Buy vs Rent RV lots

[Gary & Misty]

How many of you own your lot? Is it a spot you winter on...3-5 months, or is it something you spend most of the year on?

Who rents a spot? Do you go back to the same place(s) or do you winter in different places each year?

We are to a point we can be "snow birds" next winter and starting to look at different ways. Probably looking at Phoenix area, Rio Grande Valley in TX, or central/south FL.

[RetiredFifthWheeler]

Ruth and I bought a spot in December in a brand new resort in Fort Myers, Florida. (Cypress Trail RV Resort) The number one amenity is the weather, lol. Our financial advisor suggested that if you see yourself snowbirding for at least 10 years than buying a spot can make sense.

[snoking]

How many of you own your lot? Is it a spot you winter on...3-5 months, or is it something you spend most of the year on?

Who rents a spot? Do you go back to the same place(s) or do you winter in different places each year?

We are to a point we can be "snow birds" next winter and starting to look at different ways. Probably looking at Phoenix area, Rio Grande Valley in TX, or central/south FL.

You may want to make a trip and look at the different areas before you make a decision. You are centrally located so the SW desert or Florida are both reasonable distances to travel. Texas is the closest. Some people really like the Arizona desert and others miss the water. You have to go first figure out what is to your liking.

To Darlene and I coming from the NW, waking up each morning to clear sky's and warm weather, reasonable travel distance, plus having many friends from home in the area made us choose the East Valley of Phoenix. Palm Springs in 300 miles closer for us but way to metro!

Also some like to return each year to friends they made and others do not mind moving around a lot. What is bad is when one partner has a burr under their saddle and the other one does not! Years ago I ask my parents why Yuma? They said they went the first year and return the next 11 years to be with the friends they made.

In the desert we say old people go to Florida to die!

So go exploring before buying.

Chris

[teallen]

Agree with Chris, need to try a few places first to see what fits. We are ATV'ers so the places we look for must have plenty of trail riding in the area. This is one reason we choose not to go to Florida.

[Double D's]

Agree about Too many people in Florida! We sort of prefer scenery, instead of congested areas, for long term, but will not make any decision like that for a few years probably - Den wants to get that Diamond T finished so we can use it for our puller, so he is sort of wanting to spend next winter on THAT...... so it looks like we are not going to get away in the winter for a couple of years....

[Gary & Misty]

How many of you own your lot? Is it a spot you winter on...3-5 months, or is it something you spend most of the year on?

Who rents a spot? Do you go back to the same place(s) or do you winter in different places each year?

We are to a point we can be "snow birds" next winter and starting to look at different ways. Probably looking at Phoenix area, Rio Grande Valley in TX, or central/south FL.

You may want to make a trip and look at the different areas before you make a decision. You are centrally located so the SW desert or Florida are both reasonable distances to travel. Texas is the closest. Some people really like the Arizona desert and others miss the water. You have to go first figure out what is to your liking.

To Darlene and I coming from the NW, waking up each morning to clear sky's and warm weather, reasonable travel distance, plus having many friends from home in the area made us choose the East Valley of Phoenix. Palm Springs in 300 miles closer for us but way to metro!

Also some like to return each year to friends they made and others do not mind moving around a lot. What is bad is when one partner has a burr under their saddle and the other one does not! Years ago I ask my parents why Yuma? They said they went the first year and return the next 11 years to be with the friends they made.

In the desert we say old people go to Florida to die!

So go exploring before buying.

Chris

I see you stay in Gold Canyon, are you at Canyon Vistas or Gold Canyon RV & Golf Resort? We spent a couple of months at Mesa Regal a few years ago, but were thinking more about El Mirage or something in Surprise. We also managed a property in Tucson for 2-3 years and went to our friends house. They were living in Mesa on a golf course at the time.

From Tulsa Phoenix and central FL are almost the exact same distance so that doesn't matter. Rio Grande Valley is about 300 mi closer...no big deal.

We want to be around NASCAR and MLB spring training. AZ & FL have both...could stay in TX a couple or three months then go to either.

[Mike Clay]

Kind of hard to be around NASCAR except for a race once in a while like Texas or Phoenix. Personally I would not like to be tied to one spot. Chris is correct you come back to an area you like more for the friends you have made. We travel another 900 plus miles to come to Texas because of that but this year the weather was not so good. Phoenix stayed nice and so did parts of Florida. One nice thing is as Olbird has pointed out several times the trailer has wheels and we can move on if needed.

We like the hill country here because it is so laid back and pretty rugged. Never know what you are going to see out your window. lol Susanna can tell her critter story in another thread. I only go into the big city when we have to (San Antonio, Dallas) We now have our own doctors and such here so that is nice also. I can see if you want to go to the same location for a 10 year period then buying a lot makes sense. But in our case we will try other areas in the future.

[snoking]

I see you stay in Gold Canyon, are you at Canyon Vistas or Gold Canyon RV & Golf Resort? We spent a couple of months at Mesa Regal a few years ago, but were thinking more about El Mirage or something in Surprise. We also managed a property in Tucson for 2-3 years and went to our friends house. They were living in Mesa on a golf course at the time.

From Tulsa Phoenix and central FL are almost the exact same distance so that doesn't matter. Rio Grande Valley is about 300 mi closer...no big deal.

We want to be around NASCAR and MLB spring training. AZ & FL have both...could stay in TX a couple or three months then go to either.

We spent 5 winters at Canyon Vistas RV Resort. We are home this winter and will not be able to return until mid December 2015, after I finish running through the Yacht Club chairs. We love Canyon Vistas! It is like being out of town, but everything is close by back up Hiway 60. The air quality is much better in the East Valley vs the West Valley(Surprise). We have stayed at Sunflower in Surprise a few days at a time over the years to visit friend in the side of Phoenix. It is an older, tighter, mostly park model park.

Canyon Vista lots are 40'wide by 50' or so deep, and some of the largest around the valley. Very activity group there. RV's are still about 2/3 of the park. Those in park models mostly moved from their RV there to a park model and are still very active in park life.

Chris

[Gary & Misty]

Kind of hard to be around NASCAR except for a race once in a while like Texas or Phoenix. Personally I would not like to be tied to one spot. Chris is correct you come back to an area you like more for the friends you have made. We travel another 900 plus miles to come to Texas because of that but this year the weather was not so good. Phoenix stayed nice and so did parts of Florida. One nice thing is as Olbird has pointed out several times the trailer has wheels and we can move on if needed.

We like the hill country here because it is so laid back and pretty rugged. Never know what you are going to see out your window. lol Susanna can tell her critter story in another thread. I only go into the big city when we have to (San Antonio, Dallas) We now have our own doctors and such here so that is nice also. I can see if you want to go to the same location for a 10 year period then buying a lot makes sense. But in our case we will try other areas in the future.

We like the hill country too! When we managed retirement properties, we worked two different properties in Austin. Really enjoyed riding a motorcycle all over the hill country. I loved running down to Port Aransas for the weekend to fish. We would be there this week if it weren't for spring break. We've looked at the Rockport area, and spent last Turkey Day to a couple days before Christmas in Port A. Think we will look around Mission also.

[Gary & Misty]

Of those who didn't buy a lot, does anyone use a membership network such as Coast to Coast, RPI, Thousand Trails, Encore, etc. etc. ?

Do you like it? Do you get you money's worth from it? Are they better, quieter, or otherwise nicer than just going to a "public" campground or resort?

Now that we're retired we want to slow down and spend a week or two...month or two in places. Not just a night here and two nights there...then beat feet to get home and back to work!

[snoking]

Most of the membership people are forced to move every couple weeks yo another park due to time limits at a single park. Chris

[hydehunter]

we purchased a 1/2 acre in SD and stay from April till Nov 1st.we have a garage, rv parking pad and I built my wife a sewing /craft room,we have all the hookups.by being in SD we can travel anywere as we are in the middle of the country.in the winter we head to Nv or Az.you can still buy property in SD at a very good price we paid only 3500.00 for our land then did all the good things

[WVcampers]

We belong to Briarcliffe RV Resort in Myrtle Beach SC. This will be our 3rd year as members. The policy is 15 days in and 7 days out. If the park is not full we can stay the 7 days for $15 a night. The good thing about this membership is that there is no "lifetime" contract. If we decide that we no longer want to use it, we can sell it or they will take it back without us being responsible for further dues.

I am going to retire this year (August 27 ) so I am sure we will get to use it a lot.

[BMullins46]

Of course once you retire you can start doing a lot more traveling and not have to worry about getting back for work. Only thing that gets us is doctor appointments and now grandchild events. Don't put off until tomorrow what you want to do because tomorrow is not guarranteed to any of us. See mikes comment about one of their friends at the RV park they are in.

[snoking]

We made a month long swing through the SW to look at park options and meet up with Darlene's brother and wife. We stayed at:

Golden Village Palms in Hemet, Ca
Cocopah RV and Golf in Yuma, Az
Val Vista in Mesa, Az
Canyon Vistas in Gold Canyon, Az

We book next January - March and Canyon Vistas!!! Got a lot with our door to the South which we wanted!

So why Canyon Vistas?

Location
Friends
Size - not to big at 630 in CV + 185 in Superstition Views
RV site size larger
More RVs than Park Models - still!
Activities
RC Race Track
Friends in Mountain Brook Community across the high way.

The push to hook people into park models exist at most parks as it creates year round income for the park owner. Cal-Am even collects garbage fee is the summer months when people are gone.

Given that not many new parks are opening this creates a future problem to RVers.

Someone posted on RV.net that they were in a large Mesa park and doing fine making friends until they told people they were not returning the next year! At which point they were cast aside a bit!

We won over Darlene's SIL to want to return to the SW next winter, however her Brother wants to return to Florida next winter!

Chris