Sell or rent the SB

Quillback 424 said:

Gary, just a couple of issues.

If you set something up where you would pay utilities for a renter, nothing good is going to happen.

And, of course, maintenance on a house is required whether it is lived in or not.

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That is all handled by the agent.

SeilerBird said:

That is all handled by the agent.

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Tom, he's talking about increasing his net rental income, not who shuffles the paper.

Looking at the question "Sell or rent the S&B"

Sell, Put the money into a decent mutual fund so it grows (Rather nicely) and if you decide to retire from the RV life you then have enough for a nice new S&B...  A good financial adviser can set you uip with a fund where you do not pay taxes till you withdraw (At teh SENIOR rate) and there are many funds with a 40 or 50 year history or longer of good performance...

NOTE: Though I have access to much of this information I am not licensed to sell it so you are going to have to find someone with a license.

My dad rented out a house on our farm.. Total disaster.. I too tried renting when I could not sell the S&B, Likewise... Have spoken to several other landlords..  The hassle is not worth it.

Plus,, If you keep the house and rent it out with hopes of one day returning you are now stuck in taht neighborhood. Which may get better, Stay the same or as my house's neighborhood did.. Slide into disrepute.  (I was glad to hand the keys to the bank)

With the Invewst in a good mutual fund method.. You can find a nice NEW retirement neighborhood  Handy to the services you need,  Clean and friendly... Not stuck at the old place.

Quillback 424 said:

Gary, just a couple of issues.

If you set something up where you would pay utilities for a renter, nothing good is going to happen.

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Good point Larry.  While I wasn't planning on paying for gas and electric, I have minimal watering requirements on my drought resistant front yard.  Need to rethink that part. 

John From Detroit said:

Looking at the question "Sell or rent the S&B"

Sell, Put the money into a decent mutual fund so it grows (Rather nicely) and if you decide to retire from the RV life you then have enough for a nice new S&B...  A good financial adviser can set you uip with a fund where you do not pay taxes till you withdraw (At teh SENIOR rate) and there are many funds with a 40 or 50 year history or longer of good performance...

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Based on my history in the market, I'd be better off putting cash in jars and burying them in the back yard.  My old boss used to joke, "when Gary puts money in the market it's time to get out"  While the idea of earning money on mutual funds is tempting, if you have some with no downside risk, I'd like to hear about them.  I'm pretty conservative with my 401K money and haven't found anything that is bulletproof.  The safest is Bonds but even they have some down side risk. 

My dad rented out a house on our farm.. Total disaster.. I too tried renting when I could not sell the S&B, Likewise... Have spoken to several other landlords..  The hassle is not worth it.

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  I know, we have a neighbor that had to redo the entire inside of his house as well as some window and garage door work.  One of the renters literally ran his car into the garage door before vacating the property.  The gang that should have been put in jail managed to stay in the place rent free for about two years. 

Plus,, If you keep the house and rent it out with hopes of one day returning you are now stuck in taht neighborhood. Which may get better, Stay the same or as my house's neighborhood did.. Slide into disrepute.

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  Actually if we full time it will not be for more than a year or two.  I'm 73, have traveled extensively for the past 8 years and think we've seen most of the lower 48.  Looking to do a long Alaskan trip.     

(I was glad to hand the keys to the bank)

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  If that means you were under water with your mortgage, I'd do the same.  But my home is paid.  It's a California home.  Worst case scenario, tear it down and rebuild.  The land alone is worth a fair amount. 

You can find a nice NEW retirement neighborhood  Handy to the services you need,  Clean and friendly... Not stuck at the old place.

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This is actually a big one for me.  Not so much for my wife.  She likes it here and prefers to stay rather than sell.  The neighborhood is old but upscale.  It may or may not decline.  But it's been changing and will continue to change.  Where it ends up is anyones guess.  While the familiar is comfortable, the idea of new and fresh is tempting. 

If you're only going for a year or two and the house is paid for, why not just keep it as is, store your "stuff" there, hire someone to check up on it periodically? And housing values in California are rising again, yes? If you find someplace you love while traveling, then sell.

Wendy, that's a possibility and what Maria prefers.  Our next door neighbors, who are our close personal friends, watch the house while were gone.  They also pick up the mail, water Maria's plants from time to time and park one of the cars in our driveway.  Still I'm not comfortable imposing and hate leaving it vacant for so long.  Also not knowing if there's something important in the mail, like a nasty letter from the IRS or a notice that my insurance is going to be cancelled, is always on my mind.  We just leave the mail accumulate and look at it when we return.  That's not going to work on a full time basis.  I know there are mail forwarding services, but we rarely know where we're heading and usually don't stay put long enough to make that work.  At least that's my thinking.  That said, I do recall Mike attempting to pick up some mail at a local Post Office the last time we were at Quartzite.  Not sure how that works but that might be a possibility.  Speaking of Mike, I'd sure like his thought on your new Tiffin.  Please ask him to PM me.  The possibility of a newer gasser is still on the table.  Something less than 34 feet that I can park at the house is a biggie for me. 

The mail forwarding services will work for you. You can check your mail online and have it either thrown away, open and scanned online or they will forward it to whatever address you give them.

Didn't realize they would actually open the mail, scan it and then email it to us.  That sounds like a good solution.  Anyone have any experience for or against having a service open the mail? 

I used Mail Link in Las Vegas for eight years and was very happy with their service.

https://www.maillinkplus.com/

What about pay your neighbors to watch the house and sort your mail? Maybe hire a gardener to keep up the yard? For mail, we have a PMB and they forward our mail for just the postage cost. We look ahead and have our mail sent to General Delivery in a small town. Usually very easy. If you rent out your house, you'd have to put all your "stuff" in storage.

We really like the Allegro. It's 33'5" with 2 slides, it's the biggest we can put in our backyard comfortably.  There are a lot of things we would have done different had we ordered it direct from Tiffin, like a reclining love seat instead of the godawful uncomfortable sofa bed but we'll probably take care of that this fall. Look around and see what you like. Or join us in November at Anza Borrego ?  The FMCA rally in Indio in January is also a good spot to "shop" and visit ?

Wendy

Wendy, while I reserve my right to change my mind, we (Maria and Me, mostly Maria) have tentatively agreed to leave things as is and give full timing a try when we get the new motorhome.  If after a year we totally love it, and find a place(s) to relocate, we'll move in that direction.  For now, the idea of a 39 foot diesel is hard to get my arms around but we've found a nice one that would work well.  Will do a test drive next week and then who knows.  Biggest problem for me is storage when not in use, I simply don't want to keep my RV in a storage facility.  Like you and Mike, the most our limited space at the house will accommodate is maybe 34 feet.  Your Tiffin would be ideal. 

Keep us updated on Anza Borrego and FMCA.  Would love to get together with you and Mike in AB and if we don't have a new motorhome by FMCA, we might do what you and Mike did two years ago. 

Thanks to everyone who responded to this post.  You have provided some excellent food for thought.  At the least, I feel more confident that we'll be in a good position when we go full time while leaving the house as is.  We'll have to fine tune a few things but for the most part, everything is in place. 

Gary something to consider...While we  were still working we  had poor experiences with our RVStorage lots. They were expensive, inconvenient hours and  had damage done several times.  Our fix was to  rent a lot for a season in an RV  park in Brenda AZ ( just outside Quartzsite)  The seasonal rent  on the RV park was cheaper than  monthly storage rates.  We drove out to the rig every weekend in car.  I could  keep  refrigerator running in  RV and it was cheaper to run back and forth in car than in the  RV.  A bonus was many of our then full times friends were staying there.

We rented out a house for years and the damage done to it was immense. The property manager never checked inside the house.  Plus when we sold it we had to pay back all the depreciation we had  claimed  as it  was considered a business. Plus we had to take  the capitol gain tax hit as we had not lived in it  for the past 3 years .

Betty, we have often thought of staying in Brenda. Could you tell us the name of the park you used.

Thanks, Gary

Becks said:

Betty, we have often thought of staying in Brenda. Could you tell us the name of the park you used.

Thanks, Gary

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Desert Gold

Betty,  looks like a nice place.  Too bad it's 5 hours from our home.  Still as they say, food for thought.  Average monthly storage here in So Cal is between $150-200 a month.  And that's when the motorhome bakes in the sun.  Covered is $250 and more.  Garaged can go for $10.00 a foot.  For that, I can build my own. 

Wendy said:

If you're only going for a year or two and the house is paid for, why not just keep it as is, store your "stuff" there, hire someone to check up on it periodically? And housing values in California are rising again, yes? If you find someplace you love while traveling, then sell.

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Don't forget that even if the house is paid for there are property taxes, property insurance on a vacant home, utilities, lawn care, and in Minnesota snow removal.

SeilerBird said:

That is all handled by the agent.

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Seiler,  I would like to hear about your real life experience renting out your S & B and your experience with rental agents? 

MN Blue Skies said:

Seiler,  I would like to hear about your real life experience renting out your S & B and your experience with rental agents?

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My agent was Peaches Whenchel in Ventura and she did a fabulous job.