Since we purchased our property in Tennessee, we’ve been requested a whole lot of questions on methods to dwell in an RV by yourself land. Listed here are some solutions as we present you from begin to end, how we developed and now use our personal non-public RV retreat.
If you happen to RV full-time or are a weekend and vacation camper, you in all probability have visited a whole lot of RV campgrounds and parks alongside your journey. RV parking nearly at all times appears really easy. Often ready for you conveniently are electrical hookups, out there freshwater, and typically even web providers.
However when you’re accountable for establishing your personal non-public property, it’s a complete different ballgame. Organising everlasting residence means coping with native governments for permits, following native zoning legal guidelines and constructing codes.
You need to discover and rent contractors for the varied utilities you will want and certain must clear bushes and do a whole lot of excavation work.
There’s rather a lot to contemplate to effectively and appropriately develop your personal property for RV residing, even when boondocking. Learn on to study every thing it’s essential to learn about methods to dwell in an RV by yourself land.
In our most up-to-date video, we take you on a 10-month journey that began with us discovering the property we wish, after which doing every section of the event.
Right here’s that video that paperwork our 10-month odyssey:
If you wish to see every thing we now have finished on creating our personal RV land, we now have heaps extra,
Now we have a complete PLAYLIST on the ins and out of proudly owning your personal RV land that we’ve finished over the previous yr — test it out right here:
Like what you see in these movies? We’d admire it for those who would Subscribe to our YouTube Channel (easy to do right here) and contemplate “ringing the bell icon” to be notified of any new video from us. 🙂 Thanks!
The Attraction of an RV Web site on Your Personal Land
Possibly you’re an RV fanatic who needs a plot of land as a house base to return to after lengthy journeys. We get it. See our experience buying land in Tennessee and ALL the posts about this on the finish of this text.
Maybe you’re so accustomed to the RV life-style you’re feeling you don’t want a everlasting home. You’re simply high-quality residing out of your cell car 24/7. However you’d like a spot that you could name your personal… as a result of it IS your personal. You’re not alone on this feeling.
For us, it was uncooked land that we needed and will develop how we needed – for RV use with no main restrictions.
We discovered our land in Perry County in Center Tennessee

The land we purchased in November 2021 is in a improvement often called the Woodlands at Buffalo River. The corporate behind this mission owns nearly 5,000 acres of pristine wooded land close to the city of Linden, TN (inhabitants 950), positioned about 90 miles west and a bit south of Nashville.
Though the realm is named “Nashville’s Huge Again Yard” due to its reputation and the benefit that you could drive to all of the enjoyable and leisure of Music Metropolis USA, we selected our property due to the peace and quiet. We’re surrounded by bushes and wildlife, the Buffalo River is a stone’s throw away with kayaking and nice fishing, and city – being Linden – is only a 10 minute drive.
I’ve turn into a daily on the native ironmongery shop.
Jen has a gymnasium the place she works out most mornings and on Friday nights, we normally hang around on the Commodore Resort in Linden, an attractive constructing restored to its 1939 class. There’s music every weekend, nice meals and a whole lot of pleasant people that we really feel very a lot at house with.
Now we have created our personal non-public RV Retreat
As seen in the newest video up above, we’ve carved out an space again from the highway and created three separate RV pads, every with full hookups of water, electrical and sewer. We additionally put in a fence and gates and dwell 24-hour video monitoring.
That section is now finished. However like all good tasks, growing your personal RV land isn’t finished. We at the moment are getting plans for Section 2, which we hope to begin yer this fall. We’ll share the small print on that when we now have the completed plans drawn up.
What about the associated fee?
That’s in all probability probably the most requested query we get. And folks ask that as a result of they wish to know what it would value them to develop the same place.
However my prices won’t be your prices.
For one factor, as a result of we purchased early within the improvement, we had been in a position to decide on property serviced by a highway maintained by Perry County. Town of Linden has a water line working proper previous our land. Electrical energy runs proper down the highway, too. This month, the native Meriwether Lewis Electrical Coop is putting in fiber optic cable.
We had been spared the price of digging a properly, one thing that may simply run properly over $10,000. We simply needed to faucet into the water out entrance.
Many of the parcels alongside our highway offered out final yr. New homeowners don’t have the comfort of municipal utilities working proper out entrance.
However then once more, most homeowners aren’t going to put in a 600-foot U-shaped driveway as we did or set up a big septic system that may deal with a three-bedroom home (if sometime we determine to construct a cabin or bardominium). And most customers gained’t make three full hookup spots like we did.
See why our prices won’t be what your prices can be? And we’re not finished, as I stated. Section 2 is coming!
However right here’s my finest clarification on what to determine it would value you to develop your personal RV land: Determine no matter you paid for the property alone and divide it in two. Half the land prices can be typically what it would value to develop the land. Give or take.
I’ve requested a lot of my neighbors on the Woodlands who’re in varied phases of growing their very own land they usually agree with that ballpark estimate. Like us, they anticipate when they’re finished that they are going to have spent about 50% of the land prices to make it as they need.
Now I shouldn’t must say (however I’ll), that for those who purchase a lot of acreage – say 50 acres and extra – the land value can be significantly greater than for many who purchase smaller parcels. Thus the event prices can be lower than 50%.
Proper now, the smallest property they’re promoting is 5 acres and it begins at $79,900. Property is priced based mostly on the options of the land so all acres usually are not equal. Some have pure constructing websites, particular views, and so on, so some five-acre parcels promote for greater than that.
All that is my lengthy and convoluted clarification of why every parcel can be totally different in what it prices to develop.
However for us, our parcel value $89,900 after we purchased in November 2021. You may take 50% of that and be just about within the ballpark of what we now have spent.
To this point.
Do you get pleasure from your Small Home and BIG Yard RV Way of life expertise? Possibly you want a t-shirt or hoodie to inform the world. This saying is a favourite in our group. Don’t want a hoodie? Now we have mugs.
Why is RV Dwelling Unlawful in Some Residential Areas as a Main Dwelling?
Let’s broaden the dialogue a bit now.
In our space, there isn’t any HOA and the one factor we are able to’t placed on the land is a single-wide trailer. We are able to park and dwell in our RVs so long as we wish. We are able to lease out the spots. It’s our land, our manner.
However that isn’t true in lots of different components of the nation.
Native legal guidelines range wildly concerning correct residing buildings on non-public land.
For instance, some state legal guidelines require a everlasting house to have a number of entrances within the occasion of a hearth. Most RV’s have 1 or 2 entrances, so that may not work. However, for those who plan to dwell in a tiny home, as an example, it’s not a good suggestion to solely have one entrance in locations with that regulation.
Others require primary security laws like a correct cooling and heating system. Rain shouldn’t be in a position to leak in, or it might trigger harmful mildew build-up and rodents and bugs. Carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms can also be required.
If you happen to’re fascinated by selecting a sure space, first contact its county building office. They’ll let you already know all of what’s required from everlasting and non permanent buildings on a property. For instance, they are going to let you know if there are necessities about how distant a construction will be positioned from a important highway or property line.
Most significantly, the workplace would notify you of what permits you want. It’s normally not so simple as parking your RV in your good friend’s yard for an evening. If the construction is supposed to be everlasting residing, a correctly authorised constructing allow would preserve the code enforcement officers off your again.
Different Issues to Analysis In regards to the Land

Proudly owning your personal RV land is NOT for everybody
Let me conclude all this by saying this might not be for you. It takes imaginative and prescient, cash, time, and a whole lot of persistence. We’ve modified our minds a number of occasions about how we needed to develop our land.
We selected our land due to the quiet tempo of life we present in rural Tennessee, the great thing about the forest, the celebs at evening, and the flexibility to at all times have a spot the place we’re certain we are able to keep and the place we are able to keep so long as we wish made this a dream come true for us.
Our son and his household additionally dwell in Nashville in order that was one other draw to the realm for us.
Whereas I can’t converse in specifics about different components of the nation (we hope to additionally purchase some land in Michigan, too), I can say that there usually are not many spots just like the Woodlands the place we constructed our RV retreat. That’s what we contemplate our land there: A retreat
Simply writing about it has us very anxious to get again down there once more.
We hope our expertise thus far in methods to dwell in an RV by yourself land has been useful
Tell us all about your experiences in methods to dwell in an RV by yourself land!
Try all these earlier posts on this matter:
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