starkruzr
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Re: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
Thanks gotsmart. I figured it would work something like that :) I'm now trying to decide how big a vehicle I need. This would be my sole residence for a few years at least. It's just me, but storage is still a concern. Is it better to get something bigger, but older (for the same price point), and not have to worry about space concerns, or better to get something newer and downsize more where necessary? It would be really nice to be able to accommodate having people over, too :) Just curious what the other fulltimers have learned in this vein.531Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
Old-Biscuit wrote: SD is NOT the place to FT address only because SD Medical Insurance coverage issues IF you are under 65 and NOT using Medicare FL is more friendly in that aspect -----Blue Cross Blue Shield has coverage that will allow you medical coverage outside of FL. BUT ....hold on to your hats as Obamacare is/will be changing.....:B If your COMPANY is providing medical insurance you will need to verify that the coverage is applicable outside of DC.....northern states/west coast as you stated were your travel plans etc We have UHC, and I think it would just get moved to FL when I changed my permanent address. I believe we're all on a PPO plan that works in every state, but this is an important thing to check, I agree.530Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
DutchmenSport wrote: starkruzr wrote: ... ... How after step 3 is the bank going to be involved again unless I stop making payments? Even when I re-register and the title notes the lien from the bank, so what? How does the bank have the right to tell me what my living arrangements are allowed to be? As long as they're getting their money, what's the issue? As someone who is also in IT for a lending/servicing/financial institution, financial institutions work aggressively to track your physical address. The organization I work for, on almost every single item of physical mail sent out, is printed on the envelope "Do Not Forward". When the mail comes back to the company, the account immediately goes into "skip tracing", even if the account is paid up to date. Besides, you will need to keep the vehicle registered. If you keep it registered at your current address (say Washington DC), you'll need to keep insurance, drivers license and every thing else with that same address. If you move out, almost every state in the country has DMV laws stipulating how long you can stay before you have to re-register your automobile in THAT state. When you do, then your lending institution will need to surrender the title to your vehicle so you can get it titled in the new state! Even if you pay cash for your RV, your insurance company will probably cancel you once they find out you've titled the vehicle in a new state (let alone a new address within the same state). If you have a loan, you have an obligation to keep the lending institution updated of your current physical address at all times. If you are physically working in other states, you may also be subject to income tax in those states. A friend of mine drives a US Post Office Semi truck between Indiana and Ohio. He has to pay state taxes for both Indiana and Ohio, even though his home location is Indiana. Taxes can get very messy. I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying, both your insurance company and your lender for the loan will expect your current address. I mean, my "current address" would move from DC to (probably) FL. I'd be able to receive and answer mail there. And all of my work is remote, but I only receive income in one state -- DC (eventually FL). The lending institution would be updated for my address change. And that would really be the end of it, as far as I can tell. Let them "skip trace" me. They'll be really confused when I keep paying my loan on time :p530Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
Old-Biscuit wrote: The loan institute will KNOW that you have changed addresses and are now FTng by the mail forwarding address. ALL of them are KNOWN byy banks, savings/loans, investment and INSURANCE institutes. Mail forwarding address recognition is NOT a secret So you MAY run into issues when you go FT AFTER getting loan and the required insurance And you will need FTrs insurance coverage when you do go FT vs just liability/comp/collision as loan requirement. FTrs insurance is an auto policy combined with a Home owners type coverage policy.......as the RV will be your home National Interstate was the FTrs insurance we used. Good coverage, great service, decent pricing and very easy to work with when you have a claim(s) Thanks for the insurance heads-up! This is good stuff to know. I guess I don't understand what "issues" I could run into going FT after getting the loan and insurance. Either the bank wants to make the loan for the sum asked for or they don't. What are they going to do? Try to repo my RV when I'm paid up for the month? Under what authority? "We don't like that he left his former address!" Not sure how it's any of your business, Mr. Banker!306Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
NYCgrrl wrote: donn0128 wrote: Getting a loan on a used RV could be problomatic depending on your credit score. Add no permanent address and you may find your self out of luck. This is an important detail. As far as I can tell, having a credit score north of 600 means you're pretty much okay there. Is this not accurate? In terms of address - I'll have a permanent address when I apply for the loan. It's unclear to me how they would even know, or why they'd care, what my address was a month or two later. I'd plan on signing up for a mail forwarding/scanning service with PO Box in Florida anyway. .......................... As a former owner of a property management firm I can say.........yeah they care about your longevity at each address; shows your ability to live up to smaller agreements and such. Andddd if they don't it's their business but not how I would operate. As for a mail forwarding service anyone worth their salt can sniff that out. My suggestion? Just lay your cards on the table since the truth goes far longer than anything else. HTH I guess I'm not clear on the process here. So, 1) I live in DC, have a permanent address there. 2) Apply for loan with said address. 3) Receive loan, purchase RV, registered to my DC address. 4) Load stuff into RV, leave. 5) Drive to Florida, re-register, obtain forwarding service, establish residency in Florida. How after step 3 is the bank going to be involved again unless I stop making payments? Even when I re-register and the title notes the lien from the bank, so what? How does the bank have the right to tell me what my living arrangements are allowed to be? As long as they're getting their money, what's the issue? Thanks again.272Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
Saving money is definitely the side benefit. Primarily I want to see the country (and Canada, and Mexico!) while not worrying about how tied-down I am to any particular place. Is there a subscription or something one can get that would let you use hookups at a network of places across the country?272Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
ctilsie242 wrote: I know in Austin, trying to live in a RV park would be very difficult, because they have been pushed well outside of the city, so you would have a 45 min commute minimum. However, I've worked with one guy who has a class "A" on a seasonal site in Bastrop. He goes into Austin with a class "B" which normally is towed behind his "A". This way, he can park somewhere (a few garages have high top van parking), but when he isn't pressed, he can go back to the RV park to resupply. I wouldn't recommend this though. In fact, I'd recommend finding work outside of Austin and other hot spots, because you may make less, but with the cost of rent or real estate, you have to spend far less to keep a roof over your head. No commute concern for me -- I work fully remotely. The plan would still be "live in the Class A, tow my car," too -- the idea being that I leave the RV wherever I decide to park it for my duration in that metro area, and use the car (or bike) to get around town.272Views0likes0CommentsRe: Want to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
Thanks to both of you for replying so quickly! donn0128 wrote: Getting a loan on a used RV could be problomatic depending on your credit score. Add no permanent address and you may find your self out of luck. This is an important detail. As far as I can tell, having a credit score north of 600 means you're pretty much okay there. Is this not accurate? In terms of address - I'll have a permanent address when I apply for the loan. It's unclear to me how they would even know, or why they'd care, what my address was a month or two later. I'd plan on signing up for a mail forwarding/scanning service with PO Box in Florida anyway. Parking? Easy, lots of RV parks rent by the month. Depending on location and amenities monthly rent can run from 300 to a thousand dollars plus electricity. I have no issue with $300/mo. Even $1000/mo is basically breaking even, inclusive of RV payments, with how much I'm dropping on a tiny amount of space in DC right now -- splitting a two bedroom for $1400. I guess one question you need to ask yourself is.... how much internet band width do you need a month? Do not rely on park wifi. The best solution for most folks is cell technology and if your a heavy data user can get very expensive. This is happily not an issue for me as work pays for both a cell phone and a Verizon MiFi already. I went into this counting on not being able to count on park WiFi :) Motor home especially a used one could cost you thousands one time or another. 6 new,tires on a larger class A could cost you 3 grand easily. A transmission overhaul 5K could be a drop in the bucket. Do they fail often? No, but if your going to full time you need to have the cash available just in case. Yes, I've thought about this. I think with any savings I have from this plan I will put a bunch of cash into a growing maintenance fund for exactly this purpose. DrewE wrote: Much of the time it is not less expensive to live in an RV overall than to rent an apartment. I won't go so far as to say that this is always the case, but RV living is not particularly inexpensive. RVs are not as energy efficient as houses or apartment buildings overall (particularly in relation to heating and cooling, due to comparatively poor insulation), though their small size can partly make up for some of that. I'm an engineer, so this is an interesting engineering challenge for me :) I'm mostly a polar bear, so I plan on sticking almost entirely to Northern cities during the summer and the West Coast much of the rest of the time. But your point is well-taken. Most campgrounds that have monthly rates are at least a few hundred dollars a month, and ones close to big cities are usually more expensive than ones out in the boonies. Can you think of some examples here? Finding rates online is remarkably difficult. I also wonder how doable it is, since it would just be me, to pseudo-boondock much of the time, i.e., rely on my water and waste tanks, together with solar, and go to a dump station periodically. I don't know what the costs are for dump stations (also hard to find) and don't know how long I can expect to go before filling my black and gray water tanks, or running out of water in my reservoir tank. I tend to cook all at once and then save things for later. Power for a freezer unit would obviously be a concern there. I guess finding locations is part of what I'm curious about -- this site makes it sound not so bad, though, and again, cheaper than what I'm used to: ***Link Removed***https://rv-roadtrips.thefuntimesguide.com/living-in-an-rv/ Is that link a bit too much pie-in-the-sky compared to reality?39Views0likes0CommentsWant to Full-Time as a Tech Worker, City to City
Hey gang, I work in technology and my job is fully remote. My dream is to be able to travel from city to city (or thereabouts), staying for a few months at a time with some side-jaunts for vacation exploration, etc. I don't mind the idea of boondocking but it wouldn't be the primary goal. I'm also currently living in one of the most expensive cities in the country -- Washington, DC. Pricing out RV loans, I've realized that even with the costs of insurance, gas, tolls, and -- maybe -- park fees, I can save myself hundreds of dollars a month with this lifestyle compared to now. So, my plan is to get a used Class A, probably a diesel that can easily tow my car on a dolly, and make that my full-time residence, probably registered in Florida. My questions are: How much money have you found you can save yourself with, e.g., a solar panel installation to let you save on utilities and possibly boondock longer? What kind of hidden costs have you found start to really add up month by month? Is it common to find places to park for a month or two, that are reasonably inexpensive, close-by to major cities? It'll just be me doing this solo -- not even a dog! The reason I'm pretty sure I won't go crazy is that I have a number of friends to visit in most of the cities I want to visit -- I'd start in/around NYC, probably (likely in Long Island or Westchester), pop up to Toronto, out to Chicago and then out West from there. So. I throw myself at your mercy, folks :) What am I failing to think of? Thanks!!5.5KViews0likes32Comments
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