Hi: My husband and I are considering fulltiming in two years. I am ready to sell the house now, unfortunately I have several years yet to work. He is slightly older and retired. His only concern is "what if we tire of this in 10 years....then what?"He said he wouldn't like to start over and buy a house again, we have a comfortable retirement, but not nearly enough to start all over again. We do have a small mortgage but no other bills. I keep reminding him that without the expenses of a home we would actually save some money. I would love to either work on the road or become a camp host at a state park. I feel there are lots of options out there if one really wants to full time and have a small income. There as so many places we dream of seeing, but years quickly fly by and all we do is dream. We have rv'd over 10 years but to really see the country once retired I feel that fulltiming would be the best way to do this. I'm sure you all have your thoughts and I would love to hear them. This will be a major change for us so we really need to plan. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice.LouAnn

We are what they call half full timers now as we travel in the summer and winter. The spring and fall is spent at our cabin. We love it and soon may consider going full time as the cabin can be hard work at times (wood cutting, brush cutting, grass cutting, etc.). The only thing we don't like about it is the long travel days we sometimes have to make due to the distances of our planned stops. There is nothing like spending the winter in warm south TX for us.

One thing you might consider is to rent your house out to a tenant. Depending on where you live, and the amount of your mortgage payment, it may even provide additional cash flow. We are having a real estate agent handle ours. It cost us one month rent for the signing of a lease and 5 % monthly for her to handle all repair/incidental calls. Renting the house out may be scary to some extent, but with the proper financial and criminal background checks our agent is doing, we feel comfortable with the arrangement. You can even put a clause in the rental contract to give the tenant 90, 120 or 180 days to vacate in case of your desire to move back in.It is worth investigating in my humble opinion.

Freedom and less stress.Have you thought about renting the home and let it pay the morgage ans you can have it to fall back on if needes.

LarryDel wrote: His only concern is "what if we tire of this in 10 years....then what?"Now...anything.I believe it is far better to try something and not like it than to not try it and regret it. What if... in ten years, he gets tired of immobile house living? What if... in ten years, he still enjoys fulltiming and wants to continue?Try just three months. Close up the house one winter or summer and go. You have two years to save up some money and to plan what you would like to do. When the three months is over, make a decision for the next three months.Two years ago, my DH finally gave in and agreed to fulltime for a year. We are now 6 months away and he has decided that two years may be better and that we should sell the house. Once they get over the initial fear of 'jumping,' they sometimes 'jump' even further. It is often just that first step that is the hardest. I wish you the best of luck.

LarryDel wrote: I keep reminding him that without the expenses of a home we would actually save some money. I would love to either work on the road or become a camp host at a state park. I feel there are lots of options out there if one really wants to full time and have a small income. You may or may not save money as a fulltimer. If you move frequently, you'll pay higher rates in campgrounds or RV parks, not to mention the additional cost of fuel. Major repairs can also get very expensive. If you currently have a job that can go mobile, that would be your best bet for additional income. Second best would be seasonal work at a relatively high-paying job, like Amazon or sugar beet harvest. Camp hosting in general pays very little, often just an exchange for your site. Not saying that it can't be done or you shouldn't do it, just being realistic after fulltiming for 7 yrs.

Please share why you love the full time lifestyle??

24 Replies

dahkota
Explorer
Jul 06, 2013
LarryDel wrote:
His only concern is "what if we tire of this in 10 years....then what?"

Now...anything.
I believe it is far better to try something and not like it than to not try it and regret it. What if... in ten years, he gets tired of immobile house living? What if... in ten years, he still enjoys fulltiming and wants to continue?

Try just three months. Close up the house one winter or summer and go. You have two years to save up some money and to plan what you would like to do. When the three months is over, make a decision for the next three months.

Two years ago, my DH finally gave in and agreed to fulltime for a year. We are now 6 months away and he has decided that two years may be better and that we should sell the house. Once they get over the initial fear of 'jumping,' they sometimes 'jump' even further. It is often just that first step that is the hardest. I wish you the best of luck.
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2013
Freedom and less stress.Have you thought about renting the home and let it pay the morgage ans you can have it to fall back on if needes.
TDiddy51
Explorer
Jul 06, 2013
One thing you might consider is to rent your house out to a tenant. Depending on where you live, and the amount of your mortgage payment, it may even provide additional cash flow. We are having a real estate agent handle ours. It cost us one month rent for the signing of a lease and 5 % monthly for her to handle all repair/incidental calls. Renting the house out may be scary to some extent, but with the proper financial and criminal background checks our agent is doing, we feel comfortable with the arrangement. You can even put a clause in the rental contract to give the tenant 90, 120 or 180 days to vacate in case of your desire to move back in.

It is worth investigating in my humble opinion.
LynnandCarol
Explorer
Jul 06, 2013
We are what they call half full timers now as we travel in the summer and winter. The spring and fall is spent at our cabin. We love it and soon may consider going full time as the cabin can be hard work at times (wood cutting, brush cutting, grass cutting, etc.). The only thing we don't like about it is the long travel days we sometimes have to make due to the distances of our planned stops. There is nothing like spending the winter in warm south TX for us.

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Please share why you love the full time lifestyle??

24 Replies

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