full timer, where to call home

[racefn]

If your going to fulltime it with no stick home, any ideas on where should you set up address at, considering Drivers license requirements ,yearly taxes on rv/ income , and license plates. after reading previous thread on license plates and personel property taxes, it makes a person wonder who, if any has the ideal setup, if there is one???.

[RVingLady]

When we became fulltimers in 03, we did pretty extensive research on where to call "home" and decided on Sioux Falls, SD. Texas was ruled out because of sales tax on the new MH we were just purchasing. It also requires an annual inspection of your vehicle. Oregon would have been nice, but residence restrictions are extremely strict. Florida was ruled out because of higher insurance costs. SD had only a 3% excise tax on the net price of the new MH, no inspection, no additional driver's license requirements, extremely low licensing costs - we license an 03 Discovery and 05 CRV for about $200. Insuring both vehicles was reasonable also. We do have to return every 5 years to renew our driver's licenses. SD is very fulltimer friendly - they realize we are an excellent revenue stream and use very little of their services.
We chose Sioux Falls because of Alternative Resources, our mail forwarding company. In 7 years we have had 1 mix up with the mail and it was as much my fault as theirs - I was not specific enough with my request. The owner is a very active advocate for RVers in SD.
Hope this helps.

[paz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eracefn45 If your going to fulltime it with no stick home, any ideas on where should you set up address at, considering Drivers license requirements ,yearly taxes on rv/ income , and license plates. after reading previous thread on license plates and personel property taxes, it makes a person wonder who, if any has the ideal setup, if there is one???.

There is not one location that is ideal for everyone because everyone's circumstances are different. Texas, South Dakota, and Florida seem to top the list of domiciles for full-timers because of favorable tax conditions and ease in establishing residency.

Before we became full-timers, we were sure we would be Texans. However, when comparing vehicle insurance rates, we found we could save $800 a year in South Dakota, so we ended up as South Dakotans.

We're not in the market for a new RV, but if we were, lower sales tax in SD would definitely be a factor as RVingLady mentioned.

On the other hand, health insurance seems to be more favorable in Texas. However, since we had employer-subsidized health insurance (and now one of us is on Medicare), health insurance costs weren't a factor for us.

You will need to evaluate your own situation to see what will be best for you.

[racefn]

South dakota seems to be popular, checked a little further as far as retirement taxes and there are none, Is a mailing service with a physical adress enough to call a state your home, I,m still in planning stages, lot of questions, I know so many before me have done this, it helps to have a starting point, i currenty live in Indiana, between plates, exice taxes and income taxes I have been able to cross off 1 state. thanks Paz and RVingLady for info.

[Dacotah]

We are about 1 year away from full timming and presently live in Florida. Some of our concern is health insurance, our Medicare Advantage plan is based in Palm Beach county, so how does that work in the rest of the country? We plan on using a relative in Florida for mail where they can scan the important stuff into the computer and E-mail it to us. We will do all our bills and banking on line. Our motor home insurance is only about $500.00 per year (2001 38' Sportscoach), but our toad is about $850.00 per year andit is older than the motor home. Any advise from those who have already done this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, DACOTAH

[Larry & Rita]

We have retired and live in Washington state.
We would like to call SD our home state but have not been able to find a list of places we contact to set up mail, and vehicle reg.
I seem to think judging from the threads here that there are companys that will assist in this project.
Where do we find this info??
This is the next to the last thing that needs to be done.
Larry and Rita

[WheelingIt]

We established our residency in SD for many of the reasons others listed (tax free, good insurance rates etc.). We used Alternative Resources in Sioux Falls and have been very happy with them. They helped us get our new license-plates via mail and we took a summer trip in the RV to the Black Hills to get our drivers license (great place to visit by the way!)

Most full-timers end up establishing residency in either Texas or SD, with some who consider FL, mostly for the tax-free reasons. Individual details can vary. I always suggest that people look at:

1/ Insurance rates - call your current carrier and get some quotes for the States you're considering
2/ Health care costs - Again, get a quote. We used ehealthinsurance.com to compare rates.
3/ MH & car registration costs, incl.any inspections or special licences that are required (this is another reason we chose SD...for our size home we didn't need any special license. Also SD doesn't require inspections).
4/ Mail Forwarding costs (as I said, we use Alternative Resources in SD. There's many other organizations...e.g. Escapees in TX).

Nina

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dacotah SNIP. Our motor home insurance is only about $500.00 per year (2001 38' Sportscoach), but our toad is about $850.00 per year andit is older than the motor home. Any advise from those who have already done this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, DACOTAH

That sounds pretty low - is that $500 per year a full timer policy ? Full timer policies become a requirement when you spend more than a certain number of days per year in the RV -usually 180 days.

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eracefn45 South dakota seems to be popular, checked a little further as far as retirement taxes and there are none, Is a mailing service with a physical address enough to call a state your home, SNIP.

Here is some good info on what constitutes a legal domicile you may find interesting.
HERE

[allynne]

efracefn45,

Like many others I full time and claim SD as my home. The advantages have been pretty well outlined. Alternative Resources is an excellent mail forwarder and have served us very well for over 6.5 years.
They assist with vehicle registration, licenses, voting etc. and generally answer any questions you might have. Mail sent via priority mail arrives in 3 days usually.
I guess TX would be my second choice but they require an annual vehicle inspection and if your MH is over 26,000 lbs you must have an endorsement on your drivers license. Not sure about registration, insurance and other costs. They have no income tax however.

Their address is :www.alternativeresources.net



Al Sawyer
'05 MADP

[jstbu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry & Rita We have retired and live in Washington state. We would like to call SD our home state but have not been able to find a list of places we contact to set up mail, and vehicle reg. I seem to think judging from the threads here that there are companys that will assist in this project. Where do we find this info?? This is the next to the last thing that needs to be done. Larry and Rita

We are going fulltime in a couple of months. We live in CA and just can't seeing paying taxes here if we're only here a few weeks a year. We had just about decided on SD, but found out that we can keep our Kaiser if we "move" to WA. Keeping our current medical would make us both very happy and save money, so we'd really like to make that happen. We haven't been able to find any decent mail services in WA, any ideas? Really we need 99% of our mail (a couple of pieces a month) just scanned and emailed to us. We've found lots of great mail services that specialize in doing everything electronic, but they are mostly geared toward people living out of the country and are based in NV, NW and CA. Any help finding a mail service in WA would be greatly appreciated!!

[racefn]

Thanks to all for your insight, looks like S Dakota is a good place to start in our quest for the GOOD LIFE. ( on the road)


Thanks Again
Bob & Julie

[Larry & Rita]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstbu We are going fulltime in a couple of months. We live in CA and just can't seeing paying taxes here if we're only here a few weeks a year. We had just about decided on SD, but found out that we can keep our Kaiser if we "move" to WA. Keeping our current medical would make us both very happy and save money, so we'd really like to make that happen. We haven't been able to find any decent mail services in WA, any ideas? Really we need 99% of our mail (a couple of pieces a month) just scanned and emailed to us. We've found lots of great mail services that specialize in doing everything electronic, but they are mostly geared toward people living out of the country and are based in NV, NW and CA. Any help finding a mail service in WA would be greatly appreciated!!

We have not found anyone in Wash. that will scan and e-mail.
Most start thier reply with privacy issues and are affraid to open mail.
Larry

[Billieg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eracefn45 Thanks to all for your insight, looks like S Dakota is a good place to start in our quest for the GOOD LIFE. ( on the road) Thanks Again Bob & Julie

Ya, but don't plan on living there more than 3 months out of the year...