a realtor could provide. Unlike a house, where things can be hidden behind walls (requiring inspection), land can easily be walked and historical usage can be found through local sources.
FYI, we also looked in Williams. It’s a beautiful area. Wells are cost prohibitive, so water haul or collection or co-op well are your options. Didn’t get much past that, in terms of county regs, etc.
Also, winter’s there can be very cold.
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