plan to go fulltiming, have lots and lots of ?????????.

Hi, new to forum.  I plan to live full time in a fifth wheel and have lots of ??.  Plan is to buy a piece of land and live in the rv. As I add improvements such as power, water as I can afford them. 

First ? is:  Would it be better to buy a old unit and completely renovate it.  Or can I buy a unit from the manufacturer with out all the furniture.  I have collected some great furniture and do not want to part with it.  I don't need or want all the builtins that many units come with.  What are the best brands for full time living. What are the different names used for winter packages and are the packages different in each brand. 

Second ?.  Where can I find Repo units for sale.  Has anyone had any experience with Auctions.  Are they a good place to buy.  I don't want to spend alot of money on a unit.  But need to get something thats going to be comforable to live in. 

Welcome to the forum. If you are going to full-time it then a fifth wheel is not a good option. You need a class A. You need a dealers license to participate in a repo auction. There are many incredible deals to be had right now especially on eBay. I doubt you can buy a unit without furniture and appliances.

Tom,

Since sara is planning to stay in one place (on a lot), there's no reason to buy a motorized RV. A fifthwheel would be a good option.

If you are going to live in the RV on a lot before putting in the utilities, how are you going to get power and water to the RV and how will you empty the holding tanks?

As for furniture, you may find that regular household furniture won't fit well in an RV.  I would suggest buying a used unit to minimize your investment to get acquainted with the RV full time life style and after a year or so you'll have a much better idea of what you really want to live in.

The biggest advantage of the full time RV life is the ability to move around the country, not just park it in one place.  Then you would be better served with a mobile or manufactured home.

Ned is right.  If you buy a 5th wheel or travel trailer, you would just have to adapt an 8 foot wide box for permanent siting.  With a mobile home or park model, it comes pre-adapted.

What Ned and Carl say is real.  If you are going to sit in one place get a park model....
But if you are intent on an RV, best be sure you CAN live in one permanently where you buy your piece of land.  In our county in AZ, you can live in your RV for 3 years, while you build a house.  You can not live in one indefinitely. 

Get the zoning laws where you intend to buy and find out all the nuances from your town/county zoning person.  Tell them up front your intentions, let them give you the answers you may or may not want to hear. 

Daisy

You say you want to go fulltiming, but I'm not at all sure your definition is the same as ours.  We generally mean we want a motorhome or trailer of some kind and go traveling around the country or back and forth as snowbirds (get out of the snow) or sunbirds (get out of the summer heat).

It seems like you're talking about living in a specific place all the time and staying there rather than moving around.  If we're interpreting this correctly, then you really don't need anything with wheels.  What's the point of that if you're not planning to use them?  I agree with the others that what you're probably talking about is a either a mobile home or a park model.  These are not RVs like we talk about because they're not meant to move around.  They're designed to stay in one place.  They require park facilities to function. They lack waste holding tanks and dual-voltage appliances, and they require being plugged into water, sewage, and electrical facilities.  Park models are more like a smaller version of a mobile home than an RV, both in appearance and function.  Sometimes you find them in sections of RV parks, often used as rentals by the owner of the park.

You might check our Library for a glossary of types of RVs.  Also, you might find the following glossary helpful:  http://www.myrvlink.com/RVGlossary.aspx

By the way, a mobile home is single family dwelling unit, constructed on an I-beam, prefabricated and designed to be transported on its own wheels, a flat bed, trailer or on detachable wheels.  Some are known as double-wide because of their double width, often with added porches.  These are what you find in mobile home parks or the older designation trailer park.

Mobile homes are probably better if you want to have your own furniture.  Park models and various trailers generally have most things built in and are not as conducive to using your own furniture.

The questions raised about septic, water, and electricity are valid.  You need them before you can really live in any of the above-mentioned structures. You'll probably need permits therefore the advice to check out the zoning first is very important.  Also, you didn't say where you want to do this.  If you'll be in very cold or very hot weather, things like insulation and air conditioning are very important.

ArdraF

Ardra,

We also have an excellent Glossary of RV Terms in our library that Don Jordan created.

Thanks for clarifying that Tom.  I kinda mentioned it but not too clearly!  What can I say except I was in a hurry.

ArdraF

Thanks for all the advise. 

I don't think a park model or a mobile home will work.  Neither of them have holding tanks and they require hookups.  The reason I am going with a rv is for the self containment it has.  My plan so far. Is to take the rv to either a public dump or a park and dump the tanks and fill up on water.  It will be just me and my pets.  So I hope to only have to do that every month.  Power will be supplied by combination of solar and wind with propane for heat.  That way I can slowly add the utility to the property.  Your right about the ordnance some county's have.  I will have to check on that before I decide where I'm going to move.  I am looking at moving either to southwestern Oregon or the north, south border of Carolina.  I hope I have answered all  your questions.

Thanks for the tip about Ebay.  There were a lot of cheap RVs for sale.  If anyone has any experience Buying a trailer on Ebay please tell me about it.  I have a lot of ???? about some of the units I saw.  Is there a service I could hire to inspect an rv?  Something like a homeinspection.  A lot of the "good bargins"  were either salvaged titled, damaged in transit or repos.  All said sold "AS IS".  Can I find out what damage these trailers have received by using the vin#?  Also many of the sellers didn't know if the unit they were selling had the Four Seasons package or not.  Can I take the model# to the manufacturer's web site and find out all the options that rv has?  I live in Loveland, Co.  Unfortunately most of the units for sale were on the east coast.  I talked to a woman I work with.  Who used to deliver car for a living.  She said, I would be looking to pay about 2,000 for delivery of a 30+ foot fifthwheel from the east coast.  Dose that sound about right in price. 

THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO.
Sarah

Forgot to add.  I don't think I will have a lot of trouble get my furniture threw the door.  All but loveseat comes apart with screws.  I am hoping they will all go threw with out a problem. I know there is a a lot of "I hope" in that idea.
Thanks again.
Sarah

Neither of them have holding tanks and they require hookups.  The reason I am going with a rv is for the self containment it has.  My plan so far. Is to take the rv to either a public dump or a park and dump the tanks and fill up on water.  It will be just me and my pets.  So I hope to only have to do that every month.

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Lots of luck.  We have a 40 gal. black tank and a 35 gallon grey tank.  The fresh water tank is 40 gallons.  Two of us can run about 5-6 days on the black tank and 3-4 days on the grey tank and then we need to dump.  We generally use the campground facilities for showers.

Even a large RV won't have the water capacity to do what you want (one month between fills & dumps). You might make two weeks if you are careful and have very large tanks (about 100 gal of fresh water and 100+ combined volume for black 7 gray water)

Hi, to the o.p., did you ever decide on anything?  I realize this thread is a bit old, but it was interesting and I was curious about how it worked out for you.

You may have to modify an existing RV to suit your purposes. While camping, It takes me almost a month to filll my black tank, as it is just me. You can purchase additional fresh water containers to replenish your on-board tank. You may be able to get a month between dumps that way.

I like the idea of solar and wind power, but these tend to be expensive.

When looking at an older used unit, the biggest thing for me is water-tight integrity. If you can see water stains inside on the (usually white) roof, walk the other way. Soft floors or drip marks around windows the same... just not worth it. I reccomend you take a look at what you are buying. You can always visit a local campground and speak to the manager about requirements for winter camping in your area.

The "4 seasons" packages vary from manufacturer to manufactuerer. Some call an enlosed underbelly a 4 seasons package, while others have fully insulated, enclosed underbellies, with heated tanks, heated piping, ducted heat (to keep the underbelly warm), and insulation on the slide-outs. It can vary by region, also. A "4-seasons" camper in texas may not have the r-factor of insulation you might find in a unit sold as 4-seasons in the north east.

I don't reccomend bidding on ebay unless there is a "right of refusal" in the purchase agreement, where if you go to pick it up and it is a piece of poo or has been misrepresented, you can get rid of it.