S&B preperations

Check with your homeowners Insurance. Many have a clause that says after 30 days of being empty it is considered to be abandoned and your insurance is affected or cancelled. Here is just one of the articles that pops up when you search "insuring vacant homes"
insuring vacant home

Sell the house and stuff then it won't be a worry while you are on the road.

Jeff

Turn off water for sure, you may not be in a freeze zone but we had a neighbor that had the washing machine hose break, thousands of dollars in loss

Check the batteries in your thermostat also - can get mighty hot if the a/c goes out in your house

Typical trip for us has been about four months. About to leave on a ten month FT test So this will be a first time four season absence. If all goes well we will sell S&B. Looking for the more unique things you do preparing S&B. Renting out of the question, no relatives want or need free living and security is not a problem (I own a security co.) yard work and frequent inside house checks handled. What do or would you do?

NOT do a 10 month test.

A few months down south for the winter will tell you if you like the life style. You mention you have already done four months at a time trips. What more do you need to know if full timing is for you?

Traveling for the four seasons to experience it really means nothing. You will follow the sun anyway just like you did as a snowbird.

As a real estate agent I'm hear to tell you if you rent your home out you will have trashed your investment. Leaving it empty in these days is an invitation to have it vandalized and again there goes your investment.

Probably not what you want to hear but it's the cold hard truth. If you like RV'ing and have planned for retirement living in an RV?

Sell the house first. All problems solved and you hit the road without a care in the world except which way to head on down the road! :C

After we retired, in 2003, we decided to go out for 2 or 3 months, return home for 2 or 3 months, then go out again. The first year we went out and stayed 7 months and didn’t even want to return home but house repairs called. The second year we stayed out 8 months, and again didn’t want to return home, but again house repairs called. The third year we put the house up for sale and became full-timers. We are now in our ninth year without a house. Are happy to be houseless.

Going out for 4 months and having a house to return to is not the same as going out and not having a house to return to. When the house is gone the “security blanket” is gone.

In my opinion the best of all situations would be to lease out the house for one year. Give full-timing a try. If you can do a year without regrets or the urge to return to the “nest”, then return home and dispose of the house. If not still sure, then give it another year before disposing of or reclaiming the house.

In case full-timing is not for you an exit strategy with a fully furnished house waiting is much easier than starting over from scratch.

Full-timing is a wonderful lifestyle for some but utterly miserable for others.

Big difference between an "empty" house and a house with furniture, lawn mowed, someone checking on it as far as insurance goes. Empty to insurance means vacant which means there is nothing in the house. If you own a home and want to travel you can as long as someone is taking care of the property and it looks occupied.

This would be considered an unoccupied dwelling, not empty or vacant.

I am sure Texas isn't like this, but isn't there some states that if you are gone for that long squatters can move into your residence legally and stay?

Just kidding, but I'm not so sure someone didn't tell me that can happen in California.

I know you mentioned "renting is out of the question", but I will make a suggestion anyway. Visit you local Sheriff's department or police department and see if they have any new officers that are looking for some place to live. New LEO's don't make much money for the job they have to do. If you got the right young person in there your house would be extremely secure, well maintained, utilities paid, and you would get the satisfaction of helping someone out that spends their days helping everyone else out.

Going out for 4 months and having a house to return to is not the same as going out and not having a house to return to. When the house is gone the “security blanket” is gone.

If you have an Exit Plan, which btw every full timer 'should' have....there is no need for a security blanket.....such as a house not occupied/leased or rented sitting and costing money with taxes etc. does nothing more than eat into your retirement funds while you are on the road.

Most of us Full Timers who do come off the road never go back to their home state. We end up buying a new house and living in the warm state we liked the most while full timing.:W

rockhillmanor wrote:

Going out for 4 months and having a house to return to is not the same as going out and not having a house to return to. When the house is gone the “security blanket” is gone.

If you have an Exit Plan, which btw every full timer 'should' have....there is no need for a security blanket.....such as a house not occupied/leased or rented sitting and costing money with taxes etc. does nothing more than eat into your retirement funds while you are on the road.

Most of us Full Timers who do come off the road never go back to their home state. We end up buying a new house and living in the warm state we liked the most while full timing.:W

Exactly right. You don't need to keep the house for a 'security blanket'. Sell it; invest the money and when you find that special area to settle down in you'll be good to go.

None of our full-timing friends settled in their previous home state. They all traveled for 10+ years and found they liked different things.