Thinking about a TH for full-time

jarata1 wrote:
Why don't you just wait 12 years is a long time what ever you buy now is going to be old when you can retire

There are a few reasons not to wait. Foremost, we work in education. We have a week off for Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, a week for Spring Break, two months in the summer, and more than a few three and four day weekends. That is a lot of travel time. It's also nice to know that we can change jobs to any part of the state and not have to consider packing up, storing, and moving a bunch of stuff.

Secondly, we are selling this house regardless. The market is outstanding in our area and there is a housing shortage. This is also way too much house for our current and future lifestyle. We don't use half the rooms now but we do get to heat and cool them. We are also done with suburbia.

Thirdly, we already have a travel trailer that we need to replace anyway. It is a Rockwood 2306BH. We no longer need the bunks, we are tired of the Murphy bed/love seat combo, it is quite small for any extended stays, and we would like some separate rooms for activities and privacy.

Furthermore, we could live the RV lifestyle on a fraction of what we pay in mortgage, insurance, and taxes. Our property tax will be approaching $5000 this year. Add almost $1000 in mortgage each month and $1700 a year in homeowner's insurance; and that would go a long way into paying off a larger travel trailer in just a few years. I also already make a truck payment and travel trailer payment, so I would only be increasing those two payments as opposed to adding a payment we don't already have. That's not even considering the very high utility rates we pay now. Our electric bill was $450 last month and will increase quite a bit for August, we pay almost $100 a month in Water/Sewer/Garbage, plus home internet. We also have a very large lot that requires maintenance and upkeep. Our house is also at a point where we are going to have to start replacing or repairing major systems and appliances.

Our math, although never exact depending on other conditions, shows that we may be able to save up to $1400 per month and have none of the headaches of living the suburban dream. In twelve years, that adds up to a nice cushion for retirement. We would probably be able to trade trailers every ten years and still live a very low-budget existence.

However, we do also have concerns. There are some items that we want to keep as either family heirlooms or for personal use. We would either have to get an inexpensive property as a sort of "home base" or waste rent on a large storage locker. We also wonder about staying in close proximity to "neighbors" in RV or mobile home parks during the time of year that we are teaching and less mobile. That's why we have started the research phase so early. We want to have a great understanding of what our life will be like.