“I Don’t Know Why More Campgrounds For Millennials Aren’t Popping Up”: This Young Couple Moved Into A Camper As Their First House Cause The Housing Crisis Is Real, Y’all
POV: You're a young adult and tired of paying a skyrocketing rent bill every month that has no return.
You want to own something and not pay rent anymore, but with high mortgage rates and the median US home price at $431,00, owning a home feels entirely out of reach.
How about a camper? For Ana, 23, and her boyfriend, Jake, 25, they traded in a $2,000+ monthly rent payment to own and live in a camper for nearly half the cost.
In a viral video, which has now been viewed over six million times, Ana, aka @camperparkprincess, takes us on a tour of her new home. "For my age, it just made so much sense to buy this," she said. "I mean the payment is literally $373 a month and that's my boyfriend and I [splitting] that... It's like $170 a person, so we're thriving."
@camperparkprincess / Via tiktok.com
It's honestly super nice.
The camper is complete with a living space, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and a "bunk-bed" room.
TBH, the entire place is in nicer condition than my apartment.
There's a surprising amount of storage space, too.
"We have plenty of room in this camper, and I think that's the biggest thing I wanted you guys to see," Ana said in the video.
Many people in the comments joined in, mentioning how they also traded in renting for camper life:
Others were pretty impressed with the idea:
One person even said that they're surprised "more campgrounds for millennials aren't popping up everywhere."
Living in a camper probably wouldn't be most people's first choice, but being able to have a roof over your head at an affordable rate, and own it at that, feels increasingly hard to come by and incredibly enticing, especially for a young adult. So, I, like many others, had many questions about how Ana makes this work, how much she's saving, and what led her to choose a camper.
First, Ana explained that she's located near Virginia Beach and previously paid over $2,000/month for a one-bedroom apartment, not including utilities, which according to Zillow, is about the median rent for the area right now. Now, she and her boyfriend share the $373 monthly loan payment for the camper. Since they are stationary, they also pay to park their camper on a lot at an RV resort, which runs between $800–1100/month depending on the season.
Ana said, "During the peak summer months, our lot costs $1,100 a month, but the monthly payment then goes down by hundreds in the fall/winter months. All utilities are included in the lot price, like water, sewage, Wi-Fi, cable, and electric." In total, they're now spending between $1,173–1,473 per month for the camper and the lot.
Ana explained that even in the summer busy season, they're still saving more than when they lived in the apartment nearby. "All in all, we have been saving about $1,000+ more a month compared to what we were spending in apartment rent," Ana said.
Of course $1,173–1,473 a month is still a hefty bill to come by, but considering the location, it is still cheaper than nearby apartment rent. Ana also explained that if they parked outside the city, or didn't park at an RV resort, costs would drop significantly.
One option Ana mentioned some campers choose is "boondocking," which is much more cost-friendly than renting land at a park or resort. She said, "[Boondocking] is free. People will let you live off their land for a certain amount of time and let you use all of their hookups — that's water, that's sewage, that's electric." She also mentioned some people buy a plot of land instead of renting.
In a separate video, Ana said that everyone's experience with full-time camper living is different. Despite the higher costs of her RV resort, based on her location and the resort's perks, she finds camper living the best option for her.
She explained, "I'm from Ohio, so I know if I moved back to Ohio, I would probably get a house mortgage for less than what I'm paying to live in a camper... Keep in mind this is just in Virginia Beach. It would be different if I lived in a small town somewhere. I would probably be paying a third of what I pay here to stay at their campground, but then again I'm also at a camper resort and we have all these amenities."
Ana told me one of the biggest perks of camper living, aside from the financial savings, is having access to the all the added perks at their RV resort at no extra cost.
She told BuzzFeed, "We have two swimming pools, a lazy river, on-site laundromat, a campground store, live music performances every Friday and Saturday night, food trucks every day of the week, golf cart rentals, playgrounds, a trolley to the beach and waterslides."
"We constantly feel like we are on vacation. We wake up everyday and can just sit outside in nature, enjoying our coffee or eating our breakfast. My dog has so much space to play outside as well," she said.
"I prefer this over apartment living. It feels so much more secluded and private living in our camper, which may be contrary to popular belief," she added. "Also, owning something at a young age feels great. We are able to remodel anything as we choose and we have our own yard area."
When it came to deciding on buying a camper, Ana said she took a lot of time to research and weigh out all the pros and cons. She said, "We did not just randomly pick up one day and do this. We thought this through thoroughly and strategically for almost a year... We weighed out every possible cost, like I'm talking freak accident costs, to see if it was worth the money. And it totally, 100%, was."
For those looking into camper living, she told BuzzFeed, "I recommend planning out everything very far ahead. My boyfriend and I planned for about six months. We weighed out every wild problem that could occur, and even weighed in the most [unlikely] expenses to make sure this was the correct choice for us."
She added, "I also recommend taking your camper out for a spin before moving in completely. We did that and it made us feel much more confident when our move in happened."
Since going viral, Ana said she's excited she can help others who are considering camper living, especially since she couldn't find much advice on stationary camper living when she was researching.
She told BuzzFeed, "I have received so many questions about how to get started, where to find a loan, and how to find a camper/campground. This makes me so happy to see more young people finding alternative ways to live. It’s so good for us to own something at a young age and be able to save for our future homes in the meantime."
So there you have it! While it's cool to see young people finding solutions to the housing crisis, I do yearn for a future with more affordable housing. In the meantime, a camper's not looking too bad of an option.
Would you trade in your monthly rent to own a camper instead? Let me know in the comments down below.
