Community Forums

patterbery · 09-20-2014, 02:50 PM

..... transition into full time rving? I retired last year from my second career in aviation. My first career was in the USAF. We've paid off all the creditors except the tow vehicle for the TT. The homestead has a contract to purchase that should close next week. Up till now, things have been pretty straight forward. We've concluded that a Class A MH is the course we are going to follow. Once the house sells and all the accountants are happy we've got several coaches we want to look at. Now comes the question of "what's next?". Do we schlep around the '99 Tahoe TT and the 2008 E350 tow vehicle to several dealers as trades [B]ordo we just trade the TT in toward the MH, then use the van as a trade on a dingy. I guess I'm wondering how other folks on a fixed income with excellent credit have accomplished the transition to FT?

KIX · 09-20-2014, 02:56 PM

IMHO you'll do better trading them separately.

beamisl · 09-20-2014, 04:42 PM

Hi Kilroy,

Have seen some things posted here that sometimes if you sell the houses prior to buying the MH financing can be a bit difficult. Hope you don't find that out to be true. If you are buying outright it won't matter.

I retire in 3 years and we planned to buy then, sell the house, and then hit the road. Friends and posts here have since then made us rethink that. Buy next summer and get used to the MH and how it works. Go full timing for a year and then decide if we want to sell the house.

I would be fine with selling the house and hitting the road permanently but the DH is more comfortable with the prior so we will follow that plan.

Since you have done camping before I think you are going to do fine. Best of luck with all your decisions and have a great time. Lynne

hal1phx · 09-20-2014, 09:09 PM

We're about where you are ... house closing in a week or so ... then off we go on to an all new life style ....
we started out over a year ago researching everything FTimin and looking for what kind of MH would meet our needs ..... A couple of months ago we starting selling everything ..... 2 cars (decided early on which one to keep) and totally emptying the house .... along the way we picked up a 20' car hauler ..... and have now picked out our new home ... got a pre approval a week or so ago for the gap between the cash we're getting and the price of the MH ... All the bills are paid .. we'll have a small MH payment ... appears we're good to go ......
Not sayin its the right thing ... I guess time will tell ....
Congrats on the decision to be adventurous ..

Dan McMartin · 10-04-2014, 01:06 PM

You are further along than we are but this might help someone else. We plan to purchase our MH prior to selling the house. I am retired with a pension but I have a second career (writing) and my wife does contract work from home. We have some extra income so we can afford payments on a used MH for a bit. I know a lot of people can't swing the mortgage and RV payments but for us, transitioning will be much easier.

We can move into the RV at our leisure, make any repairs/upgrades/etc. before moving in and we can use the MH prior to selling our S & B home for fun or to shake out the kinks. In the meantime, we are beginning to downsize, sell/trash/giveaway possessions and doing the little things to the S & B house that need doing.

I tell you what, we both look forward to the day we drive away from our house for the last time and start a new adventure. No matter how you approach it, it is an adventure. As long as you look at it that way, it probably doesn't matter how you transition.

Clay L · 10-04-2014, 01:26 PM

When you trade something in as a rule you get wholesale or less. They may play with the numbers to fake you out, but dealers buy at wholesale and sell at retail.
Once in a great while you might get a little better deal if the dealer is having floor plan or other financial issues but you sure can't count on that being the case.

So that means if you sell it yourself and get more than wholesale in general you will be ahead of the game.

patterbery · 11-01-2014, 09:32 PM

Well, there's no turning back now. We've got the coach and the dinghy. All we need now is the car trailer, and we look at one on Monday. We're going to be here 'till March or so we'll plenty of time to work out the kinks in the coach and ourselves. The odessy continues.

dc8cappie · 11-02-2014, 06:07 AM

Question, why are you going to use a trailer when the escape will four wheel down tow. Only possible problem is you can't back up when four wheel down towing.

Sending a short PM.

Ramets · 11-02-2014, 07:23 AM

I was thinking the same thing that 4 down will be better than a trailer. You didn't mention the coach you purchased. That will dictate how much you can hang on the rear. The trailer will add weight to the hitch, 4 down will not. You also won't have to worry about where you'll be parking the trailer when you hunker down for the winter somewhere, but it can be done. Some parks have a place to put a trailer but most don't.

Smitty77 · 11-02-2014, 08:53 AM

He now has a Bounder DP referenced in his signature.

Congrats on upcoming full retirement.

I agree 'if' you can tow four down, it would be better than pulling a trailer and car. One less set of wheels to worry about, and much easier setup and go for traveling. Yes, dolly or trailer can work, but IMO a PITA compared to simple four down. Plus, a bit less weight overall for your DP to pull.

Have fun, be safe,
Smitty

usplus · 11-02-2014, 09:24 AM

We are working on going FT. We just bought our MH and are living in it while we start cleaning and go through everything in the S/B. All the kids will be home for Thanksgiving and are being told to take what they want now otherwise we will dispose of it. DH is retired already has his SS and retirement from USAF and I work P/T which brings in peanuts until I get my SSI.

So with living in the MH now is getting our pluses (dogs) used to the space and new rules and giving us the ability to learn the MH systems, space issues and seeing what mods we want to do. I am hoping that this time next year we will be heading out on the road if the S/B sells.

The sale of the S/B is a biggie. NM is a depressed state in many ways but I hope someone will want what we have. 3 bed, 2 bath house, horse area with 10 acres fenced off for pasture, large established garden area and a total of 80 acres.

OB-One · 11-08-2014, 09:47 AM

This summer we sold the house and moved into our 25ft TT while shopping for a coach. We found a coach, sold the TT on a private sale, and used the pickup as our towed. Didn't like the tire wear on the pickup from being towed, heavy diesel engine caused more tire scrub than we wanted to deal with. So we sold the pickup and bought a Ford Explorer for our towed. Daughter and Son in law helped with the private sales since we are mobile.

patterbery · 11-09-2014, 03:58 PM

.... all's well that ends well. I chose to trailer our dinghy to preserve the ability to back up if needed. After too many years of movin' aircraft around, I've grown accustomed to have'n reverse. TTFN

patterbery · 11-09-2014, 06:18 PM

..... the rest of the story. The TT is gone, the E350 van is gone, the only remnant of our previous life is the 4x8 UT for haulin' stuff. That's going this week to a former neighbor.
I finally got the car hauler wired to the the coach and the Escape. Still rounding up the tie downs. I can use the OEM shipping tie down points on the Escape, I just need to figure out how to mate it to the trailer w/o modifying the trailer deck.
Anyway, the story continues.