RV as STRs, anyone doing it?

Question

Running around today and saw some pretty nice trailers at one of the local RV dealers. Since houses are hard to come by curious if anyone is using these as short term rentals at lakes, parks, etc?  Thinking put a nice deck around it and it could be a reasonable alternative to cabin.

John Underwood · Answer

There are people making good money renting RV's. They even take them to the renters campground and set them up for an additional fee.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

I can see the excitement of staying in an RV.  Especially if it's located in a tornado prone area of the U.S.

Chris Szepessy · Answer

People do it and you can probably make decent money doing it. I recommend buying a unit that is a year or two old as to not take such a hard hit on the depreciation of it. Just remember that RV's aren't made like houses and things are more prone to breaking due to quality of parts used.

We just sold our travel trailer a few months ago. It wasn't feasible for us anymore, but prior to getting rid of it, I had considered doing something similar with it. My idea was what @John Underwood said about towing it to a campground and picking it up when they're done. Problem was my work schedule didn't really work well for that.

Clint G. · Answer

I've seen an RV by the beach booked solid at over $150 a night. It was parked at a local RV park walking distance to the beach and there were hardly ever any vacancies. I think it's a great model and could cash flow like crazy.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

My neighbor is considering this, we talked about the budget a while back. His cabin is rented pretty constantly and he figures he is just leaving money on the table without having a trailer parked nearby. If it is going to be a permanent rental, you will need electricity, some plumbing refinements and of course septic. Then the question is are you going to ask permission from your local municipality or just do it on your own.  We came up with a number of $25k to do it nicely......you could make that back in a couple years at even $75 a night x 150 nights per year. Maybe faster, depends on your area.

Ken Boone · Answer

@R Lindsey Folks do it.  I have a friend that does it.  I think most of the folks that do it, do it more like the folks that are really buying a second home and they market it as an STR to help cover the cost of it, not really as a investment.   A friend of mine does it but instead of leaving them parked, he delivers to a campsite of the guests choice within so many miles kind of thing.  Check out the website outdoorsy.  It is basically the VRBO or AirBnb for this kind of thing.

Dustin Allen · Answer

@R Lindsey

We have a small lot in town with a handful of park model RVs. They look like tiny cabins but they are classified as RVs because they are under 500 sq ft.  I’m sure there is a market for it even if they are regular old RVs still on wheels.

RV as STRs, anyone doing it?

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