Am I Just Naive

[TMichelle]

I caught the traveling bug years ago while moving halfway across country by car. I have since traveled by bus, by car and by train half way across the country several times and really enjoyed it. I have been dreaming about buying a class A motorhome and living full-time in it with my husband and two small children. We have lived in tight spaces since having our first child 4 years ago so I am not too concerned about space. Also so many of the RV parks have so much room to run and play that I am not concerned about outdoor space either. My husband is starting a home-based business and we plan to homeschool our children no matter where we live so we would be free to travel the country. My parents think it is a neat idea (my dad has wanted to travel across the country by RV or train for years) but my in-laws keep saying things like it is very expensive, a hassle and other things to discourage this thinking.

I keep thinking of the expense but if we buy a used class A diesel, gas and RV parking fees would still be a lot less than a house payment. My in-laws tell me that something constantly needs to be fixed on an RV and it is expensive and a hassle to fix it. Is this true? I find that when we had a house we were constantly fixing stuff so I'm not sure it would be much different even if the RV did have a lot of maintenance issues. Am I just ignoring sound advice from my in-laws? I wanted to ask people here who actually go RV-ing regularly or full-time to see what the good, bad and ugly is.

Also if any of you RV full-time with children, have you found it to be a positive experience or mostly frustrating? I have a 1 year old and a 4 year old.

[jims1]

PM sent!

[Just_Jeff]

It's also easier and cheaper to maintain a big pickup than it is to maintain a Class A, and often even a Class C. Many shops won't even work on an RV so you'll have to find a specialist, whereas most repair shops or oil change places will look at a pickup just like any other vehicle.

[run100]

The following thoughts are solely based on my own life experience. Others may have different points of view.

- A house can be a bottomless pit of expense, debt and time spent repairing and/or maintaining things.

- Typically, a home should not be viewed as an investment, because there is usually (at least for many Americans) a huge liability posted against it. True "Investments" do not.

- Hopefully home prices never skyrocket as they did a few years ago, because the result is unaffordable shelter and huge increases in debt (based on the behavior of Americans in recent years.) Instead, prices should rise at, or below, the rate of inflation.

- Just because a child is home schooled, does not mean they will live in an isolated bubble. There are still many socializing opportunities. We are likely heading down this path with our children in the fall.

- I have never met an adult that can't speak, because they started talking at a later point in childhood. In fact, several of the brightest children I've met, were late talkers.

- Dare to be different. Nothing great has ever been accomplished being mainstream.

[RoadLife]

While I love my class A and it is perfect for us, perhaps you should consider a fifth wheel or travel trailer in your situation. It puts you down to one vehicle for maintenance. Fifth wheels have a bit more room. Go to an RV show and check out ALL the RV types to see what would work the best for you.

[Bubtoofat]

RV depreciation? I have never had anything depreciate as much or as quickly as my home has. I never want to own a ball and chain like this again. The value of my home has dropped nearly 80% from it's housing bubble high. My taxes have NOT dropped accordingly. Even though our house is paid off do we really own it? Just try not paying your property taxes for a while and see who REALLY owns your house.

My town is quickly becoming a ghetto with most who cannot sell going section 8. Crime is WAY up. School test scores are way down. Home values are not going up. All the while banks are keeping 70% of foreclosed homes off the market to try and bring the prices up (we have 2 on our short street that have been empty and off the market for 2 years). I cannot imagine what the REAL value of my home is. Home ownership is just not all it's cracked up to be. And I do way less maintenance on my RV than my worthless house sucks out of my life.

I say get out there and follow your dream while you can and the kids are still young. You can always go back to a stick home anytime you want. Go man, GO!

Mike

[trailertraveler]

TMichelle wrote:
...If you get regular maintenance on your RV are there still generally a lot of things that go wrong in between maintenance? Or is it a lot like a car where if you generally keep up with the maintenance schedule things go fairly well...

In my experience, general/preventive maintenance is always preferable to waiting for failures. Keep in mind that an RV has both the components of a vehicle and many of the appliances of a home. Some of the RV appliances like the propane refrigerators are specialized equipment and may not last as long as those used in residential applications. I have heard an RV described as an earthquake on wheels. It is amazing how well most standup to all the shaking, rattling and rolling, but things do wear out or break, and some are built better than others. How many repairs will be required is anybody's guess and will depend on the age, previous maintenance and quality of the RV. Since you are new to RVing, you may find the materials from the RV consumers Group helpful in assessing the various brands and learning what to look for in a potential purchase.

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

[TMichelle]

Thanks Traveltrailer for weighing in with some other good things to think about. I don't think DH's business will "require" high speed internet but it is the only way to go when you have to use it as the old dial-up is excruciating. I think if we are in one of those parks long term and need to use the internet and our phones don't get signals that we should look to go to a coffee shop to keep from pulling our hair out. Hopefully we won't be on as much for pleasure. The maintenance and repairs is one thing that I have concerns about. DH does a great job of getting our cars serviced whenever they are due and he also notices small changes in the sounds so has those checked out, but neither of us knows a whole lot about mechanics. I would hate to be on the road and have something go really wrong without any warning. If you get regular maintenance on your RV are there still generally a lot of things that go wrong in between maintenance? Or is it a lot like a car where if you generally keep up with the maintenance schedule things go fairly well.

[trailertraveler]

Living in an Rv can be economical. Traveling a lot in one, not so much so because of the cost of fuel, low fuel mileage of most large RVs and maintenance and repair costs. You will likely spend about the same on expenses such as food, clothing, entertainment, etc. living in an RV as you do now unless you make a decision to alter your live style. $900/month for site fees is high for many areas of the country (if you stay in the same place for a month}, but not all; so where you plan/need to be will affect that cost. You also need to realize that many RV park monthly rates do not include electricity so the actual cost will be higher than the one advertised. Local, state, and federal campgrounds are generally more economical for overnight or short term stays but generally do not offer monthly rates and may have stay limits of less than a month. If you are home schooling and your husband is running a business, work camping or volunteering to reduce site costs may not be a viable option depending on the duties and hours involved. Memberships like Thousand Trails will reduce costs only if they are where you want/need to be.

If your husband's internet business requires high speed and intensive data use, this may be a challenge. There are still many National Parks and other areas that do not provide WIFI and sometimes not even cellular coverage. Many RV parks struggle with providing adequate WIFI because of the huge data demand of streaming video and video downloads. Some, but not all RV parks are equiped to facilitate contracting with local cable or telephone companies for high speed internet access.

Medical insurance has been mentioned and how that will play out for itinerants(i.e. full time RVers) with the implementation of the new laws is yet to be seen.

There are many other variables such as income tax, vehicle insurance/registration, and sales tax that will depend on your specific situation.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!!!

[TMichelle]

lizzie wrote:
You said your son is language delayed? What kind of therapy does he have and how will you get services for him on the road? If he has difficulty communicating how will he interact socially with people that he doesn't know and will only be around for a short time? You may need to wait a few years to see how things shake out before making this decision. Good luck. lizzie

It's my DD. She had clogged ears all through her 2nd year and possibly before. We didn't figure it out until she turned 3 so she hears and speaks but more on the level of a young 3 year old. She is catching up quickly though. She is starting formal therapy and the hope is she'll be caught up within a year. Thank you for the well wishes, we could use them! 🙂

[lizzie]

You said your son is language delayed? What kind of therapy does he have and how will you get services for him on the road? If he has difficulty communicating how will he interact socially with people that he doesn't know and will only be around for a short time? You may need to wait a few years to see how things shake out before making this decision. Good luck. lizzie

[TMichelle]

Thanks Dana for your thoughts. I already liked your blog and was excited that you responded here. It is very encouraging to see that it can be done successfully with 12 kids. I'm looking forward to taking the time to read the how and why on your blog. I'm also curious as to what you do in order to support your RV habit. 🙂 Hopefully that will be on the blog too.

Thanks for your thoughts on socialization. I can see the truth in what you say. Growing up I lived in the same place most of my life and I had best friends through the years, but actually none of them have been lifelong except for family.

Punomatic, you could be onto something. We recently moved close to family and they are enjoying the grandchildren very much. I doubt they would complain at all if we bought a bigger more expensive home nearby. I think they would be thrilled in fact.

[punomatic]

TMichelle wrote:
but my in-laws keep saying things like it is very expensive, a hassle and other things to discourage this thinking.

Could it be they fear they will never see their grandchildren again? Their arguments seem flimsy, but maybe their true concern is unrelated to how much money you may spend. Would they complain if you bought a bigger (and more expensive) home near your current home? I would dig into this situation a little more with them and see if you can't uncover their true concerns.

I have a dear friend who full-timed with three kids two dogs and three cats along with her DH in a 30' class C. They home-schooled and the kids loved the whole adventure. Kids don't need stuff, or even a stationary home. They need their parents' time and attention. JMHO.

[blessdx11]

We fulltime with kids (of all ages 😉 ), and none of us want it any other way.
We blog about our travels; we are the fulltime family #2 link above, and personally know the other 2 families (met on the road). We stuck around FL much longer than intended this winter just to hang out with them (and a few others with big kids otr).

From my experience, I would suggest:
It is so important that both you and hubby are on board with this decision - yes, you are 'living' in an rv, but if you are moving around, it can be much different than a house.

Socialization - kids that small do not need 'long-term friends'. They will meet all sorts of kids in RV parks, and RVers tend to make friends faster than s&b because we realize that we have a very limited time to meet before one or the other moves on. They will have kids their ages to play with now and again, but the 'long-term friends' isn't a big deal until at least tweens, unless they have been conditioned differently by you or public school. My little girls (7,5,3) just left 'forever friends' a few hours ago, but they know that they will see them again, and they are excited about where we are heading to instead of moping. Attitudes are catching - if you pity them for having to 'see you later', they will feel bad, but if your fam is #1, and you make the journey fun, they will love it (isn't that true no matter where you live?)

$ - We are debt free, but we spend $1k a week to stay on the road. Our biggest expenses are fuel and food (there are 12 of us, and we drive 2 gas guzzlers). We COULD pare that down, but it would mean changing our lifestyle. We live in an RV so we can TRAVEL, so we move a lot. We seldom pay much in site fees as we Walmart when we are moving fast, and we have a campround membership - we also choose less expensive places to stay like COE, Fed campgrounds, and state parks. We would prob not choose this if we had to pinch pennies too badly.

Kids attitude - we've only been on the road for 3.5 years. My bigs (we have all odd ages from 1 to 19 traveling with us), are some of the biggest proponents. Every once in awhile, someone will say they are ready for a house. We are truly open to that. When it comes down to stopping tho, no-one wants to. My 19 y.o. mentioned today that he would like to travel with us again next year.

~all that being said, we are a little different than most traveling families. We do not have a job that we do on the road - we return to our hometown every summer to work, so our kids come back to their same friends and activities. It may be only for a few months, but they (and us) do have our BFFs there. Anyone could still create a 'homebase' by simply parking in the same area for a few months each year.

If this is your dream, go for it (if hubby is really on-board). We have never met anyone that said, 'gee, I wish that I wouldn't have followed my dreams', but we have met dozens that have said, 'I wish we would have started earlier' or 'I wish we could (or would) have shown our kids the country'.
🙂

Dana Ticknor
http://ticknortribe.com/

[TMichelle]

jimroach, I am just glancing through the blogs you sent me and they are fabulous! It is making me want to take off and go right now. 🙂 I'll definitely be reading these to get a feel for it through the time it takes to make a decision and get ready if we are to go.

[TMichelle]

RoadLife, I must have been typing when you posted your message because I missed it until now. Thanks for your thoughts, they are wise indeed. We do plan to get debt free and wouldn't purchase a MH until we were. I'm really hoping that is sooner than later...The exit strategy is a good thought as well. We haven't made one yet.

I'm glad that the $900/month seemed kind of high to a couple of people. I hadn't counted on it being quite that much. I'll definitely be looking for the RV parks (basically a nice campsite) and leave the resorts to those more blessed unless we are going on "vacation". 🙂

Jim, thank you so much to the links to the blogs! I will definitely be checking those out. They will no doubt be helpful in making our own decision.

Gale, we would love to stop and see all the historical and culturally significant parts of the country (which could take forever). My DH is like a sponge when it comes to that kind of stuff and will retain all the information on each little placard he reads for years. I joke around that I just use him as my google search engine.

Sunkatacher, I can see us following that path that you did with traveling everywhere the first couple of years and then settling down a bit more. That makes sense to me. I'm glad you found it reasonably priced. I'll have to ask you the tricks of the trade if DH decides we should pursue this.

apr 67 Great idea about going to the library. That would be a win-win. We could even take turns (but it should probably be me and the kids as DH is prone to start reading if anyone leaves an interesting book around.) But that makes a lot of sense because libraries are everywhere and always free and comfortable, a great place to do schoolwork.

CloudDancer a few years full-timing sounds like you did pretty well. Thanks for your thoughts too.

Darrah, we'll be looking for RV P.a.r.k.s. for sure! 😄

Thank you all for your feedback. We definitely have some issues to work through. 😕 It still just seems wonderful but I'm glad you are bringing up both sides.