Looking for tips on how to find land to park/live in 5th wheel

[Bungalow On Wheels]

Hello,

My husband and I are new to RVing. We have a 1997 Alfa Ideal 5th Wheel. My husband has a job opportunity in the Seattle/Tacoma area and we are looking to move there. This will be our first living site in the 5th wheel. We have never looked for a place to park/live before. We are country folk and would prefer to park on land or at least a privately owned lot instead of an RV park. Besides I have heard that RV parks don't like to see any rigs older than 10 years.

We are planning to park our 5th whell, a cargo trailer, and we drive a pickup (to pull the 5th wheel) and a small car. That seems like a lot to be looking to park at an RV park anyways.

So, my question is, does anyone have tips on how to go about searching for a place to park in a new area? I know some RV parks are open to older rigs and that might end up being our only option but I don't know how to go about searching for RV parks either. I'm curious what to look for as well...what is a "good deal"? What are the normal things to be included with rent?

Thanks for any info/thoughts/ideas. We are very new to all of this so anything would be helpful!

Thanks so much!

Suzanne

 

[halfwright]

My thought would be go there,  park in a RV park and get to know the area. Here is a link to parks in the area. Then, I would start a earch for a place I wanted to move to. Run an ad on craiglists looking for a place to park. Talk to realtors. It would be hard to find a spot that you know would work from a distance.

http://www.rvparking.com/search/custom/%2A%3A%2A?qt=geo&lat=47.57527&long=-122.100484&radius=50&str=seattle

 

[Trailer traveler]

I know nothing of the area you are talking about, but in many areas of the country for the amount of items you are talking about, a mobile home park that permits RVs might be an option. If you are looking to purchase a lot and develop an RV site, you need to check the state and local land use laws very carefully to make sure that they will allow an RV as a residence. RVs do not meet the same building codes as manufactured housing and some communities will not allow the use of RVs as a permanent residence other than in an RV park. If you decide to develop an RV pad on some one else's property, you/they will still need to make sure that the zoning and other land use regulations allow it.

 

[Joezeppy]

...I have heard that RV parks don't like to see any rigs older than 10 years.

...I know some RV parks are open to older rigs...

To put some of your worries at ease, it's actually a relative few parks that have a 10-year rule. There have been several discussions here about it and for the most part even the most seasoned travelers & full timers have only run into them a handfull of times.

 

[donn]

To find land you can live in your RV on in the Sea-Tac area your husband is going to have to drive at least an hour and a half each way.  The traffic between Olympia and Everett is horrendous to say the least.  And property is simply not available until you get about a hundred miles out.  Am I being a nay sayer?  It is because I have spent 6 or more hours trying to get through Seattle traffic on a Friday night.  I have over the years found that the best time to traverse Seattle traffic is between 1 and 3 in the morning.
So, unless your husbands job is going to pay a LOT of money I would stay away or plan to store your stuff and rent an apartment.

 

[Bungalow On Wheels]

Thanks for the link halfwright. That was really helpful, really appreciate it. You're probably right, we might have to start out in a park. Looks like some good options out there.

Thanks Trailer Traveler for the warning about the land use laws. Good to know! And I'm glad to know that many parks don't mind the older rigs. When I was looking through rvparking.com I noticed that very few had age restrictions.

Thankfully my husbands job is closer to Tacoma than Seattle so hopefully he won't have to mess with Seattle traffic Donn. That's a good point though, commuting a long ways is never fun!

 

[donn]

Based on that, then start searching up around Enumclaw for land.  At least that is only about 30 minutes from Tacoma.  But still be aware Tacoma traffic is still I5 N/S and a few secondary roads east/west.  Plus you have the huge military base JB Lewis/McCord south of town.  So all of those people are also looking for places to live.

 

[Magicshuman]

In my opinion, any park with a "10 yr rule" would most likely be too expensive to full time anyway.  If they have a 10yr rule, they may also have a "class A only" rule- which would stop you 5th wheel anyway.  As far as "land", you have to check with the township the land is in.  I have a friend that bought a 10ac plot and parked his RV there thinking he could live in it while his stick build was put up.  He got a rude awaking when the township police issued him a ticket.  They told him he could park the rv there, but could not stay in it over night.  He found a small rv park that is a little dated and a little run down that allows him to stay with his truck and a motorcycle trailer for $350/mo plus electric. (only 30a)  They also let him do odd jobs fixing stuff up and credit the time toward his lot rent.  So far the only month he paid for was the first month as they always have more then 35 hours of work for him.

 

[Bungalow On Wheels]

That would stink to have someone come give you a ticket for what you're doing on your own land! I will be sure to check the land laws when we get to that point. That's pretty cool that the RV park let him do some work to pay for part or all of his rent though.

 

[PatrioticStabilist]

I'm not saying we won't, but so far I have never had anyone ask me the age of our motorhome and its a 1992.  I think its more condition then age to be honest.  Time will tell.

 

[Magicshuman]

It always makes me wonder if we really do "Own" our land.  I got a $200 ticket because I had a bunch of guys come over and play paintball every weekend.  I had 41ac, and I still think it was total BS.  I ended up applying for (and getting) a "special use" permit for my land so I could have guys over to play.  The guy around the corner from me build a baseball field and had kids out there 3 or 4 times a week, and HE didn't get a ticket.  I also had to put up a privacy fence to "hide" my camper or risk getting a ticket.  I was across from state land, next to 540 ac of farm land, backed up to 640ac of wooded private land and my nearest neighbor was more than 1/2 mile away.  I lived there for 40 years.

 

[Lou Schneider]

A few years ago WA state shut down a guy who had a private miniature riding railroad on his rural property, and occasionally he had a few friends over to ride it and work on the tracks.  The state ruled he was running an amusement park without the necessary permits.  Wish I could find a link to it right now.

 

[SmokerBill]

Some mobile home parks have sections for RVs. I stayed at a place called Bowman-Hilton mobile home park in Puyallup, WA for a few months. It's very close to Tacoma. Month to month rate was $450, but if you committed to a year contract there was a special rate of $299 per month for the first year. Either way, electric is metered and charged separately. Water and sewer hookup included. Cable hookup available, buy you need to set up the service with the provider, and you'd pay for that too.

There were some pretty old rigs there, so age isn't an issue.

 

[Bungalow On Wheels]

Thanks for the info Bill. I'll look into that park. Good to know about a park someone lived in and was happy with. Thanks!

 

[SmokerBill]

If you like to fish, the Puyallup river is a just short walk from the RV area. There's also a swimming pool, clubhouse, bathrooms and laundry on site. Management was very friendly, too.