8 ms·
These young SF professionals choose to live in RVs
- schmrz 13y agoYou read the whole article (while ignoring the fact that you have to follow a link to get to the second page) and then the last sentence is that he's not really living in his car anymore. What's the point of this article?
- patio11 13y agoWhat's the point of this article? A fairly safe sentence: This article cost less to write than it will make in ad revenue. Another fairly safe sentence: What is the point of any arbitrary article you find in a newspaper? The dangerous sentence follows that one.
- mattchew 13y agoOoh, ooh, does it also start with "what is the point . . . "?
- evmar 13y agoYou misread the article. Todd, pictured with the short hair, is the one who previously lived in car and now has an apartment.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- disbelief 13y agoActually if you had read the article fully, you'd have realized that the person mentioned at the end of the article was a co-founder, not the main subject of the article. This guy was living in his car not an RV.
- toddnessa 13y agoThat's what I like about the mind of an entrepreneur- the ability & desire to innovate. San Francisco has through the roof high rent? Well, why not innovate & live in an RV? An innovative way to overcome the problem of containing personal costs. Also, this is a way to actually own something that can open up some very cool travel possibilities as well.
- ianstallings 13y agoLiving in an RV is innovation? Then living in a mobile home must be absolutely bleeding edge. ;) I'm not saying that it's bad. As a kid I thought of traveling with friends to every ski resort in North America and living out of an RV. I knew a group that actually did just that and I still envy that opportunity. But I've settled down since then and I like having a foundation.
- protomyth 13y agoI get the feeling if you're going to "innovate" RV living, you'll do it in North Dakota and not SF. Lot of people with a lot of money now and a housing market that hasn't caught up.
- thorum 13y agoObligatory link to Tynan's excellent blog: http://tynan.com/?sort=rank http://tynan.com/?sort=rank
- kristofferR 13y agoAnd here's a couple of post he's made about his RV: http://tynan.com/rv2012 http://tynan.com/rv2012 (2012 Walkthrough) http://tynan.com/living-in-a-small-rv-introduction http://tynan.com/living-in-a-small-rv-introduction His book about his RV-lifestyle: Tynan Smith - How To Live In Luxury on the Side of the Road in an RV http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XLK2LW http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006XLK2LW
- tynan 13y agoThanks for the link!
- Sukotto 13y agoAre there RV parks in SF that are on within a reasonable walk/bike of a main public transportation line? I may have the option of moving to SF for work in the next 6 months and am trying to get a feel for what options are available. Since the general consensus is that housing is ludicrously expensive I was tentatively thinking about RV or boat as a more frugal option.
- kansface 13y agoThere are no RV parks in SF. There are hardly any parking lots- most of those are quite small so a RV couldn't stay there. At best, you could find a parking space for a few hundred dollars a month.
- ams6110 13y agoThe article implied that he had an arrangement with someone to let him park his RV and tap an electrical supply.
- VLM 13y agoHe specifically lives in an ancient VW Rialto. Its a conversion van. From the outside it looks like a van, because it is one. Anywhere you can park a "normal" van you can park a Rialto. You've probably parked nearby one, or a modern sibling, in a grocery store or something without even knowing it. You can't get away with that using a full size class A, or even a little pop-up trailer. Real RVers know the real problem of RVs for road trips or urban live aboard is finding a dump station downtown. I suppose you can always use the local mega corp parking lot. Antics like that are what leads to attempts to ban RVs, of course.
- ams6110 13y agoRandy Quaid in Christmas Vacation .... "shitter was full!"
- auctiontheory 13y agoSF addresses are obscenely overpriced for what you get. Boat living definitely happens. If you decide you prefer land, and your work is near BART, the East Bay (esp. Berkeley, Rockridge) offer much better value. If you like the idea of taking a ferry to work every day, and work downtown, consider Marin County north of the GG Bridge.
- ganeumann 13y agoThe article mentions that it's illegal. Is that enforced? How would they know you're living in the RV? Do you have to move the RV every day because of parking rules? I'm wondering why nobody does this in NYC (at least, that I know of.)
- ams6110 13y agoNYC can get really cold in the winter. RVs are not really well insulated; they're designed to be used in the summer; few people go camping in the winter. It would be expensive to heat at best, or you'd have to add a lot of insulation.
- VLM 13y agoMost traditional RVs or even conversion vans like the rialto have more or less uninsulated plumbing which will be destroyed the moment it goes below freezing unless you winterize which is a huge pain, or have the plumbing removed or convert a van yourself and simply never install A minimal van conversion probably consists of little more than blackout curtains and a sleeping bag... If you're willing not to have plumbing, you could probably buy a conversion van without working plumbing fairly cheap. Much as houses with destroyed plumbing tend to go pretty cheap. As a homeowner with occasional $400 heating bills in the frozen north I disagree with expensive to heat. RVs, especially conversion vans, are small vehicles. My parent's RV furnace literally physically could not burn $400 of propane in its furnace per month if it ran 24x7, which of course it doesn't. This is a solved problem in the frozen north because of two hobbies probably not very popular amongst the most urban SF residents... deer hunting and snowmobiling. RVs get quite a bit of use indeed for those activities (I don't personally do either, but I do enjoy snow shoeing and there's nothing better than a RV at the end of the trail). Its much colder than NYC where the locals use RVs, its really no big deal. Another interesting point is if rent costs $3000/mo in Manhattan, you need to calculate how much propane you can burn to meet $3000/mo... I think you'll rapidly determine you could live inside an operating (small) rocket engine for $100 of propane per night. The primary insulation problem is sound insulation not so much heat insulation.
- joe_the_user 13y ago
- rvivek 13y agoAverage rent for a 1-BR is $2990/month in Castro? Come on.
- ladon86 13y agoSounds about right to me.
- revicon 13y agoEasy to check on: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/apa/sfc?query=&zoomToPosting=&minAsk=&maxAsk=&bedrooms=1&housing_type=&nh=4 http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/apa/sfc?query=&zoomToPost... My initial scan says $2990 is a little low.
- dmckeon 13y agoIn the partial presence of rent controls, and in a market where demand is high and supply low, 'average of rents currently being paid' != 'average of rents for currently available rentals'.
- brackin 13y agoNo one lives in a 1 bed. I share a 6 bed in castro and it's way more affordable per person.
- jonknee 13y agoThen what's with all the 1BR's up for rent?
- hayksaakian 13y agoSupply and demand
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- alexdevkar 13y agoI like reading about RV-living and micro-apartments in a similar way as I liked reading Into the Wild. There's lots to like, but I'd never actually do it. I just don't think I could get comfortable with the sacrifice of comfort and safety (even if it is only a perceived reduction in comfort and safety). And plus my wife would divorce me.
- VLM 13y agoTry a live aboard sailboat rather than the land-bound cousins. Some women find a dude owning a boat is an aphrodisiac. Most male boat owners have the inaccurate belief that percentage is 100% (its probably only about 50%). Source: I sailed a lot as a teen (although not a live aboard). The funniest part of the whole situation, that I've observed, is the women see this guy spending like a drunken sailor on the boat, assuming that means 1) he's wealthy, I mean obviously he owns a 29.9999 foot yacht 2) he can spend money on me the same way as he spends on the boat. And usually it does not work out that way.
- SwellJoe 13y agoI've been living in a motorhome for nearly five years now. Mostly travelling full-time. I parked for a total of about 3 months in the Palo Alto and Mountain View areas on a couple of occasions...just on the street. I have solar power, and propane for cooking and running the fridge, and big water tanks, so I can go weeks without hooking up. Mine is quite a bit larger than Tynan's at 34.5', but I think my next rig may be smaller. There's definitely value in being able to drive/park anywhere, and my current rig does not have that quality. I started out in Mountain View; was paying $2145/month to rent a house. The motorhome lifestyle isn't significantly cheaper, when travelling a lot, but it has a lot of other advantages. At least, for me, the advantages outweigh the negatives.
- da02 13y agoWhat's the gas mileage when traveling on a highway? Do you know of any others who did this in other countries?
- chiph 13y agoAnywhere between 4 and 12 mpg (US). The lower mileage tends to come from gas/petrol engines -- the Ford V10 is popular. As well as smaller diesels that are towing another car (A "dinghy") up hills. The higher mileage is usually from Mercedes Sprinter based RVs, and Class 7 & 8 truck conversions. Costs when driving are high, because of the fuel expense. But once you're parked in a campground (or even in the street like in the story) the costs are pretty low -- $200-400 a month (or $20-50 for a daily rate) for a campground. $50-200 to refill the propane tank. And $20-40 to empty the black water tank at a dumping station. Some campgrounds charge for electricity (20, 30, or 50 amp connection). Internet can be had over a parks WiFi, satellite, or a MiFi device (factoid: a 50GB plan on AT&T is $300/month), or if you're monthly, a campground may allow TimeWarner or Comcast to run a line to your rig.
- sanswork 13y agoI get about 10mpg with mine(30' with an E450 chassis). Not so much young people but Australia has "Grey Nomads" who tend to be retired people that spend their time travelling around the country living in their RVs full time.
- samspenc 13y agoJust FYI: rents are similar in NYC, though I doubt people would use an RV here since: (1) parking is limited (2) parking is expensive (3) hard to find parking which also provides power and gas. Question though: how do people living in RVs shower? Monthly membership at a gym? (Asking because a friend suggested that was likely the case.)
- msisk6 13y agoMost RVs over 20-foot or so have showers with hot and cold water. A lot of campgrounds for RVs also have showers along with laundry facilities. Gym memberships are common, too.
- wmobit 13y agoMost (probably nearly all, I've never seen one that doesn't) have bathrooms with showers.
- azakai 13y ago> Question though: how do people living in RVs shower? The article says one of the people interviewed had a subscription to a fancy spa, and showered there.
- asciimo 13y agoDoes anyone recongnize the Famous Pickup Artist? http://tynan.com/how-i-became-a-famous-pickup-artist-part-1 http://tynan.com/how-i-became-a-famous-pickup-artist-part-1 Note that he garnered this reputation prior to living in an RV.
- drpgq 13y agoI was wondering if that was him. Certainly reading about him over the years. I'm not surprised he's living in an RV.
- ccallebs 13y agoI'm doing this in Austin currently. Inspired by Tynan, I got a Rialta as well and have been using it as an exercise in minimalism. So far, it's worked out very well, even in the extreme heat.