Any RV ownership gotchas out west?

[VanDiemen23]

Wife and I are looking at retirement locations. We currently live in CA and RV ownership is pretty easy, it's treated just like a car.

We're looking at other western locations - AZ, NV, NM, UT, CO, OR.

Was wondering if there are any ownership gotchas like the high property taxes by county in VA or extravagant license plate fees or drivers license requierments.

We currently have a 99 Beaver 33 ft and tow a 23 ft trailer.

[ByeTheWay]

I'm sure you have higher costs in CA then we do in AZ

[VanDiemen23]

I don't think $400 tags on a vehicle that cost $250K is too bad. We are in NC now, and it would be subjected to property tax like a house here.

In 1986 I bought a new Toyota supra in Indiana, and the tags cost as much then (about $1200 in todays dollars!)

[Miked2145]

Colorado plates are pricey. Formula is based on MSRP and declines over a 10 year period. Purchase price for a used coach not used. They are also aggressive on identifying and taxing coaches registered in low tax states ( ie Montana) that are housed in the state.

[Oregon]

Big issue in the greater Portland OR area. Storage!
Dealers selling units like crazy but no one building storage for them. If you don't have space next to home you buy you will be hard put to find somewhere to store your unit.

[Mr_D]

My MH sticker price was $750,000. License cost me $125 year, no income tax fairly low property tax. Have room to store at home.
Problem is the almost 10% sales/use tax. Plus the party of tax and spend is in control of both the house and senate as well as the governor. They've been trying for years to pass an income tax which might pass this year.

[deaton]

In Texas, you can easily create domicile and you barely need to ever show up. We are one of the seven states with NO STATE INCOME TAX. And given our local politics, this is unlikely to change anytime soon. (The other six are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming).

Property tax can be on the high side, but there is no property tax on RV’s or boats.

RV’s, including towable’s, must be inspected annually, but it’s no big deal, easy to get, and costs $7.50, unless you live in one of the larger metro areas (Houston /Dallas) where you need to get the emissions inspection which drives it up to about $35.00. If you are out of state when inspection comes due, they will still renew your registration on-line or by mail and you have three days to get the inspection done if and when you return to Texas.

Registration on RV is based on weight. My DSDP which weighs in at about 42k costs about $380 last year. Registration on my Jeep Tow was $72.00.

Sales tax on all vehicles is 6.25% state wide. No ST on food or drugs. Most places have an extra 2% sales tax on everything else, so it comes to 8.25% on most stuff, but not vehicles. You can deduct the value of your trade from the price of a new rig to lower the ST.

Parking is relatively plentiful, so long as you avoid the parks close to oil and gas production when the industry is “hot”. Not a big problem right now.

Outside of the major metro areas, storage is plentiful and cheap. For example, Until I built my own RV garage in the Hill Country a few years back, I was paying $200 a month to store my rig in a private garage stall in Beaumont, TX, with 30 amp service, a dump on site, concrete floor and yard, a truck wash next door, and diesel racks across the street. Sweet!

Land is still relatively cheap in the countryside and many folks put up their own storage. Deed restrictions are popular in many Texas real estate developments (rather than zoning) so when purchasing land in a development where you may want to have an RV garage or storage, you should carefully review any applicable deed restrictions to make sure they don’t conflict with your plans.

Politics are easy. If you like blue, you go to Austin, if you’re anything else, go wherever you want. Early voting rules are pretty liberal and absentee ballots are easy to come by. If you are full time and decide to go with Escapees based in Livingston, TX, or some other mail service, there is a general “gentleman’s agreement” that you ignore the ballot for the local races unless you actually live there.

Education opportunities are abundant and state U’s are relatively cheap.

Sorry for the length of this post, just trying to cover all the details.

[VanDiemen23]

Thats the kind of stuff i was looking for. thank you gentlemen.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by deaton

In Texas, you can easily create domicile and you barely need to ever show up. We are one of the seven states with NO STATE INCOME TAX. And given our local politics, this is unlikely to change anytime soon. (The other six are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming).

Property tax can be on the high side, but there is no property tax on RV’s or boats.

RV’s, including towable’s, must be inspected annually, but it’s no big deal, easy to get, and costs $7.50, unless you live in one of the larger metro areas (Houston /Dallas) where you need to get the emissions inspection which drives it up to about $35.00. If you are out of state when inspection comes due, they will still renew your registration on-line or by mail and you have three days to get the inspection done if and when you return to Texas.

Registration on RV is based on weight. My DSDP which weighs in at about 42k costs about $380 last year. Registration on my Jeep Tow was $72.00.

Sales tax on all vehicles is 6.25% state wide. No ST on food or drugs. Most places have an extra 2% sales tax on everything else, so it comes to 8.25% on most stuff, but not vehicles. You can deduct the value of your trade from the price of a new rig to lower the ST.

Parking is relatively plentiful, so long as you avoid the parks close to oil and gas production when the industry is “hot”. Not a big problem right now.

Outside of the major metro areas, storage is plentiful and cheap. For example, Until I built my own RV garage in the Hill Country a few years back, I was paying $200 a month to store my rig in a private garage stall in Beaumont, TX, with 30 amp service, a dump on site, concrete floor and yard, a truck wash next door, and diesel racks across the street. Sweet!

Land is still relatively cheap in the countryside and many folks put up their own storage. Deed restrictions are popular in many Texas real estate developments (rather than zoning) so when purchasing land in a development where you may want to have an RV garage or storage, you should carefully review any applicable deed restrictions to make sure they don’t conflict with your plans.

Politics are easy. If you like blue, you go to Austin, if you’re anything else, go wherever you want. Early voting rules are pretty liberal and absentee ballots are easy to come by. If you are full time and decide to go with Escapees based in Livingston, TX, or some other mail service, there is a general “gentleman’s agreement” that you ignore the ballot for the local races unless you actually live there.

Education opportunities are abundant and state U’s are relatively cheap.

Sorry for the length of this post, just trying to cover all the details.

Insurance costs?

[LVJ58]

We live in Las Vegas where there's no State income tax, current sales tax is 8.25% with no sales tax on grocery items (food products) or prescription drugs.

The 2017 State registration fee on our 2000 coach was $33.00 however, with add on fees such as basic government services tax etc. my total 2017 registration cost was $276.

No property tax on RV's

Good luck with your choice of a state to relocate and safe travels.....

[deaton]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Insurance costs?

You asked about RV insurance costs in Teas. I can’t really address that since I’ve been with State Farm for 40 plus years and I don’t bother to shop around. I pay about $1,600 a year to insure our relatively new DSDP, but I don’t know how that compares to other locations or providers.