Let me start by saying that I am in my 40s and I am not a full timer. It is my hope that someday this will happen and we will spend our retirement in the wind.I had put a decent amount of thought into full timing and how to afford it but until recently I had not even considered getting to a point that I would have to come back of the road and go back into a stick built house. So my plan had always been to sell our house when we retire, use the proceeds to buy a new MH and hit the road. I felt that our savings, pensions and other planning would be enough to live on the road until we died......if we were lucky.Now I am seeing stories about people getting to an age where they need to hang up their keys. I get it and it makes sense but I had never really thought about the end game. Now I am worried that when its time to come off the road, I don't know if I will have enough to buy another stick built home. If I keep the one I own I would have to pull to much form my savings to buy a new MH and that would mean that we would not have enough money to live in the wind.So please share your stories of how you did it. How did you plan for coming off the road?

We are in the process of buying a home with wife's son. It has separate in-laws suite. That is our off the road plan.

We just retired last year and started full-timing. Proceeds from our home sake are in the bank waiting for use. We figure well do this till we get tired of it, then buy a small place somewhere in an area we like. Part of our journey is deciding WHERE we want to spend our later years since the kids are spread out anyway. We'll be looking for an area with 4 mild seasons. Don't want snow or 100 degree summers. We're thinking that unless something happens we'll do this for 5-10 years, but we'll see.

We are not yet full timers, but that's our goal and we know we need an exit strategy. Like you, we're lin the "brain storming" process at the moment. We've mulled over every option at least a hundred times.It's not a simple thing to plan, since you never know what life is going to bring you (or throw at you) next.Keep in mind that just because you leave the road, it doesn't mean you have to leave your RV. There are places where you can buy/rent land or a site and still live in your rv.

I'm also in my mid-40's and have dreamed of full timing for 10 years now. My wife and I think we might be about 10-12 years away from full timing.Our plan, while not a single plan nor "nailed" down, consists of scenarios. I feel the scenario way of planning (having more than one plan) is usually a good way to go.Our scenarios:1. Keep house we have now (it will be paid for in a few years) and full time but with a home base, where we come back to visit family, maybe one or both our daughters may live (in the house that is). Our home now has RV hookups (installed by Dad and I), is outside town, and is a comfort.2. Sell house, full time 100%. This gives us a chunk of cash from sale of home, and we would no longer be tied to it. Kind of like your scenario.3. sell house, buy house in another city (South, South West, West, someplace different!) to use as a base of operations.We have a few other scenarios, and maybe some don't consider having a house and full timing to go together, but the reality is we like our garden, our home, our family close by.To answer your question specifically, if you 100% full time, with house gone, and later need to have a stick built home but can't afford it, consider renting or a condo or apartment. Honestly, there are so many choices and if you plan for it, it can happen.Hope this gives some ideas.

I think it depends on two factors. Number 1: how strong is your retirement income, and Number 2: what is the total expense liability of keeping your existing home while full timing.For us it only made sense to sell the house when starting full timing. We were not interested in renting it out and in our area property taxes were running us almost $5,000 a year. Since we started with hardly any bills, plus no more house expenses (property tax, utilities, insurance, etc.) we actually started saving more money each month.So for us the money balance was okay and we really didn't have to worry about an "exit" plan. We just figured we would travel and do what we wanted to do and not worry about it.

Coming back off the road | Good Sam Community

2gypsies1
Explorer III
Jul 11, 2015
Rlaubert wrote:
We are living our dream. When we finish this then we will plan for the next phase of our life.

You have the mindset to make full-timing really work. Have fun!
Rlaubert
Explorer
Jul 11, 2015
It's simple, what happens to the millions of people that don't have a house?

We are talking about years down the road. SO many things can change in that time. The housing market could bust again, it could boom. The house might burn down or be damaged by weather. Our motor home could become damaged beyond repair. Live is way to short to worry about the what if years down the road.

We have lived now in various recreational vehicles for almost 14 years. We just finished our 1st year of traveling around the country and will be spending the next 5 years doing so. That is the plan. Who knows what will happen. But you know what? We are living our dream. When we finish this then we will plan for the next phase of our life.
FULLTIMEWANABE
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
Fortunately we are very very close to our youngest daughter and future son-in-law, who intend to purchase our acreage off us, renting for a couple to four years initially when we hit the road, to ensure they can handle the commitment and costs. We are putting enough funds aside to build a Mother-in-law type suite on the property for the future (their home address, which is our current one will be our home base address hopefully indefinitely for ease).

That's the plan in the big scheme of things for coming off the road, however, we are realists and realize that even on occasion the most solid relationships can rock. Heaven forbid if that were to occur, and assuming we could absolutely no longer travel/drive the RV we'd consider the following options as a last resort:

a) Move to a more moderate climate in Canada ie; British Columbia on an RV lot

b) Remain in our Freezer Box but purchase a small condo (yuck, but ........)

We know we are not renter mindsets, and couldn't handle the worry of what if at the end of the next year the landlord wants us out to sell or otherwise, and it occurred when we were not as able bodied to handle such upheavals. You know yourself better than anyone and we know we couldn't handle being a tenant.

Bottom line is to have some sort of a plan and ideally a back up idea to cover "what ifs" but we believe wholeheartedly first and foremost live for TODAY, as it's a gift which is why it's called the present. We do however try to plan for tomorrow as best we can but there are no guarantees for every eventuality.
JC2
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
I think if we decide to go fulltime, and we keep talking about it, we would never go back to home ownership and all that it entails. We most likely would retire to a half way decent affordable CG until we passed away or someone carted us to a Nursing Home. In a home we would be socially isolated again unless we went into a Gated Community and we would never consider that. In a Resort/CG there would always be people around and those we had something in common with.

WandaLust. Retired. Middle TN
1999 Fleetwood SouthWind 32'

WandaLust 2,

Why would you not consider a gated community?
kakampers
Explorer
Jul 05, 2015
We've been full time for over ten years...our "exit plan" is a little different than most.

We purchased (paid cash) an RV lot with a fully functional coach house in a 55+, RV based community. It is lock and leave, no maintenance required...we use it currently as our winter destination and can rent it out when not using it, so it pays for itself (taxes and maintenance dues). This gives us a home base while we continue to full time without the headaches of a traditional home...in addition, it has risen considerably in value since we bought it...as evidenced by sales of other lots around us...so it's been a sound investment.

When we are done traveling, for whatever reason, we will park our RV there and live out the rest of our lives for less than $400 a month...can't find a decent apartment for that!
WandaLust2
Explorer
Jul 04, 2015
I think if we decide to go fulltime, and we keep talking about it, we would never go back to home ownership and all that it entails. We most likely would retire to a half way decent affordable CG until we passed away or someone carted us to a Nursing Home. In a home we would be socially isolated again unless we went into a Gated Community and we would never consider that. In a Resort/CG there would always be people around and those we had something in common with.
C-Bears
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
MTPockets1 wrote:
I for one will not have property as part the escape plan.. We may change our mind before the time comes and we'll strapped with a house, condo, or whatever that we would be stuck with.. At this point (Going on 4 yrs full time) we know where we don't want to land, but there are so many wonderful locations, it's more fun to keep looking. We camp host 2 - 3 months per year and we've wintered in AZ and FL. Our personal policy is never do the same place twice, hosting or wintering, that way we get to experience new places.. Most have been great and possible landing zones, but we'll keep looking and decide when we know it's time.. As far as some emergency, if that occurs I really won't care where.

I agree with this thinking. What changed our minds was more financial. We thought when we came off the road we probably would buy a home in SW Florida, but not for another several years or until we felt we had to.

The problem with that plan was the rising housing market. My buddy bought his 4 bedroom home (built in 2008) just a few years ago for under $90,000. It is now valued at $165,000. Another couple we know bought their home in Cape Coral 5 years ago for $80,000, it is valued around $170,000 now. When our home was originally built in 2005 it sold for $274,000, we paid about half of that.

So we realized that if we waited another few years we probably would not be able to afford the house we wanted in SW Florida. Add to this the fact that we would be spending several more years paying "snowbird" campground prices for our winter stays down here, which is money we are never getting back.

At first the thought of giving up actual full timing was hard to take. But in reality as full timers we were spending at least 4 months camped in the same spot in SW Florida anyway, then traveling the other 8 months. Now the only difference is we will probably spend 5 months at our home in SW Florida and travel in our fiver full time the other 7 months.
BarbaraOK
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015
We've been out for 9 years. Last fall we purchased a park model in a park that we really enjoy for the winter months, to spread out just a little, and then come spring we hit the road again in the motorhome to travel in good weather. We love Mesa for the winter - concerts, shopping, museums, restaurants, always something to do, plus the park we are in has more things going on than anyone could possibly want during the winter. We have long term care insurance in place, so if one of use needs more assistance, funds are there.

Barb
MTPockets1
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015
I for one will not have property as part the escape plan.. We may change our mind before the time comes and we'll strapped with a house, condo, or whatever that we would be stuck with.. At this point (Going on 4 yrs full time) we know where we don't want to land, but there are so many wonderful locations, it's more fun to keep looking. We camp host 2 - 3 months per year and we've wintered in AZ and FL. Our personal policy is never do the same place twice, hosting or wintering, that way we get to experience new places.. Most have been great and possible landing zones, but we'll keep looking and decide when we know it's time.. As far as some emergency, if that occurs I really won't care where.
C-Bears
Explorer
Jun 28, 2015
Naio wrote:
One thing to consider: If/when you have health issues that prevent you from RVing, those same issues might make it a problem for you to move out, if you are renting and the landlord requires it. Moving might cause a crash in your health that you never recover from.

I think owning something -- a condo or whatever -- is wiser.

When I was very young and just out of the military I purchased my first house, for 40 years I never paid rent.

Being full time after selling our last home I didn't mind paying for RV sites. We move around a lot and it is just a short temporary stay. But the thought of renting a apartment, condo, or house just rubs me the wrong way. I don't want to ask permission from someone to plant a bush, or paint my living room a certain color.

My buddy retired and bought a house in SW Florida almost 4 years ago. We were discussing my RV resort fees that I was paying last winter to spend 4 months in the town of Ft. Myers Beach. His argument to me was that I could buy a house and spend about the same as I was spending for my 4 month lot rent.

Well, he was almost correct. We now own a 1800 square foot home that was built in 2005 in Cape Coral. It is only costing us slightly more per year to own than what our winter site down here had cost us.