To have a home base or not.

We both recently retired and have put the house up for sale because the housing market is very strong in our area. We're hoping to maximize the value now. We're going to travel the next year or two and then go from there.
We will return to the Charlotte area around the holidays to be with family and also take care of annual medical appointments, vehicle registrations and all that stuff.

Nothing wrong with doing it either way.

I'd travel a bit and see a bit of land before you decide to set up a home base. So tell her you're into this for the long haul and fine with having something you can call a home base. Let's take a look at all these new areas for a few months (extend as necessary) and figure out where we want to plant our new root.

We prefer the RV lots in a low fee HOA that takes care of everything while you're gone. Extra points if they can rent while you're away.

Houses tend to not do as well when they are empty for 8 months a year. If you're really planning on FT'ing you'd be better off without a stick and brick but whatever works for you in the end is best.

Some people just have this need to have a house. She might need that security to get her to let go. Then you can work on her as time goes on and you spend less and less time there to get rid of it.

Play your cards carefully.

rdmike wrote:

Me Again wrote:

JAXFL wrote:

rdmike wrote:
We have a 1400 sq ft highrise condo in Bangkok where we stay April to October. Maids are cheap here, so she stays on fulltime watering the plants, feeding the fish etc. The electric and water goes down to 10 dollars a month, just have condo hoa fees. Tickets roundtrip to Seattle around 1,000 each. In April, we travel all over the US until October. We have enclosed storage for the coach plus storage space as it is 15'X60'. Toad we park in storage in Seattle. Works for us as we didn't care for the winter on the road.

I'm confused... I thought you said that April to October your were in Thailand... but then you travel the US April to October.... ?

I would think that it would be warmer and nicer October to March in Bangkok...

His sig line says "Retired, spending our winters in Thailand / spring - fall traveling the great USA " Most likely was in Thailand during the SE Asia War AKA Vietnam War. I was there in the USCG 66-67. Chris

Worked for a large US firm 30 years, last 10 years as a Expat in Thailand. Retired in Thailand and then decided to tour the US in a Rv to see where we wanted to live and settle down. Have not found it yet.

I was in Sattahip South of Bangkok near the B-52 base. Chris

Me Again wrote:

JAXFL wrote:

rdmike wrote:
We have a 1400 sq ft highrise condo in Bangkok where we stay April to October. Maids are cheap here, so she stays on fulltime watering the plants, feeding the fish etc. The electric and water goes down to 10 dollars a month, just have condo hoa fees. Tickets roundtrip to Seattle around 1,000 each. In April, we travel all over the US until October. We have enclosed storage for the coach plus storage space as it is 15'X60'. Toad we park in storage in Seattle. Works for us as we didn't care for the winter on the road.

I'm confused... I thought you said that April to October your were in Thailand... but then you travel the US April to October.... ?

I would think that it would be warmer and nicer October to March in Bangkok...

His sig line says "Retired, spending our winters in Thailand / spring - fall traveling the great USA " Most likely was in Thailand during the SE Asia War AKA Vietnam War. I was there in the USCG 66-67. Chris

Worked for a large US firm 30 years, last 10 years as a Expat in Thailand. Retired in Thailand and then decided to tour the US in a Rv to see where we wanted to live and settle down. Have not found it yet.

JAXFL wrote:

rdmike wrote:
We have a 1400 sq ft highrise condo in Bangkok where we stay April to October. Maids are cheap here, so she stays on fulltime watering the plants, feeding the fish etc. The electric and water goes down to 10 dollars a month, just have condo hoa fees. Tickets roundtrip to Seattle around 1,000 each. In April, we travel all over the US until October. We have enclosed storage for the coach plus storage space as it is 15'X60'. Toad we park in storage in Seattle. Works for us as we didn't care for the winter on the road.

I'm confused... I thought you said that April to October your were in Thailand... but then you travel the US April to October.... ?

I would think that it would be warmer and nicer October to March in Bangkok...

My bad. April to October in the USA, October to April in warm Thailand.

JAXFL wrote:

rdmike wrote:
We have a 1400 sq ft highrise condo in Bangkok where we stay April to October. Maids are cheap here, so she stays on fulltime watering the plants, feeding the fish etc. The electric and water goes down to 10 dollars a month, just have condo hoa fees. Tickets roundtrip to Seattle around 1,000 each. In April, we travel all over the US until October. We have enclosed storage for the coach plus storage space as it is 15'X60'. Toad we park in storage in Seattle. Works for us as we didn't care for the winter on the road.

I'm confused... I thought you said that April to October your were in Thailand... but then you travel the US April to October.... ?

I would think that it would be warmer and nicer October to March in Bangkok...

His sig line says "Retired, spending our winters in Thailand / spring - fall traveling the great USA " Most likely was in Thailand during the SE Asia War AKA Vietnam War. I was there in the USCG 66-67. Chris

bdpreece wrote:
We had planned on full timing. Sold our big house and the wife gave away the china, sterling silver, and a lot of jewelry to the daughter in laws. I in turn went out to the garage and discovered I could not part with my tools.

We bought a small (970 sq ft) house in a 55+ community. I call it my storage shed. This allows us to have a home base, doctors etc and a place to stay when we come back to visit the family. It also meant we did not have to pay to store items we did not want to part with.

In the last 10 years the wife has had open heart surgery and I have had a total knee replacement. During the recovery times I don't think either one of us could have negotiated getting in and out of our motorhome.

There is no one size fits all answer. You just have to weigh your options and go with your gut. We are satisfied with our choice and now that we are cutting back on long range travel we have purchased a park model and lot In Yuma so I am happy I still have all my tools to remodel it.

My wife and I both retired just over 2 years ago. Over the last 14 years of RVing our plans went from fulltiming after retirement to deciding extended RVing was more our style. We made this decision for two reasons. My wife loves RVing but honestly wants a home to return to after months on the road and I too agree with that. Having a real home base now, instead of having to look for one if and when a medical emergency or something worse happens, is a major plus for us.

The other reason is I am a true motor head and have two hot rod toys I refuse go get rid of and of course all the spare parts and tools need to support that hobby. Having to pay storage for this just to expensive for our budget. That and not having the use of those toys is unacceptable to me.

We are currently getting our house ready to sell. We have all ready decided where we want to move to and once the house sells we will purchase another house almost immediately.

Fulltiming isn't for everyone and fortunately for us we realized that years ago.

rdmike wrote:
We have a 1400 sq ft highrise condo in Bangkok where we stay April to October. Maids are cheap here, so she stays on fulltime watering the plants, feeding the fish etc. The electric and water goes down to 10 dollars a month, just have condo hoa fees. Tickets roundtrip to Seattle around 1,000 each. In April, we travel all over the US until October. We have enclosed storage for the coach plus storage space as it is 15'X60'. Toad we park in storage in Seattle. Works for us as we didn't care for the winter on the road.

I'm confused... I thought you said that April to October your were in Thailand... but then you travel the US April to October.... ?

I would think that it would be warmer and nicer October to March in Bangkok...

2gypsies wrote:
Since your wife already know she doesn't want to stay in Indiana then sell the house and invest the money. However, I wouldn't advise buying anything right away. Do some traveling first and check out all the snowbirding winter spots before deciding where you want to settle down. You may be surprised in your final choice. We certainly were! Being from Michigan we never dreamed we'd end up in the Southwest but we absolutely love it. In fact, we love the whole West. It took us 16 years of constant travel to find the spot for us. :) You couldn't get us back east for anything. Take your time with your decision.

Well that was somewhat my thought also being she really doesn't have hardly any equity in her house and she knows she wants to be somewhere warmer so buying something somewhere else immediately before checking a bunch of places out would be just as starting over in a home purchase. I also think she would constantly be worrying about what is happening at the house while were gone. She's not totally sold on the home base but has been talking out loud thinking she might want that so I have time to sway her thinking but also thought I could get some good ideas here, which I have, from everyone on things I hadn't thought about. Keep them coming then I'll have her read through them!!

Since your wife already know she doesn't want to stay in Indiana then sell the house and invest the money. However, I wouldn't advise buying anything right away. Do some traveling first and check out all the snowbirding winter spots before deciding where you want to settle down. You may be surprised in your final choice. We certainly were! Being from Michigan we never dreamed we'd end up in the Southwest but we absolutely love it. In fact, we love the whole West. It took us 16 years of constant travel to find the spot for us. :) You couldn't get us back east for anything. Take your time with your decision.