Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

I second That!! Greg,great post! I deal with this alot as we sell Class B Motorhomes That park anywhere (its a full size van) & they still have Parking restirctions tagged to them. Frigin rediculous, 98% of the time it is a Jealous Neighbor who has been designated to enforce the "By Laws". I dont Think anything new today is an eye soar. Cheers

Step outside the industry for a second

Not everyone views an RV as a positive status symbol that they "aspire to" or are "envious of." There are people who choose to travel the country in other ways and don't want to be confined to an RV and may look at an RV as a lesser way to travel. Many people don't know how much RVs cost or how luxurious some are. People often are negative about something they don't understand.

On top of that many of those RVs or boats sitting in peoples driveways are very old and often unattractive models. Lets face it there are a lot more 30 year old trailers in yards then there are brand new luxury RDPs. Then there is often a ramshackle carport built over the unit.

Add those two concepts together and many people view RVs as an eyesore- much like those cars on blocks or a field of lawn gnomes in the front yard. That opinion is probably why there is a "lower property value" associated with the neighborhood with the RV.

Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

Greg, I normally agree with you on most things, but I have to say I think you're off base on this one. Lowered property values don't have much to do with tax assessments; if it would lower my tax assessment, I'd let my neighbors park anything they want in their driveways! It is the general look of a neighborhood that keeps property values low. In most cities, certainly in the city where I live, there are laws against keeping old cars up on blocks in your yard. Some neighborhoods have restrictive covenants against excessive yard ornaments, ugly fences, and offensively painted houses. As far as RV's and boats are concerned, the lots that most houses are built on these days are so small you can't put a bird bath out of site, let alone an RV. People park them on the street, blocking traffic. They pull them onto the grass in front of their houses or have the hitches sticking out into the street. In these cases they are an eyesore and should be restricted. Personally, I would support a compromise: a law which is in effect in many cities which states that RVs and boats may be parked in driveways as long as they are beside the residence and extend no further than the house toward the street. This means that people can keep their RV's at home, but they are not so noticeable when a visitor views the street as a whole.

Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

Even for me as someone who works in the RV industry but doesn't happen to own an RV, I would not buy a house if there were an RV sitting in the driveway next door. It's not that I would pay less for the house next door to the RV...it's that I wouldn't buy the house at all. I would move on and find a house without an RV next door. If I am a pretty average home owner, (and I think I am) then many people won't buy the house next door to one with an RV. The longer a house is on the market because potential buyers are not buying it...the lower the price goes. The lower the price for each home in the neighborhood...the lower appraisal you can get on your own home because of the comparables. This affects people by making them think they can only ask so much for their home when they are ready to sell it and also keeps them from being able to borrow as much on a home equity loan for other major purchases (the latter not being necesarily a bad thing in my opinion). As soon as people start listing their homes for less, it causes a downward spiral in a neighborhood.

Most people also wouldn't appreciate it if someone new moved in next door and started storing their RV in the driveway or on the street. In fact, I am having that problem right now but with a utility trailer. I was the very first to build a house in my neighborhood and now my neighbor two doors down is junking up the cul-de-sac. They have a utility trailer filled with crap in their driveway that they are too lazy to take to the dump (it's been full for at least 7 months) and they park several cars on the street. In the mean time, the house in between us was finished several months ago and isn't selling although houses down the street and on the next street over are selling just fine. We are guessing that a big part of it is that the vacant house's driveway is often halfway blocked by cars on the street and the junky trailer is an eye sore. We also live in an area that gets a lot of snow and cars or trailers parked on the street greatly hinder snow removal. If our neighbors were to keep the trailer behind the fence or in the garage (which is also packed with junk) and therefore be able to park more cars in the driveway, then I would have no problem with their owning a trailer.

Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

About 15 years ago we had a major battle over RV parking in our town. What we found was that the home owner's associations that had covenents against RV parking were trying to get the city to have an anti RV parking ordinance so they wouldn't have to enforce their own covenants as it relates to RV parking.

During this battle we had a number of real estate agents tell us that rv parking did not effect property values. A poorly kept neighborhood would have lower home prices. It was brought up that often a house with RV storage space would command a better price.

It appears as though any neighborhood issue that a group does not like makes the claim it reduces property values.

Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

I currently am a fulltime RV'er but before I sold my house I had poured a pad along side my carport and stored my 34 foot motorhome there. I did not build a ramshackel roof or anything over it and did not cover it. I recieved no complaints from my neighbors..but by adding the pad alongside my carport and the fact that my neighbor went from a single carport to a two car garage on the same side of the house it did make the houses look much closer togeather. Even though I was on a full 1/3 acre lot from the street it looked like the houses where closer then the ones a block away from us. Thus I can see the fear in the buying market of MY HOUSE
or the neighbors house..but not the house across the street. Now that I am a fulltime RV'er what I do encounter alot with non-RV'er is Oh you stay in TRAILER PARKS...no I stay in campgrounds..some very upscale campgrounds in fact..but to the non RV'er...they are trailer parks...and we all know the reputation that trailer parks have..even though I have seen some very nice trailer parks...they are a looked at as several notches down from a nice neighbor hood...I dont care if you have a 750,000 dollar motorhome...people still look at it as something that people go to TRAILER PARKS with...then add the fact that I have seen people (fulltimers and parttimers as well)..go visit friends and pull in to thier drive way and set up camp for a month or so...Ive seen them pull out the awnings and put out the chairs everything but light the campfire..(and I wouldnt doubt if some have done that)..right there in the driveway...(remember the movie christmas vacation)..
So I can see why some people have preconcieved ideas about rvs....even though misguided...I can think of 3 movies in the last 15 years that stand out to me containing motorhome/RV's and all three of them show either the ugliest rv evermade or the worst campground and the trouble that people have with rv's...I cant think of one where it shows a family going out and from the RV stand point things going right...(makes good movies but stains our reputation)...so we as RVers need to do a better job of being polite and think about what we do as we rv be it in our own driveways..in somebody elses drive way or drving down the road to help change these preconcieved ideas..

Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

Wow, I didn't think there were that many pinheads out there with these strange views of RVs in the driveway causing such problems! Whatever happened to old fashioned neighborly communications and respect for each other. These seem to be narrow-minded arguments and I hope they are the isolated encounters of a few and not representative of the general population. I think many people are seeking any excuse they can for their declining home values in a very difficult real estate market. Where were these arguments the past ten years when values soared and RV sales reached all-time highs? I didn't hear anybody presenting these arguments then? If these arguments take hold are we then going to blame the guy next door with five year old car in the driveway and make him/her trade-it in so it doesn't clutter up the neighborhood and make "your" property lose even more value? I once bought a house next door to a guy with a beautiful fifth wheel that he parked near my lot line - the house went up in value 300% over the next ten years and I made a killing on it. Give me an RV next door any day of the week - in the right neighborhood. This is America, if you don't like your neighborhood or your neighbors then sell your house and move. It sounds like sour grapes because the market shifted and everyone is looking for someone to blame - try looking in the mirror and stop giving people one more reason to knock the RV industry.

Re: Okay, how does this "RV parking leads to lower property values" idea work?

Being an RV dealer, I am not in favor of having parking ordinances. However, I can see their point. While highly subjective, property values could be affected negatively. That's why we have ordinances to keep the grass mowed, cars not parked in the yard, etc.

The argument that tax assessors aren't knocking down property values is the wrong hypothesis in my opinion. Tax assessors aren't buying the homes. They mainly look at comps and when they do visually inspect a property, it's for the initial assessment based on size or to look for any improvements made since the last inspection. If homes aren't selling as high as comparable homes in neighborhoods with RV parking restrictions, then the assessor is going to give the homes lower assessments.

My problem with the ordinances is that they are set up to cater to the exception rather than the rule. Most neighborhoods don't have a problem with junky RV's highly visable from the street. The higher the quality of the neighborhood, the less likely there is to have a problem. Being able to afford higher priced homes usually equates to being able to recognize what is tacky and what is not, but not always. An older, run down neighborhood is more likely to have some run down trailers or motorhomes setting out front and thus an eyesore in many people's opinion.

This is not an easy issue to settle. On one hand, negative talk about RV's parked in neighborhoods can affect sales because the perception of RV's could be negative and less a status symbol. On the other hand, ordinances to help "beautiy" neighborhoods could affect sales as customers could be forced to pay storage lot fees on top of their monthly RV payments. The safest route for is to be against the ordinances, but like I said, it's not an easy issue to settle.

Lee Ltichfield
www.leesrv.com