survey -snowbird vs fulltiming

[kdeiss]

We still have some years to go til retirement but we talk and plan about it all the time.I am curious to know if all you full timers did the snow bird thing for a few years before selling your house or if you just went direct from homeowner to fulltimer. We have no plan to full time actually but are discussing weather to keep home in PA and snowbird or sell house here and get one in Fla. then travel north in Monty during summer. Anyway, I'm curious what you all did, and if you would do something different if you could. I don't want to be nosy just to learn from others experiences.

[Bill and Ann]

We are still Winter Texans. I don't think we will ever give up a stick house in Ontario.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

From homeowner to fulltimer in one motion. As the saying goes "Home is where we park it". We love the idea of being able to pull out at a moments notice and leave no property behind to be concerned about. By owning a house in FL and traveling in the spring, summer and fall, as we do, you still have to be concerned about the hurricane season and whether or not your house will still be there when you return. We pay no property taxes and no school tax and in FL no state income tax. We hire NO one to shovel our snow, cut the grass, rake the leaves or check the house for any problems that may occur. I could go on but I think you get the idea.

[Jeff Heiser]

I agree with Glenn but my wife and I have another way of looking at it. We don’t know how much a house is worth or could be sold for in PA and for that matter any of the northern states but...consider this. In Florida on Merritt Island homes and property have appreciated in value 41% since January 2005, 36% in 2004 and 16% in 2003 (yes that is just shy of 100% in 3 years). Other parts of the state are experiencing a 3% to 6% appreciation in value per month and have been since 2002. Currently, on Merritt Island a new home starts at $400k and goes up from there. Resale homes are starting in the $250k (you get what you pay for) and up. In other parts of the state these prices are considered to be low. We don’t understand why people (RV owners mostly I am referring to) sell their homes in other states (mainly up north) and take all there money to move to and buy a home in Florida so they can visit up north after they move here. Our planning is much different. We are going to sell our house and use the money for full timing etc and maybe sometime after full timing for several years we may want a stick house but who knows. We will have a home base in Florida which will be our farm in Old Town Florida but we are not planning on having a house built there that we can live in; just our barns, water, electric, septic and lots of room (If we didn’t have our farm we would not be buying a home base in Florida.).

I view full timing just as any other risk one could take in life. Some people relish in taking risks and are rewarded handsomely for taking the risk. Others never take risks and never experience the thrill that only comes from taking a risk. My favorite quote says it all: “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

When I coached football every kid on my team knew that quote and because of it rose to the occasion. My point is this. If you want to full time, test it out. If you like it jump in with both feet, don’t second guess and NEVER look back. Life is too short not to enjoy everything it has to offer NOW because no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

Now you have my two cents – which by the way cannot even buy a piece of bubble gum anymore.

God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[kdeiss]

Thanks everyone for your input. Jeff - I grew up spending every school vacation incl. all of every summer in Rockledge, Fla. which is very near Merrit Island I believe. My Mother & Dad had to work & they had noone to care for us kids so we got shipped to stay with family in Florida whenever we were off from school.

[Jeff Heiser]

Kdeiss,
Rockledge is on the other side of the river from Merritt Island(west). You would not believe how much it has changed. The other day in the newspaper they were talking about housing and how everything was going up and they talked about Rockledge and what it was experiencing in growth. My wife sells (part time) real estate and in December 2004 she sold a young family a home in Rockledge for around $110k. They just sold the house (new job moving out of state) for $235k on a closed bid to an out of state buyer who never even saw the place. The house was orignally listed for $165k. Some of what is going on is just nuts.

God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[richfaa]

We will
snowbird during the winter months Fla/ az/Texas/ wherever it is warm therefore we would NOT be buying a home anywhere else.Our camper will be our snow birding and longiming home We will longtime when the urge hits us/A month in the Las Vegas area,a month in calif. We will keep our home in Northern Ohio. Jeff is right on about the cost of things in Fla some of our retired friend that bought retirement homes a few years ago have seen them increase in value 10 fold and are now selling them for the huge profit. The cost of a "GOOD campsite" for the winter months has also sky rocketed in Fla and many folks who went to FLA for years are looking elsewhere. Jeff risk taking is fine. All of the major success in my career came from risk taking, but I am getting long in the tooth for risk taking.
and have more to lose now, As for your quote..been there done that and I agree with it but in our "golden years" playing it safe is more attractive.. at your age you are not there yet.
There an article in the paper this morning on Rv'ers and work amping.The RVIA estimate that one million Americans spend a least part of the year living in their RV's and a large portion work amp to support that. The publication "workamper news" has over 70,000 Subscribers. There is another quote..."Whatever floats your boat" or from the 60's "if you dig it ,do it"
So each of us will decide what is best for them and many factors come into play. After all the number crunching, data collection, investigating we have done we have a "plan" with alternatives.We will go with the plan because the implementation date is fast approaching. If it does not work we have alternatives. The folks from PA are wise to be planning so far ahead (from PA myself) and they can pick up good infomation here.

[Montana_2779]

Although we are not retired, we chose not to keep a stickhouse while fulltiming. We have the same philosophy as Glenn and Lorraine: we want to limit our stationary obligations and have the ability to move about the country as we see fit. Both Cheryl and I have been rather nomadic since childhood (both of us have lived in multiple states over the course of 30-some-odd years) and tend to enjoy the potential of shallow roots. As both of us can find jobs in many locations throughout the counrty (research biologist and facilities administrator), it is our intention to see as much of the country as we can during our working years.

We had no desire to make payments on both a stick house and the RV/slip while the house would remain generally unused. We also looked into renting out the stickhouse during the first couple of years of fulltiming, but we heard WAY too many horror stories from our friends with rental property. We decided that, if we didn't like full timing, we'd simply sell the rig and buy a new house.

As most of the fulltimers on this site have professed in other threads, that is now the furthest thing from our minds! We absolutely, positively could not love the lifestyle any more than we do! Unless we run into some major catastrophe, we will probably never own another stickhouse again!!

[sreigle]

We went directly from stick homeowner to fulltiming but debated that issue for quite some time. It has worked out well for us.

My aunt and uncle first kept their home while they started fulltiming (not snowbirding). After 6 months they decided to sell the house.

I'll bet you'll find a good cross section of those who fulltime without a stick home, those who keep the stick home and snow bird or longtime, and those who keep the home and do shorter trips. I also think the only 'best way' is what is best for each person/couple. Just my opinion, though.

[Imp]

Straight to fulltiming (2 months now)Still working out the all the angles. Make the big move to Texas in Sept. Our house sold without even listing it. We are lookiing forward to our new adventures.
Myrna

[richfaa]

Just so I have it straight in my own mind...when you say "full timing" does that mean that you live in the RV 365 days a year. It is your home, you have no stick house anywhere. The reason I ask is because we have heard many different definitions of full timing. Attended a full timers seminar this month and their definition was..if you spend 6 months a year or more in your Rv..

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

Just so I have it straight in my own mind...when you say "full timing" does that mean that you live in the RV 365 days a year. It is your home, you have no stick house anywhere. The reason I ask is because we have heard many different definitions of full timing. Attended a full timers seminar this month and their definition was..if you spend 6 months a year or more in your Rv..

Yep, that's us, Rich. We sold the house and own no property anywhere. A few days ago we completed 28 months of fulltiming. You can still own property/house and fulltime, too.

[owenwetzel]

We started living full time in our 5er last August. Put house up for sale in Nov. 03. Had only used 5er for occassional camping. The house we sold we had done a lot of upgrades including 20' wide concrete drive 110' long, 50 amp hookup, and sewer and water hookups.
Sold house Feb. 15 05 and are really fulltiming. I will take early retirement this year. After 42 years of commercial driving. We are hoping to be in AZ by mid Dec..
No matter where we go we will try to find enjoyment in all we do.

[Northstar]

We went fulltiming this March. Sold my house and moved into our new Montana. And now we are living our dream of traveling where ever our heart desires. Good luck.

[bob n pam]

Kept the house and rented it out for 18 months, then sold it and invested the money. It has been a great relief not to have the worry of tenants and maintenance. We're coming up on our 6th anniversary of fulltiming and have no plans to settle down.

[kdeiss]

Thank you all for yuor replies. What an interesting cross section.The way home prices are soaring up I think we will probably keep our house in Pa and snowbird til the bubble bursts on this house thing then see where things stand. It is so nice to own a home already and have this nice camper so we have the option to snowbird in comfort, Now all we have to do is get through the next 3 years or so and hope the politicians don't take away our retirement money.

[richfaa]

Ok..well all of the folks that we know who call themselves fulltimers had a home here and wintered in Fla,Arz, Texas. Been to a couple of Fulltimers seminars and it was in general the same. This forum is loaded with folks who are true full timers.What you folks do is the definition that I would give to full timers..howver..we will go with long timers maybe we can be like a sub branch of full timers????

[sreigle]

Longtimers are fulltimers part of the time or most of the time. So it depends on WHEN you are describing them!

[Old GI]

quote:Originally posted by Jeff Heiser

I agree with Glenn but my wife and I have another way of looking at it. We don’t know how much a house is worth or could be sold for in PA and for that matter any of the northern states but...consider this. In Florida on Merritt Island homes and property have appreciated in value 41% since January 2005, 36% in 2004 and 16% in 2003 (yes that is just shy of 100% in 3 years). Other parts of the state are experiencing a 3% to 6% appreciation in value per month and have been since 2002. Currently, on Merritt Island a new home starts at $400k and goes up from there. Resale homes are starting in the $250k (you get what you pay for) and up. In other parts of the state these prices are considered to be low. We don’t understand why people (RV owners mostly I am referring to) sell their homes in other states (mainly up north) and take all there money to move to and buy a home in Florida so they can visit up north after they move here. Our planning is much different. We are going to sell our house and use the money for full timing etc and maybe sometime after full timing for several years we may want a stick house but who knows. We will have a home base in Florida which will be our farm in Old Town Florida but we are not planning on having a house built there that we can live in; just our barns, water, electric, septic and lots of room (If we didn’t have our farm we would not be buying a home base in Florida.).

I view full timing just as any other risk one could take in life. Some people relish in taking risks and are rewarded handsomely for taking the risk. Others never take risks and never experience the thrill that only comes from taking a risk. My favorite quote says it all: “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

When I coached football every kid on my team knew that quote and because of it rose to the occasion. My point is this. If you want to full time, test it out. If you like it jump in with both feet, don’t second guess and NEVER look back. Life is too short not to enjoy everything it has to offer NOW because no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

Now you have my two cents – which by the way cannot even buy a piece of bubble gum anymore.

God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[Old GI]

quote:Originally posted by Jeff Heiser

I agree with Glenn but my wife and I have another way of looking at it. We don’t know how much a house is worth or could be sold for in PA and for that matter any of the northern states but...consider this. In Florida on Merritt Island homes and property have appreciated in value 41% since January 2005, 36% in 2004 and 16% in 2003 (yes that is just shy of 100% in 3 years). Other parts of the state are experiencing a 3% to 6% appreciation in value per month and have been since 2002. Currently, on Merritt Island a new home starts at $400k and goes up from there. Resale homes are starting in the $250k (you get what you pay for) and up. In other parts of the state these prices are considered to be low. We don’t understand why people (RV owners mostly I am referring to) sell their homes in other states (mainly up north) and take all there money to move to and buy a home in Florida so they can visit up north after they move here. Our planning is much different. We are going to sell our house and use the money for full timing etc and maybe sometime after full timing for several years we may want a stick house but who knows. We will have a home base in Florida which will be our farm in Old Town Florida but we are not planning on having a house built there that we can live in; just our barns, water, electric, septic and lots of room (If we didn’t have our farm we would not be buying a home base in Florida.).

I view full timing just as any other risk one could take in life. Some people relish in taking risks and are rewarded handsomely for taking the risk. Others never take risks and never experience the thrill that only comes from taking a risk. My favorite quote says it all: “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much or suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

When I coached football every kid on my team knew that quote and because of it rose to the occasion. My point is this. If you want to full time, test it out. If you like it jump in with both feet, don’t second guess and NEVER look back. Life is too short not to enjoy everything it has to offer NOW because no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

Now you have my two cents – which by the way cannot even buy a piece of bubble gum anymore.

God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

Hi Jeff, that quote is quite inspiring. Unlike most of the MOC members, our chances of being fulltimers are pretty dim, what with an eight year old and all, by the time he is out on his own I'll be close to eighty. But I never dwell on dreams that cannot come true so for now it's back to school on tuesday (he goes to Our Lady of Lourdes in Melbourne) and if the school schedule holds true and we don't get anymore windy visitors like we did last year, we are off to Longpoint Park September 9-13. Hope to see you all at a campground someday. God Bless America indeed, I have travelled the world and there is absolutely no place like the good old U.S. of A.