We're you apprehensive going full-time?

[colliehauler]

I've toyed with the idea of going full time or having a seasonal up North and a site in the South with a small RV to travel.

Just wondering what was your deciding factor that made you take the leap into full timing?

[ependydad]

The house talk makes me chuckle- I sold a townhouse at the height of the market and ended up buying a house at the height of the market. I owned that house through the "market correction" and owned it for 12 years.

I shudder to do the math of what I put down, how much I paid each month, how little of the mortgage was paid off, and how much less I got for it when I sold it vs. what I paid for it.

I wasn't upside down and did some away with a little bit of money, but compared to what I put into the house- yeah, huge loss over the 12 years of mortgage payments.

We launched fulltime as a family of 4 back in 2015. It was scary, but we've met an amazing community with Fulltime Families. My kids have made friends on the road and there's rarely a campground that we go to without another family or two there (which is good and bad!). We (and the kids) can be as social as we want to be. In fact, sometimes it gets TOO social and we need time to decompress and reconnect as a family.

The kids both say they love living on the road. Neither want to go back to public school when they get back.

I can say that the kids my daughter has befriended on the road are better friends and have made more meaningful relationships with. The other kids know how important staying in touch is when you're on the road. And they get to choose their friends, not be forced to have friends by proximity.

But yes- giving up the house (we rented it just in case and then later sold it) and all of our belongings was stressful. We did it over time- not one big bang before we left. I think it would have been harder to do that vs. not seeing our stuff in storage for 3 years and then selling it.

It's a huge change fraught with emotions. It can be hard. For us, it's been worth it, though.

[vtchris]

When I decided to go full time in 2007, I was retired, single, big house and had been RVing part time for three years. In my younger years I traveled for many years with just a backpack, hitch hiking, commune to commune. So transitioning to owning nothing but an RV was not in the least bit daunting. My house was paid for, I had a pension from working 20 years, SS, IRA's. Money not a problem. Been full timing 12 years now. No regrets. Although starting to slow down...five month seasonal site in Vermont for the summer and then 7 months of travel.

[JD5150]

KC10Chief wrote:
I've been thinking about my house too. It's not paid off, but getting there. Once it's paid off, I'll still owe thousands in taxes every year. If I stop paying the taxes, it won't be my house any more. So, it's never really mine. Not to mention the costs. I pay thousands in insurance every year. Utilities cost me thousands every year. I had to replace my air conditioning unit. Thousands of dollars. It needs to be painted, needs some dirt work done, and the roof is shot after a recent hail storm. Yeah, it might appreciate in value, but I can't take it with me when I die. I'm coming to resent my house and feel tied down by it. I'm 40 years old. The only reason I haven't gone full time, is our 12 year old daughter. We plan to be full time in another six years when she moves out or gets kicked out. HA!

I feel exactly like you. Feel like I'm in prison here at my home and can't get out fast enough.

I will be full-time here hopefully in the next 90 days and it seems like forever getting there.

I will never own or rent again, Full-time for me forever or as long as I can go. Old age or health will have to put an end to it.

Freedom from all the **** is knocking at my back door 🙂

One thing I hate about owning a house is all what you mentioned plus all the maintenance. Your whole life is consumed of maintenance owning a home and I'm not going to miss that **** that's for sure. When you buy a home you are buying a job plus have to pay thousands to live ther

[Lantley]

KC10Chief wrote:
I've been thinking about my house too. It's not paid off, but getting there. Once it's paid off, I'll still owe thousands in taxes every year. If I stop paying the taxes, it won't be my house any more. So, it's never really mine. Not to mention the costs. I pay thousands in insurance every year. Utilities cost me thousands every year. I had to replace my air conditioning unit. Thousands of dollars. It needs to be painted, needs some dirt work done, and the roof is shot after a recent hail storm. Yeah, it might appreciate in value, but I can't take it with me when I die. I'm coming to resent my house and feel tied down by it. I'm 40 years old. The only reason I haven't gone full time, is our 12 year old daughter. We plan to be full time in another six years when she moves out or gets kicked out. HA!

Granted property taxes vary by region and size of house. But if you are in a metro area I imagine a paid off house cost $15K a year in taxes and maintenance.
Granted you may go from 2500 sq. ft to 400 sq. ft but full timing does not have to be more expensive than stix and brix

[KC10Chief]

I've been thinking about my house too. It's not paid off, but getting there. Once it's paid off, I'll still owe thousands in taxes every year. If I stop paying the taxes, it won't be my house any more. So, it's never really mine. Not to mention the costs. I pay thousands in insurance every year. Utilities cost me thousands every year. I had to replace my air conditioning unit. Thousands of dollars. It needs to be painted, needs some dirt work done, and the roof is shot after a recent hail storm. Yeah, it might appreciate in value, but I can't take it with me when I die. I'm coming to resent my house and feel tied down by it. I'm 40 years old. The only reason I haven't gone full time, is our 12 year old daughter. We plan to be full time in another six years when she moves out or gets kicked out. HA!

[js218]

Boondocked the whole Baja peninsula in Mexico, have only stayed in one RV PARK, prefer boondocking. Yes my house has wheels an I go wherever I want when I want.

[js218]

Boondocked the whole Baja peninsula in Mexico, have only stayed in one RV PARK, prefer boondocking. Yes my house has wheels an I go wherever I want when I want.

[JimK-NY]

Years ago, we sold the house, I retired and we took off full time in a small RV. We had never stayed in an RV even one night. There were very few issues which we did not anticipate. Except for the cost of the truck and RV, costs were very low. We had solar panels and rarely stayed in an RV park or other expensive camping area. With a senior pass, we averaged $7/night for camping fees. Fuel was expensive when traveling long distances but on an average monthly basis, fuel was about the same as when I commuted to and from work everyday. A $15-20 propane refill lasted over a month. We also needed gas for the generator on rare occasions, about $10/month. Of course, everything is different for those whose idea of RV travel is trying to duplicate living in a house.

[js218]

Yep it's expensive but knew that before I had my rig built been enjoying it since 10/16 with no regrets.

[Jayco-noslide]

Those who say it's not about the money or something similar, either have a lot or have borrowed a lot.

[js218]

Been on the road since 10/16. Still own property in Vermont, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. All properties are equipped with full hook ups for my rig, I use them as layovers during my travels. Buying my rig was best thing I ever did so far have put 142,000 miles on it. Been to Mexico ,Canada, Alaska and still traveling.

[Ro_n_Joe]

Not apprehensive at all and understand there will be a huge learning curve when we start. We begin our full time adventure this fall and have been wanting to do it for the past 15yrs. Read some books, follow bloggers and sites like this are great. I retire next month and DW retires in August. We want no strings attached with a sticks and bricks, look forward the freedom of full time travelling and seeing North America.

[philh]

Lantley wrote:
Have you figured property taxes into your equation. 10 years of property tax at 5K a year is $50K.Thats 50K towards off setting that depreciation

And maintenance. I just dropped almost 10k rebuilding a deck and really really need to start replacing windows 😞

[Lantley]

Jayco-noslide wrote:
We've RV'ed for over 40 years and thought about full timing but have not. I don't know about apprehensive but some thoughts: If you own a home (gaining in value) any RV will depreciate a lot and quickly.So if you buy one now to FT it will suffer wear and tear and be worth little if you need to replace it in 15 years while a home will increase a lot during that time. Also, full-timing may not be economical in other ways unless you workamp or favor dry camping. Site rental could equal $1000/month apartment rental. Of course some of this applies to RVing if you don't full-time.

Have you figured property taxes into your equation. 10 years of property tax at 5K a year is $50K.Thats 50K towards off setting that depreciation