Community Forums

jarata · 01-26-2018, 12:41 PM

The idea of not having a home scares me but I was wondering how many just have their motorhome or trailer and that's it to live in

1bigmess · 01-26-2018, 01:02 PM

Me. I might not ever own another house again.

bdickson · 01-26-2018, 01:08 PM

Me too. Sold our home 6 years ago and been on the road full time since then.

lenkerb · 01-26-2018, 01:10 PM

Us..pulled out of PA 8 years ago...visited once since then...enjoy following the sun!! Downsized to 29' cleaning the house and yard work took up most of our time!

pops2 · 01-26-2018, 01:30 PM

4 yr no house, no taxes, no lawn to mow, no weed to pull

so far so good

SoonToBeFT · 01-26-2018, 02:08 PM

Jarata,

Not full timers quite yet, but can so relate to your being scared to death about not owning a home, that is where I was for the longest time, when contemplating going FT in an RV. Especially considering our net worth has been amassed over decades through owning revenue properties, construction ourselves directly, farming etc.

Well, I have to share with you that since about a couple years ago, I can't wait to finally be property ownership free. With the ever changing weather climate (higher winds, flooding etc) necessitating repairs/renewals more often, government hiking property taxes beyond what we feel is justified/fair with no accountability where those dollars go/wasted, huge hikes in our home insurances Try $1500 in Sept 2013, Up to $2800 in Sept 2014 and Sept 2015 $4400 = due to claims by others from flooding, fires, wind etc.

Add all that up and the melt downs, credit crisis, energy crisis etc (folks sadly have short memories and these times will come again!), the older we are getting the less years we have to recover.

We've spent the last 4 years offloading every single revenue property, Fla vacation home we built, land etc, and I have to tell you the sense of relief as each one sold was unbelievable and I can't for the life of me NOW, understand why I was so scared about the prospect of being a non property owner.

Yes we still own our main acreage, but that is only and purely because our youngest daughter desperately wants to keep it, as she loves the area and her horses at home and so on, and at 26 she has her whole life ahead of her, and it might be a win win for us both if we carry the financing for it in the near future, instead of the banks so to speak.

So in a nutshell, all the above on costs property taxes home owners insurance and the rules when vacant, general risks today of ownership, and the untold amount of maintenance/snow shovelling, grass & weed controls etc, I've done a truly about turn 360 Degs.

Everyone's personality is different and other will see things differently, but only sharing what happened to cause this shift in my paradigm of thinking from being just like you stated in your OP.

F.E.A.R. - False Evidence Appearing Real. Feel the fear but do it anyway = nothing is for ever and we can all do an about U-turn

MikeO58 · 01-26-2018, 02:14 PM

We are in the process of selling our house now and going full time. My brother on the other hand insists that they have a home base so they bought a small townhouse in a community once they retire. I can’t wait to get out from under a house and the what seems as never ending maintenance

MisterT · 01-26-2018, 02:31 PM

the concern of 'not having a home to go "back" to' is inherent in our society because living in a 'sticks and bricks' home is overwhelming the normal thing that most folks do. We come to expect a 'place' that we can always go to, and an RV that has wheels might not invoke that same feeling.... at least, at first.

most of us who full-time get over this feeling after a while. Yes, there's always some who have 'emergency' concerns, but having a land-locked home is really no different than a 'home with wheels'... and the RV can take you somewhere IN an emergency!

the other mentioned items are also note worthy: property/land/lawn maintenance goes away - no more lawn mowers, weed eaters, etc... No more property taxes. No more electricity, water, or sewer in your name. etc., etc.,
(well, some 'full-timers' may have some maintenance if they choose to set up 'house' in certain rv parks where that's part of the requirement, but if we're really talking about true 'full timing' in an RV and not permanently parking the RV, then maintenance would probably be nil)...

even 'full timing' is not clear, as everyone might assign their own 'definition' to it...

drdarrin · 01-26-2018, 02:37 PM

We own a house that we don’t live in and intend to sell within the next two years.
Does that count?

Wundertaker · 01-26-2018, 03:34 PM

We'll be home free as of 12/31/2018

Then full time...as long as the Good Lord allows

SteveCrowell · 01-26-2018, 03:45 PM

Not completely full time, but our solution is we are selling our home in Oregon and are downsizing into a manufactured home in a RV park in Arizona. We will live in it in the winter and travel in the summer. It gives us some security and a place to hang out for the winter while being able to enjoy the RV life style for 6-8 months in the summer.

chiefneon · 01-26-2018, 04:32 PM

Howdy!

We haven’t owned a home the eleven years we have been fulltiming. We do have a Homebase that only has RV FHU’s and some storage.

“Happy Trails”
Chiefneon

Fiesta48 · 01-26-2018, 05:45 PM

Sold our home, then inherited mother in laws. We aren't there much. Is our twice a year spot for medical, maintenance on vehicles, and for mail. Summer is a pain for grass cutting.

Scottybdivin · 01-26-2018, 06:21 PM

I am on the verge of retiring this year. We have lived on 18 ac with no neighbors in site for the last 25 years.We built everything from the ground up and poured a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it.We have a deck that looks out over the property where we enjoy sitting and watching the deer, birds, and a lot of other wildlife. We are in the process of doing a subdivision for about 2/3 of our property and retain the house and about 6-8 ac. I have been hearing about the people who say they have no regrets about selling all out. We are going to give the full time RV thing a shot for about 6 months before we decide whether or not to sell all. I can see where someone that lives in the city and has a house in a subdivision with neighbors close by might not have the same emotional attachment that we have with our privacy. I have a shop and about every tool that you can imagine. I have a commercial ZTR mower and spend a lot of time on it to keep everything looking nice. I have a tractor with a front end loader to maintain my driveways and property. I am having great difficulty with the thought of giving everything up. Maybe 6 months on the road will change my mind. I have never in my life had the luxury of not having to be somewhere at a certain time.