Anyone have regrets about having gone full-time?

Thought I would try to answer, we have full timed since.. Dec 09. As mentioned many have given up their sticks an bricks.. Only to that getting back into a sticks an bricks can be difficult money wise. We chose to keep that option open. We have rented our home for the last 4 years, each March we decide if too re-sign a new lease on the home. The rent money has been nice.. paying for insurance, taxes etc.. We do have a property management that takes 10% very worth it in my opinion. This year we have decided as of March to return to the home,however still traveling an enjoying at our convenience. I think it is very important to remember, you want a place to rest your head if you were to become sick. Not impossible in the RV world but maybe not as comfortable. But no regrets because we do have a sold Plan B.

wannavolunteerFT wrote:
Mookie,

Once I sell the house I am in to go fulltime, I don't see myself buying another house. Right now, I have a ton of things that need done to my house.. painting inside, grass cut, shrubbery cut (and hauled off), the pecan tree in my yard has web worms (and the ones down the road are dying from webworms), and on and on.. My plan when I don't feel comfortable traveling is to find a place to park and stay in my trailer or find a small apartment. Neither of my kids is likely to be in the town I am in now, and since my DD & SIL are currently in the middle of their 3rd move in 4 1/2 years of marriage, they may be anywhere by then.. could be somewhere I would like or could be somewhere that I would rather not settle. I also have purchased long term care insurance, that will help with expenses of care at home or care in a facility depending on what I need (hopefully many years down the road).

OK-Where would you go if by some chance your health was bad after 5 years of full timing? Would you have enough funds to buy another house? Or, would you have to SETTLE and rent somewhere?

Mookie,

Once I sell the house I am in to go fulltime, I don't see myself buying another house. Right now, I have a ton of things that need done to my house.. painting inside, grass cut, shrubbery cut (and hauled off), the pecan tree in my yard has web worms (and the ones down the road are dying from webworms), and on and on.. My plan when I don't feel comfortable traveling is to find a place to park and stay in my trailer or find a small apartment. Neither of my kids is likely to be in the town I am in now, and since my DD & SIL are currently in the middle of their 3rd move in 4 1/2 years of marriage, they may be anywhere by then.. could be somewhere I would like or could be somewhere that I would rather not settle. I also have purchased long term care insurance, that will help with expenses of care at home or care in a facility depending on what I need (hopefully many years down the road).

CKNSLS wrote:


I am sure those are all valid points...however, the fact of the matter remains that in many instances some wouldn't be able to reenter into the real estate market if they grew tired of full timing or had health issues. In the big picture all those expenses you mentioned is nothing compared to 20% appreciation of said real estate. For example-a house that was worth $200,000.00 a year ago is now worth $240,000.00 in many parts of the country-those expenses hardly outweigh appreciation. And this is the last 12 months.

Why do you seem to insist that everyone is going to want to go back to owning a S&B? Not us. Maybe a Park Model before the assisted living, but not a regular house!

And yes, we can fix engine or transmission. put 10% of purchase price of MH into a fund and add to it each month for repairs, maintenance, tires, batteries, etc. 7 years and still having fun!

Barb

Barb

MookieKat wrote:
Thank you! Some great and serious considerations to take into account.

Our situation is that we are really tired of the area in which we live. It is in Southern rural GA, in a tiny town of 400 people. We have to drive 30 miles to the nearest decent grocery store. 1 hour to better stores with more selections. We got stuck here after my mother passed away and left me the house...which is al paid for.




We have wanted to move away from here for years...possibly to CA, but not sure where in CA, so when we started thinking about traveling and RVing, it occurred to us that we could travel around until we found a place where we wanted to settle.

Is it necessary to go stick and brick at any point, even if we settle? Could you not just park the 5er in a mobile home park or buy a lot and park your rig there for the rest of your days?

I'm sure you could park it somewhere. At a later point in life you could also go an over 55 park. Check out eBay and real estate sites for mobiles or modular. People die and kids don't want them. Seen some given away on eBay.

Ill offer the reverse about fulltiming. We started in 69 and fulltimed until 2009, with one break of 3 years.

During all that time, I worked and saved 10% of every dollar I earned. I also paid into a fund the amount difference of what it cost to park the rv, vs the cost of owning a home.

Fortunately I don't have to worry about money troubles now.

What I see on this board now , is people who just want to escape the rat race for a few years.

If you manage your money when you are young and make the correct decisions, you sure don't have to worry about a depreciating asset.

If you are not prepared to live in an rv vs a home and consider the expense and work it takes to maintain that home, then don't. I now own a home and it sure cost way more than living in my rv. A lot more.

MookieKat wrote:
Thank you! Some great and serious considerations to take into account.

Our situation is that we are really tired of the area in which we live. It is in Southern rural GA, in a tiny town of 400 people. We have to drive 30 miles to the nearest decent grocery store. 1 hour to better stores with more selections. We got stuck here after my mother passed away and left me the house...which is al paid for.

We have wanted to move away from here for years...possibly to CA, but not sure where in CA, so when we started thinking about traveling and RVing, it occurred to us that we could travel around until we found a place where we wanted to settle.

Is it necessary to go stick and brick at any point, even if we settle? Could you not just park the 5er in a mobile home park or buy a lot and park your rig there for the rest of your days?

Yes, you can get a lot to park your rv. California can be expensive, you might want to look at AZ or NV. We bought a HUD repo in NV, then added an RV garage to make it suitable for us. There are some real bargains in the place where the housing had the sharpest declines. Real estate is climbing again, but it's still pretty close to the bottom prices here.

MPI_Mallard wrote:
Year three and lovin' every second,sold the sticks n' bricks,headed to Florida and never looked back. These are a few of the things we no longer miss;

-property taxes
-cutting the grass
-shovelling the driveway(then re-shovelling the entrance five odd times after the $$$$$$$ snow-plow driver puts a four-foot burm across it)
-city traffic/lights every corner
-local townships telling me what I can and cannot park in my driveway
-replacing the roof/the furnace/the ac/the windows/ect..
-Frau Blücher loves that she can clean our entire home in an hour opposed to an entire weekend
-the considerable amount of money we are saving

I don't say full-timing is for everyone but I do believe it extends your life span,go to any rv resort and look at the 70+ year olds partying it up,life truly is a banquet!

I am sure those are all valid points...however, the fact of the matter remains that in many instances some wouldn't be able to reenter into the real estate market if they grew tired of full timing or had health issues. In the big picture all those expenses you mentioned is nothing compared to 20% appreciation of said real estate. For example-a house that was worth $200,000.00 a year ago is now worth $240,000.00 in many parts of the country-those expenses hardly outweigh appreciation. And this is the last 12 months.

Thanks for starting this tread and appreciate all the responses. My wife and I are about 5 years away from retirement and giving some thought to full timing. The responses have given us some things to consider we hadn't thought of before.

Year three and lovin' every second,sold the sticks n' bricks,headed to Florida and never looked back. These are a few of the things we no longer miss;

-property taxes
-cutting the grass
-shovelling the driveway(then re-shovelling the entrance five odd times after the $$$$$$$ snow-plow driver puts a four-foot burm across it)
-city traffic/lights every corner
-local townships telling me what I can and cannot park in my driveway
-replacing the roof/the furnace/the ac/the windows/ect..
-Frau Blücher loves that she can clean our entire home in an hour opposed to an entire weekend
-the considerable amount of money we are saving

I don't say full-timing is for everyone but I do believe it extends your life span,go to any rv resort and look at the 70+ year olds partying it up,life truly is a banquet!