Question about being Homeless (our decision)

[bobandsherry]

My wife and I are considering downsizing from our 2 story 4 bedroom ranch to a new smaller ranch in a 55+ community. Most homes are taking forever for completion.

After some thought we are considering selling now and doing some extended traveling to spend some extended time with our grandkids. housing market is hot and perhaps we see some air being let out of prices, so we may be able to buy lower (I know, risk it could move higher too - I get that and willing to accept that risk).

We'd just pack all our stuff up in a storage unit and hit the road. A month in Honolulu to visit our daughter, a month in Chicago to visit our son, a month in the Smokie Mountains, take a few extended cruises, etc. We would do this until our new house is ready.

But as I started to think about this, we no longer have a physical home address (mostly for vehicle registration/insurance and the big one, health insurance purposes). We can't be the only ones to have considered or are doing this.

We could ask our friend/neighbor to use theirs (makes things simple), or perhaps we use the address for or parents (making the point we are then living with them). Son and both parents live out of state so that would impact our health insurance.

I know the simplest answer is to buy a resale, but in our current area it's either a really old 55+ community (homes built in the 90's) or builds in new communities. We may still do a resale home, but exploring all our options. First time since we got married that we'll have zero responsibilities that force us to stay in one place.

Looking for feedback from those who have done similar. What's the best/easiest and what's the downside things we need to think about.

Apologies if this has been discussed previously, but did a search and came up empty.

 

[Aerides]

UPS provides PO Boxes with a street address, so if an address is your only concern, that might work?

 

[Lakedog]

I have been homeless a few times since retiring back in 2008. I explored the US via RV for several months and have also moved around a lot spending a few weeks/months in various locations. I used the address of a close friend when homeless and that worked out very well. All financial and other important matters were handled online anyway so there was minimal impact. My friend did text or email copies of any mail that she thought might be important but that was rarely necessary. I can't really think of any issues that I had. It's amazing nowadays that you can do most everything online (financial stuff, renew DL and auto tags, etc).

 

[Souschef]

I suggest you buy a book called "Home Sweet Everywhere" by Lynne Martin. It tells of a couple who did exactly what you are looking at.
It is fairly inexpensive on line.

 

[Fermion]

I don't know your age, but one of the hardest things for us while we were "homeless" was getting a ACA plan with a decent wide network. If you are under 65, you might decide to be homeless in a zone that has a blue cross plan on the exchange so you can use medical care when you are 2000 miles away from your "home"

 

[38Chevy454]

Just get a post office box, either at actual USPS or at a UPS type location.

I assume your new downsized house is a cash purchase? Because with mortgage interest rates going up that will cost you more in future. As for selling current house, it seems sooner rather than later due to the same mortgage rates for potential buyers of your house. In addition, people generally like to move in summer between school years especially if they have kids in school. That window is closing fast.

 

[Sarah S]

I am in Massachusetts which has its own ACA exchange when I moved I had to prove my new address to them I don’t remember all the things that were acceptable I ended up using a utility bill ( or maybe 2 were needed). Apparently changing my address on the dmv was not enough Ymmv as states may differ

 

[ivinsfan]

Post Covid this seems complicated. Due to material and labor shortages this build could take way longer then you think.



Do you have the resources to start your new build now? In your shoes if you like your present home I'd hunt to see if I could find exactly what I wanted in a new place. I'd start that process and when that's locked in think about the selling time for my old home. What if you sell and can't find something you love more then your current house?

 

[BH58]

I read that book "Home Sweet Anywhere." I really enjoyed it!

 

[Dash man]

Homes built in the 90s are “really old?”
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

[Jerry1]

Homes built in the 90s are “really old?”
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Mine was built in 1956. Solid as a rock, three bedroom brick ranch. Though I did redo everything (kitchen, baths, floors . . . No walls taken down.) when I moved in about 5 years ago.

 

[Dash man]

Mine was built in 1956. Solid as a rock, three bedroom brick ranch. Though I did redo everything (kitchen, baths, floors . . . No walls taken down.) when I moved in about 5 years ago.

We have a second beach home built in 1940. It’s been totally redone too, but the basic structure is the same.

 

[NW-Bound]

For years, full-time RV'ers declare domicile in South Dakota or a town in Texas. That's what said on their driver license. Their "physical address" is a mail box, which forwards the mail to them, wherever they are.

I think if you have a relative to lend you the address, it's the simplest.

The Web has a lot of info on this, particularly shared by RV nomads. There are a few of them on this forum.

PS. Here's one Web article, for example: https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/manage--details-for-full-time-rvers.

 

[REWahoo]

For years, full-time RV'ers declare domicile in South Dakota or a town in Texas. That's what said on their driver license. Their "physical address" is a mail box, which forwards the mail to them, wherever they are.

Here is a link to the RV mail service offered by the Escapees RV Club in TX: https://escapees.com/mail-service/

 

[EastWest Gal]

Maybe look into RV forums or another RV online community. I have a friend who is a full time RVer (two locations, Newport, Oregon and Tuscon, Arizona, and works for himself doing RV repairs, solar installations and the like). He uses a mail forwarding service. They give you a bonafide address. Don't use a UPS store, according to the Thor industries article. The Thor article recommends a couple of them.

Some of the Blue ACA plans have nationwide coverage, so there's that as well.

 

[Scuba]

Another service that allows you to select an address in many different states is https://www.virtualpostmail.com.

 

[HarveyS]

You may run into trouble with some investment accounts if using a mail processor. For example, when I sold my home and changed my address to a mail forwarder I could use that address to register my car, register to vote, for my bank accounts and most of my investment accounts. However, Merrill Lynch did not accept the address as my physical address. Super big PITA. Once I got past that, the service is working well.
PS - I am no longer able to register for the Masters Ticket lottery as it is one per address and someone beat me to it. Same with the covid test kits earlier this year.

 

[Bamaman]

For years, full-time RV'ers declare domicile in South Dakota or a town in Texas. That's what said on their driver license. Their "physical address" is a mail box, which forwards the mail to them, wherever they are.

I think if you have a relative to lend you the address, it's the simplest.

The Web has a lot of info on this, particularly shared by RV nomads. There are a few of them on this forum.

PS. Here's one Web article, for example: https://www.thorindustries.com/stories/manage--details-for-full-time-rvers.

Like was said, South Dakota and Texas are popular places to get mail drop boxes. Many RVers also use Florida as many RV parks have drop boxes. Call'em and they'll forward your mail.

Many travelers will go ahead and get South Dakota or Texas drivers' licenses and have their vehicle insurance in those states. And they also will apply to vote there as a method of establishing residence--even if it's mobile. The only thing about Texas is that I believe you must go there every year physically to renew your license plates on your vehicle. But there again, Texas has no state income tax--and neither does Florida.

 

[JDARNELL]

We used st brendons isle in green cove fla when we traveled in 2019 and early 2020. I could get mail anywhere in the world via scan. Worked out great.

 

[Katsmeow]

I have looked at this since we hope to soon sell our house and will have to be somewhere temporary until we have a new house. We may do a short term apartment rental which would be fine but we had thought about doing other more temporary things.

I did look at some of the RVer resources. As I understand it, banking requires due to Patriot Act that you have a physical address somewhere to give them. I have a nearby friend that I am going to be storing some items with and if we return to this area we will stay with her. So she is OK with us using her address.

I may end up with an AirBnB and I would use that address for insurance and car garaging for the insurer. I am not really sure how to do drivers license. Not really sure I would the info needed to use the AirBnB since that isn't a permanent address. Still have to work on that one.

 

[EarlyandLate]

Hi, I'm new here, but wanted to respond to this question. I was "homeless" during 2016 while looking for my new happy home. Here are a couple of things I ran into.
I left the state where I was previously employed and took my father's address in another state for about one year. I changed mailing addresses on major accounts and put in a change of address with USPS. I hoped that these things would validate my new address for signing up for ACA insurance in the new state. On the marketplace, one of the options for qualifying for new insurance is a change of address (state), so I had no problem signing up after selecting that excuse. Having insurance in a state means that you must file income tax in that state, if they have it. That is why some nomads claim TX, FL or other no income tax states for their address
I was afraid that the DMV would get my info and require me to change my vehicle registration and DL, but they didn't. Some states are aggressive about such things.

My bank did not operate in my dad's state, so I had to do everything online. One unexpected PITA situation arose. I had a savings account at a credit union in yet another state that I had left there several years earlier and considered it to be my emergency account. Never had any issue with that. Well, my dad's state use my info and found that account, declared it "abandoned" and seized it. I discovered that only when I logged in to the credit union as part of my quarterly financial roundup and my account was gone! I had to jump through hoops to get my money back and reactivate my account. Obviously I was upset and asked the credit union why they did that. They responded that it was not them, but they had to comply with the legal request from my new state.
One last big problem arose. When I did buy my new home in a different state, I canceled the ACA insurance in my dad's state and got ACA coverage in the new state. However, even though my dad's state had ACA plans, they ran their own marketplace and did not use the federal marketplace. I had canceled the insurance with the insurance company itself. When the new enrollment period came around, the state marketplace autoenrolled me in the old insurance plan and I started getting bills for health insurance back in my dad's state. More frustration getting that fixed!
So, my concluding advice is this; try to keep an address in you current state. Perhaps, if you have an amicable sale of your house, you could arrange with the new owners to use that address for a limited time?

 

[rk911]

UPS provides PO Boxes with a street address, so if an address is your only concern, that might work?

many full-time RVers establish residency in South Dakota (ridiculously EZ to do). they get an actual address with a mail forwarding company, driver's license, etc. might be an option for the OP.

 

[Scuba]

The virtual post mail website I recommended provides you with a physical address. You can view scans of each unopened piece of mail on their website and direct them to shred it, send it to you, or open and scan the contents electronically. Worked great for us. The one caveat is that they will only physically hold items for 60 days. If something arrives that you want to physically keep, you have to either pick it up from them or pay for them to ship it to you or someone.

 

[bobandsherry]

Lots of good information, thanks to everyone who responded.

 

[bobandsherry]

I don't know your age, but one of the hardest things for us while we were "homeless" was getting a ACA plan with a decent wide network. If you are under 65, you might decide to be homeless in a zone that has a blue cross plan on the exchange so you can use medical care when you are 2000 miles away from your "home"

Yes, we are on ACA and will be for several more years. For our regular doctor visits, they do offer televisits. So we can be anywhere in the world. We will still return to our local area every other month or two, that would allow us to plan for in person visits if required. Our plan covers out of network emergencies and urgent care. And I just looked and our plan shows that my PPO plan (FloridaBlue) covers typical health care when out of state and they also provide a national Doctor and hospital finder. But I do want to understand more about the health care aspect for sure.