From Sticks and Bricks to Full Time RV - order of process?

Thanks for your patience in my getting back to this post. I'm so appreciative of all of the information shared - wow!

Honestly, I got cold feet for a little bit because I have Fibromyalgia and got some negative feedback when I talked to others who full time and have it. I'm determined to make this work somehow :-)

I'm more interested in boondocking than campgrounds, although I'm not opposed to campgrounds when it's time to rest, do the laundry, and take a longer shower - lol!

Thinking of a Minnie Winnie 26' because of their drivability, and ease in finding spots in any campground or boondocking locations.

There is a club called Loners on Wheels. Check out their website. They have a campground in Florida, their headquarters campground in Deming NM and chapters in almost every state. It is mostly people over 50 and at least as many women as men. They are not a wild bunch and people traveling same rig w/ a member of the opposite sex cannot attend. Try it, I am sure you will enjoy it and never have to be lonely.

What wonderful advice you've all shared - thank you! I'm doing my best to help this dream become a reality :-)

I just want to congratulate you on your decision to move forward and continue with your life as planned. Your outlook should be inspiring to many in your position and I wish you all the best.

You have received a lot of good advice above and I am sure it will all turn out fine for you. Keep the forum informed about your travels.

Good Luck

Hi,

I'd go with a 26 foot with 176 inch wheel base.

Will you be a campground maven or do you wish to boondock?

Economy helped us out the door although we had some notice..
Got the house in good shape, listed it in '07 as we saw the crash coming in Florida real estate values.
Had only dreamed of RV'ing and had never used anything but a tent!
So we sold the house at 1 st open house and moved into waterfront rental for 6 months to prepare to go on the road.
Did all the research without telling anyone our plans.

Above advice is very good. Get a mailing service, go paperless, get your internet at the cheapest cost for best service without a landline, look into
RV clubs/parks.
We bought a Thousand Trails membership which lets us camp free for x days a year and gives us discounts at other parks.

Research the best state to have your mail service because of tax situations, voting, Dr's. etc

*** as far as the closing on the house..if possession is the day of closing in your state, then staying for days after that creates issues. You are now a 'Renter' and will need renters insurance, and new owner will want to come do a check when you move out for damages etc... Be prepared to move that day even if there is an issue. Most transactions are fine if you have a good realtor keeping up on the details. I was a realtor for 20 yrs.**

If you were my widowed sister, this would be my advise to you:
1) Have a realtor come through your house and give you suggestions plus an idea on asking price (maybe you have already done this).
2) If nothing needs repaired on home, get it listed and start selling stuff you could live without if house didn't sell immediately. Once you get a contract signed and they are fully approved, then really get aggressive with selling or giving away stuff.
3) Make decision on how you will get your mail and what your new address will be. Make this decision prior to closing on your home. Will you use a commercial forwarding service or can one of your local children send your mail every couple of weeks to you?
4) Get everything paperless. The less mail to have to deal with the better.
5) Decide how you want to do you internet while full time. Can't always depend on CG's internet service, plus I wouldn't trust it for being secure for doing all of our banking.
6) Even though you have family you can stay with I would still start looking for your RV. Go to shows, dealers, and investigate different ones on-line. Craigs list can be a good place to find used ones. I would try to find a 1 or 2 year old unit that you really liked. Buying the right used unit usually can save you 50% or more. Once you find the unit and make a deal, start doing more research and find the best deal on a 5 year extended warranty for it.

There is tons more, but this is kind of the pattern we followed when starting full time. Good luck in your new adventure!

CrossCountryGal wrote:
Would prefer to purchase RV after sale of home.

If you're buying used and/or have never RV'd, you might want to rethink this.

We bought a used Class A a couple years before we started full timing. This gave us enough time to upgrade and customize.

Fixing stuff on the road can be pricey.

I had the RV (not this one) already. Put the house on the market and thinned out the furniture. After the sale, got rid of the rest by giving some to family, selling a few pieces and donating the rest to charity. If you already have the RV you will be able to assess what will go into it and what will not.

I love my fulltime lifestyle and I'll bet you will too!

We spent a year researching vehicles and reading forums before deciding to jump in with both feet. We let family know well in advance and let the kids and rest have their pick of heirlooms and keepsakes. We sold some items well in advance on Craigslist and through garage sales. In our area at the time, we knew our home would have a contract within a week of going on the market. We got with a realtor, got their advice on staging and timing, they took the pictures, etc then we held off on listing until we were ready. In the meantime we'd ordered our RV and coordinated arrival with my retirement date. Put the house on the market, contract in 3 days and we set closing for 4 weeks. In that time we scheduled and held an Estate Sale. The RV arrived 1 week before closing, we did our PDI and moved in 2 days before closing. The rest is history.