For retired full time RVers, what do you do with your house?

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If you have a house and don't live in it, then you will have an anchor and never experience the freedom that comes with true fulltime RV life.
The word anchor can mean 2 different things.:

A weight around your neck

OR

A place to always have to go back to if you want to.

Both ideas have issues, money concerns, and deserve a chart to weigh the pros and cons.
 
I wonder how they define "empty". Perhaps all houses are "empty" for a short while.

-Don- Reno, NV
Not being lived in 30 or more days in a row. I use to flip houses, I had to buy special insurance for them, even though I was working on them daily. My mother in law passed, Insurance company said house is covered 30 days, then we needed to buy special insurance just to keep it insured while on the market for sale, and fyi, that costs a bunch more. It's in the fine print of the T&Cs they send you. I'm not sure what they would do if you had extensive damage and didn't report it for several weeks / months? It could get awkward.
 
If you have a house that is empty and you are in the process of selling it, your insurance company may decide that an empty, unsold house (even for a few months) is a risk because you might decide that you can get more money by having it burn to the ground. Or someone might move into it without your permission and also destroy it or set it on fire. Hence, many insurance companies, depending on the neighborhood and value and who knows what will cancel your insurance.

Faced with cancelled insurance, I allowed a couple to move into my deceased parents house for two months only and stipulated no pets and a lot of other rules--no rent charged. We had spent a ton of money repainting and re-carpeting the whole thing. They brought in two huge puppies who chewed up carpeting, peed and pooped all over, and overall the couple made a huge expensive mess!!!
 
We kept our Florida home since it served as our winter quarters and had plenty of space for the coach. I guess that made us "long timers" rather than "fulltimers", but it worked out nicely for us. Our RV friends could visit (we had hook-ups). And having a fixed address was a convenience for legal and financial reasons.
 
We rented our house while we were in England. It was a real PITA. We had an agency and it seemed like once a month the renters had a problem that needed to be fixed. The city would come in and inspect and we would get a list of changes that needed to be made. After the second renter moved out we sold.
 
Not being lived in 30 or more days in a row. I use to flip houses, I had to buy special insurance for them, even though I was working on them daily. My mother in law passed, Insurance company said house is covered 30 days, then we needed to buy special insurance just to keep it insured while on the market for sale, and fyi, that costs a bunch more. It's in the fine print of the T&Cs they send you. I'm not sure what they would do if you had extensive damage and didn't report it for several weeks / months? It could get awkward.
What type of " extensive damage" ? I can view my houses from anywhere i can get an internet connection, so I would think I would know if there were any issues. Often my winter RV trip is well more than 30 days and until recently, I owned three houses. Now only two.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
If your house is paid for now is the time to sell. The market in most areas is up a lot like 50-100 percent or in some areas even more. Sell keep the money in a safe place travel around and if you find an area you like better than where you are now wait a couple years and when this ridiculous market crashes you may be able to pick up what you want for pennies on the dollar.
 
What type of " extensive damage" ? I can view my houses from anywhere i can get an internet connection, so I would think I would know if there were any issues. Often my winter RV trip is well more than 30 days and until recently, I owned three houses. Now only two.

-Don- Reno, N
??? I could list many scenarios, but if you feel you are covered, all is well. (y) For some people, sewage backup, or a tree fallen and left unattended can get into very expensive repairs, and an insurance adjuster can easily spot something that has been left unattended for weeks.
 
We are long timers, not full timers. We leave our home in snowy Iowa for a full 3+ months each winter, and we take 2-4 month trips during the rest of the year. I happily admit I am not a minimalist, and I want my house stuff. For example, I do a lot of sewing on the road then do the quilting at the house on my mid-arm machine. I love decorating for Christmas with the big tree and the ornaments saved from when my kids were born. I want to have the entire crowd show up for Thanksgiving dinner - 12-15 people. We have cameras on all external entry points, motion alarms scattered around, and moisture alarms around the main water shut off and the sump pump. We even have a camera pointed at the floor drain in the mechanical room. We are lucky enough to have a very reliable son who lives close. He drops by every few weeks. Our regular housekeeper keeps up with cleaning once a month (keeps the dust down and the traps full) plus she brings in the mail twice a week. Our insurance doesn’t go to “unoccupied” until there is no furniture or intention to return,
 
We sold our large mountaintop home in preparation for long timing initially. We kept our lakeside 3-season family vacation cottage and moved into it while we remodeled it for year-round use. Part of the remodeling included adding a full hookup RV pad that serves us well when we're in the area since we went from long time to full time RV life 10 years ago. We only stay in the cottage for a few days sometimes while doing deep cleaning or interior repairs or upgrades to our motorhome that are easier done without us staying in it. The cottage is also our "exit plan" when hang up the keys time comes.

Our insurance company considers the cottage "occupied" as long as we have furniture, clothing, and other personal items in it. Our two daughters live a few miles away, and check on the place once a week or so along with staying there for a week or two at a time for a vacation or when doing repairs/remodeling on their own homes.
 
I had my youngest son move in and care take the place watering plnts & keeping the pond fish fed. I did not want to give up 40x50 shop, wife's two car garage covnverted to a craft studio, covered storage for the 5W when home with 30amp service. We get home for the year end holidays and pass through on occasion for Dr appointments. Guess we are not full time about 3/4 time.
 
Be very careful. Laws have changed a lot in recent years. As I understand it from a RE agent friend once a house becomes a rental its very tough to get it back out. Add the taxes etc, there is no way I would ever consider renting.
Take advantage of the hot market, sell now, stick the money in an investment account. Who knows what the future may bring
Rent now when you can't evict, sold on rental last week. Another goes after the 1st of the year, can't do two in a year uncle would take too much.
 
For some people, sewage backup, or a tree fallen
How can sewage get backed up when not being used?

A few years ago, I had a large tree fall here, missed my garage by a foot or so. I saw it on my cameras. Not only that, I got e-mails from both my neighbors about it as well. I was in Reno when it happened.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
If you sell you have no address how do you vote ?
What is the address on your driver's license? That is usually your state.

But it can get a bit confusing in some cases. I have a CA "real" ID, but a NV (non-real) driver's license. We can only have one "real" just like we can only have one driver's license.

But we may have as many (non-real) IDs as we have residences for.

-Don- Auburn, CA
 
How can sewage get backed up when not being used?
-Don- Reno, NV
I know in a residential neighborhood, or other area, if the rainfall is excessive and literally overwhelms the system, leaky waste pipes start filling naturally with excessive ground water, eventually water has to go somewhere. If you are top man on the hill, probably not going to affect you. Anywhere downhill from that, that is what insurance is for. Fairly common in inner-city basement environments, one-way sewer valves are common. Kinda straying from the thread, my point is, you should ask your agent, or call another agent on a payphone or someone elses phone ;) and get a hypothetical response about coverage in an unoccupied house.
 
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