I can see your point. RVs can be useful if you use them (though I could do much the same in a tent). What puzzles me is people like my neighbors, who have one parked in their yard that I know for a fact hasn't moved in at least 4 years. Alongside the power boat and jet ski that haven't moved in longer than that.
Your neighbors own toys, not tools. They bought the toys to satisfy a need. The need however, cannot be met by the purchase, so they buy another toy. The good part for those of us who want a tool, in this case mobile housing, is that there are millions of fools out there buying toys like RVs and doing us a great service by doing so. First, as you note, they really are going to use their toy very little over their ownership. They are too busy on the hampster wheel, earning cash to pay for stupid choices. Second, they create a huge market for these new toys, and keep the prices in the "middle class affordability range" by doing so. Third, because they do stupid stuff, like taking out 15 years loans on these toys, or draining all their home equity to buy them, they create a huge market for used toys, and create massive depreciation in used value. It would blow the average 'stash mind to see some of the choices these folks make as they trade rigs in every few years, or dump them due to their self inflicted financial messes.
So, when folks like me come along, wanting a used tool to wander the country in, we are in a pretty sweet spot. In our case, we are shopping for a used motorhome. The new model we want lists for roughly $135K, and an agressive buyer will be out the door at $105K with it. however, there are thousands of them out there in the 7-9 year old range for $35K ish. The units are often not only in nearly new condition, with very little use, and crazy low miles, but they can be a bitch to sell. The issue is that the typical buyer is a classic North American "Consumer". You know this species, somebody that has $513 in savings, and a good enough credit score to continue digging themselves in deeper. Unfortunately, vehicles that we are interested in create a problem for this market. They will continue to depreciate rapidly, in the bank's view they are "old", and therefore, there isn't a lot of enthuaism to be loaning cheap money against them. So the buyer either has cash, or has the increasingly rare ability to suck cash out of their home equity.A lot of folks who have a burning desire to buy a rationally priced RV simply can't. The dealer can get them financed for a nearly new $85K rig, at 5% over 15 years, but not a nine year old, $25K unit that would be just fine for them. Ah, the ties that bind, eh?
As the wife and I continue to move away from what society expects of us as middle age folks (49 and 54, in our case) that being, keeping the well manicured single family house in the burbs, mowing the law, getting raped by some of the highest R.E taxes in the nation, and being good little drones, we are heading in a new direction. We have greatly downsized our lives, and are moving into a very small ranch that I'm currently building. ( I'm a builder by trade) We will then do a few years of extended roaming, and find the place(s) that best suit our needs, and budget. At this point I'm leaning toward a "home base" in the southern Black Hills. This would be a piece of ground with a one or two site "campground", and the potential to build a small cabin on it, in later years. This would probably be complimented by the motorhome, not only as a dwelling at the base camp, but for use in the colder months in a nice location like AZ, or deep in south Texas.
As I said in my first post, it can be a lifestyle, not just a stupid purchase that sits in the yard, or worse yet, at a storage facility for $150 a month. It certainly isn't for everyone, but it can be a very 'stashian and intelligent choice. Finally, James. I doubt you would want to lead this life in tent, LOL. I have been caught in a blizzard that dumped 30" of snow on our RV, and camped in the desert when it hit 115* in the shade. in both cases we were happy and extremely comfortable. Doubtful that a tent would provide the same.