After Fulltiming, Then What?

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jmarxen

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Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Posts
50
My DW and I are thinking seriously about going fulltiming. We've owned several RV's of different types and have been looking for a good deal on a 40 foot diesel pusher suitable for full timing.

Our dilemma at the moment is our house. She is scared to sell it with the ideal what do you do when you'll too old to drive and don't have a house.

Has anyone else given any thought to this?

Thanks,

Jim & Nancy
 
Yes  put aside money for the time when you may come off the road.a nest egg.Proceeds from ones house sale if you have it after buying a Rv.What we shall be doing is putting aside monthly for this. how we look at it is this. We are not promised tomorrow so aside from using wisdom,savings,enjoy life to its fullest.
 
My parents full-timed for over 18 years looking for "the right place" to settle down. Toward the end of that 18 years, they bought a piece of land. A couple of years later they built a garage and then later a small house. They still traveled 6-8 months of the year until last year. If we sell our house to go full-timing, we would put aside the money so that we could buy something if we decided to quit traveling. Important thing is to have an exit plan.

Wendy
 
We sold our home a year ago and began full timing.  Our kids were gone and when we retired we just didn't need to have that big old, high maintenance house so we were going to down size anyway.  We fully intend to purchase another stick house at some point and that will probably be when/if the real estate market looks like it's turning around so we don't sell low and buy high.

Until that time, we're just having fun.  We expect we'll keep the coach even after we purchase another house.

Before selling our home, we were traveling about half time for a couple of years and it was a real pain having to worry about the house while we were gone... not to mention being really expensive.

Good Luck

Rick
 
If not another stick house, maybe we'll travel until we want to be in a retirement situation with some community care, and more intensive care if needed later. Many call it an "exit plan" for when we "hang up the keys." There are lots of posts on the subject here and there.
 
In our case, we traveled until some minor health issues and age began to let us know it was time for some permanence in our lives.  However, we had sold our old house prior to full timing as we knew it would be far too big and expensive for us in our old age, as well as trying to keep it going while we played.  It was not an issue for us.  Where we ended up is almost a full continent away and I have absolutely no desire to go back there even with kids/grandkids/and now great grands there.  We love the area we have chosen and kids and grandkids can do the traveling as well as we can.  ;D  You can always find a house, there will never be a shortage.  Just save what you sell.  Chances are it will cost you half as much as you sell for since you won't need as big a house as you did while raising kids.  Different areas of the country may be far cheaper than where you are.  Lots of factors come into place.  Having a home in the end should not be an issue.  Some people are afraid to let go what is comfortable for them, and are not willing to except the unknown.  We are the adventurous kind and always figure out what to do when the time arises.  We always look to see what's beyond the next hill in life, knowing what is already behind us.  We can always find something new.  Others are able to continue full timing forever, finally settling down in a park somewhere that they enjoy while continuing to live in their RV.  Others have made other choices as well.  You will have to make the final decision, but hanging on to the house, with all the ramifications that come with rental/ownership issues, not being there to take care of the problems, etc. would not be one we would be willing to risk and enjoy our life as well.

Daisy 
   
 
You're wise to think about your exit strategy now when you're starting out, but don't get too hung up on the details.  Others have given you good advice, put some money away in safe investments to use in the future for a home when you're ready to stop fulltiming.  We had a single stock that had done well for us over the years and had that earmarked for a future property purchase.  3 years ago we found a piece of land we liked and could be developed with some RV sites for now, and a home later if we desired.  So our investment was used to do just that.  We may put a house on the property some day, but for now it's a place to spend part of our winter season and if we can't travel some day, we always have a place to park.
 
We used to think we would buy another stick house when the time came to hang up the keys.  (We've been fulltiming for 13 years.)  We  have lots in two RV parks--one in Arizona and one in Oregon.  For now, we spend 1-2 months a year in each park.  Eventually, we will start spending more time in each park and someday stay put in one of them or divide our time between the two parks.  Our current thinking is that we'll do that until we need assisted living, or some other type of care.  One thing we do know:  plans change!

A few years ago, when the housing market was peaking, we started thinking about buying property before we were priced out of the market.  We decided that we weren't ready to become property owners again.  Now, housing values in the areas we were considering have dropped a lot. 

The key to successful fulltiming is flexibility.  That applies to daily living as well as plans for the future.  Daisy said it well: "We are the adventurous kind and always figure out what to do when the time arises. "

Jeannine
 
jmarxen said:
My DW and I are thinking seriously about going fulltiming. We've owned several RV's of different types and have been looking for a good deal on a 40 foot diesel pusher suitable for full timing.

Our dilemma at the moment is our house. She is scared to sell it with the ideal what do you do when you'll too old to drive and don't have a house.
IMAO, don't even think about selling your house "at the moment". This is a great time to buy a house and a lousy time to sell one. And even if home prices went up, I would still agree with your wife. If you can afford to keep it, do so, even if you won't return often. IMO, the days will return when your home is a good investment. You can probably save more money by keeping the house longer. Especially now, when home prices can't go much lower.

BTW, have you considered renting your home when you're full-timing? IMO, a full-timer can still own a home!

-Don- SSF, CA​

 
If Nancy is not ready to sell then definitely postpone the decision until you BOTH are ready. When we did sell our house and it really was the lifting of a great burden for us; not having to worry about the house, its security, and upkeep makes being away less worrisome.

When we finally decided we had found our winter home in AZ after five years we replaced the house with a RV lot and Arizona room. We looked at homes next door that were actually less expensive in the current AZ housing market but could not bring ourselves back to having house to worry about while we still intend to travel six + months a year. It is also hard to describe the activity and camaraderie of a RV community compared to a housing development.

Good luck on your travels.
 
DonTom said:
IMAO, don't even think about selling your house "at the moment". This is a great time to buy a house and a lousy time to sell one. And even if home prices went up, I would still agree with your wife. If you can afford to keep it, do so, even if you won't return often. IMO, the days will return when your home is a good investment. You can probably save more money by keeping the house longer. Especially now, when home prices can't go much lower.

BTW, have you considered renting your home when you're full-timing? IMO, a full-timer can still own a home!

-Don- SSF, CA​

I used this same logic when I held on to my house from late 2005 when I retired until 9/2010 when I finally listed and sold it.  During that time it's market value lost 30% so I certainly "sold low".  Since I sold a year ago, according to Zillow it has lost another 5%.  I'd like to think real estate can't go much lower but I'm not convinced of that yet.

 
Jmarxkin,

I would also suggest you do not sell the house, especially if it's your wife that doesn't want to sell.  There are some people that try fulltiming and don't like it, then what do they do?  They have sold their house, their belongings and gotten ride of some things that are precious to them.  The reason that I know this is because we came very close to going fulltime and when it came right down to the decision, I didn't want to do it and my husband didn't want to at all. 

Be sure and check out the library in the fulltiming section, there are articles to read and more info to gather.

Marsha~
 
We have purchased a small house while on the road this year.  We plan to return in a month or so and sell the big house.  It is in a gated/restricted community with lots to take care of (pool, large yard, etc).  The new little house is in a non-restricted community so we can keep the coach there when we are around.  We talked about selling out completely but my wife wanted some roots so we can live in the house 2 or 3 months a year and have a place to go when the time comes.  The house that we bought is a brand new house that was never finished and repossessed by the bank.  The price was right.
 
We are possibly too new at this to give great advice, but did have all the same questions.

We actually kept our house because it was rented to great renters while we were on the East Coast working for two years. When we came back, we had moved into an apartment because we did not want to break the lease. Then, four months later, we stored all our good furniture, donated the rest to charity, picked up the motorhome and never looked back.

If we lose the renter, the house can be rented again, or sold, since it's worth what's owed on it and some change. If we have a problem with this life which we have committed to, then we can always move back.

We were repeatedly told "stuff" and caring too much about "stuff" would slow us down. Since we unfocused from "stuff" and joined the great community, we really are no longer concerned.

Everyone is different, and there was a ton of good advice posted previously. Use what makes good sense for you. We are not sorry one minute for making the leap (and it was a leap!). It has been the most uplifting experience of our lives and all the wonderful people we have met along the way, especially here on the forum, make it that way.

Best of luck!
 
Some great insight by everyone, we do appreciate the responses. It appears the decision boils down to three considerations:

1) Keep the house until after we do some full-timing. Make a decision.
2) Rent the house - this sounds like a variation of the first option.
3) Sell the house and get on with it.

Nancy is leaning toward the first option. We have heard horror stories about problems with renters. Years ago, we had a home in Raleigh NC that we kept after I got transferred to the Atlanta area where we bought the second home. We kept it for about six months vacant, but the insurance company almost doubled our yearly rate. We rented it and the insurance went down however the tenants complained about everything (The house was only about four years old at this point). We had troubles getting anyone to actually work on the house (Yes I live in Atlanta but I need work done on the house there - click). We ended having a real estate company manage the house for 10% of the rent and a 20% service fee for coordinating work on the house. What a pain. After the two year lease was over, we sold it. I don't believe this would be a viable option.

I agree that I'm not sure if housing prices have hit bottom. In our area (Foothills SC), the values of homes haven't gone down as much as other areas in the country, but in the last six months the number of homes in our neighborhood has increased quite a bit. Fortunately we have about a year to consider our options.

Again, thank you everyone - this is a very informative forum.

- Jim & Nancy
 
rebecca62 said:
We refuse to rent our home,selling it. too many hassles with renting,We can always buy another if we do not like full timing,

My feelings exactly.  Our decision was helped by the fact that we wanted to downsize anyway after retirement.  The place was just too big and expensive to keep for just the two of us.  While traveling most of the first two years of retirement we "rented" our house to our daughter and two of her college friends and even that drove me crazy.  ::) 

Rick
 
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