The OP should give a lot of thought to the type of fulltimer(s) they plan to become, i.e. those that travel often, those that travel seldom and those that just use their RVs as a place to live, while working, etc.
We have people on the forum that say they are fulltimers but they own a stick home somewhere that they spend a few months at a year to take care of medical, dental, legal, family matters, etc. Their situations are different than someone that their RV is their only home.
You have some successful and helpful forum members, such as 2gypsies, that have fulltimed it for many years and are very helpful to others. Pick the brains of the people that are full timing it the way you want to do so.
I have some younger friends that consider themselves to be full timers. They are traveling nurses that work contract at different hospitals on the west coast and Colorado. A normal contract is three to six months and then they move. During that six months, their 40 ft Class A never moves from where it is parked. There is no recreation involved in it, just a place for the family to live close to their jobs.
It makes it easier to talk about a subject, such as full timing, if everyone agrees what it means. Makes it easier to understand their questions and their answers. Need for storage becomes different depending on if you own somewhere to store junk, winter clothes in the summer, etc.
A few years back one of the RV magazines, Motorhome I think, could have been trailer Life but the article talked about the three (3) stages of fulltiming that needed to be thought through before jumping into the lifestyle. Was was planning on what you wanted to do while full timing, the costs, were both people equally in favor of the idea, where to spend time, etc.
#2 was to actully do it until you have to come off the road as everyone does eventually, unless they expire while driving down the road.
#3 which the article says way too many people ignore, until it is too late, is how do they plan to come off the road and what to do, where to live, etc. They need to think about the criteria they will use to decide when it is time to hang up the keys, so to speak.
Talked to one couple in Colorado, that were going full timing. He had retired young, they had two middle school aged kids. The wife didn't like the idea but he promised her they would only do it for 5 years. Then he told me the salesman told him the new DP, one of the Oregon builders, Beaver or Monaco, or? would most likely be worth more in 5 years than he was paying for it. Said it was because the price of DPs was going up so fast each year, it was a great investment for them. Something in my demeanor, told him I didn't agree with that, when I told him, you normally don't hear the words, a good investment and RVs used in the same sentence. LOL He told me their salesman was very knowledgeable and knew what he was talking about. I agreed the guy had been a "good" salesman as he had gotten close to sticker price for the DP he had sold them. The plan was to sell the DP in 5 years and buy another home in western Colorado and send the kids off to college, with the money they got in the sale of the DP. I never saw the guy again, but remain a bit skeptical it would work out for him to make a profit on a 5 year old DP when selling it.
joe b.
Stuart Florida
Formerly of Colorado and Alaska
2016 Fleetwood Flair 31 B Class A w/bunks
www.picturetrail.com/jbpacooper
Alaska-Colorado and other Trips posted
"Without challenge, adventure is impossible".
