Question Fulltimers - anyone regret selling their house?

[Kevin D Pem]

@Neal I have a question. When you got home from the service,how did it make you feel? Did you need to come home?

You're just a little older, and your Bones are easer to get weary. Did you ever feel like you were at home where ever you were?

After all that is the life of a nomad.

 

[Neal]

I'm not sure what you're asking @Kevin D Pem - I love moving around and experiencing new environments. Having been in the Air Force and traveled so many great places it makes it very hard to decide where to live. I loved AZ, I loved TX, I have always loved FL, being around water, etc. The military travel gives you the opportunity to get away from your hometown as some never do and see what's out there. Some of us here have the luxury of saying "I want to be ... in the winter or ... in the summer" or go get Lobster in Maine, or go hiking in the Rockies. Yes, I love coming home too, long showers not worrying about gray tank or any tank, I love my bed, not hearing the loud overhead air conditioning units or heater fans, but I love my RV too. At this time I'm likely not selling the house until I know for sure what I want to do and I wonder how many are "mosttimers" as @ARD told me "fulltimers" don't own a home, maybe a site, but not a home, so my title will likely be mosttimer for the near term.

As we get older in life, other things come into play, our own health, and family members. My sister is in the hospital now with likely spinal/back surgery, this may require my help when she comes home. So obligations come into play too not saying you can't do that as a fulltimer. One step at a time as I handle things as some know of recent happenings and I figure out if I'm making the brave move before I find out I'm 5 years older, or even older, and still haven't made change in my life that is very needed.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

@Neal, compared to some of us, you're a youngster, so time isn't working against you.

When we spent 6 ½ months last year in the motorhome, we decided sometimers/mosttimers was more to our liking. It wasn't until we did it that we knew.

The market is still flooded with 2020-2022 RVs that were bought when "oh, this will be fun" sounded like a good idea.

 

[Neal]

Personally, change takes time to adjust. I learned that in the military. Transition to/from RV/S&B takes time to adjust, probably more so in the RV. When I go on my long trips, I don't miss home, I don't want to go back home. I did a 6-7 monther as my longest and the only reason I came home was my sister told me I needed to for mom. I could have kept on going. My trips are usually 3-4 months and I can't recall ever feeling "I can't wait to get home." It's been a great experience for me so far, and of course when things work it's fun, when they don't it's sheer terror. Having a large shedding dog is the biggest concern should I need to stay in a hotel, etc.

When we are vulnerable is when good things can come. It's hard breaking from what's comfortable. I'm at complete peace in my home as many are, but is rotting in place a good thing? Many of us RVers are not good at branching out to International travel, our RV is our next best safe space but having done quite a bit of International travel, I know I need to get back to that. There is so much to see and explore outside our home country. Life is short, really short, get to it! I don't want to be having this conversation a few years from now with all talk and no do. Personally, it's time for action, but carefully planned as the great group here has helped me with recently.

 

[Webz]

We got a gentle nudge to go full time.
It was the wife's idea to get our first RV and go full time when a turnpike took our house. No choice selling.
Did it for 8 years. I missed my workshop.
But our experiences were awesome. Had some ups and downs. The ups outweighed the downs.
Every 6 to 8 months we would visit our doctors and family.
We didn’t put anything in storage. The kids got all "new" furniture and friends got good deals on my shop equipment. My thinking is, if you store it for a year, you don't need it. You can by new for what you paid in long term storage fees.
Full time has to be fully embraced and don't look back. That's not the way you're headed.
We've came full circle. Sold the bus, bought another house and had a shop built. I think most fulltimers know when it is time to hang up the keys.
It was a chapter in our lives that we fondly look back on. We've met so many awesome people.

 

[Neal]

Getting rid of stuff is the hardest and most stressful part. I do everything I can to keep the Discovery channel away from my house!

 

[DennisT]

Getting rid of stuff is the hardest and most stressful part. I do everything I can to keep the Discovery channel away from my house!

That was the most difficult portion of things - getting rid of things that had memories.

The memories are still there just without the “trigger object” etc.

Took a while to get over losing some things that would not work or fit in the coach. Long term though we don’t miss them.

 

[Neal]

I wasn't even talking about sentimental items, yeah, that would be hard. I've been unable to sell nice 4K but a few year old computer monitors, flat screen TV's would be hard, stereos, speakers, on and on. And in the process of massive donations from mother's stuff I even saw some donation facilities close for a week as they were overloaded, or places not accepting furniture. So it's a challenge to either sell or donate. I have wood working tools I bought with a dream of getting back into woodworking, never used them. It's time regardless to start selling stuff or moving it out one way or the other. For whoever has to handle my affairs, it's just not fair to them for me to keep all this stuff and make it harder on them. So many aspects to all of this.

 

[DennisT]

Tried to pay it forward with a lot of our stuff…

Furniture we had the ReStore scheduled to come out for remaining. Friend had two daughters starting out - filled a trailer with items for them. Remaining that was getting donated, the young family that bought our house didn’t have much - they bought the one table we wanted to sell and kept the rest to help them.

We had a “free store” around us - donated a lot to them that they would take.

Had J-Dog (veteran owned and staffed) pick up a bunch. Anything they thought they knew someone could use they separated out from stuff getting discarded.

Worked hard for what we had but had some breaks along the way as well so wanted to give back where we could.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

So some people get home sick. If you feel at home wherever you are, then full time fits.
If you find yourself always looking to the stable, then soon enough you will regret the choice to full time.
I thought considering your past experiences might give you your personality/answer.

 

[NWIP]

Start out as a most timer and it could give you clarity. If you do need to get rid of household goods don’t spend money on storage.
We originally thought we would get a condo in FL and most time but approaching 9 years fulltime although we did buy a lot in Florida.
Never regretted selling house, it was in NY and couldn’t afford the taxes.
You’ll figure it out be patient and take your time.

 

[ehochuli85]

Great discussion amongst us full-timers, most-timers, and undecided-timers. When I retired 8 years ago, my then-wife, (now ex), wanted to have a place to call home, so we bought a site in an RV resort in Gold Canyon, AZ that's zoned RV park, so you can have full hookups and live in the RV on the site, but there's also a 1,000 sq.ft. manufactured house right next to the RV site. That was perfect, and although we never spent more than 3 months there, she felt it was a home base.

When she and I divorced, I truly went full time. I haven't sold that site in Gold Canyon, because I have kids and g'kids in the area that I visit, and when I do, I live in the RV on my site. I don't even move into the house right next door. Why should I? Home is my RV. No matter where it's parked, that's home to me and my dog. The only reason I haven't sold that place is that maybe I'll live there someday when I do age-out, although my plan is to die at a National Park somewhere. (And my dog and I have a deal - I get to go first!).

I also own a site in an RV resort, (Wolf Creek Run RV Resort in Pagosa Springs, CO), and without a doubt, that's my favorite place to park my home. I spend more time there than any other single place, but I have 6 kids and 18 grandkids mostly spread out, so that's a bunch of places to visit for extended stays.

Bottom line - I love being fulltime. As for saving or storing "stuff"? My rule is that if it doesn't fit in the RV, I donate it. And if I buy a new shirt, I get rid of a shirt. Buy new shoes, throw the old ones out. After all, I can only wear one pair at a time.

I love this fulltime RV life. Nothing has as many truly nice people as the RV community. I've met a couple of you on this string - Neal and ARD - and I hope to meet more of you on the road. In the meantime, whether you're full, sorta, undecided, or part - enjoy every minute, and if you ever see me along the way, please stop by and say hi.

Ed and Izzy