There’s a big difference between RVs and your home. Your home is rather difficult to move without considerable expense. Your RV can go many places and “live” most anywhere.
The ability to live in an RV does depend on where you are. Some states and places might have restrictions about living full time in an RV. You should know about a few points we’ll suggest below in regards to not wanting to live in places.
RV parks generally allow people to live and park full time year round. It’s possible in some states to live in an RV outside of a park so long as you follow guidelines. We’ll learn about which states are best for RV parkers too.
Living in RV parks year round
RV parks are amongst the most hospitable places to go for an RV enthusiast. In addition to having waste receptacles for your tanks, and cable hookups for entertainment, some allow you to live there full time for a while.
Note that this is not true for all RV parks. You should contact an RV park ahead to see how long they offer occupancy for. Some are also regulated by the local government and don’t let people stay permanently.
Living with your RV in an RV park can otherwise be beneficial. RVs are cheaper to maintain then homes, and you can leave when you want to. In many cases, RV parks will also let you bring an additional vehicle if you want to save some gas or drive something more fun.
RV parks can have leases, but talking directly to the RV park can clarify what you want and what they offer. Whether you have a lease or not, the lease is generally cheaper than renting an apartment or house.
Mini vacations
Having RV park flexibility means you could leave the RV park and go somewhere, if you’d like Did you find another place you’d like to stay for a night or a week? Go for it!
Find a good RV park in the general area of some attractions you’d like to visit. You can take small vacations without pushing it too much on driving while having many of the amenities of home. You’ll save money on hotel room costs too.
RV parks are in part designed to be a landing place for local travelers and are definitely equipped to help you.
Where can I live permanently?
Some people wish to live permanently in their RV. RVs have some nice advantages over traditional homes or apartments.
RVs have regular, but less intensive maintenance. No snow to blog. In many cases, no lawn to mow.
Some states are more RV friendly than others. We say this both in the sense of having a large vehicle motoring around, and for a variety of reasons including:
- Paying income tax
- Having health insurance options
- Making it easy to get mail or communicate
- Having friendly business regulations if you own a business on the road
Many states like Texas, Florida, and South Dakota combine these pretty well. They offer reasonable costs of living, don’t pay much if any income tax, and have generally friendly business regulations that could be worth traveling for.
If you also need to get mail on the road, they deliver to more places. The biggest issue in some states is that mail can be hard to get in commercially zoned places and require a permanent residential address. This isn’t as true in Texas, Florida, and South Dakota.
Getting mail on the road is especially important if any part of your business requires paper contracts. Otherwise, finding a state with good satellite Internet is probably more important.
Check local laws and regulations. These do change from time to time and you’ll want to know before going and parking your RV in a state where legislation is pending.
Can I just park my RV and live?
Generally, no. You can’t park your RV in private property without permission. There are some states in which you can live temporarily at state and county parks though.
You might find it easiest to park at a private RV park because you have ready access to amenities. Another easy option is to contact a business or place ahead to see if you can park an RV, and for how long. The worst thing you can do here is to show up and park your RV some place and get kicked out.
Generally, RV drivers tend to go to the south and west in search of friendly weather.
Where are the worst places to live in an RV?
Friendly weather and other factors like mail forwarding, taxes, and insurance aren’t really helpful in places on the west coast like California. While beautiful, the state also has some heavier restrictions on where to park and how much RV living will cost. The state also prohibits vehicles over 40 feet long from traveling on many roads. Good luck navigating that!
New York does not allow motor homes on the longest and busiest roadway in the state. Gas prices are also rather high compared to the rest of the country.
Conclusion
Living in an RV an be a lot of fun. You’ll need to do a bit of planning to ensure that your RV living situation is what you expect. You can save some serious money by finding the right states to live in – which can be used to do something else fun.
Doing some research can be enormously helpful. You can better understand what places offer the type of living you are seeking. You’ll also learn what types of arrangements are possible – you might learn something unexpected too.
