How did you select your "home state"?

[SargeW]

In about 2 years the wife and I will be retireing and starting to full time for a few years, so I am researching several topics. The first and foremost is choosing a home state. I am looking for input about how you chose your home state, and how your decision worked out. Thanks, Sarge

[SargeW]

In about 2 years the wife and I will be retireing and starting to full time for a few years, so I am researching several topics. The first and foremost is choosing a home state. I am looking for input about how you chose your home state, and how your decision worked out. Thanks, Sarge

[agkcpa]

There are a number of things to consider when selecting a domicile state. Among them are state income taxes, estate taxes, ease and cost of vehicle registration, voter registration, cost of vehicle and medical insurance, etc.

Here is a good Link to get you started.

[Zimectrin]

We spent over a year researching this very subject and concluded that all in all South Dakota was best.

We used all the items mentioned above to judge. Unless you have some special situation, think you will find SD at the top of the 'all around' group.

[Greyhound]

We looked at all the aforementioned items also and became Texans in less than six hours. However that has since changed. While on the road, we knew one day we would have to: 1. Cut back on our travels and 2. Park it whether it be for medical reasons or other interest.
We then started looking at "homebases", took into consideration taxes, medical and weather (being the top three)along with the price of real estate, opted for New Mexico. Yes there is a state income tax, however having lived in CA. we found this to be a non-issue.
So, I would recommend take into consideration the inevitable that one day you will have to "park the rig", find a state that both of you are comfortable with and consider making it your home base. In the interm, South Dakota is a good choice, however it does snow there
Bob

[Mac and Chris]

We were already Floridians, having moved there in 2000. So when we went fulltime in 2004 it was the "path of least resistance" to just remain Floridians. We get mail through Good Sam Mail (American Home Base) in Pensacola.

Here's a link to our blog where we talk about this topic.

Mac

[SargeW]

Thanks, lots of good info, and the link page was very helpful. So far it looks like South Dakota is a strong possibility. I thought that may be a choice since we see a good deal of SD plates in many of the places we camp. There is just a ton of stuff to think about. Can anyone recommend a well written book on full timing? I know that there are several, but any one better than another? Thanks, Sarge

[jperry29]

I have been reading (multiple times) the book written by Bill and Jan Moeller. It was a very practicle, down to earth approach to full timing. Even though the book was last updated and printed in 1998 I find it to still be contemporary in its subject matter.


Complete Guide to Full-Time Rving: Life on the Open Road by Bill Moeller and Jan Moeller (Paperback - Sep 1998)
You can easily find this on Amazon.com.

[seizetheday]

Thank goodness we didn't have to worry about this since we live(d) in Tennessee anyway. I changed our mail to my brothers address, they send it to us every 2 weeks and kept our license etc with TN.
We do see a lot of SD tags and it has became a "joke" for us when we meet them to figure out where they are "really" from after talking to them from their accent. Being from East TN our accent is a dead giveaway.

[lkentn]

We have been members of Escapees for about five years and attended an Escapade where an Escapees' attorney conducted a seminar on full-timing and domicile locations. All things considered, South Dakota and Texas were the best states to select at that time, about three years ago. We are planning to become full timers after we sell out townhome this summer. Currently, we are on our way to Livingston TX to discuss domicile states with the folks at the Escapees office. We should be there sometime in mid March. If we learn anything profound or new we will post it here.

[Miles]

Looking forward to replies on this on as the wife retires in June and we are looking forward to traveling for a few years.

[agkcpa]

Kent and Margaret,

I will be sorry to miss you at Livingston.
We are making our first trip to that area in May.

[rvgrandma]

We live in Oregon and kept that as our home state. I wanted to go back to Washington since we had lived there over 20 years to escape the income tax. I have a sister in Vanc. that we could have used for our home base address, but Washington wanted to charge us 'use' aka sales tax on our MH - no way. Yes, tags are more expensive in Oregon than Washington, but it would have taken about 8 years for us to re-coop that tax when compared to what we pay in Oregon. (low income - low/no income tax)

We use my sister's address in Madras as our physical address and use a mail forwarding service in Jefferson, OR for our mailing address. We just switched to them since our PO Box from where we use to live is expiring so I don't know how good they are but was impressed with their references.

Another factor one might want to consider is insurance. Our insurance dropped dramatically when we changed from Donald, OR (a small town south of Portland) to Madras.

We know many people who use SD and are very happy with it. Their only complaint was having to go spend time there to qualify for residency. Another friend went to Nevada but didn't not think about the auto insurance - it was much higher there.

[Tom N]

The reason Washington state wanted you to pay sales tax on your motorhome was because Oregon has no sales tax and so you never paid sales tax.

As soon as a state sees you have an Oregon title they are going to want sales tax to register your coach in their state.