Follow up to living in RV by necessity

[jesseannie]

In the spring of this year I posted about a dilemma I had about the high cost of housing in Boise, ID. We thought about living in our RV temporarily to find other housing or decide if we were going to move.
There were some good responses and some curmudgeons who said we should have planned for retirement better to those people spfffft.
Well here is the rest of the story we moved to Roseburg Or. Put the RV on my brothers property which has full hook-ups. We then purchased a single wide trailer, set it up in a nice park and with my carpentry skills and help from my talented brother completely renovated it.
We spent 7 months in the 26 ft trailer while doing the work.
We now are moved in to a paid for house with a small monthly bill for the lot. This will allow us to have a home base and travel when we want and not spend 50% of our retirement income on housing like we were doing in Boise.
It will be a thankful Thanksgiving!

[ScottG]

ppine wrote:
There are at least two types of people that live in motor homes.

The first type lives in a fairly new rig and everything works, because they are in it all the time and know it inside out. They pay attention and do their maintenance. They are road worthy. Few problems.

The second type, like a friend of mine, buy an old hulk of an RV. They take it on its last trip to a remote spot and park it. When things break, they figure out a substitution or do without. This is not how you want anyone to end up. It is very sad and depressing to witness. Be the first type.

It is depressing. I'm watching a disabled vet (TBI's) do the latter with no hope in sight.

[eastern_shore_g]

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your retirement and have safe travels.
Happy Thanksgiving!

[ppine]

There are at least two types of people that live in motor homes.

The first type lives in a fairly new rig and everything works, because they are in it all the time and know it inside out. They pay attention and do their maintenance. They are road worthy. Few problems.

The second type, like a friend of mine, buy an old hulk of an RV. They take it on its last trip to a remote spot and park it. When things break, they figure out a substitution or do without. This is not how you want anyone to end up. It is very sad and depressing to witness. Be the first type.

[dcason]

Nice creative solution! Glad you were able to use your skills too!

Trying to save money living in Las Vegas, Our son bought an old fifth wheel and found an inexpensive lot to put it on (rental of the parking space was $500 per month and it adjoined a house (that was not rented) with pool and tiny yard. He lived in that with girlfriend for six years, socking away money. They bought land in AZ and will pay out of pocket to build and earthship...living well below their means and still doing lots of fun stuff.

It is all about how creative you can get!

[azrving]

Good for you and being settled in by Thanksgiving. Don't worry about the nit pickers, you have to do what it takes to make yourself sustainable.

[ReneeG]

Good for you! Nearly debt free is a good feeling!

[gbopp]

The curmudgeons will not be happy with your success.

Congrats on a job well done!

[Lwiddis]

“and some curmudgeons who said we should have planned for retirement better to those people spfffft.”

It’s not bad tempered (curmudgeons) for comments to your post to say “think of your shelter first” when planning for retirement. Many at retirement age don’t have the skills and/or physical ability to rehab an RV. You may have learned the skill but you were lucky to still have the physical ability. Neither is planning for retirement from an early age a strategy to be poo-pooed.

[rk911]

el mas excelente! well done!

[lap527]

Congrats! We did about the same thing our first 3 years of marriage, now after 35 years it was smart. It paid off big time, debt free. We need to downsize to get rid of the junk now...lol.

[Executive45]

Congratulation! Your plan works for you and it sounds like you're now in a much better place. We too, did something similar but for different reasons. We full time and travel most of the year. However, we wanted somewhere warm for the winter and after exploring different States, Florida, Texas Arizona, we decided we'd spend winters in Arizona so we purchased a double wide in a nice park in Mesa, Az. This provides us with options. One, we get out of the coach for 3 months of the year but can still take short local trips if we choose. Two, since we are out of the coach, we can schedule any repairs/service/etc. that needs to be done before we head out again; and Three, IMO the important one, is when the time comes that I can no longer push this beast around or if something were to happen to me, my wife has a free and clear home to enjoy.....Planning ahead is always a good thing.....Dennis

[2edgesword]

Glad you figured out a plan that works for you.

[dalenoel]

Glad you ignored the curmudgeons. More of us would learn from you.

[ScottG]

Well done!