newbee

I am a 61 retired school teacher. My husband is 62 and retired from the Air Force. We live in San Antonio, TX.About 4 years ago, before I retired, we decided to sell our home which we lived in for 27 years. We bought a garden home in an "active lifestyle" community for adults 55+.
We moved in October 2012. Don't get me wrong; we love our house and community, but we are house poor. Either I substitute teach or my husband does landscaping.
Our house has increased in value to about 25,000 to 30,000 dollars. However we really do not have any savings. This is not what we envisioned our retirement to be. My husband and I have been happily married for almost 44 years. I know that although we have varied interests, it has never been a problem (golf for him; learning about new places for me, among other things.)

We have a 40 year old daughter who was married at the age of 38 to a great guy. She is currently living in San Antonio after being in Dallas for 10 years. She has a great job (Topgolf) after all her hard work since graduating from Texas A&M about 18 years ago.
My daughter and her husband were told they would never have kids. Low and behold she is 3 months pregnant and the doctor says her pregnancy is low risk. In addition she just got a great a promotion and is moving to Portland, Oregon. My husband and I want to be a part of our granddaughter's life. However, with my daughter's career, we know she will be moving a lot. My husband and I have friends in our community; in fact, my best friend whom I taught with for 20 years lives here. My friend though has more income than we do. She and her husband just bought a Class A Motorhome and travel a lot. They can afford to keep their house and RV. We have to do one or the other.
This morning my husband and I decided to sell our house and by a Class C Motorhome. We have 3 little dogs. I do have some health issues-chronic, but manageable, the doctors say. We have great insurance through the military so I can go to any hospital civilian or military when we travel.
The only time we have been in an rv was an old yucky travel trailer we rented for the 3 months our house was being built. Those were some fun memories and we were happy.
So this is not the exact same thing. We are not outdoor campers; but we do not want to live here waiting for one of us to die. If one us gets sick, then we would park our Class C and live at a park near a military base.
So that is our beginning rv story. I have read a lot online about living in a Class C and from what I get from it is that you have to downsize. When we moved here we did that and we are starting to do that again. So I am done, for now. Any thoughts, advice will be appreciated. BTW, we will probably get something like a CRV to pull, but not on a trailer. Thanks in advance.

DutchmenSport
Explorer
Apr 10, 2016
One thing you need to really consider before giving up your current life style, is the cost of full timing in any RV. Although it sounds like a cheap way to survive, it can be very costly. You have the initial expense of purchasing the camper (whatever type you get), there is still insurance, dealing with the logistics of maintaining a permanent residence, the cost to travel, and the cost to park the camper somewhere if you want water, electric, and sewer.

Even if you get a camper that has solar power available, you still have to deal with a water supply and sewage.

Not to discourage you, but you really do need to do your homework first and have a plan. A short term plan and a long term plan. Northern states freeze in the winter, Southern states get blazing hot in the Summer. Campsite cost. They can range from $20 a night to $100 a night. You can't boom dock forever. Eventually, you need civilization. Then you also need a contingency if the RV needs repairs. If you have no home, that may mean motels, or staying with family.

The upfront cost of a sound RV will bite you financially, and they you may still have shake-out / shake-down issues to fix on top of that.

Basically, RVing is not a cheap way to survive. It's actually a costly experience. Once you start down this path, its a loosing experience if you decide to get out of it, meaning, you will never get back from selling an RV what you purchase it for, or cost of what you put into it to maintain it.

Still many do full time in an RV and are quite successful. You can do it too, you just have many things to plan out and be prepared for so you won't have upsetting events that will be devastating to you in the future.
1ofmany
Explorer
Apr 10, 2016
RVing full-time can be great...if you are comfortable living in a relatively small space. We just sold our house in Florida and plan to full-time for a couple of years...my wife is already becoming a bit unhappy with the idea. We have had 46 years of traveling together and rving the past nine years. Even with that prep, we are seeing that maybe full-timing is not what we thought it would be (at least not what the wife envisioned). For what it's worth, you may want to continue your research before you sell your house and start a life on wheels.
gbopp
Explorer
Apr 10, 2016
Welcome to the forum. I don't fulltime and probably never will.
Start asking questions and read the full-time forum. There is a lot to learn but, it's fun.
Enjoy your retirement and travels.
midnightsadie
Explorer II
Apr 10, 2016
just sit down and think this out,just where do you sleep every night. maybe rent a small apartment close to your family.
Corky12
Explorer
Apr 10, 2016
At your ages you need to buy a less expensive home and both get full time jobs to build up some savings. An RV of any kind will NEVER appreciate in value so when the time comes you can no longer live in it due to health issues (and they may not make the best home if you are disabled or sick)you have nothing with which to buy a new home. At 61 even if you both stay healthy you will most likely need to replace your RV over your lifetime more than once. Where will those funds come from? The RV lifestyle is not necessarily less expensive than living in a sticks and bricks home. If you have never traveled in an RV you might try renting one for a month and see if you can stand each other at the end of that time. It would be expensive but not as expensive as purchasing something you find you have no taste for.
PghBob
Explorer
Apr 10, 2016
You may have to downsize more than you think. Currently, the Ford Chassis (E450) which is the most often used, has the greatest load carrying ability, 14500 pounds. Older Fords, may not be able to carry that much. Once the weight of the "home" portion of the RV is put on the chassis, you will be lucky to have the capacity to carry 3000 pounds. From that number (the Occupant and Cargo Carrying Capacity) you need to subtract the weight of yourselves, your pets, your clothes, your food, pet food, tools, and other stuff. With a Class C, remember it is not how much space or room you have, but how much weight you can safely carry. Generally speaking, the longer the Class C the heavier it is, and options like slideouts and leveling jacks also decrease the amount of weight you can carry. Towing is an additional weight factor as is whether or not a particular car is towable.

That said, I know couples who full-time or nearly full-time (9 or 10 months/year), who do quite well with a 27 foot Class C with no slides.
Carefully research your plans. There are some full-timers who blog and their reports can be read on-line. Be very objective when running the numbers. As noted by others, RVing is a fun hobby/lifestyle, but expensive.

Best wishes for success with your decision.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Apr 11, 2016
I gave my answer on one of your other posts. We began our 16 years of fulltiming when we were in our early 50's due to 'downsizing' of the company. However, we had savings. We never had debt. It would be a concern that you seem to have no savings. That would be scary for us. Think carefully about this. It is doable but you'll probably have to volunteer or work camp to cut down costs on your RV parking as you go along which is fine but you'll have to plan on this.
NoVa_RT
Explorer
Apr 11, 2016
Explore the RV experience a bit before committing to full-timing. Look at Class C's online, go to a RV Show, visit a few dealers, and even rent a RV for a week or so to see if it will work for you. Don't be in a hurry to buy.

The other thing to consider is an exit strategy. RVs depreciate in value. If and when you want or need to stop full-timing, what are your options?
bbaker2001
Explorer
Apr 11, 2016
have friends that full time, they do love it. to help with the costs, they
often do the camp host trip. there are also many military campgrounds you can visit.
yes will find most answers here. have a great time
dave17352
Explorer
Apr 11, 2016
I must be reading your post wrong. Did you mean your house has appreciated from 250k to 300k? You wrote 25k to 30k. If so you should have a very nice pension from teaching and your husband should have a great pension from the military? Sounds to me like what you want to do is doable. Even without a great deal of savings. If you present house is worth 300k and with two great pensions and some social security. You can buy a real nice used class C for not to much. If you don't like the lifestyle you can rent or buy again and sell the class C. A pickup and a 5th wheel is another option.

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