Permanent living rv parks

[smileytaraj]

My husband and I have been on the road fulltiming for a little over 5 years. Last February while we were in Orange Beach Alabama he had a serious medical emergency which put him in the critical care unit. We love this lifestyle but we are wanting a place to call home and still travel but if something should come up with either of us we want a place to go. We definitely do not want a stick and bricks ever again. Housing costs are too much. So does anyone know really nice rv park in either Texas or Florida to lease a rv lot that's roomy for our forever home. Our plan is to purchase a larger 5th wheel with more comforts of home with washer dryer pantry ect. We fulltime in a 30 ft now. Then get a lot smaller unit to travel. I know this is long but I've been looking for the past year and am just lost on what area. Also close to paved bike paths is what we are looking for also. Thanks especially if you read this long post. Lol!!
Tara

 

[Knightclimber]

Can’t remember the names and specifics, but I have seen posts about several places in Texas with permanent sites. Might be for over 55 only, not sure. Try a google search for Texas RV communities or whatever state you want to settle in.

 

[Oldgator73]

There are many places you can purchase an RV site with power, water and dump. We bought a 10 acre lot with two creeks in Virginia for less than $50k. We had electric installed and ended up giving it to our son.

 

[Rene T]

Welcome to the forum.
The CG we go to in FL for the winter is located in Lakeland FL. It has 500 sites. 1/2 of them are transients sites and the remaining ones are rv’s that are permanently parked. Some are quite old but are fixed up real nice. I’ve attached a couple pictures of mine. We purchased ours 4 years ago and can stay in it from October 1st to May 1st. 7 months. My monthly rent for the site is $496.00. That covers cable rv, water and grass mowing. We pay our own electricity and for us, it runs about $50.00 a month.
There is another section in this park which has double wide mobile homes. Maybe 50 homes. Occasionally one will come up for sale. You can stay in those all year.
The park has many amenities such as two very large heated pools, many activities like pickle ball, shuffleboard, bocci, card games at night, horseshoes and darts to name a few. They have sewing groups, basket making and occasionally bus trips to different events.
They have trails out through the woods for walking, bicycling or golf cart riding. Outside the park there is an old railroad bed owned by the city which is paved and goes to the next town about 7.5 miles away. That is only for walking and bicycling.
They have 3 nine hole golf courses attached to the CG.
They have some of the best doctors in the country. One of the hospitals at one time was rated as having the largest ER in the country. Now it is in 2nd place. There are building another hospital right outside the back gate to the CG which will make it nice in an emergency.
We’ve been going there since 2013 and really like it.

 

[LarsMac]

Here is a website that you might find useful.

https://rvproperty.com/rv-lots/rv-lots-for-sale/

 

[markandkim]

There are tons of parks in the RGV that cater to this type of traveler. Great home base. Have better winter weather than FL or AZ in my opinion. We love it down there and cant wait to return this winter.
But you could live there year round.

 

[johnhicks]

Buy an ERPU at Escapees Rainbow Plantation, Summerdale, or buy into one of the Escapees co-op parks.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Many, many such places, predominantly in Florida, the GA/SC coast, southern AL, south Texas, Arizona & New Mexico. Most are upscale but there are some more moderately priced too. Depends on what you like for amenities and location. In most such you buy your site but pay an annual maintenance fee for the common areas and services, much like a condo. Some are allow park models and some are strictly for RVs, even if they never move. Google will find them for you (try 'ownership RV parks'), but here are a few examples

https://www.tgoresort.com/properties/

https://www.desertspringsranch.com/

https://grandrivierarvresort.com/

 

[smileytaraj]

Welcome to the forum.
The CG we go to in FL for the winter is located in Lakeland FL. It has 500 sites. 1/2 of them are transients sites and the remaining ones are rv’s that are permanently parked. Some are quite old but are fixed up real nice. I’ve attached a couple pictures of mine. We purchased ours 4 years ago and can stay in it from October 1st to May 1st. 7 months. My monthly rent for the site is $496.00. That covers cable rv, water and grass mowing. We pay our own electricity and for us, it runs about $50.00 a month.
There is another section in this park which has double wide mobile homes. Maybe 50 homes. Occasionally one will come up for sale. You can stay in those all year.
The park has many amenities such as two very large heated pools, many activities like pickle ball, shuffleboard, bocci, card games at night, horseshoes and darts to name a few. They have sewing groups, basket making and occasionally bus trips to different events.
They have trails out through the woods for walking, bicycling or golf cart riding. Outside the park there is an old railroad bed owned by the city which is paved and goes to the next town about 7.5 miles away. That is only for walking and bicycling.
They have 3 nine hole golf courses attached to the CG.
They have some of the best doctors in the country. One of the hospitals at one time was rated as having the largest ER in the country. Now it is in 2nd place. There are building another hospital right outside the back gate to the CG which will make it nice in an emergency.
We’ve been going there since 2013 and really like it.

Very nice. We really want an rv site we can live at permanently. But we will definitely look in to this one. Thank you.

 

[smileytaraj]

Many, many such places, predominantly in Florida, the GA/SC coast, southern AL, south Texas, Arizona & New Mexico. Most are upscale but there are some more moderately priced too. Depends on what you like for amenities and location. In most such you buy your site but pay an annual maintenance fee for the common areas and services, much like a condo. Some are allow park models and some are strictly for RVs, even if they never move. Google will find them for you (try 'ownership RV parks'), but here are a few examples

https://www.tgoresort.com/properties/

https://www.desertspringsranch.com/

https://grandrivierarvresort.com/

Thank you for the info. We will look into them. We don't care about all the extras. To us the most important is safe area, well kept park and nice people. We do like bike trails hiking and kayaking. And if course close to great medical care.

 

[smileytaraj]

Can’t remember the names and specifics, but I have seen posts about several places in Texas with permanent sites. Might be for over 55 only, not sure. Try a google search for Texas RV communities or whatever state you want to settle in.

Thank you! 55 + is fine with us. We have looked into Retama village. But at the time only rentals no lots available to buy. With the border problem going on now not quite sure how safe areas that close to borders are.

 

[Kirk]

But at the time only rentals no lots available to buy.

You might consider leasing a lot while you wait for a sale to become available. Another option if you are a member of the Escapees RV Club would be to get into one of their co-op parks but most of them have a waiting list. Texas is probably less expensive than Florida but in either place rental lots will be easier to find and purchsed lots will be fairly expensive.

 

[smileytaraj]

You might consider leasing a lot while you wait for a sale to become available. Another option if you are a member of the Escapees RV Club would be to get into one of their co-op parks but most of them have a waiting list. Texas is probably less expensive than Florida but in either place rental lots will be easier to find and purchsed lots will be fairly expensive.

Yes we would prefer to rent. Prices for lots are crazy!!

 

[JudyJB]

Instead of buying a big 5th wheel, you might want to consider a park model. These are smaller than the usual double-wide mobile/manufactured homes, but they have a lot more insulation and are intended to be set up permanently on a site, so they have regular mobile home connections instead of tanks you have to empty.

 

[Oldgator73]

Instead of buying a big 5th wheel, you might want to consider a park model. These are smaller than the usual double-wide mobile/manufactured homes, but they have a lot more insulation and are intended to be set up permanently on a site, so they have regular mobile home connections instead of tanks you have to empty.

Check the rules for park models in the state you want live. We purchased a park model log cabin and had it delivered to our property in Virginia. We discovered after the fact that Virginia considers park models single wide mobile homes and as such must be inspected the same as a single wide MH.

 

[smileytaraj]

Instead of buying a big 5th wheel, you might want to consider a park model. These are smaller than the usual double-wide mobile/manufactured homes, but they have a lot more insulation and are intended to be set up permanently on a site, so they have regular mobile home connections instead of tanks you have to empty.

We have considered these but not much sleeping room for guests. And some places won't let you live there permanently. Our perfect solution would be to find a piece of land but they are usually too far in the country. Thank you for your info. We weren't even thinking about finding anything till my husband's medical emergency and now it's like we really do need to find a home base. Thanks again.

 

[smileytaraj]

Check the rules for park models in the state you want live. We purchased a park model log cabin and had it delivered to our property in Virginia. We discovered after the fact that Virginia considers park models single wide mobile homes and as such must be inspected the same as a single wide MH.

That was unfortunate. So many rules out there. Hopefully it's all good now.

 

[Oldgator73]

That was unfortunate. So many rules out there. Hopefully it's all good now.

We gave the property and cabin to our son. He has some lingering problems from deployments to Iraq/Afghanistan. We had temporary power installed and he is finally getting permanent power in a couple of weeks. There’s no sewer or water but he uses the 5 gallon bucket method for a toilet and carries water from the creek for baths and dish washing.

 

[smileytaraj]

That's nice thst you gave it to your son. We thank your son for his service.

 

[RayIN]

If one of you are retired or disabled military you might take a look at the Military retirement homes. There is one in Gulfport MS(450 sf) and one in Washington DC, but the DC apartments are very small (280 sf).