Pondering Wandering (full timing)

rfryer wrote:
It’s not a useless thread; it’s just that what you’d like to do won’t work in real life. No RV is built for severe temperatures; they work best if you can move with the weather. If you’re tied down to one spot a house, even a small one, is by far the best bet. Then you can get an RV for traveling and camping. Also, you need serious money to buy and operate a Class A. And Jayco-noslide makes an excellent point from a financial standpoint.

I understand your frustration trying to buy a house. My youngest son just went through the same exercise. He bid on a few different houses and lost them to speculators/investors buying with cash for rentals. And they drove prices up so the sellers were resistant to coming down to what the house was really worth. I won’t get into a rant, but to say I’m hostile to those people would be the understatement of the year. Some solace, prices are now so high that they are starting to drop out of the market.

As far as noise goes, the more people the more noise. But you live in an area surrounded by national forest and you can easily get away from them. Granted, you wouldn’t be allowed to “live” there, though.

Even noncommercial clients are kind of in a buying frenzy since rates are so low. I've lost count of how many get bought in between the time I request a viewing and the few days running up to the appointment... And part of the reluctance of sellers to come down to appraisal price is, I think, that a lot of them turn out to be underwater on their mortgages (disclosure docs show they owe more than it's worth anyway).

Wouldn't necessarily need to be class A... Seems like a 4-5 year old class C could really be a bargain and with ~half or more put down... (or in some cases, maybe 6-7 years old buying outright) depreciation/payments wouldn't hurt to much. 5th wheel + truck or similar would be pricier but seems like it could be within reach, but it's not really the financial side that's the obstacle...

But the other points still stand. (And yes, exploring all that backcountry here on the weekends would be nice... though maybe just a 4x4 and tent or something...)

Roy&Lynne wrote:
I wish I had your troubles LOL
Actually if you google it, renting is cheaper in the long run, you don't have to fix the roof when it leaks and the water heater when it blows.
Also stick homes come with lawns to mow and leaves to rake, lawns to reseed and snow to shovel
If I were you and had that option. I would get an RV, either a motorhome or 5th Wheel and try mobile living. I know the price of homes are going up again and I know interest rates are also rising BUT I'm hearing about another housing bubble and you don't want to get stuck with more house than its worth.
And you still will always have the option of buying a house.

Good luck
Edit I didn't read the part where you were in Flagstaff, can you move a bit south for winters

That's not true here, rent is inflated because of grand canyon proximity, increasing student populations, being a popular spot to come to in the summer (and so plenty of commercial buyers), and so on. I mean there are probably exceptions here and there if you look every day for deals, but overall renting's not the better deal in the long run even factoring in replacing major appliances and other non-minor work now and then. Unless you're monumentally unlucky but... hopefully that's where insurance comes into play.
(And all my previous landlords tried to pin things like the 1980s furnace going out or old pipes under the floor bursting on us tenants anyways)

But well, there are some pretty attractive parts of RVing. Or that seem so anyway...
I couldn't really move south for the whole winter though... It's frequent enough to get long weekends but in the end I have to be in flagstaff regularly. I'm less worried about the snowfall, which tends to melt, but the lows....Seems like those are the real killers.

Well... maybe someday