Has anyone sold their home to go full time in an RV?

docj said:

People who are considering becoming full-timers should understand that they don't have to conform to anyone else's definition.  Whatever makes you happy is all that matters.

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Very well put, doc.

Agree with Joel (docj). We are gone from our primary residence 6-7 months a year, but not entirely in the coach. We're neither fulltimers nor long timers, maybe betweeners. Prior to retiring 18 years ago, we downsized to a smaller, single story "future retirement home" with little or no yard. We're able to lock it up and leave for 3-5 months at a time, either in the coach or on the boat.

Several years ago we purchased a small townhome near kids and grandkids, close to Columbus, OH. There's nowhere to keep the coach at the townhouse and, after a few months one year using a local storage lot (with the attendant unloading/loading), we stopped taking the coach and drive one of the cars (or fly). We visit OH twice a year, which makes grandkids and grandma very happy.

A few years ago, we purchased an RV lot at a "resort" in Wyoming. Being close to the Idaho state line, we're within a short distance of great fishing in both states. We leave the coach on the lot while we make a 4-6 week visit to OH, and return for the remainder of the season.

Last May I retired. Sold my house and everything that I couldn?t carry in my small travel trailer and truck. It was no problem selling the house as I wouldn?t have stayed in it after retirement anyway. Selling my personal property items was more difficult emotionally. However, once something was gone I never thought any more about it. I closed on my house on 6/27 and picked up my Nash trailer on 6/28. This was my first RV. All the equity from house went into savings.

While this is still relatively new to me, I have loved it so far. I am glad I chose this life.

donn said:

Hundreds of people do it each year.  Hundreds more bail on the idea each year.  You need to have, A, been RVing for a while so you know what your getting into.

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I don't think that's a requirement.  We've been fulltiming for 15 years and had never owned an RV before. 

As for the OP's question, we also weren't living together at the time, so we sold not one home but two.  It wasn't hard, but the only reason we owned homes was to have a place to live, so selling those wasn't any different from selling a house to move into another.

If a person puts great stock into home ownership, then he might feel differently about not being a homeowner any more, but I assume it would be the same as if he moved into a rental apartment. 

Hi all, thanks so much for all your input it will definitely help my wife and I in making our decision later down the road.

I have been fulltime for 2 1/2 years now. Sold two houses, packed all the cash in the bank.  Loving it immensely, no end in sight. As for belongings, I had a huge moving sale, only kept all my household and garage stull.  Sold all the furniture.

I have an 8 by forty shipping container with two vehicles and all my household stull and important papers and photos.  When, and if, I buy a house again, I have have it all shipped to whereever, but definitely not back to California - never going back there.

South Dakota has no income tax, cheap insurance and cheap DMV. Americas Mailbox by Rapid City is my home address in S.D.  They collect all my mail and then send it to me when I request it, and they take care of all my DMV renewals and transfers.  I only had to go there to get my S.D. Drivers lic.  Took about 20 min.  Good luck .... and go for it.

We have a couple coming to sign on our house this Saturday........we have the TH picked out and have been planning for about 2 years.....kind of surreal........so to answer your question, we had not......but we are going to ;D

2PawsRiver said:

We have a couple coming to sign on our house this Saturday........we have the TH picked out and have been planning for about 2 years.....kind of surreal........so to answer your question, we had not......but we are going to ;D

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It is with some envy I congratulate you! 

Here's to hopin' y'all have the time of your lives!  )

It's been mentioned previously in this thread (and although I am a newbie that is still 6 months away from even buying my first RV)
I just gotta say DON'T EVER put your hard-earned real estate equity into a rapidly depreciating RV.

Yikes. It took you over 20 years to make that equity, and that shiny new RV purchase will burn through almost all of it before you know it. So 10 years out, your $200,000 rig is now worth, what? $80,000?

I can't think of anything that depreciates faster.

Personally I am putting the real estate equity in the bank and using 401K money to buy a rig. If I didnt' have the 401K I would concede that RVing is unfortunately not in my future.

I would never finance for the same reason?an RV will quickly become worth less than I would still owe on it.
I have talked to a few private sellers (wonderful, decent, warm people) who can't lower their asking price because that is what they still owe. So in otherwords they can't even break even and walk away?and they're in their late 70s.

DON'T EVER put your hard-earned real estate equity into a rapidly depreciating RV.

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IMHO very good advice. We've seen so many folks ignore this advice over the years, only to have some life-changing event change their plans 7-10 years down the road. It could be a medical issue, a spouse passing, or one of several other things. The result is that the couple (or remaining spouse) have no equity to buy back into a housing market that has risen in the meantime.

This is not meant to be a wet blanket thrown on folks' dreams, but you do need an exit strategy.

What Tom says.  To my way of thinking, if you don't have a reentry plan, you don't have a plan.

Tom said:

This is not meant to be a wet blanket thrown on folks' dreams, but you do need an exit strategy.

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I agree, but I think the strategy we have devised is often overlooked.  A couple of years ago we purchased an ownership RV site in a park in Rockport TX.  We had been spending our winters in that area any so now we have our own place to come back to.  On our property (~3,000sq ft) we erected a heated and cooled sewing/TV casita along with a storage shed.  We can easily pay off this purchase in ~5 more years if we choose to.

As a long term strategy we see ourselves either parking the MH there when we are no longer able to tour with it or purchasing a towable of some kind to be delivered to the property while we put the MH up for consignment somewhere else.  Our perspective is that if we're comfortable living in an RV then why not continue to do so?  With the casita and our outdoor living area we have plenty of space. 

If we choose to simply keep the MH parked we could live in it indefinitely.  Sure, appliances may need to be replaced, etc, but the basic structure will last indefinitely in the climate of south TX.  If it stays parked I can reduce my insurance coverage to reflect the fact that it isn't at risk in an accident.  It happens to have permanent MT tags so inspection and registration aren't issues.

When we're too old to live independently on our own we can either sell the property or put it up as a long-term rental site along with some others in the community.  As long as the MH can be driven to a consignment lot, someone will eventually give me a few bucks for it.

The only other eventuality I can think of is another direct hit by a Cat 5 hurricane and we are unable to drive the MH to safety  (we had Harvey hit Rockport last year).  In that case, I'll rely on my "agreed value" insurance policy and use the proceeds to buy a towable to park on the property.

I think it's a pretty complete strategy.  Can you see any pitfalls I've overlooked?

docj said:

When we're too old to live independently on our own we can either sell the property or put it up as a long-term rental site along with some others in the community.  As long as the MH can be driven to a consignment lot, someone will eventually give me a few bucks for it.

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I like your plan up to this point.  But I'm a bit puzzled by the if you sell or rent the property part.  If you sell the property, where do you live?   

Over the years, several of our members bought a lot for living in their RV as an exit strategy. Some eventually built a small home on the lot and sold the RV.

Our plan is similar to what Tom mentioned, except we intend to build a metal RV shelter with connected living quarters.

If we get to where we can't RV any more we will most likely give it to someone who would love to have one but can't afford to buy one.

garyb1st said:

I like your plan up to this point.  But I'm a bit puzzled by the if you sell or rent the property part.  If you sell the property, where do you live?   

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"When we're too old to live independently..." implies to me that Joel is thinking of an assisted living or similar situation.

docj said:

Sure, appliances may need to be replaced, etc, but the basic structure will last indefinitely in the climate of south TX. 

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As long as it's not made of a material that will rust.  ;D

Trivet said:

As long as it's not made of a material that will rust.  ;D

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Too bad Casita doesn't make a 25 footer.

garyb1st said:

I like your plan up to this point.  But I'm a bit puzzled by the if you sell or rent the property part.  If you sell the property, where do you live? 

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Dutch was correct.  My assumption here was that if we become unable to live on our own we would move to an assisted living facility and then could decide to sell or rent the property.

Trivet said:

As long as it's not made of a material that will rust.  ;D

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It's fiberglass with a full automotive finish.  Still shines today nearly as well as it did when it was new.