Home Ownership or RV Full Time?

[WheelingIt]

If you want to travel around at will that will definitely cost more than what most of the fulltime RVers who've commented here spend. Not a problem...just something to be aware of. That's the difference between "vacation" mode (you travel constantly with a goal to visit everything) versus "fulltime lifestyle" (this is your daily life so you take your time, stop, spend months in one spot, volunteer or some such thing). Most folks who plan on fulltiming long-term will slow down & drive much less.

We were in "vacation" mode our first year. We moved every 3-4 days, drove over 8,000 miles and did a coast-to-coast. Almost killed us. By the end of the year we were exhausted and ready to give up RVing. The 2nd year we wised up and slowed down A LOT. Now, we love the lifestyle. Not saying you should chose to travel like this. It's just what has suited us best.

As for "being close" thing that's exactly the reason we prefer public parks (COE, BLM, National Forest, State Park etc.) versus private parks. Much more space/green in public parks. In winter we boondock (camp for free on public land) and we have acres (and acres) of space to ourselves. There's some things we give up to do this -> typically we don't have full hookups for example and all winter we camp on solar and our tanks. But we get the space in return.

[PyrateSilly]

There are people that full time on $800 a month (or less) and be perfectly happy.
Then there are those that try full timing on $4k or more a month and scream that it's expensive and they can't do all that they want to do.

It all depends on you. From what you just posted about seeing what you want when you want ......

When Thom and I did a trip round the country in about 6 weeks or so we spent about $2k (or more) just in fees for campgrounds. That was vacation mode/traveling mode. Now our expenses are $500 a month for site rent and what ever we want to spend for food and stuff.

[ElJefe]

Originally Posted by WheelingIt

We were in "vacation" mode our first year. We moved every 3-4 days, drove over 8,000 miles and did a coast-to-coast. Almost killed us. By the end of the year we were exhausted and ready to give up RVing. The 2nd year we wised up and slowed down A LOT. Now, we love the lifestyle.

I do want to see most of the country, but I don't want to be moving every couple of days. If on your first year, you moved every 3-4 days, how often did you move after that?

Originally Posted by WheelingIt

As for "being close" thing that's exactly the reason we prefer public parks (COE, BLM, National Forest, State Park etc.) versus private parks. Much more space/green in public parks. In winter we boondock (camp for free on public land) and we have acres (and acres) of space to ourselves. There's some things we give up to do this -> typically we don't have full hookups for example and all winter we camp on solar and our tanks. But we get the space in return.

That's the part I really don't know about yet. I guess only experience will tell me...? 50 amps & 43' available in these places? Able to get spots as as start to move around on a whim?

Originally Posted by PyrateSilly

When Thom and I did a trip round the country in about 6 weeks or so we spent about $2k (or more) just in fees for campgrounds. That was vacation mode/traveling mode. Now our expenses are $500 a month for site rent and what ever we want to spend for food and stuff.

I thought the fees were on the order of $500/month?

[PyrateSilly]

Originally Posted by ElJefe

I thought the fees were on the order of $500/month?

They are now ..... when we did a cross country trip in a short time then the fees were a very large amount. The money aspect has calmed down from vacation mode to living mode. Money for diesel while traveling were over $3k a month while not vacation mode it's down to lots less.

[WheelingIt]

These days we typically like to stay at least a week, usually more. We're staying a month in our next spot (Cape Disappointment)

Regarding public parks, some places you have electric (not all), some places will have length restrictions (not all). We're 40 feet and camp 95% of our time in public parks. We book summers and major holidays, but wing it most of the rest of the year.

[Davdeb1]

Originally Posted by ElJefe

Elaborate more on this if you don't mind.



We had kids late in life. We'll be 59 & 57 when the last kid leaves for college. We intend to sell the house, go full time for a few years & see the country while we still can. We intend to see what we want to see, when we want to see it. Everglades? There. D.C. Monuments? There. Every NP in the country? Yep. South in the Winter & North in the summer? Yep. If/when we grow tired of it, we'll buy another S&B house in the mountains, and keep or sell the MH as we decide then. (Likely keep it for shorter duration trips to see the kids/etc)

Due to massive RV depreciation, I plan to buy a gently used MH, knowing it will still depreciate while we're in it, just not all of the depreciation will be ours to eat.

We live on a few acres now. One of the things I'm unsure about is the proximity of others when Full Timing - times I've rented in the past, the 'base camp' is not where you want to hang out - often a bare gravel parking lot with other RV's 20' away. When we vacation now, we rent cabins in the mountains & are not near neighbors. This is our preferred environment. I'd like to know other's opinions on the 'too close to neighbors' part of Full-Timing...is it an issue? We're not really into the "RV Lifestyle" thing - we just want to go places & see things while we still can. Other people are OK, just in controlled doses.

We're in the process of setting up a 2-week trip in a rented DP to test out the theory. Pretty dang expensive to rent, but it's cheaper to make mistakes now than after a purchase. I have no issue with the size/space of a large DP - I served on submarines. Wife lived in a TT during college, so she's cool with it. We both love adventure. We'll likely have a rented storage unit to keep things like the large tool collection, important furniture & mementos, etc & get rid of the rest. (Another thought is to build a barn on a purchased piece of property in the mountains & just store our stuff there, but that's another discussion)

I don't intend to save money or spend more - we'll plan that accordingly. With the size of our place & property taxes in Texas, I can't see how we'd spend more going FT, but it could be the same if we're on the road a lot.

Y'all are a wealth of information. What am I missing?

I can't say you are missing anything. The beauty of fulltime RV, you can stay where you want. If proximity is a problem, boondock. As long as your rig is prepared with the right batteries, solar panels or be willing to use your Genny a lot.
You can move a lot, or move every 3-6 months. You can stay in a RV park or in the middle of the woods.
Also don't listen to the malarkey about big units being restrictive. You can fit in a lot more places than you would think. I have a 40 ft, and I've went just about anywhere.
Listen to everyone's advice, and when you have a question,just ask on here.
You will learn mostly from just being out there.

[B Bob]

Depends a bit on the price of the house and the price of the RV. If you compare the cost of fixed home ownership in a low priced area with full timing in a Prevost the house would likely be cheaper.

[StevenNSteph]

Originally Posted by Davdeb1

If you are considering fulltime RV living for financial reasons, forget it. The only reason to do it is because you really want to.

End of Story

[Scottybdivin]

Originally Posted by ElJefe

Elaborate more on this if you don't mind.



We had kids late in life. We'll be 59 & 57 when the last kid leaves for college. We intend to sell the house, go full time for a few years & see the country while we still can. We intend to see what we want to see, when we want to see it. Everglades? There. D.C. Monuments? There. Every NP in the country? Yep. South in the Winter & North in the summer? Yep. If/when we grow tired of it, we'll buy another S&B house in the mountains, and keep or sell the MH as we decide then. (Likely keep it for shorter duration trips to see the kids/etc)

Due to massive RV depreciation, I plan to buy a gently used MH, knowing it will still depreciate while we're in it, just not all of the depreciation will be ours to eat.

We live on a few acres now. One of the things I'm unsure about is the proximity of others when Full Timing - times I've rented in the past, the 'base camp' is not where you want to hang out - often a bare gravel parking lot with other RV's 20' away. When we vacation now, we rent cabins in the mountains & are not near neighbors. This is our preferred environment. I'd like to know other's opinions on the 'too close to neighbors' part of Full-Timing...is it an issue? We're not really into the "RV Lifestyle" thing - we just want to go places & see things while we still can. Other people are OK, just in controlled doses.

We're in the process of setting up a 2-week trip in a rented DP to test out the theory. Pretty dang expensive to rent, but it's cheaper to make mistakes now than after a purchase. I have no issue with the size/space of a large DP - I served on submarines. Wife lived in a TT during college, so she's cool with it. We both love adventure. We'll likely have a rented storage unit to keep things like the large tool collection, important furniture & mementos, etc & get rid of the rest. (Another thought is to build a barn on a purchased piece of property in the mountains & just store our stuff there, but that's another discussion)

I don't intend to save money or spend more - we'll plan that accordingly. With the size of our place & property taxes in Texas, I can't see how we'd spend more going FT, but it could be the same if we're on the road a lot.

Y'all are a wealth of information. What am I missing?

Eljefe, we are almost neighbors. Our address is in Spicewood but we live in Travis County. I have a lot of the same concerns as you. We live on 18 ac and can not see another house. Most of our travel now is to motorsports events. The close proximity of RV parks we stay at to/from the events really bug me. Our dogs are restrained by invisible fence to two acres at home. It bothers me to have to put them on a leash and walk them down to a small fenced plot that is ripe with doggie smells. These are obstacles we will have to overcome, even if staying at the most spacious parks, BLM, COE, etc.

I am in my 4th year of 5 necessary to get an agriculture exemption by keeping honey bees. Thanks to the Texas Legislature in 2011, the new law requires 6 - 20 ac. Our property can be divided into 2 ac tracts and I plan to first sell the front 12 ac, retaining 6 ac along with the house, hopefully getting some relief from the taxes you mentioned. Otherwise, we simply could not afford to retire here and keep all of this property.

The way I see it, central Texas is about as good as you can get for 6 mo out of the year (Nov - Apr), so I already have a great winter home. It's the summers that we all want to duck and run from. I am finding out that real estate is much more expensive in areas where there is mostly public lands. We take real estate prices for granted here in Texas, where less than 2% are public lands. Even the highest priced property here is only an average price in these places.

[Sleepy]

I had a well-paying professional career, and a failed marriage. One day, I thought, "All these toys, homes, cars, airplanes, boats, stuff, and I wasn't happy. So I created this imaginary "pain / pleasure scale" in my mind. Everything, including marriage, stuff, career, boy-toys...did it give me more pain, or more pleasure? When I put things on this imaginary scale, I was honest with myself. If it was more pain than pleasure, I got rid of it!
I know it sounds a little "kooky", but I sold almost everything I had, I bought a motorhome, quit my career at 58, married a wonderful wife, and I am the happiest I have ever been in my life, now at 65. Get rid of that stuff!
My new motto is, "The richest man is not the one who has the most...but rather, the one who needs the least."
It works for me, and I have never looked back!

[flynnwalter]

Resist
I notice you are a "Senior Member" on this blog, but are wanting to buy a Class A motorhome and full time. So, perhaps you have already done some RVing? You have gotten a lot of good advice here, but there is another issue if you have never RV'd or had much experience with a large Class A motorhome: the learning curve is enormous. I would certainly not consider jumping into a large investment unless I had some idea that I liked it. If you think you lose a bunch of money just driving a new car off the lot, then you won't like how underwater you'll be for years buying a new motorhome. The decision to full time or not is problematic enough for experienced Class A motorhome owners who already know their rig's limitations and how to go about enjoying it. Might want to ensure you know what you're getting into before jumping off that cliff. Having said all the above, I believe I could go full time but my dear wife could not. You gotta be on the same page of music, or it won't turn out very well. Good luck!
Frank W. 09 Cayman
Lake City, Florida

[wa8yxm]

Did as you are considering.

Many times people say things to me like "Boy it sure must take a lot of gas to fill that up (70 gallons)

I get about 8 MPG

Costs: Home RV
Tax, over 3K. . . 382
Utilities, Water, Electric, Gas, over 250.. See parking:
I buy gas 2-3 times a year at 60 a tank full on the average, That is 10-15 /month

Parking... I have two memberships, Most summers I shuttle between the two parks 95/month.. Winters I use one and a week out, 95 am noth is every mont, plus less than 150 a month in the winter.. This is about the same as the utilities at the house. Phone costs are the same only now it's a cell with a local calling area that is the UNITED STATES instead of "City of_____", Way nicer. Includes internet

The gas for the motor home,, I drive perhaps 3-4000 miles a year
4000/8=500 gallons times 3.5 = 1750 plus 382 in taxes.. Still less than I paid on the house.

I do not shovel snow,, Rake leaves, Mow grass, or any of that stuff.

[Old Radios]

I'm retired now and would consider full time if it was just me but my wife and I have a home in the country with a few acres of land. Neighbors aren't really an issue. We camp a lot in the Northeast and prefer boondocking. I think we've settled into keeping our home and just doing some extended trips to see the country. RV parks aren't our style as in most we've seen over the years everyone is on top of each other compared to our house. If I was full time I'd have to go out west and try some BLM camping. That's most likely what I'd be happy with. For now I think we'll stick to camping and tending our gardens.

[ElJefe]

Originally Posted by Old Radios

I'm retired now and would consider full time if it was just me but my wife and I have a home in the country with a few acres of land. Neighbors aren't really an issue. We camp a lot in the Northeast and prefer boondocking. I think we've settled into keeping our home and just doing some extended trips to see the country. RV parks aren't our style as in most we've seen over the years everyone is on top of each other compared to our house. If I was full time I'd have to go out west and try some BLM camping. That's most likely what I'd be happy with. For now I think we'll stick to camping and tending our gardens.

Old Radios, how long are some of your trips? Yours sounds like my concern - don't want to be on top of people, love the space I have at home. Wondering about the logistics of having a S&B house & still being gone a lot.