South to North or North to South

We bought a park model in the park we were in. That was back in Oct '13. DW loves what I call her tin house. Dog and I stay in the motor home in a site across the street. We left and spent the summer at our favorite park in Wa. Did the same last winter. Now it is time to head north. It is 107 here today. 105 yesterday. Now I am looking to buy were we spent our summers for years.

I was considering relocating to Mexico, but my wife came down with cancer & is facing 15 months of chemo. Made me realize its best to have a home base. Health issues hit seniors at some time, its just a matter of when. When that happens you do not want to be full timeing in a RV.

We have many persons here in Arizona that do the same thing, called Sunbirds! Some leave for June (hottest & driest month) and others leave from June thu Sept. BUT all return for the winter. We take short trips but stay the entire summer as we enjoy the heat sitting by the pool.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico

I lived in the Midwest for years, bought a "2nd" home (now 1st) in Florida 3 years ago.

I became a Florida resident ASAP to avoid state income tax at 7%. I have a Florida homestead exemption, limiting RE tax. Motor vehicle fees are much less. Vehicle insurance doubled, though.

Gr8life wrote:
A small but growing number of our RV friends are using their Southern home as a base and visiting up North in the summer. See any disadvantages to this? I am already spending almost seven months in the South, so I am not too far from making the conversion myself.

This is what I FINALLY ended up doing.

I went from Snowbird to Full Time and sold my house.

Eventually the traveling all over gets real old and like many of us, I too found myself just staying in Florida for the winter and couldn't wait for summer to head back up North. Only now having to stay in a CG up there also.

Last year due to all the foreclosures down here in Florida I just couldn't justify not buying one as a winter home base. Cheaper all the way around than staying in a snowbird CG at high rates + electric fees.

So if I had do overs I would have went straight from selling my house up north to buying one down here and be a reverse snowbird.

IMHO It just makes SO much more sense.

We struggled with that same question last year. It makes much more sense to be south and RV north. You have a much larger area to explore, and the southern states are set up for lower cost of living to seniors.

Only reason we did not go that route was a statement that was made to me by a fellow snow birder "where do you want to be when you get sick?" (his wife just had cancer.) Family and friends are north for us and if something major should happen, we would want to be around them.

Gr8life wrote:
A small but growing number of our RV friends are using their Southern home as a base and visiting up North in the summer. See any disadvantages to this? I am already spending almost seven months in the South, so I am not too far from making the conversion myself.

We have full timed for the past 9 years and decided it was time to have a home base. When we looked at which season allowed the most travel, it is summer. Winter only has a few places (S. California, Arizona, Southern Texas, Gulf Coast, Florida) to go, and since we were already spending the winters in Mesa, AZ, it was a no brainer to look for a park model for our winters and then the spring-summer-fall we travel around the rest of the country.

Barb

We are headed that way but have a house on both ends, The northern house has a 5er parked there for even more travels. Going on our 7th month south this year.

No disadvantage other than the PITA if selling the existing house, moving, and buying a new house. It should save you some money as you won't have to heat the house up north in the winter and won't have to buy any more snow tires.

Bill