Nope not an RV in Sight!!

As nice as it would be to have the perfect place to put an RV right next to your new home, I have never found any residential properties where this can be done in Arizona......   Frankly the zoning restrictions of any newer neighborhood will strictly prohibit such an "undesirable" practice.

When I explained to our realtor, that the window sticker of our Motorhome exceeded the price of of this new home that we were purchasing, she looked at me in disbelief.  After all we were folks from the "trailer park" as she put it....  I ignored that comment and went on to explain that most diesel motorhomes were higher than a quarter of a million bucks.  And in some cases 4 times as high.  And since you can't finance a motorhome for 30 years, many of them are just paid for outright.

Yep,  there's more millionaires over at "that there trailer park" than you got down here in any of these cheaper suburbs.........

But the lot that we purchased is only 120 feet deep and 65 feet wide.  The setback from the street is only 20 feet, meaning that even my large pickup may be too long to park out in front.  We did purchase the option to have the garage made 2 feet deeper so our cars won't be so scrunched.  That cost 2 K more.

The covenants on the property prohibit parking any vehicles on the property other than in the driveway  or in the garage.  It also prohibits parking your cars in the street as well.  People violate this of course, but the neighbor up the street squawked about a car in the street across from him and I had only met him for 30 minutes.  So how long do you think it would be with the motorhome parked in the street out front, before the police show up?  May as well make the call myself......

I read the covenants before we purchased this property, and it prohibits almost everything you can think of.  Other than going into your house and keeping your head down.  Want that satellite dish?  Better keep it down low where it can't be seen from the street or you are in violation.......  Don't even mention that I am a HAM......  Just imagine that great big tower and antenna in the back, hanging over the neighbors concrete block fence walls.  I could run enough power to make their stereos dance when they were turned off!!!!

Now wouldn't that make me the prize on the block....... LOL.  Ya, they just don't know what might move in next door.....  Out of that trailer park....

But the point is that most people think of us RVers like they think of the movie Christmas Vacation.  You know the famous scene where the antagonist is emptying his Black Tank down the storm sewer...  And the famous comment that the "Sh*tters Full Clark!"  And most of all they don't want them any where near where they are.

So it will remain to be seen how much trouble I get into by parking the coach across the front of the house for a few hours while we unload some of our stuff.

I do know of two places where this RV utopia can be found.....  The nicest would be Retama Village South of McAllen, Texas.  They sell RV lots and then smaller houses in the same sub division.  And then finally they combined the two and you can back your motorhome right into the front of your house.  Or into a large attached garage, depending on how you build it.

Trouble is, my wife doesn't like to go to Texas!  , but wouldn't that be cool on a lot of your choice out near the lake somewhere?  I'm thinking of Speedy in that question....

The other option is in Bracketville, Tx and is the old Fort property where folks build a metal canopy that goes over a large concrete patio and RV parking spot.  Some of the folks there have built homes under the metal roof as well.  The best example of this is Kit and Jerry who have a blog and are building such a home as we speak.  And I mean they are pounding the nails and running the saw.

Here is a picture of their canopy before the beginning of the house build.  She has taken extensive photos of the construction process, and they are posted in their picasa web album which can be linked here or from their blog.  Just click on Kit and Jerry above.  These folks are from Indiana and couldn't be nicer.  They are gate guards at oil well properties, and their blog is Very Interesting, as they describe all of the vehicles that come on the properties, and what they are there to do....

Since this has gotten quite long, I will end it for now, but must report that it is much cooler here last night and tonight.  Almost freezing both nights.  We usually get this cold snap around the first weeks of April every year, but from then on its spring!

Retired Rod