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Old 11-12-2017, 10:35 AM   #1
Mel B.
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How many of you regret it?

Hi,
My wife and I are in our mid fifties, We have always dreamed of living in and traveling the united states in a 5th wheel. Well the time for us has come. We are debating on weather to sell our house in Ca. or rent it for a year and then decide. We both feel selling our home would give us that FREE feeling, and allow us to be completely debt free, with a very large bank account from the sale of our home, Also we own acreage in northern Washington state and we will at a minimum build a pole barn and maybe a small home in the future. With all that said why do I have a knot in my stomach when I think of selling our home, and kind of feeling like we will be homeless? I feel like we should be thanking god that we are able to retire at this age. Does everyone feel this way? Did any of you regret it. We both feel this way, we both also feel that selling the house now would allow us to buy another house should we see something we love.(but not really planning on that yet) the kids are grown and live local, so we won't miss our kids near as much as our 6 grand kids LOL. But we feel that it may actually allow more quality time when we visit. Ant thoughts and your story would be great. We've rented a 10x20 storage and are trying to get down to just 10x10. I also have 25' boat that I use in the great pacific ocean, I hate to sell it but dose it make since to pay to store it? Were planning on being out of our house by 01/2018 weather we sell or rent it out. I have a lot more questions but I'll read your stories first.
Thank you, Mel

P.S. We both love to hunt and fish. If we sell the house, what's the process for hunting and fishing license's in different states? Are we still from Ca. and need to buy out of state tags?
 
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Old 11-12-2017, 11:32 AM   #2
Slufoot733
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Wow, that's a very 'multi point' question Mel. My wife and I are in our late 60's. We own a home and travel in our fiver when the weather permits. We also enjoy cruising, occasionally.
We know several couples who are full timers and they all seem to love it. We have thought about what it would be like but we keep coming back to the issue you mention in your question above. To sell your house/property and go full time takes a serious commitment to that life style. We could never do it because we both have too many other interests/hobbies. For example, Lynn quilts. She has several specialty sewing machines and tons of supplies (fabric, batting, threads of all kinds). I build model trains and restore vintage garden tractors. Being a full timer would never allow for these activities. It would be impossible for us to give up these things we love to do.
On the other hand, going full time for a dedicated period, say two or three years, then settling down in your home might be something to consider. You could really see this wonderful country in the time allotted.
You're going to have to give this decision some serious thought. Once you take that BIG step, undoing it is not an option.
Best of luck on your future.
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Old 11-12-2017, 11:54 AM   #3
DQDick
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Went full time in 2012 and we have only one major regret: That we didn't do it a lot sooner.
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Old 11-12-2017, 11:57 AM   #4
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The thought of FT is romantic and exciting but not having a base to return to and spend time with the family does not work for us. We plan on traveling 6 months out of the year, possibly workamping in the winter. Both my wife and I have many hobbies that are not possible if we were "home-less". So as exciting as it seems, I think each person needs to take a careful and serious look at what they want to be doing in 6 months or a year. If not having a S&B base what you want? Can you give up all your things and family and friends? You can always go on the road for several months and see if it fits your wants.

For us, we want a base for family. We lived away from the kids and friends for 15 years in SC. Loved the location, but missed the grands. So Part time will be our life. Make your choice, Good luck
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Old 11-12-2017, 12:28 PM   #5
Clays390
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No regrets

My wife and I have been full time for 2 years now. Since I am retired military we have lived in California, Japan, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maine. We have family and friends in all these places and have not really formed any attachment to any one location. We are now able to move as we wish to spend time with the ones we love. Wish we had done it sooner but everyone situation is different.
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Old 11-12-2017, 01:27 PM   #6
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We went full time four years ago, sold SB home 2years ago don't miss it at all. I also own a boat i keep it at my daughter's house and use it when we are in Fla. We also use her house as our home base.
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Old 11-12-2017, 01:41 PM   #7
CaptnJohn
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WE dumped the high tax state and moved to the southern NC coast. We travel 6 - 7 months a year. I own an indoor boat slip to keep the boat in and fish the Atlantic June/July/August when CGs are busiest. Kids visit NC, we can travel to them, and their are airplanes for the times wifey needs a grandchild fix.
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Old 11-12-2017, 05:18 PM   #8
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Six years fulltiming, no regrets for that timeframe in our lives
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Old 11-12-2017, 05:23 PM   #9
richfaa
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Can only tell you what we did. We did not sell our S&B and most of our possessions. We thought of it but decided to take a one year test of the full timing lifestyle. We found that the full time life style was not for us.We kept the S&B. We spend 6 months in the winter in Florida or wherever it does not snow and we return to our S&B and use it as a base for our summer travel. We have covered over 100K miles since 2006 and covered every state.

When we are done traveling our S &B is there.My advise would be to think your choices over carefully.IMO the financial aspect is most important. What can you afford to do.
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Old 11-12-2017, 05:55 PM   #10
Mudchief
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In 2010 our house burned down and we went full time. After 2 1/2 years we decided it was not for us. It is a lot cheaper to full time if you don't own a house. What we did was put the money from our house in a CD and did not touch it. Then when we decided not to full time anymore we had the money to purchase a new house.
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Old 11-12-2017, 07:30 PM   #11
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We are a few years from retirement, however we already travel a LOT so I don't think the transition will be that big of an issue for us. I don't think we will ever sell our current home as it is paid off and in a low cost of living and rural area (Arkansas Ozarks). While I have to say that I was very impressed by some of the scenery in California, I can't imagine being based there with the high taxes and cost of living. If I was you I would consider relocating my residence to a state that is more retiree friendly (I hear Florida is a great choice for that--we are even looking at living there long enough when we retire to establish residence). That doesn't mean that you can't go back to California for extended visits or even buy a small lot there for the 5th wheel. But wouldn't it be nice if the state wasn't so deep in your pocket book? Then again Washington State for the summer and Florida for the winter sounds mighty good and you can always use that boat in the Gulf of Mexico where the fishing is fantastic!
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Old 11-13-2017, 07:11 AM   #12
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We winter in Florida Mid Oct to Mid April. Summers in Florida are brutal very hot, very humid. Winters are great. I would consider choosing a State other than Calif as your Domicile because of the very high cost of living. Northern Ohio has a low cost of living compared t o many other States and it would be of little financial benefit for us to domicile in any other state. We are Florida residents but our domicile remains in Northern Ohio.
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Old 11-13-2017, 07:46 AM   #13
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We winter in Florida Mid Oct to Mid April. Summers in Florida are brutal very hot, very humid. Winters are great. I would consider choosing a State other than Calif as your Domicile because of the very high cost of living. Northern Ohio has a low cost of living compared t o many other States and it would be of little financial benefit for us to domicile in any other state. We are Florida residents but our domicile remains in Northern Ohio.
richfaa......... just curious how you can be residents in Fl. but have your domicile in Ohio? We sold our S&B and have a lot with Power and water and sewer with a storage shed with the stuff we wanted to keep and travel maybe 8 months and stay here in SC. for 4 months. We are wanting to get our domicile in South Dakota but weren't sure we could get away with that being we have a small storage shed on our lot that we stay 4 months out of the year. Just curious what your doing? Thanks
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Old 11-13-2017, 07:59 AM   #14
Mel B.
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I like all I'm reading, I'm leaning towards summers in northern Washington (Okanogan County 3 miles from Canada) as the summers are pleasant, and that 14 acres is paid for and septic is going in this summer. Then traveling and staying in southern states in the winter. We could rent our house out for 2x the mortgage payment, but I'm really not wanting to be a landlord. Also in our area the house would sell in 2 weeks are less. Also once we sell we would never be able to come back as home owners in this county again, Because we bought when the market crashed and would never be able to re-buy here. Keep your comments coming. Shelley and I love hearing them.
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Old 11-13-2017, 08:32 AM   #15
waynemoore
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We are not full timers but long timers as I spend about 7 months a year in our rig. We have the stick house in AZ. But our business is in CA. So long story short. We built a home in Lake Havasu City AZ as a weekend place. We were lucky we were able to build and pay for it so we don't have a mortgage. As for the CA home we had some time to decide what to do with it. But we ending up selling It after using it as a rental for 3 years. Keeping in mind the 2 out of 5 year tax rule. By the way part of the purposes new tax laws are 5 out of 8 years. Not good.

We now live in AZ a MUCH Lower tax state and do want to have a home base. That said we both say we could full time as we love the life style.
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Old 11-13-2017, 09:50 AM   #16
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We have been full-timing for a little over 4 years. Absolutely no regrets. We were ready to get out of a 4 BR house either way, it was just too big to keep. Additionally, our kids moved away from town, 2-3 hours, and we see them much more now than before, as we go to them, and they didn't have that much time to come to us. We domicile in SD and never worry about where we need to be, and the grandkids really enjoy staying in the rig. I understand that it may not be for everyone, given their circumstances, but it has definitely been right for us.
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Old 11-13-2017, 11:25 AM   #17
richfaa
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richfaa......... just curious how you can be residents in Fl. but have your domicile in Ohio? We sold our S&B and have a lot with Power and water and sewer with a storage shed with the stuff we wanted to keep and travel maybe 8 months and stay here in SC. for 4 months. We are wanting to get our domicile in South Dakota but weren't sure we could get away with that being we have a small storage shed on our lot that we stay 4 months out of the year. Just curious what your doing? Thanks
Brush up on the difference between Domicile and residence. Domicile is were you vote, register your vehicles, pay State and local taxes, etc. You can be a resident anywhere.

We have been residents in 3 States at the same time Example own property in Florida but our permanent domicile is in Ohio. Cars plated there and we are registered to vote there. We have a permeant address there. Florida does not have State Income tax but we do pay Ohio State income tax.
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Old 11-13-2017, 11:53 AM   #18
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My DW and I have had a similar conversation as retirement is nearing for us. Right now we plan on keeping the S&B, though it helps ours is paid for, and do short to long term stretches on the road. So far the budget projections for use look doable to do this but that aspect varies person to person.


It sounds like you decision comes down to a couple key aspects; 1) can you afford to go full-timing/long term without selling the S&B and 2) where do you want to have a S&B at some point in the future? If you are planning on/wanting to sell the S&B to build/move to our Washington property, do a FT stint in the interim. If you are wanting to keep a house near the family/in an area where due to market you can't afford to re-buy in, then you need to keep the house. This is just a restatement into more black & white terms of the dilemma it sounds like you two are struggling with.
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Old 11-13-2017, 01:30 PM   #19
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We are retired and have been full-time since Sep 1, 2010. NO REGRETS and never looked back!
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Old 11-13-2017, 01:48 PM   #20
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We are Longtimers, on the road for 4-6 months of the year. We still have our stick home and we could never see ourselves as fulltimers. That's just us, I never criticize other folks decisions, its just not for us, we feel we have the best of both worlds. Good luck with your decisions.
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