this might be the wrong place to ask this, but i figured more ppl who own a TT will be looking here.

so here it goes: do you think a TT will hold up enough to live in for 2 years?

my wife and i might have the option to buy 15 acres out from town and are not financially able to build a house right now. we would sell our current house, buy a bigger TT, buy a shed for the washer and dryer, and deep freeze, save money from a mortgage to pay off debt. then come out in 2 years completly debt free and build a house. sounds like a plan to me, but my only concern is the TT holding up. it is my wife and i and right now a 2.5 year old and 3 month old.

what do yall think.....thanks in adavance!!!

 

TT = travel trailer?? Like a camper?

If so - er, wouldn't recommend it, especially with young'uns. Suggest it would be too small, and would worry about temperature control during extreme hot and cold weather - may end up paying the difference on doctor bills for the little ones.

Perhaps check into a used mobile home - like a 12x60 single-wide or better. There are repo lots for these around - just do your research so you don't get screwed. Suggest that the price should be comparable to a decent sized camper.

Then when you build your place - you've already got a place for your in-laws. :-)~

Just my $0.02 worth. :-)

 

Build a garage with an apartment above it I think that you will be happier. I dont know what type of tt you are looking at buying but if its new personaly the garage will be money well spent and you have a nice shop and a place for the in laws when its done

 

I dont think I would recommend it. A TT would only be big enough if it was like a 30' with double pull outs, or a 5th wheel with double pullouts.

Like they said, I would look into a cheap single wide. Usually less then TTs since you dont really tow them, just put um on blocks and hookup.

Just my thougts, and with kids, heck no.

 

The short answer: yes - but qualified as follows:

I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you can find a 25' or larger TT that is truly rated as a 4-season trailer. Even in warmer climes, it only takes one night of freezing temps to make your living arrangements a disaster. If you could find a newer used Airstream in the 25 - 28' range I think you could make a very comfortable home for as long as you care to do it. Unlike most other TT's, Airstream truly has home-quality fixtures and appliances, they are very well insulated, totally waterproof, and they route furnace ducts past your holding tanks to keep them from freezing (with furnace operating, of course). I have camped in 20 degree temps in my little Airstream and the furnace kept everything toasty and only ran 6-7 times for 8-10 minutes each time during the night. The cost of an Airstream may put a bad tatse in your mouth initially but keep one thing in mind: when you do get you house built and are ready to move out of the TT, you won't take a big loss (if any) on an Airstream whereas you definitely would on any other make. My question, though, is where are you going to get your fresh water on a regular basis and were are you going to dispose of your waste water? It only takes a couple of days to fill the waste tanks and it would be a royal PITA to have to hitch up and tow your trailer into town to dump every couple of days.

Just my .02

 

we have a pop-up now and would sell it for atleast a 28-31 foot bunk house with at least one slide-out. we camped in the pop-up for 4 days in the smokeys and got down to 27 degrees 2 nights and we were actually hot. and we live in south MS to where it is 75 degrees today. we want a bigger camper eventually so we would go ahead and buy it now and keep it after the house is built. as for the water and waste, we would go ahead and run the water to where the house would be and tap into it there and we would also go ahead and install a septic tank for the house and tap it aswell.......just a thought...i think the land is going to be out of our league but i want to know there things first....

 

I lived in a travel trailer for about 15 years. 2 different ones actually. When I was single I bought a 22' and parked it in a snowbird campground in Florida. Cheap living for sure. I had a girl move in for a couple of months and it got crowded. She did not want to work anyhow so I booted her lazyass out. My next was a bigger 'park model' which has seperate liv/kit/bed areas. It was very comfortable as you could buy real furniture and use it compared to the stuff that is built in on smaller units. Lots of snowbirds here live in park models and even larger TT's for half a year or so. It suits one person fine, two and it gets cozy.

 

Instead of the TT do you have the skills to build yourself a very small house that can later be used as a garage? or as mentioned build an apartment over a garage until you can afford the house?

 

That's a good idea...use the money you would have spent on a TT and use it to build a garage with a living space attached. Then, when you can build a house, you'll have a very nice man cave

 

Only problem is that most jurisdictions just do not allow you to 'live' in a garage. Permiting is there for a reason. Can you live in a garage w/o running water, sewer, cooking facilities? The original poster has his plans worked out with some thought to it. I responded to his post as a person who has lived in a travel trailer for quite a few years. It was cheap, easy, and the trailer held up fine. Many many people here in Florida do the same thing.

 

And I was responding as a person who had neighbors that lived in their garage that had an attached living space with running water, heat, bathroom, etc, while they built their own house.

 

You might have to watch local codes and ordinances. Here, even the county authorities would have a field day with someone living in a trailer for their "permanent" residence. My dad couldn't even put up a pole building to store materials while he built his house to prevent thousands of dollars of material theft because the county fathers were iceholes. That's changed since.

You may check out building a pole barn (cheap), insulating it, and making it "home". The sewer system (with a mound system) could be a no-brainer out in the sticks, and a well, well... relatively simple, too. In some areas in Wisconsin, many guys we know build hunting shacks in pole buildings that are much nicer than their everyday homes (all a place to store their toys away from their wives). Then, you could build your house when you have the money and the time, and still have some nice storage space for all your goodies instead of renting a storage unit - because all of your stuff certainly won't fit in a travel trailer!

I know of a guy who built a pole building with sewer and water hook-up, bough a used Winnebago, pulled it into a new pole building and closed the door. Twenty years later he died. With no windows in the barn, nobody ever knew he was living there. The inside of the barn was actually like a nice living room with a motorhome parked in the middle of it. Well, not a mansion, but you get the idea. Taxes may be cheap on a pole building, too. Some jurisdictions consider them "not permanent" and tax them accordingly.

 

well thanks for all the replies......but i think this idea was shot today.....i called about the price of the land.........well here in rural lamar county, land usually goes for about $3000 an acre.....well these ppl think they are god i guess........they want $10900 and acre...........way out of my reach......but thanks though..........maybe something else will come along.........

 

What makes a pole barn a pole barn?

 

A pole barn is built by drilling holes in the ground at least four feet and then inserting a long 6x6 and cementing them in place. Then you mount the trusses on a double skirt board at the top put what are called perlings or 2x4's on the poles and trusses and then you cover the building with sheet metal. Sorry if this a long explanation but I been around the building materials buisness my entire life