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Old 01-13-2025, 09:52 AM   #1
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We might be joining you guys for a while

My wife and I have been looking to downsize our S&B for a long time, but have never been able to find the right smaller house. We've finally decided that we're going to put our house on the market this spring, and if we haven't found another S&B we like, we're going to live in the RV until the right house comes along.

We've upgraded to a used 5th wheel, which is supposed to be delivered later this week. And of course we upgraded to a used 1 ton truck. All of which was a bit nerve wracking because we're counting on home equity from the sale to pay the cost of the upgrades back to our retirement savings. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

We've started the process of getting rid of stuff, but frankly we're terrified of all the work we need to do in that department (along with prep work that needs to be done to the camper and truck). Because we are not planning to be FT indefinitely, we'll be putting enough furniture and household goods to outfit a 3/2 house in storage. Still trying to figure out what we're going to do with large, oddly shaped stuff like the lawn mower, gas grill, etc. Our second car will live at our son's house when we're traveling away from the local area.

Not sure how long we'll be full-timing, and not exactly sure how we'll juggle travel with house hunting. I guess we'll see how much we like full timing; maybe we'll be motivated to look harder, or maybe we'll be motivated to stop looking. We've thoroughly enjoyed several month long trips and haven't felt a great urge to return home at the end of those trips. I'd be willing to commit to two years FT, but I think my wife would rather have a home base squared away sooner.

We're planning to domicile in our current home state of West Virginia, which I know isn't the norm for full timers. But this is where we're planning to live long term (near our son), and we're planning to use a local RV park as a home base for several months of the year, so I don't see much point in trying to convince various taxing authorities that we live in South Dakota or Florida. Plus I have really good health insurance options here through the ACA. We'll probably get a P.O. box and use either the RV park or our son's house as our physical address. Hopefully that won't cause us any problems.

I guess I don't really have a specific question to ask, just wanted to think out loud to some folks who know the drill. If you can think of anything we need to do or be aware of, I would appreciate any advice.
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Old 01-13-2025, 10:27 AM   #2
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Since you now have the truck, find a low cost storage facility out in the boondocks and move all your oddly shaped equipment to that after the house closes. And all the debris of living in a S&B.

I got an equity loan (back when I did that there were many honest online businesses that provided that service, now there are so many scammers online I'd go to a CU for that instead) so I could pay for my 1st RV outright. When my house closed, I paid off the equity loan, took several weeks for all that. When it closed, I had 30 days before I had to be out, which was time for me to have estate sales and near the deadline, I was donating and giving stuff away trying to fit my 33 years of living in that S&B into the Class A I'd bought. Hectic couple three months.

That was nearly 21 years ago and I too looked for a small S&B to buy but as the years passed, I never found what I needed partially because there's so many factors involved...cost, nearness to family, the properties security while traveling. Eventually, I just decided that full time RV living was a meaningful lifestyle just the way it was. I can travel and stay near scattered friends and family as the weather dictates, I can stay where I want for months at a time enjoying all an area offers, I could volunteer with the forest service, I could work as a handyman at RV parks I stayed at, and on and on.

It's an amazing lifestyle. Only downside is that you don't build equity...but remember the last real estate downturn? With millions being upside down with their S&B's? Would not be unusual for that to happen again. That stretches out the time you must own, maintain, and care for a fixed location. Putting a crimp in travel opportunities. Using the S&B as a rental? Can be good, but can also be a disaster. Even if your nearby family offered to manage it for you.

Just thinking out loud, I sometimes regret not finding a S&B to build equity, but I'm so used to wandering now as a full timer, I mostly feel it would have been a millstone around my neck.
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Old 01-13-2025, 11:48 AM   #3
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Thanks for sharing your perspective, Jim. Wow, 21 years...that's pretty hard core. Given our current age, I know we won't make it that long, ha!

Good thought about storing the oddball stuff. There's a slightly run down mom-and-pop storage place just down the road from our current house. No way would I put our household goods and furniture there, but it might be just the ticket for the bulky yard stuff.
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Old 01-13-2025, 11:50 AM   #4
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Welcome! Hope your plans work for you and that you get to do extensive travel to see the country before buying another house.... across Canada .... up to Alaska. Storage for that much home contents will be expensive. Try to whittle it down first. If it's just the two of you do you need to buy a big house for all of it again? Perhaps a small condo? That was the most uplifting part for us.... getting rid of all of it. Fun travels to you!
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Old 01-13-2025, 07:43 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by twogypsies View Post
Welcome! Hope your plans work for you and that you get to do extensive travel to see the country before buying another house.... across Canada .... up to Alaska. Storage for that much home contents will be expensive. Try to whittle it down first. If it's just the two of you do you need to buy a big house for all of it again? Perhaps a small condo? That was the most uplifting part for us.... getting rid of all of it. Fun travels to you!
Thanks for the welcome! We've done a couple of cross country trips, but I would like to do more. My most immediate desire is to spend the hottest part of the coming summer somewhere in the northern rockies above 7,000 feet.

I'm a little intimidated by the prospect of the Alaska trip, but I can imagine it would be great!

As far as the next house goes, we feel like we're most comfortable planning for a small 3/2 house (around 1,500 sf). We'd also consider a 2/2 or 2/1.5 with the right layout, but those are very rare in our market. Need some office/guest space. We're definitely not condo people, or even typical city neighborhood people (and condos don't exist in our little town). Can't stand the thought of sharing walls or having neighbors right on top of us. We've found a storage option that will run around $2k per year. Not cheap, but it won't break us.
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Old 01-13-2025, 08:35 PM   #6
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...

...

Not sure how long we'll be full-timing, and not exactly sure how we'll juggle travel with house hunting. ....

....
We looked for houses or property where ever we traveled. Since our children lived in different parts of the country we only visited them. We found a building lot hearing distance from the Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile we became grandparents and were visiting a lot more and they found they had a house not suitable for children and people with bad knees.

We bought a big house together with RV parking for visiting more and a full timer exit strategy.

It is always nice one place or the other.
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