Any RV retirees out there?

[bbodine9]

Just curious if you sold the home and went all in for the RV ? Tips, hints, details would be appreciated!

 

[38Chevy454]

Might have better luck with the sister site to this one at www.irv2.com and look at the full timer sub-forum.


I have a nice motorhome, but no way I could give up my house and detached garage. We did do the snowbird thing last winter for approx 2.5 months and it was fun. We were still like an extended long vacation though vs being full time RVers.

 

[Bamaman]

I'm very envious of people that have the courage to get rid of their "stuff" and hit the road in a recreational vehicle.

We've had travel trailers and now a fifth wheel trailer that's kept in storage in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's essentially our home away from home, and our campground is nothing short of magnificent.

We do see many full timers coming through our campground, and they seem so happy traveling from place to place.

But since we're raising a 9 year old granddaughter and have her 13 year old brother every other weekend, we don't have the ability to go full time even for a year or two.

But in reality, full time RV'ers eventually settle back down into a sticks & bricks place when their health or other family issues pop up. I've never heard one say they were sorry for the change of lifestyle, however.

 

[rk911]

Just curious if you sold the home and went all in for the RV ? Tips, hints, details would be appreciated!

you might want to join...

www.irv2.com
and
www.rv.net select 'Forums'

 

[winger]

We retired and sold our house in 2006. Traveled the country in our RV and parts of the world for 13 years. DW had never camped before, said she would do it for 2 years. We wouldn't trade our time RVing. So many memories, and we have almost 25k pictures to show we have been there, done that.

In early 2019, we bought a winter place in the RGV, and planned to continue traveling 6 months out of the year. That worked for 2019, but Covid changed everything for 2020. We haven't left the RGV since November of 2019.

We are getting the RV ready to travel this year. Mostly talk right now, but planning is part of the fun of traveling.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, there are quite a few posters who became fulltime RV'ers after retirement. Some have settled down again. Some are perhaps still traveling, but have not posted for a while.

For example, Heyduke talked about RV'ing fulltime after retirement, and did it in 2011. He has not posted since 2014. He has a blog, which I just checked and saw that he and his wife are still RV'ing. His forum profile page is here: https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/members/heyduke-14474.html.

 

[ransil]

I'm very envious of people that have the courage to get rid of their "stuff" and hit the road in a recreational vehicle.

We've had travel trailers and now a fifth wheel trailer that's kept in storage in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's essentially our home away from home, and our campground is nothing short of magnificent.

We do see many full timers coming through our campground, and they seem so happy traveling from place to place.

But since we're raising a 9 year old granddaughter and have her 13 year old brother every other weekend, we don't have the ability to go full time even for a year or two.

But in reality, full time RV'ers eventually settle back down into a sticks & bricks place when their health or other family issues pop up. I've never heard one say they were sorry for the change of lifestyle, however.

Working on getting rid of stuff now, I'm a year out, still need the RV too, they went from plentiful to cant find and price went up 50k since March.

Stuff is going on ebay,craigslist and marketplace, some throw out and donate and making a flea market pile for summertime, not in a good location for a yard sale, might do an auction for remaining stuff.

 

[dirtbiker]

I'm still a working stiff, so I probably shouldn't even post here. lol... But we plan to live in our RV semi-full time once we retire. We'll still maintain a home base, but plan to spend our first year or so just out traveling with a tow-behind. Our RV has been a big part of what's kept us sane this year during quarantine. We've been very strict in social distancing, etc., but have maintained our vacations through RVing. We don't do the normal things we do when we vacation like see indoor tourist attractions, eat out at restaurants, etc., but we've been able to get out and see a lot while still social distancing. Every time we head out with our trailer in tow, we talk about being able to do this for months/years at a time, rather than being constrained by our work schedules. We're actually heading out next weekend to the Poconos in PA to do some winter camping. There's about 2 feet of snow sitting on the ground right now with another foot in the forecast, so it should be interesting. We'll see!

 

[RVplusDog]

We have been RVing since 1998. We sold everything & went full time a few years ago. We had a great time for a couple of years, then had some health issues that made adding a house a more comfortable option.

The house is in a Del Webb retirement community so we can just lock the doors & leave - they take care of everything.

We have been all over the US & Canada in RVs. Campsites for a large RV aren’t as easy to find on the fly as they used to be, and they can get pretty pricey.

I always said we’d never buy an RV site, but then we fell in love with one in the perfect area for us in the NC mountains.

What questions or concerns do you have?

 

[Koolau]

Never owned an RV but I had a friend at w*rk who actually DID sell the house and full time RV. He told us on one of his visits that he would go until he got a little short on money and then park the RV and wait for the next pension check to show up in the check book. Not MY idea of a great lifestyle but he really seemed to enjoy it.

I was watching a TV show one time and recall someone talking about retirement in a RV. IIRC it went something like "2 people, alone in 200 square feet, 24/7 - what could possibly go wrong?"

YMMV

 

[folivier]

One thing I enjoy about the RVing lifestyle whether you’re a parttimer or fulltimer is most retired people we’ve met don’t care where you came from, what you have, or what you did when working. They’re mostly concerned with where you’re going and tips for things to see and do. Very different environment than when we were working.
That said we did sell (almost) everything and fulltimed for a couple years. Loved it but circumstances with DMIL pushed us to sell it and buy a S&B (sticks and bricks home) in a retirement subdivision near her and our sons. But we still have a bit smaller motorhome and spend most of our time traveling. Last summer we bought a lot in the Colorado mountains to spend summers.
We've made quite a few lifetime friends that we meet up with in our travels.
RVing is the perfect way to travel while this quarantine is going on.

 

[Arizona1]

We’ve been full time rving since 2000. We kept a house for a while in Arizona and a beach house on the sea of Cortez until 2006. We don’t own anything but what’s in the motorhome and tow vehicle. Spent the summer near Lake Tahoe and are enjoying the heat in Yuma now for the winter.
Decided to go on vacation in 2014 so put stuff in storage and rented an apartment on a lake in Bavaria Germany. Leased a car and traveled all over Europe for 18 months. Trader our little Jeep for a new pickup Last year and plan to buy a travel trailer and ATV for summer trips to Alaska.
Anyone can do it on just about any budget. It doesn’t Matter if you have an expensive coach or a Volkswagen van.
Not having stuff is very liberating. If we come back from a day trip and everything is gone we can replace it.
The two reasons most people won’t do it-
1. House full of lifelong accumulation of stuff
2. Grandkids.
With the low interest rates and gas prices The fun factor for rving has gone way down because of crowded RV parks. Very difficult to get reservations and just too many people trying to do it.
I’m hopeful fuel will go up to $10 a gallon to thin out the crowds.

 

[KenZ71]

$10 gallon fuel.... yes it would / will be painful.

However steep prices will drive research into new fuels & efficiency.

 

[Al in Ohio]

We have been RVing since 1998. We sold everything & went full time a few years ago. We had a great time for a couple of years, then had some health issues that made adding a house a more comfortable option.

The house is in a Del Webb retirement community so we can just lock the doors & leave - they take care of everything.

We have been all over the US & Canada in RVs. Campsites for a large RV aren’t as easy to find on the fly as they used to be, and they can get pretty pricey.

I always said we’d never buy an RV site, but then we fell in love with one in the perfect area for us in the NC mountains.

What questions or concerns do you have?

Can you post a link to the NC RV site info please?

 

[RVplusDog]

Can you post a link to the NC RV site info please?

I’ll PM it.

 

[RetireAge50]

Kept our home, great place for our stuff. However we spend a lot of time in our RV. Currently in Rio Grande Valley. May never leave. Love it here.

 

[skyking1]

We'll keep a home too, but plan on traveling the US extensively. We purchased a beach lot on the tax foreclosure lists about 10 years ago on the Washington coast. It is our "go to"when we don't have reservations elsewhere.

 

[MrBig1]

We love our time on the road. In 2018 we purchased our travel trailer and tow vehicle. The places we like to stay are remote and the sites are small, 25ft or so. A larger rig stops you from being able to see some beautiful places. It's an inexpensive life if you know how to live it. Covid 19 has us grounded right now we plan to hit the road once the vaccine rolls out.

 

[Bamaman]

$10 gallon fuel.... yes it would / will be painful.

However steep prices will drive research into new fuels & efficiency.

We have close friends who have a motor home and camp about half the time in warmer months. They went through one full tank of gasoline last year.

We are very fortunate to be within 1 hour of 5 major lakes, TVA campgrounds, Corp of Engineer campgrounds, two city campgrounds and 3 state park campgrounds.

It doesn't always require using much fuel to be a RVer. And campers can go home and wash clothes every Wednesday.

 

[skyking1]

We're also launch hosts for https://www.boondockerswelcome.com/ We've met people from all over the country and world.