Unique position, and need advice, please.

[kb0zke]

It seems that Jay has a couple of problems to deal with, and they are somewhat related.

1. Something must be done about his mother's property. Her will tells you what you must do as far as distributing the value of the property. Should you have the financial resources to do so, you could simply purchase the property yourself from the estate and distribute the cash to the various other heirs. Many people have done that, either because they actually wanted the property themselves or to buy themselves some time. You may well fit into the latter category.

2. Purchasing an RV. Many people spend several years researching this before making their first purchase. Since it sounds like you aren't an experienced RV'er yet, you may want to purchase your mother's property and stay there while you do your research. Don't be in a hurry to buy something just because prices are low right now. Buying the wrong thing, even at a low price, will be expensive in the long run.

3. A home base can be a good thing. Again, if your purchase your mother's place, you will have such a home base while you learn more about the rv life. No law says that the home base you start with must be your home base for all eternity. Of course, someone will have to take care of your home base while you are out on the road, and that may influence your decision.

My suggestions are (and they are worth every penny you pay for them) are that you get some legal advice regarding settling your mother's estate. If the only beneficiaries are you and your siblings, and none of you are anxious to get it all settled, AND your attorney agrees, you may well all benefit from a bit of a delay.

Begin your research on what sort of RV you want, need, and can afford. Find out what you like and don't like. Most people want slides, but some of us don't. Get used to the idea of something towing something else. A motorhome can tow an off-road vehicle, a trailer with a couple of different vehicles, a truck, or a fuel-efficient car. Your choice. A fifth-wheel (5'er) or travel trailer will require a truck. That truck will be your daily driver. A small trailer can be pulled by most SUV-type vehicles. Join the owners' forum for any brands that interest you, and ask lots of questions here and on any other forums you join.

As you travel, check out the Escapees co-ops. Many have waiting lists, but if one seem interesting to you, you can get on the waiting list with a deposit that applies to your lease payment. Should you change your mind, that deposit is refunded. At least that's how the two that we dealt with operate. The waiting period can be as short as a few weeks to several years. Some of the Rainbow Parks have some lots that have long-term leases, and Livingston actually has an area with actual deeded lots. Lots of options with Escapees, and we're not the only such group. There are Airstream-only parks, should you purchase an Airstream.

 

[podwerkz]

There is a tiny house community in Spur Texas. Your tiny house can be very small, but it must meet certain safety criteria and be inspected, and hooked up to utilities.

Or you might be interested in the off-grid earth ship community just west of Taos New Mexico.

Pretty much anything goes. 

 

[sandsys]

There are some tiny houses built to RVIA standards so they can park in RV sites for their hookups. I wouldn't want to drive one down the road, though.

Linda

[Star Dreamer]

We have passed a Tiny Home community of about 10 or so homes in Southern Indiana and have seen some Tiny Homes on land in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota. It may be hard to find them but there are places that will allow them or basically do not have any restrictions. Some areas will allow you to build a Pole barn with a section for living quarters and a place to park your RV at inside but you will be out in the country usually.  Another option might be an RV port community like Blue Heron Resort in Alabama or some of the RV homes near Crossville, Tennessee or in Florida (but these sometimes have minimum square footage which can be quite large).

You may be best to get a Tow Vehicle that is capable of pulling  whatever trailer you might need now or in the future. We went the HDT route about 8 years ago even though we could have used a dually for our trailer at that time but the cost of the HDT was quite a bit cheaper than the dually. We have now retired and just had a custom trailer built that would have tasked a newer dually so we are glad we went the HDT route.

There are many work camping options out there assuming you like to camp. Also many volunteering options that might be of interest if you will have the flexibility to travel around.

Good luck in your search and let us know how it all works out for you.

Dave

[skater91]

I agree with folivier on the security issue. I've had my eye on property in Southern Colorado for quite a while. A property I'd seen many months ago just came back online (Zillow) with a new (bad) description. "solar system was stolen, damage to property". Not COOL! As much as I'd like to have a remote place to myself, I wouldn't feel secure in that area now, knowing that thieves have found good loot and, like wolves, will be back because they found good loot. Even people with vacation houses have to contend with all sorts of off season thieves.

[khb]

On 4/11/2020 at 6:48 PM, Jay3849 said:

Wise advice, all. Thanks....

I never expected to have my back against the wall and have so much resistance from zoning regulations, or general resistance to leaving a static address and just driving off.... It's a little unnerving, in this country, to me.

I hope nobody else has had such trouble finding straight answers to what seem simple questions... But then again, I started looking in earnest AFTER COVID-19 so I'm sure it has much to do with it.

I live in Michigan and zoning regulations are at the township level. I have not found any variation between townships on the issues of living fulltime in a motorhome on your land or living in a tiny house. Every township I have looked at have rules about the number of square feet in the dwelling.

In Texas, however, zoning regulations are at the city level, so you are most likely going to be allowed to live in a tiny house or in your motorhome outside of cities/towns. 

That was my takeaway after doing as much study as suited me..

[Kirk W]

13 minutes ago, khb said:

That was my takeaway after doing as much study as suited me..

Are you looking for something in TX?

 

[Twotoes]

solar system was stolen, damage to property". Not COOL! As much as I'd like to have a remote place to myself, I wouldn't feel secure in that area now, knowing that thieves have found good loot and, like wolves, will be back because they found good loot.

They will be back because they know that you will be replacing the stolen system with a new system ready to be stolen again. 

[Dutch_12078]

Our daughter has signs on her rural property lines that read "No Trespassing - Ammunition isn't cheap" and "No Trespassing - We're tired of digging holes"...

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Our daughter has signs on her rural property

When she is gone they may steal her signs.  😏

[Dutch_12078]

7 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

When she is gone they may steal her signs.  😏

That's certainly possible, but the signs are metal and lag screwed to trees. She also has well concealed trail cameras that have caught a few people over the past few years.

[bigjim]

Don't make them aluminum signs or it will almost be a sure thing.  Also sometimes  new good signs get stolen to sell to others or to use on their own property.  New handicap aluminum parking signs disappear in this area more than you would think. 

[Kirk W]

I have to wonder about the theft problem from rural property? I have friends and family who are rural and they tell me that there is very little problem with theft. The farm that we usually spend a week or two on each summer has a nice house, barn/shop, and several other buildings as well as some equipment that sits out. The main property sits empty most of the time and is now primarily recreation property as most of the land is leased to farmers & ranchers. The nearest neighbor is about 3/4 mile in one direction and probably 4 miles the other and it straddles the county (gravel) road. Perhaps the problem is when your rural property is near to the city as this is a Kansas county with a population of about 6k. Until a year ago we were based in rural, east TX about 20 miles from Tyler (population about 100k) and as far as we know none of the neighbors had a theft problem either and some of those were also weekend hidaways. 

[Randyretired]

We have owned rural property for many years, even decades.  We have had very few problems even when left vacant for periods of time.  Like anywhere there are a few problems occasionally but not often.  In 1999 someone broke into my shed and stole the electronics from my boat while we were in Alaska all summer.  In the 80's I had to chase some kids off that had cut a path through a corner of our land to race dirt bikes.  We don't leave things out and lock things up when we leave but if we are around we rarely lock anything and often leave the keys in cars and equipment.  We have more problems with animals like a bear that broke into a shed but even that is rare.  The rural areas we have are not immune to problems but it isn't common.

[bigjim]

7 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Perhaps the problem is when your rural property is near to the city

That can be a major factor also being fairly near an interstate highway.  Sometime some pretty rural areas can have even a small number of drug addicted folks.   It is not everywhere all the time but sometimes you are just unlucky to end up at the wrong spot.  In 1975 just out of active duty with the AF I fell into a chance to park my mobile home about 1 1/2 miles off I20/Hwy 80 near Forney, Tx.  (now just Hwy 80)  It wasn't horrible but we had issues in the area as we were only about 25 miles from downtown Dallas.  I had friends that lived in rural area  south , southwest, northeast and north of Dallas and it happened to some degree in those like areas.  I knew of a few more rural areas that were near small towns that sometimes had the some locals with drug or alcohol issues.   In 1970 I accidentaly discovered some drug activity and reported it but ended up moving away to avoid becoming a target. That was Palestine TX.

My middle daughter ended up helping catch and break up a small meth ring in a small town a little north of Memphis, Tn.about 15 years ago.  When people are addicted to anything even other stuff than drugs they will commit crime to feed their needs or wants.  Once they understand that often rural areas are easy targets they will concentrate on them if they can get to them.  On one of  the break in's near Forney they took my kids piggy banks and a black and white tv that only got 2 stations.  They did more damage getting in than what they took.

I took 2 informal reports at a coffee shop this morning of vehicle break ins in the picnic areas about 15 miles out of Albuquerque.  I made sure they had reported it formally.  The odds of catching them are pretty slim and I may stand a better chance than the LEO's since they are spread so thin and I am  in  unmarked POV.   I have done it before here.  I won't confront them but will get descriptions, license tag no's and maybe vehicle photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[jules2go]

I love the idea of having a tiny home on piece of land and have my camper to travel in. It's still on my short list of future plans. Hope you find what you're looking for and that it comes together for you soon!

 

Julia

[kb0zke]

When we moved to the Ozarks in 1998 we looked at several properties. One place looked really good to us, until we drove farther down the road. The road ended in a very run-down "dump" of a couple of old buildings, a few old campers, and a couple of old mobile homes. There were maybe 10-12 dwelling units there. The only way in or out of that place was past the property we were looking at. Remember, this was 1998, and Y2K was a big thing. We decided to pass on that place.

We bought our Foretravel in 2013, went full-time in 2014, sold the farm in 2015, and never looked back. We traveled without any sort of home base for several years while we decided what we wanted in such a place. We visited a couple of Escapees co-ops, liked what we saw, put our names on the waiting list at one. Went to the other one and found the ideal lot had just become available, so we took it and got our deposit back from the other co-op.

I would strongly second the idea of buying the RV fairly soon and travel some as you consider what you might want for a home base. Don't just think about today - think about five or ten years down the line. What medical care might you need? Is it available fairly close to where you are looking? Where are family members? If they come to visit, where can they stay?

Our co-op doesn't really like overnight guests, and our rv is small enough that one person is about the limit (except for two small grandsons, but they won't stay small), but there are nice hotels close by. There are also hospitals close, too.