Question What does a future fulltimer need to know?

[Neal]

Fulltiming is probably in my future. Right now I'm "most timing". I like having my house in VA but I'm fortunate to have family that can look after it so I can enjoy months away at a time. I'd love to learn what a potential fulltimer needs to know. How to establish residency and where. Pros and Cons. And how to sustain the fulltiming lifestyle to avoid burnout or other potential downsides to the lifestyle, which I'd love to hear about as well.

 

[Gronk]

When my wife and I went full time we really didn't plan much at all. About the only thing we did was move our address to our daughters' address. We pretty much just jumped in with both feet, sink or swim.........

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Tax ramifications are an important aspect of full-timing, as are RV licensing costs. We are not full-timers, so haven't worried much about the tax aspect. Our coach is licensed in Washington and costs about $200 a year. That's a bargain compared to many states.

Right now, we spend several months a year at our Montana place, or on the road. As a result, we have set up all of our routine bills to arrive via e-mail and we pay them electronically. And, I know you have already figured out how to manage your Amazon account to get things sent to wherever you are.

TJ

 

[FL-JOE]

Hey there Neal. It is our opinion based on our experience so far, plus talking to a handful of other full timers, that no one does it exactly the same.

Most of our pre-planning involved mail forwarding decisions, changing over our address, insurance decisions, and selling the sticknbrick.

For us we were always leaning toward making Florida our domicile. We are fortunate that we can have reasonably priced health care insurance, no state taxes, and very low vehicle registration fees (under $60 for my coach). There are many other factors to consider when picking your domicile and everyone has different priorities. Florida just checked all of our boxes.

We use a good friend's address in SW Florida as our home address. We are lucky that it is located within a few miles of where we normally camp during the winter months. When we do get any type of important mail during the rest of the year she simply forwards it to us wherever we are located.

As far as burn out or getting bored, again.....everyone is different. As you know just general cleaning and upkeep on these rigs can consume a lot of your time. I have a regular walking regiment I do about every morning. The DW rides her bicycle for exercise most days. We haul 2 kayaks on top of our trailer plus have roof racks on the Mini for them. About 90% of our "exploring" is done on the motorcycle. I do some fishing while in Florida and play a lot of billiards, especially during the winter. I visit a couple outdoor ranges here and there when we are close to them.

We have been more relaxed and our time has been more occupied since selling our home and going full time. We think it is a great lifestyle.

 

[Jabber Jaw]

I would tend to agree with "TJ"!
We are looking at relocating to Florida, as our domicile, due to no "personal property taxes", unlike Virginia. And Florida has no state taxes as well. To me, those two are a big benefit to retirees. And there are other benefits as well.
I doubt that we will become "full timers", so we are looking at locations with port homes, in an RV type community. Prices are all over the map, depending on what one wants. From just an RV pad, to pads with casita's, to modular type homes, to a "S&B" type home with beautiful (but expensive) port garages etc.
Our desire, is to have a "residence" place in Florida, & we are looking at another RV port in Galax area of Virginia. This would allow us to have 3-4 months in Florida, 3-4 months in the beautiful Virginia mountains, & 3-4 months to travel. That's the thought, & maybe a different perspective than full timing.
All depends on the "financial" situation, after selling current S&B.

 

[Neal]

@Jabber Jaw I'd love to learn more of what you are looking at, pricing, locations, etc. maybe in a dedicated thread on your venture. I'm trying to find the happy medium and/or consider full timing someday. Trying to find the best of all worlds. So again, maybe a thread on your concept and your lessons learned to keep this thread on full timing lessons. Greatly appreciated.

 

[FL-JOE]

We had several friends from our winter CG leave and purchase RV lots here last spring:

cypresswoodsrv.net

There are two parks next to each other, Cypress Woods and Cypress Trails. One park has nice lots with pavers, coach houses, etc., and last spring those lots were sold for $70,000 to over $100,000. The other park is a little cheaper but I'm not sure how much.

 

[MapNerd]

- Full-timer insurance is much more expensive as it includes a lot more coverages
- Many financial institutions will not finance full timers. Of course if you weren’t full time at purchase then went full time later, as long as the bills are getting paid I don’t expect they’d care.

 

[NWIP]

- Full-timer insurance is much more expensive as it includes a lot more coverages
- Many financial institutions will not finance full timers. Of course if you weren’t full time at purchase then went full time later, as long as the bills are getting paid I don’t expect they’d care.

With regards to financing I believe this is true, however there are still many reputable financial institutions that finance full-timers.

Insurance is a different animal, your coverage at time of loss is what going to count on how much reimbursement you get. Most policies are written with minimal coverage for personal items, will that be enough? Insurance companies will be more than happy to decline the claim if you stated you weren’t full-time and you are, could even be considered insurance fraud. I prefer to be fully covered should a loss occur. Everyone has to the make decisions they are comfortable with.

 

[Neal]

What are the laws and black & white that defines a full timer vs. not?

I went to a FMCA rally and one insurance rep (that is partnered with FMCA) had mentioned some number of days but I don't remember the details. I realize to some that have no S&B it's a clear answer. But for people that RV a lot you may learn that you also qualify as a full timer. Anyone know the "law" on this?

 

[NWIP]

This raises another question recently proposed to me, many people that are storing the rigs during winter months of non-use reduce insurance coverage saving money. What if you are on your RV lot for multiple months during the winter, do you reduce coverage?

 

[J&JD]

While we’re not full timers and probably never will be, I have always wondered about what a full timer does for medical checkups, prescriptions, inoculations etc. We lean heavily on our primary care physician for all these standard medical services. What do you full timers do?

 

[steamyb]

We have been full-time for 3 years and we travel through our "in network" area twice a year. Emergency room is covered by most insurance, you are just sick on vacation. Regular medical needs to be "in network", if you go to an out of network provider, your insurance may not cover it- call first! My Medicare supplement has 'passport' for extended stays. Hope this helps & enjoy the trip!

 

[FL-JOE]

While we’re not full timers and probably never will be, I have always wondered about what a full timer does for medical checkups, prescriptions, inoculations etc. We lean heavily on our primary care physician for all these standard medical services. What do you full timers do?

Older post by J&JD, but missed it. We use a Medicare Advantage PPO plan. Our primary doctor is the same one we had in SW Florida when we owned the sticknbrick. Since we return to the general area and winter here it was easy to keep her for all of our scripts and checkups. She writes our annual scripts for 3 month supplies through CVS. Once it is in their system it can be filled at any CVS anywhere in the U.S.

We also use a couple other doctors up north where we always stay at least 2 months every summer to visit kids and grandkids. All of our medical needs are scheduled during the mid-summer extended stay north or extended winter stay in SW Florida. Anything that comes up in between can be handled by a local prompt care. If anything real serious would present itself while traveling then it is a good thing our house has wheels.

 

[FL-JOE]

Fulltiming is probably in my future. Right now I'm "most timing". I like having my house in VA but I'm fortunate to have family that can look after it so I can enjoy months away at a time. I'd love to learn what a potential fulltimer needs to know. How to establish residency and where. Pros and Cons. And how to sustain the fulltiming lifestyle to avoid burnout or other potential downsides to the lifestyle, which I'd love to hear about as well.

Many of us responded to your original thread starter back in November. But now in the middle of a national emergency how does it change our conversation about being full time or becoming a full timer?

Any full timer that owns their own site is probably going to ease through these bad times better. Having a site you can get to and stay on for an indefinite period of time until the emergency passes now seems more important than ever.

We had put off purchasing a site. However, as I have mentioned in other posts recently, we found a Florida resort that offered an outstanding monthly rate for a 2 year lease. It was just pure luck that we signed the lease agreement prior to this virus situation getting serious. Now we can hunker down on our own site and we have our own 10x10 building on site to keep extra stuff in. The location is still within 90 miles of our regular doctor and 70 miles from our regular mailing address (friend's address).

I now think having a "home base" RV site that you can use whenever you need to is something every full time RVer should consider. It doesn't matter if you own it or lease it. If that site can be within 100 miles of family and/or doctors it would also be a huge bonus.

 

[NWIP]

We also full time. Timing of this pandemic and the mass exodus of Canadian’s opened up the availability of sites here in Casa Grande. We had left 3/1 but decided to return, as it was best place to sit it with large sites which make social distancing easy. I agree for those with an RV site on annual/ permanent agreement, situations like this could have an advantage.

 

[FL-JOE]

Good point about being in a place with larger sites. Our leased site is either 40x80 or 40x85. Our park is also in the country, the closest small town being 3 miles away.

Now the question is how long will we all need to stay put in order to ride this thing out safely?

 

[Gronk]

I wish I was able to sit in my site in Minnesota during this situation, but it's a might bit cold there besides, the campground doesn't even open until May 15. The size of the site does make a difference. The largest site I have been in was at Saguaro SKP park in Benson, AZ, but the sites at Rover's Roost aren't bad either.
Hey, NWIP, where in Casa Grande are you staying?

 

[NWIP]

We are staying at Palm Creek, it’s a good place to wait this out

 

[Gronk]

We are staying at Palm Creek, it’s a good place to wait this out

I was curious. I'm over in Rover's Roost. Didn't know if we met or not! Guess not....... besides, I don't play golf........