>>While some home shoppers dither over how big the kitchen is or whether the den's too small, a different breed is plunking down $250,000 to $500,000 for a little building and a concrete slab.

The buyers are recreational-vehicle owners (RVers) who need a place to park their luxury home on wheels. The "parking lots" in Southwest Florida that can accommodate them are sitting pretty. Those that can house high-end RVs in Collier County are seeing healthy appreciation, and a young venture in Lee County is aiming to grab a share of the market with some new enticements.

Today's RVers crave a well-equipped parking spot to own or rent. The spiffier the auto-abode, the more elaborate surroundings they seek. Local RV parks meet that challenge with lakes, pools, spas, docks, tennis courts, clubhouses, activities and personal structures that make the RV experience a lot more comfortable than in the past.

Nearly 8 million households owned a home on wheels in 2005, a 15 percent increase since 2001 and a 58 percent increase since 1980, according to a University of Michigan Survey Research Center study.

Dick O'Connell, sales director for Cypress Woods and Golden Palms RV resorts in Fort Myers, says current RVers are wealthier than before, due in part to hefty pensions and golden parachutes.

Data also show owners are younger and driving bigger and better vehicles.

Rachel Parsons of the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, says almost any luxury can be installed in an RV, especially class-A motor coaches.

"Marble floors, fireplaces, heated floors, and plasma TVs are popular," she explains. "Expandable features, called slide-outs, increase the floor space of individual areas, or, with the new full-panel slide-outs, enlarge the entire floor plan."

One Naples RVer had a dry cleaners-style clothes-conveyor rack installed, and Parsons reports that a built-in garage that holds a small vehicle is now available.

Among local facilities that cater to the carriage trade-i.e. class-A motorcoach owners-are Crystal Lake RV Subdivision Resort and Pelican Lake Luxury Motor Coach Resort in Naples and the new Golden Palms Motor Coach Estates on S.R. 82 in Fort Myers.

Sandy Grindey and her husband, Gordy, handle resales at sold-out Crystal Lake. She has been working with RVers who used to stay at Florida Keys parks that have been sold for condominium construction. That and Collier restrictions on RV park development west of U.S. 41 keep existing parks in demand.

O'Connell, who used to sell new lots at Crystal Lake and Pelican Lake, now sells Harp Development's Cypress Woods RV Resort in Fort Myers-which is expanding-and Golden Palms, a 54-acre project it is building with Featherlite Motor Coaches. Begun in early 2006, Golden Palms lots are priced from $240,000 to $320,000. "The bigger rigs people are buying require bigger lots, and that's one of the things we offer here," he says. (Most lots are 55 by 110 feet.)

Besides a fishing pier, 22-acre lake and the option of private boat docks, each of the 97 lots has a 500-square-foot "casita" equipped with plumbing and electricity so it can be used as a recreation room, kitchen, den or other space the owner desires. An owner can also purchase a single-or two-story twin villa with an optional elevator, or both units. Sixty-eight villas will be built across from the motor coach lots.

Onsite general manager Bill Chini reports Crystal Lake, located on Collier Boulevard near Immokalee Road, has five acres of outdoor storage for owners who want to rent boat or RV space, and almost as much space in roofed structures.

That's just peachy for Naples residents Fran and Mike Sergi. While they are settled in their north Naples home for a while, their 40-foot motor coach is stored at Crystal Lake and their lot is earning cash in seasonal rentals.

Grindey takes pride in Crystal Lake's two pools, three spas, two clubhouses and 60-acre stocked lake. "People can use electric-powered pontoon boats on our lake," she states. "This is a large, deep lake, not like some puddles others call 'lakes.'"

Though amenities figure large in buying decisions, the Sergis say they appreciate the onsite management and the many social activities provided just as much.

The 40-by-80 lot/coach home prices have been escalating nicely at the 170-acre community, begun in 1989 and sold out in 1997. Chini, who has been on the property for nine years, says property values have approximately quadrupled in the past six years. Waterfront properties sell in the $200,000s. He estimates that at least 25 percent of the rigs on the 490-lot property cost more than $1 million. Buyers get fee-simple ownership of their lots and pay maintenance fees.

Realtor Shelley Freshwater of Pelican Lake Realtyhas seen steady growth in lot prices at Pelican Lake, from $70,000 to $150,000 four years ago to $200,000 to just under $500,000 now. Lots at the 102-acre resort located off Collier Boulevard near Marco Island, all have 10-by-10 "coach homes," are 55 by 120 feet, and the 8,000-square-foot clubhouse has a dance floor.