Stick home vs RV home

[Neva]

Ok, the topic I thought I would start this thing off with is:

Stick home vs RV home.  What are the advantages of each and what are the disadvantages of each.  Ready, set, go!

Neva

 

[Neva]

Wouldn't it be funny if no one posted to this topic? ;D ;D ;D

 

[Tom]

Neva,

Each has it's own pluses and minuses. We like to take off for a few months at a time and we enjoy our time in the RV. But we also like coming home to our fixed residence. I understand that others may not feel that way.

We significantly reduced one of the issues that some folks have with a stick house - we downsized, which makes maintenance much easier and less to worry about when we leave on RV or other trips.

 

[Wendy]

Stick houses, for the most part, appreciate in value.

RVs, almost without exception, depreciate in value.

Also, having a stick house while traveling is an "exit" strategy .... someplace you can go back to if you decide fulltiming isn't for you or if something happens that requires you to go back to the stationary life. It's my life boat.

That's why we want to keep our stick house, rented out if we need to, when we go fulltiming.

 

[Smoky]

Wendy:

No one wants to hear this but times are changing.  Stick homes are beginning to level off, and in some cases lose value.  However, I doubt they will depreciate like motorhomes, but there may be some VERY painful market adjustments, such as are going on in the MD-DC area.  We were lucky to get out when we did.  Anyone with a stick home has to keep a sharp eye on market values.

 

[Neva]

Those are all good points.  It doesn't look like the market is going to support me selling my home for some time, so I might as well accept it.  The market cycle is usually in 5 year intervals.  I just need to let time take its course.  In the meantime,  I can do little things like get rid of some of the accumulation.

How are properties in NC these days, does anyone know?

Neva

 

[Tom]

Anyone with a stick home has to keep a sharp eye on market values.

Only if they plan to sell or maybe refinance later. We don't plan to do either, so the "market value" of our house isn't something I'm going to worry about. Long term, real estate will appreciate and that's something I don't need to keep looking at. If I was in the market to buy or sell a home in the foreseeable future, different story.

"Changing times" is a short-term phenomenon that's gone on in the real estate market since I was old enough to understand it (and long before).

 

[Tom]

Neva,

You live in a nice area and I'd expect values there to remain strong in the longer term. Short term, prices will undoubtedly come down, with some additional help from all the new development between your place and ours.

 

[jaspers mom]

Lets put the subject into two categories then those that choose may divide those in the the Good, Bad and Yucky.




;D

I Love my RV.

I can change neighbors the same way some persons change channels.?

I can choose to some extent the weather patterns in which I reside.

If the going gets rough, I can "just be going --- see y'all later.

As long as I pay my bills, I enjoy the thrills.

: :-\ :'(


Sometimes my lil' old RV stands a an avenue betwixt sanity and serenity or pest's and piracy.?

Her name....... The RV's is Charlie by the way ........? (yup, I named her) she also goes as chuck or the Chuckmobile -----

I have here a Little Jingle for her if I might indulge you ??? ?

Here we are and you better not fuss
Cause if you do you are messin' with Chuck
Chuck is strong as we are proud
You best say nothin' ugly out loud.

Lets hear for Chuck the Challenger!? ?Rah Rah Rah


:
Or hah hah depending upon your moment in life.? ?This is indeed meant as a joke.

Fact is ....? I often look upon my dear little Charlie as the escape from insanity.? ?Yeah, I like my stick home.? I like my garden, the school across the street and the neighborhood.? I like watching the children interact.? The timing between city bus systems, street sweepers.? )? ?* yes, they do still sweep streets in some areas -- how can I not like it.* ??? ? I like knowing where the grocery store is.? Well, okay perhaps I can even say the stability of a stick home is important to me.? Important and with the understanding that I have the advantage of Chuckie the motor home and my personal life to leave, desist, depart, imbue ............. hit the road jack? ............... got it.? I LOVE MY MOTOR HOME

Personally from my "stick home", I volunteer as I can with various high stress agencies.? I also like doing the high stress volunteer work.? However, none of them offer to me what little "Charlie" can.? Charlie in the middle of the night can take me away from things such as Drive by shootings --- None have happened .... thank goodness where I now reside ...... but while in Oklahoma it was a truly wild ride with no escape.?

Charlie in a matter of moments can take myself, my spouse and all of the fur kids away from it all.? ?"Better than Calgon, I dare say."? In less than 1 hour I can be in the midst of calming roads and avenues, beautiful sights and what appears to be the potential of even more than that.? ?

Which is better?? ?Gee, I am not sure.? ?I do know that when I do not feel well, the best place is home.? ?Dorothy said so .....? There is no place like home.? ........? You know the routine.? ?Fact is that Charlie feels like home to me.? ?I like her.? She wraps her steel and fiberglass about me like blankets in the winter and iced tea in the summer.? She's good.? ?What can I say.? ?If I did not have family to be concerned about.? Then perhaps hmmmmm .... ?I would be in Charlie 24/7.? I would find a way to have a "permanent address" by which persons could contact me.? ? I would be indeed one of the many traveling warriors in this world.? ?I think they may have been called Ronin's.

Here ya go!? ?Lets see what we can do for the longest living thread!?

D --- Jaspersmom

 

[Neva]

I've never owned an rv.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I've never owned a motorhome.  I had a trailer once.  It was a toy hauler.  It was hard to find people to drive the truck and pull the trailer while i rode my bike, but it was easier to sleep at night knowing the bike was inside with me.  If I got tired, I could strap the bike in and drive myself.  I use to go to different mc events and always wanted to ride instead of drive.  It was cheaper to stay at an rv resort than to stay in a casino or motel .  I only did that for a year or so then someone wanted to buy it and I let him.  That was 2 years ago.

I do like having a stick house in some ways.  I have been feeling a little trapped lately though.  Maybe I just need to get more involved in playing music and working out at the gym.  I sold the Harley too about the time I move to Elk Grove.  Now I have no real outlet for those needed long trips.

I love to go for long drives.  I don't always plan where I'm going and like it when I'm lost.  I don't like having to get a room for the night at a hotel/motel when I stray too far from home to make it back in a day.  I like going for several days, just not the cost of renting rooms.

Ok, I'm getting chatty again.

 

[Smoky]

"Long term, real estate will appreciate "

Some economists are beginning to question that Tom.  We may have been headed towards a serious bubble like Japan had a few years ago.  This could require a secular change not a short term or cyclic change. 

Even so, geography is the key.  Some areas of the country have not "bubbled" as bad as some others.  The MD_DC_and parts of VA area bubbled bad and will take decades to straighten out.  Hard to give generic advice, but it is safe to say we will never again see days like we saw for the 50s through the early 200s.  This was one of the factors we gave very serious consideration to when we decided to fulltime.  With a financial background, it was not as hard for me to see this coming as it was my wife.  In the end, she was not convinced economically but socially.  But now she admits we were lucky to get out when we did.

Everyone will have a different situation and must judge for themselves.  But the key is that we should no longer be complacent about real estate and treat it as carefully as we treat other kinds of investments.  It is an emotional subject and the key is to push emotion aside and look at markets.

 

[Tom]

Understood Smoky. But, since we plan on staying in this house, market ups and downs are really meaningless. So what if the housing market tanks? We'll still have our house. If it goes the other way, we'll still have our house. That's why I qualified my earlier comments.

If OTOH we sold the house and put a chunk of the proceeds into an RV or other depreciating asset, then later want to get back into a stick house, our RV will have depreciated and for sure we'll be concerned about what the real estate market has done.

There is no single "right" scenario. and different folks have different priorities and different needs. Whilst we enjoy RVing and we used to "dream" about selling the ranch to go fulltiming, now we can't imagine life without a fixed home base to "come home" to after a few weeks or months on the road or on the water.

I realize that our scenario wouldn't fit other folks' situations or desires and I wouldn't attempt to convince them otherwise.

 

[Neva]

I heard the same kind of talk on the news this morning that Smokey is saying.  They say that this is just the beginning of the market decline.  I'm ok here until August 2017.  I'm hoping I won't be there that long though.  A lot can happen between now and then.  The market can decline and recover again at least once, I'm hoping anyway.  I can stay here past that date, but I really don't want to.  I was planning to be in NC by 2012 at the latest, and 2010 at the earliest.  I would like to get an RV, retire, and go tomorrow, but that's not possible.

If I get the job I applied for in Raleigh, that will change things.  I'll hire a property management company to handle this place and move to NC.  Half the battle will be won at that point.  Of course, I wound need a place to live when I get there and if I have a motorhome, I can take my time looking.

Tom, you said, "Short term, prices will undoubtedly come down, with some additional help from all the new development between your place and ours."  What area are you in?

 

[Tom]

It was cheaper to stay at an rv resort than to stay in a casino or motel .

Neva, if you factored the price of the RV into the equation you might reach a different conclusion.

 

[Smoky]

Tom:

I assume you have no mortgage on your home.  We still had a mortgage on ours when we sold and I sure did not want to get a margin call.  ;D Big down markets can be a nightmare for people with big unpaid mortgages.  I have a friend who lost his job, had a big mortgage and ended up in bankruptcy because of the down housing market.

That is sort of why we paid in full for our motorhome.  Knowing we were guaranteed depreciation, we wanted an "out" without a nightmare.  I hate leverage when the price is declining.

I agree with you each situation is unique.  What I like about this forum is that each of us can share a different point of view, and then the person with the question can make their own judgment based on a wide spectrum of viewpoints.

 

[Tom]

Smoky,

I've seen/heard of lots of those horror stories right here in CA over the years. When we first came here in 1980 "creative financing" was the name of the game and the only way many folks could get into a house. I told Chris that, although it was new to us, it made no sense and folks would be in trouble when their balloon payments came due. Sure enough, 5 years later the banks owned a lot of empty houses.

 

[Smoky]

Tom:

I sometimes worry that our own government may be guilty of the most creative financing of all.

Wow, just discovered my Ravens won against Washington today.  That was their last pre-season game.  Their new quarterback looks awesome ... Steve McNair.  I never realized what a big body he had until he came to Baltimore.  He could be a linebacker.  Baltimore finally has their all pro QB.  If their offense can finally equal their defense... Lookout!  Here that Bronco Wendy!! ??

 

[Neva]

Neva, if you factored the price of the RV into the equation you might reach a different conclusion.

Tom, since I paid cash for the trailer, I wasn't thinking about that at the time, but you're right of course.

On the stick house side -- The trick to creative financing is to get the low interest loan locked for at least 10 years.? That way, you don't have to worry about the market so much.? Ten years has historically been long enough to outlast downturns.? If you end up with a 3%? loan locked for 10 years and the Fed decides to up the rates over time to say 8%, you're not worried about refinancing for at least 10 years.? You have time to wait for the market to swing the other way.? In the meantime, you pay the loan like it's amortized at 15 years so that you are paying down the principle.? You never lose your money because in the long run, values increase.

Anyway, like you say, everyone has different ways of looking at things.? I would rather put the money in a high yield instrument or money market than on a mortgage, but it's good to have the tax write off.

It's interesting to watch the markets.? It'll be very interesting to see what happens to the housing market this cycle.

On the RV side -- I know RVs depreciate as soon as they leave the lot.? I'm thinking of buying a used one that has already taken the biggest hit on depreciation.? That strategy has been validated in this forum and by others I've talked with.? Of course I have lots of other questions to research before I buy one.

If there were no risks in life, there would be no gains in life.? That said, calculated risks are best IMHO.? Of course, I'm not an accountant or a portfolio manager.

 

[Betty Brewer]

I love our RV life full time.  I will love our life in our new stick built home in Foothills of Arizona. part time. Where you live is a state of mind!  I heard someone say once, " home is where you go when you have a cold."

It is a very personal decision as to where you live and how you live.  One may feel influences of others but the  bottom line is,  the decision of how and  where you choose to live is yours and yours alone.  I had a stick house, then I didn't, soon I will.  OPTIONS are good! 

Betty Brewer
Full time Rver for now 

 

[Neva]

I love our RV life full time.? I will love our life in our new stick built home in Foothills of Arizona. part time. Where you live is a state of mind!? I heard someone say once, " home is where you go when you have a cold."

It is a very personal decision as to where you live and how you live.? One may feel influences of others but the? bottom line is,? the decision of how and? where you choose to live is yours and yours alone.? I had a stick house, then I didn't, soon I will.? OPTIONS are good!?

Betty Brewer
Full time Rver for now?

Thank you Betty.  You're right.