Emerald Isle RV Vacation Homes (Atlantic Beach: RV parks, spring break, rental)

[NYC2RDU]

After enduring a rigorous debate the past few years with my wife regarding beach front vacation homes (she wants a free standing house, I'm unwilling to maintain two homes and mortgages), we potentially have stumbled across the perfect solution, an anchored RV at one of the RV parks near the beach. One such setup was brought to our attention yesterday in Emerald Isle and for what I consider a reasonable price.

I was hoping to hear from others who either have gone this route, know people who have gone this route or are currently owners at just such a place.

What we have available to us right now is the cost of acquiring the RV that's already in place, the annual cost of the lease and the allegedly modest cost of both insurance and electricity. What else would/should I need to know?

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by NYC2RDU

What we have available to us right now is the cost of acquiring the RV that's already in place, the annual cost of the lease and the allegedly modest cost of both insurance and electricity. What else would/should I need to know?

I am skeptical about the "modest" cost of insurance. Is it a situation where you cannot buy federal flood insurance? If so, what happens when the unit is swept away or destroyed by a tidal surge during a hurricane? That did occur on North Topsail during Hurricane Fran in 1996.

Just read the fine print, and understand what losses are not covered. Also look up the address in the state's flood risk database: http://fris.nc.gov/fris/Home.aspx?ST=NC

[ditchoc]

I would consider it as a "trailer park". It may be on the beach but consider:

Units are usually packed in, sometimes no more than 10-15 feet apart.
You don't own the land (though some neighborhoods do own the land and everyone pays a share of taxes etc.)
If you don't own the land, then you are subject to the whims of the owner should they decide to up the rent or sell it.
You will put up with neighbors that may or may not take care of their property or they may rent it to 20 kids on spring break.
You will have to maintain your RV against a harsh, beach environment and RV's aren't known to hold up that well.
RV's are not typically well insulated. In the winter, heating may be very high.
Some parks offer amenities that may or may not be included in the rental price like pools or boat ramps, piers etc.

You might consider looking for a similar unit that someone it willing to offer you a years lease at a good price. You can check it out during that year to see if the "life style" is what you really want to invest in. If you don't like it, then you are instantly free from it at years end.

Good luck.

[EIBeachBum]

My wife and I looked at many trailers in EI before we purchased a townhouse/duplex down here last year. I don't have a ton of experience with RV's, but nearly everything below should apply to your situation as they were in the same parks...
A few things I would add to what the last poster said:

Many of the parks you can only stay there a certain amount of days at one time (normally 20 or so in succession).
Some of parks close during the winter so you can't stay or even get in there in the offseason if you wanted.
Some have very strict rules on things such as pets, loud noise after certain hours, motorcycles, boats, etc...

That type stuff turned me off on a trailer in a gated park, as I wanted something I could spend the whole summer at the beach or possibly stay year round if needed. Be sure to get a copy of the lease agreement & the park rules before going forward with the purchase and make sure that it will work for your situation.

My aunt & uncle own a nice RV and came down for a few days using one of the temporary spots at Holiday Travel Park last year. One of the only gripes they had was the gate closed at 11:30 or so at night. We had gone out to eat and then checked out a local band at a bar down at Atlantic Beach, they had to leave the bar earlier than others with us so they could be back down the island before the gate locked them out. They wouldn't have been able to get the car in the park. Little things like that are nothing major to some people, but know what you are getting into.

Once we decided against buying anything in a park, we started looking at older trailers outside of parks in which you buy the trailer but still have to lease the land. There are quite a few like that that pop up every year in which the landowner has a few tracts of land with each setup for a trailer. In this scenario you just own the trailer (which many cases is an older model grandfathered in), but in the event something happens and the trailer gets destroyed you would have to put a newer up to code model in to replace it if even possible to do so (based on zoning). Perks to this setup is that you could live there year round and very few rules to abide by, lot lease is usually similar or cheaper than what the parks charge as well. Most of these places are located on the sound side behind the CVS pharmacy (3rd stoplight from the bridge).

There are also at least 2 parks down here in which everyone who is in the park owns a percent of the land all the trailers sit on. If there are 45 trailers in the whole park, you own 1/45th share in the community through a corporation type thing. This protects all parties from the park being sold and the trailers forced to be removed with no compensation. A scenario such as that actually happened a few years back at Salter Path when the land was acquired to build the Grande Villa resort, if I'm not mistaken.