Owning your Home Away from Home

Purchasing an RV site on scenic property has many benefits and provides a great means of relaxation and enjoyment, whenever you want it.

by

Words and photos by Perry Mack

The summer of COVID has popularized the RV experience in ways none of us could have predicted a year ago. Recreational vehicle sales hit all-time highs as everyone was encouraged to ‘stayaction’ and isolate within their bubble. What better way than to enjoy the outdoors than in your ‘bubble’? Folks who were out of work had time on their hands to get away and interest rates were at unsurpassed lows to borrow and buy a new or upgraded RV.

Unfortunately, in the summer of 2020 campgrounds hit capacity levels with provincial parks restricting reservations at a time when we needed more sites than ever before. And with the borders remaining closed, many snowbirds filled every available space that was open throughout the winter.

This caused stress for nomadic RVers, often unable to reserve their usual camp sites at their annual vacation times. However, two types of RVers didn’t suffer this anguish, those who had renewed their seasonal leases in private parks and those who owned their sites. So, like many RVers, we attempted to join the haves rather than remain with the urban-trapped have nots.

Determining a Site and Property

Choosing the right permanent RV site depends on the size of your wallet and what you want or need to satisfy your staycation desires. Some of the benefits of owning a site are obvious and others arise after careful research. The obvious benefit is that your RV site is guaranteed to be there whenever you want it. No reservation required. Owning property has a similar benefit in as it typically appreciates in value over time– it’s an asset you can enjoy and create family memories with that could actually appreciate rather than depreciate. 

In most cases you can leave your RV in your site through the winter and in some cases, the money you save in winter storage fees could pay for your annual maintenance fees. You’ll also save on fuel that you would normally spend towing your RV to campgrounds or boondocking locations. 

What are the cons? They are similar to owning property in any neighbourhood and one is having bad neighbours. Although, this is usually mitigated by choosing a site on a property with rules that suit your lifestyle with quiet times and rental restrictions.

A key factor when determining a property is whether or not you want to use your RV in the winter as many properties are only open seasonally from April to October, and the facilities close through the winter months – although you may be allowed access to maintain your RV (i.e. shovel snow off the roof). However, finding a property with four-season access means you can enjoy winter activities including cross-country skiing, fishing, hiking, and snowshoeing. Your investment pays off in outdoor pleasure 12 months of the year.

Access to Outdoor Activities and Services

Do you want access to water for fishing or boating? Many properties we looked at had water access, some sites actually backed on to the water providing you with waterfront property, naturally at a greater cost than off the water, but at a fraction of the cost of a traditional lakefront home and the associated property taxes.

Some properties (like Caravans West in Scotch Creek, BC) are very close to the water, urban services, and have a full suite of on-site amenities including two club houses, a youth centre, gym, swimming pools, hot tubs, a beach volleyball court, horseshoe pits, a fire pit, tennis court,  beach access within walking distance and laundry facilities. This property is open 12 months of the year and allows short term rentals, which is important if you want to get a return on your investment, as you can rent it to a family who can then enjoy a full resort experience. 

Many sites with an RV rent for $1500/week. However, most lots are very small, with folks sandwiched in so tight a sardine in a can looks more comfortable. While rental income is enticing, all the amenities come at a cost, which at the time of publication was roughly $400/month. 

Properties can be organized as a strata corporation where you have title to your property and a share in the strata corporation. Many other properties in British Columbia, including Caravans West, you purchase an undivided interest in a property with exclusive use of your site. 

Always Read the Fine Print

One of the major differences is that most lenders won’t finance an undivided interest purchase so you need to have the cash or a personal line of credit in place to pay for your vacation site. This also means the site can be more difficult to sell, especially if you make improvements like decks, bunkhouses and sheds. You will continually increase the value of your lot but also make it more difficult for the next buyer to purchase it if you want to recoup your investment in upgrades.

We looked at an undivided interest at Whisper Mountain outside of Scotch Creek BC. Almost an acre lot overlooking Shuswap Lake with a fifth wheel, electric, water and sewer for $142,000 – very tempting. One consideration here was the district didn’t want it to be an RV park and enacted a bylaw to prevent this. We looked at one of only three of the 50 sites with RV’s that were grandfathered with the right to keep their RV’s without building a home on the condition that the RV was maintained on site for a minimum of six months of the year. 

But there was no guarantee that it would always remain and the district refused the owners the opportunity to create a strata allowing them to obtain financing to build homes. No amenities are on the property but on the upside, your neighbours are a distance away because of the large lot size, and annual fees were just $400 - for the year.

The lesson here is that you should carefully read the disclosure and bylaws of any property to understand the size of RV allowed; how long you can keep an RV on the property if building a home is a requirement; and are park models or mobile homes allowed should you decide to make your recreational home more permanent; or perhaps you don’t want to have mobile home owners as neighbours. The same is true for upgrades. Are you (or your neighbour) allowed to build any type of improvement? There is no standard set of rules. Each property can be unique and rules are determined by the shareholders, strata, and by the city or district in which it is located.

It’s Still All about Location

Properties like Shuswap Falls RV Resort were a balance between the two. There was access to the Shuswap River, good sized lots, a monthly fee of roughly $100 with the nearest urban amenities at Enderby, 22.4 km (20 min) away. Smaller river front sites had an asking price of $86,000 CAD at the end of August 2020 then jumped to $120,000 CAD asking by October. Some owners lease their sites seasonally for $4,500, CAD, which allows you to try the park out and decide if it has the right rules, location, and if it’s the community for you. The members (owners) of this undivided interest property keep some sites available for short term rental as a way to keep their annual fees low and maintain their RV park status. 

Silver Sands Resort close to the mouth of the Eagle River in Sicamous was another possible location for us. It’s a five-minute walk to urban amenities like grocery stores, shopping, restaurants and marinas and is organized as strata with titled lots, allowing buyers to obtain financing through traditional banks. As a result, some owners whose lots back onto the Eagle River have invested in extensive and stunning landscaping, decks, retaining walls and gazebos. 

The lots throughout the resort are spacious and have a 50/50 mix of park models and RV’s. It’s open 12 months of the year, and has easy access off the TransCanada Highway. In the fall, the Eagle River winds around the resort exposing large sand beaches, which is perfect for pets off-leash and lazy days watching the river flow by. 

It would also be perfect if you like trains. Our stay of only three nights wasn’t long enough to learn to tune out the train horn blasts as the long freight trains rumbled past the resort a dozen times throughout the day, and the night. No place is perfect for everyone. One tip to follow, if possible, is to rent a site for a week or month to see if you like the neighbours – an option not easily available for a traditional home.

Time to Answer Some Questions

  • Decide if you want a four-season recreation property or is six to seven months is enough?
  • Aside from your purchase budget, what monthly fee are you comfortable with?
  • Would you like to rent when you’re not using it?
  • Will it remain a recreational property or would you like it to eventually become a retirement home? Will you want to put a more permanent structure on it like a park model or mobile home?
  • What services and amenities do you need to be happy, either on-site, within walking distance or a short drive away? What’s most important - amenities for children, watersports, pet areas and/or urban conveniences?

It’s also worth it to determine how close you need your property to be to your home? We wanted to be less than two hours. For us, it’s a comfortable distance to drive for a weekend getaway. We could leave Friday after work and come home Sunday night or early Monday. Also close enough to pick up our RV and leave to explore other destinations. There’s no rule that says you have to stay in your site. You can pack up and leave on a whim to travel to parts unknown.

By asking, answering and prioritizing these questions you can quickly narrow your focus and find the right RV property.

Owning your site can be a superb lifestyle and investment choice, a way to guarantee that your outdoor experience is always available when you want it. If you start searching now, you may get everything you want and like Mick Jagger sang, ‘you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.’