Already TX residents...what to do to go full-time?

[JuryDuty]

So curious--we're already Texas residents, but plan to go full-time RVing for a year in a couple months.

We'll be using a mail forwarding service and I've read a lot of info about establishing your state of residence in Texas if you're not currently in Texas, but what do we have to do if we're already Texas residents?

Do we still need to update our licenses, voter registration, etc, with our new mail forwarding "domicile" address, or can we just leave them alone since we're already Texas residents?

[sandsys]

If you are not keeping your current house you need to change everything. Do you really want the new residents to get your legal documents?

Linda Sand

[JuryDuty]

1 minute ago, sandsys said:

If you are not keeping your current house you need to change everything. Do you really want the new residents to get your legal documents?

Linda Sand

No, we won't be keeping our house, so I guess that means change everything. 

Looks like I'll need to search for new insurance, too. I'm with State Farm and love them, and while they can cover our RV like a car, they say they can't cover all the contents within if there's a water break, for instance, or our storage facility without Homeowner's insurance.

Gets complicated!!

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums. We are happy to have you here and will do our best to assist you. 

If you plan to sell the house then I suggest that you consider joIning the Escapees RV Club and make the club mail service address your legal residence. We did exactly as you are considering, back in 2000 and resided at the Livingston mail service for the next 12 years and we still maintain an address there for use when we travel because of the excellent service that they provide. 

To make the change when you are already a permanent resident of TX is very easy and doesn't even require a visit to Livingston. Once you have joined the club and set up the mail service, all that you need to do is to put in a change of address for all of your mail, file an address change for your driving license, your vehicle registration, and register to vote in Polk Co. For insurance, you need to find a company that offers RV insurance with a fulltimer clause as home owner's insurance will no longer be valid and you will need the extra coverages such as liability that the homeowner policy has been providing. I suggest that you contact at least two of these agencies that specialize in covering RV travelers.

Miller Insurance     AIS insurance     Explorer Insurance       RV Advantage

If you have other questions, feel free to post as often as you like as there are usually more than one member here who have dealt with most issues. 

[JuryDuty]

6 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

Welcome to the Escapee forums. We are happy to have you here and will do our best to assist you. 

Thank you SO MUCH for your detailed answer. We've already joined Escapees, and had just been tossing around the differences between their mail service and Texas Base Camp which is very similar (though it does include scanning). But I think I like the Escapees version better simply because of the expertise in dealing with full-time RV'ers issues.

Sad that State Farm can't help us, but I'll look at those insurance groups you suggested. I filled out a form for them on the Escapees website but haven't heard a peep from any of them. Maybe it didn't go through.

[Kirk W]

1 minute ago, JuryDuty said:

We've already joined Escapees, and had just been tossing around the differences between their mail service and Texas Base Camp which is very similar (though it does include scanning).

 

Escapees mail service does this also now. Was the form one to join or for mail service? It does usually take a little time for a new membership to be processed, but if you have any doubts, feel free to call the office during normal business hours and they will be happy to help. (888-757-2582)

[JuryDuty]

4 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

Escapees mail service does this also now. Was the form one to join or for mail service? It does usually take a little time for a new membership to be processed, but if you have any doubts, feel free to call the office during normal business hours and they will be happy to help. (888-757-2582)

I got the Escapees membership right away. I mean the insurance submission. I used this page, and haven't heard anything: https://www.rverinsurance.com/auto-insurance-quote/ (It's linked to from the main Escapees page).

[Kirk W]

I see. They are not actually a part of Escapees but only an endorsed service who has a past good history with club members. If you don't hear something soon, I'd give them a call (1-844-536-4527) and in the mean time I would go ahead and contact one or two of the agencies that I suggested. All of them have many happy customers on these forums. 

PS: I'm also a Texan, although not native born. We transferred to TX with my previous employer about 11 years before we retired and went on the road. Sold the house in Ft. Worth and all of our "stuff" and lived in the RV with everything we owned pretty much for almost 12 years when health issues forced us to get a home-base again. We now live in an RV community near Tyler. 

[SWharton]

Another insurance company is FCIS 800-331-1520. We just queried them about storage insurance and they do provide it. Haven't any specifics as of yet, just a future "what if" question. We have our full-timers insurance with them.