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RE: Living the full-time Lifestyle
I've seen two motorhomes and a number of TTs, but because of business we often stay in "in town" type parks which is where you are most likely to find that type of rv. But maybe "up on blocks" doesn't convey the idea well - let's say instead, skirted, fenced yards or otherwise not readily mobile. We could even define "readily mobile" as if you can move in hours, you're readily mobilie, if you need the tire service to come out first you're not. I'm sure you've seen lots of those :W
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 04:19pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Living the full-time Lifestyle
Since this came up it would be interesting to know - do we have any posters here in the fulltimer forum that are up on blocks - i.e. you're Rv is no longer portable but you still live in it :H
I'll don't think I've ever seen a post here that would lead me to conclude the poster is not mobile - some prefer to stay longer in a place than others, but everyone I've read posts from are still able to move when they choose to.
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 03:56pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Living the full-time Lifestyle
Lynn - just as a matter of interest if you purchase a "condo" to live in 5 months out of the year you are no longer a fulltimer - you then become a snowbird or part-timer.
As to the other part of your statement, you IMHO correct - we've had this discussion before and while some feel that anyone who lives in an RV is a fulltimer, most before that motion is involved in what they consider fulltimers. Not necessarily any given amount of motion, but the ability to move and the exercise of that option occassionally is what constitutes a fulltimer. RV park on blocks is not really a fulltimer in my opinion either.
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 03:18pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
Rio Grande Valley
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 12:01pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
Why would anyone wish to stay in the same place every year?
My personal example is all I know to go by, so
In 1982, in an effort to cut cost in our rving life, I purchased 5 acres in N Tex for a hiddyhole for the good weather . It cost me 1600 an acre. The taxes were 88.00 per year. It cost me about 1500 dollars to put the site in for our rv. In 87, the owner offered me an additional 107 acres for 1400 an acre and he would finance it for 10 years. I took the deal.
Today the land is worth over 15,000 PER ACRE.
In 1993, we purchased a piece of land just outside Julian Ca and put a parking spot on it. Cost us 8000. Today that land is worth about 50,000. In 2000 we purchased 20 acres in North Ga mountains, and built a house, sold it and kept 15 acres with an rv site on it. Dont even want to know what it is worth.
Do we feel obligated to go to these sites? Calif havent been there in 11 years. N Ga havent been there in 5 years. By using our N Tex site, we save enough to pay the taxes easily on the other two.
Moral is land , no matter where it is , will go up. So will rent!! If you enjoy an area and plan on staying there for any length of time, you should consider buying.
JMHO but I think the days of buying land and having it go up dramatically are over just as the days of the stock market rising dramatically in a few months or years are over. I agree land will go up, but I just don't think it's going to be the dramatic growth we've seen in the past 20 years.
Also you bought 5 acres for $1600/acre, $8000 or in 2008 dollars a little over $17,000. To buy that same 5 acres today, using your numbers, you'd need $75,000 dollars. For those who bought land back when, you did good, but that opportunity, like many others has come and gone. Land I'm sure, where it's not in a bubble, will keep pace with inflation, but I just don't see it being able to out pace inflation by the same amount it's done in the past.
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 11:29am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Living the full-time Lifestyle
hitchup - I just couldn't let that tag line lay without comment -
"Shoot for the Moon! Even if you miss it, you will land among the Stars."
GREAT TAG LINE :C:B
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 09:22am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Where do you invest your money?
Actually with ING you only need the S&B bank to make the initial transfer to get the account opened. After that you can just use them if you want, but we keep the S&B back just so we have some checks with us on those rare occassions when we need one. I've actually had a campground that didn't take CC or Cash - they wanted a check - so you need to have a small checking account with those old fashioned paper checks now and then :r
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 06:15am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Electric Company Discriminates Against Full-time RVer
Put a bathroom in the utility room and then it would qualify as a "house" and you could get the power company to change the classification. Also as others said you need to get your power panel and meter mounted on the side of the "house".
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trkrhelp
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12/02/08 04:40am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Where do you invest your money?
We use INGDirect - their interest is better on their checking account than it is on the saving account and by the time you factor in the free check mailing, and other services you get from them we've found them to be a good place to bank. Not sure about the ID issue. We didn't open the online account until after we were fulltime, but we had a mortgage with them before the house sold so we had established identity. I would think, though, that if the money is in a bank now that transferring it would not be a problem. Just use whatever address you use as your mailing address.
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trkrhelp
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12/01/08 05:51pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Living the full-time Lifestyle
Lynn - why get on others because what they enjoy is different from what you enjoy? Some like to be constantly on the move others like to move more slowly. We still work so I have to co-ordinate business and travel. But when we travel we tend to find a place we want to check out - go and get a site for a week, go explore and if we like the riding there (explore means ride :B) then we stay another week, maybe two, maybe .... The point is we can stay where we want, when we want, for as long as we want. That's what the fulltime lifestye is to me.
Personally I think whatever makes you :B is what you should do.
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trkrhelp
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12/01/08 05:37pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
We still work full-time and live full-time in our motor hom. We travel around the country to do this work. One of the areas where we spend several months each year is in Moab, Utah. The park we stay at is Portal RV which is a great place with sites 40' x 80' but this park gets filled up sometimes almost a year in advance. This is the reason we would want to buy there, so we always have a great place to park while we're working in Moab. We have seriously considered buying a lot there but we feel their prices are way too high and we don't want a big monthly expense. We still feel that it's a great idea, and we'll keep hoping they get desperate enough to drop their prices.
Rachel
We do something similar, still working and travel 6mo and then back in Fl where my office is 6mo, so what we did was find a spot we love and we rent it on a yearly basis. The yearly rent is real close to the 6 months rent if we rented monthly and the small difference insures we have a spot whenever we want it and without the huge outlay to purchase something. Might be worth looking into to see if they have a yearly rate and what the difference would be between what you pay now.
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trkrhelp
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12/01/08 05:28pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: TQAD PLUS MOTORCYCLE
We use a hydrolift for the bike (a Sporty now, used to be a Ultra) and tow the toad behind us. On the dirty issue, we have a HEAVY DUTY naugahyde cover that we use and it pretty much resolves any meaningful dirt issues - still get some dust that blows up under it, but no meaningful rain or road grime. Part of the issue is whether you have a side or a rear radiator and the height of the lift. We used to have a RV Lifts of America unit (1/3 the cost of the Hydrolift) but it sits lower, you need an extension for the toad to hook to and our old coach had a rear radiator - that's a comination that ended up with a lot of dirt on the bike. With the side radiatior and hydrolift I only use the cover when we're expecting to get some rain - rest of the time it's just a little dust and wipes right off :B
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trkrhelp
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12/01/08 12:54pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
Why not LEASE the space from the "CG / Resort" a year at a time....you may decide later on you hate the place
That's what we do - my office is in Melbourne, Fl. so we spend the winter here and I put in some office time. We have a space at the park we like here on a yearly lease - that way it's here whenever I need to return, it gives us a home base, and since I'm still paying the rent here when we're on the road during the summer I get perdiem for the entire time we're away :B
The 100k a lot in this area would cost is in the bank and the interest pays the yearly rent - seems like the best of both worlds, get to have my cake (permanent space when I want it) and eat it to (still have the 100k in the bank) :W
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trkrhelp
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11/29/08 02:14pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
Interesting how some find a coment offensive and others find it humorous:H
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trkrhelp
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11/29/08 06:03am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
JMHO - but one of the reasons for going fulltime for us was to escape the grips of over regulated community. Why would we possibly want to get back into another "community" where we're tied to it by equity and subject to the whims and regulations of others. Seems to me that it defeats at least a part of the purpose of being fulltimers. When we're somewhere we don't like, if someone changes the rules, etc. we just shrink the house, raise the stands and head down the road to a nicer place :B
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trkrhelp
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11/28/08 01:08pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
In reading these posts and looking at some of the rigs that go with the various posters it appears to me that people who have a spare million for RV lots like to buy them and those who don't tend to feel that a rv lot isn't worth the cost (and those folks, me included, are talking about lots that cost thousands not hundreds of thousands). Tbat may just be an appearance and not true - but it cerainly looks that way.
It would be interesting to know how many of us here on the forum could plunk down $500k+ for a lot.
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trkrhelp
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11/27/08 11:34am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: To purchase a RV lot in a park... or not!
I can not see buying a lot in a trailer park when you can rent one in the same trailer park for much less.
This is what I have found, too. Bluewater Key is the only place I have ever seen that appreciated. I am sure there are others but not the ones I have looked at. You can buy resales for less than the going market rate and you can rent for less than ownership costs and have a LOT more flexibility. Like staying at different places.
Agree with both of you. If you do the math you have to spend a whole lot of nights in the same place to justify the cost of a lot. It's a lot more fun to just stay where the mood strikes and move on when the mood strikes. Once you buy you end up feeling like you need to go there to get your money's worth.
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trkrhelp
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11/27/08 09:01am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Economy Downturn
HerenThere - we'll be looking for you. You're absolutely correct, waiting for the tomorrow that may never come is generally a good way to insure that it never will come :E
sailor53 - been there, done that many years ago. The result was the same as renting to SuzieQ Renter, after the credit check, etc. etc. when hubby stopped paying support she stopped paying the rent. It took one of those big garbage cans they bring and drop of at construction sites to clean out the mess and considerable repairing/painting at the end of the 6 months it took to get her out.
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trkrhelp
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11/27/08 08:46am |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Economy Downturn
Being a BIG believer in Murphy I believe that as soon as you have everything planned for and covered the one thing you forgot to plan for will occur. That is Murphy's Law.
Poopsie - since 5 years living expenses pretty well covers the assets should I keep it all in "liquid accounts" or put 75% in equities :H
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trkrhelp
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11/26/08 04:19pm |
Full-time RVing
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RE: Full Timer Financing
Nonsense - go online, google RV LOANS and take your pick. This assumes of course that you have SUPER credit. Right now they're not making loans to anyone who doesn't have a high (over 750 or so) credit rating, but if you have good credit and a reasonable down payment getting a loan is not a problem. We used Essex, no muss no fuss - and we're fulltimers and self employed.
And IMHO GOOD CHOICE:b
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trkrhelp
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11/26/08 04:05pm |
Full-time RVing
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