Fulltimer Homebase Property?

[chindog]

We are on the cusp of going full time. We are fervently sorting stuff right now into keep, donate, sell piles, and have an estate sale company coming in less than a month to take over and dispose of everything in our sticks and bricks. The house is going on the market right after the estate sale, and when it sells, we won't have a domicile.

 

We do have plans to domicile in either Florida or Texas (probably Florida, since it is closer to our kids and grandkids in GA), and use the Escapees mail service. But, I was wondering if it might be beneficial to buy a lot somewhere out in the country, where we could park occasionally and hook up to our own electric pedestal, with our own water and septic connections, without HOA restrictions. We have more than 2 dogs, so we are sometimes limited in the RV parks we can stay at.

 

Does anyone have such a setup? Is this be worth pursuing?

[redcrzr]

I think it's a great idea. Find an area you like or plan to return to often and put in the utilities. Not all areas will allow this so be very aware of any zoning laws before proceeding.

 

Todd.

[sandsys]

And watch out for city codes as well as county codes. Where you buy can come back to bite you if you don't do lots of research. For instance they might tell you you can park your RV there and hook it up but not tell you you cannot, however, actually live in it there.

 

Linda Sand

[JRP]

chindog, on 06 Jul 2016 - 6:00 PM, said:chindog, on 06 Jul 2016 - 6:00 PM, said:

.... The house is going on the market right after the estate sale, and when it sells, we won't have a domicile.

 

You still have your existing domicile state until you take steps to establish a new one. Selling a house by itself does not negate your domicile.

 

........

Does anyone have such a setup? Is this be worth pursuing?

 

I have 3 such setups, they work great for me. After 4 yrs of fulltime RV travel, I began to slow down and realized I did not like staying in RV parks for extended durations. So now I use my 3 strategically located properties as seasonal stops and only use RV parks for short term stays when on the road.

 

You just need to understand your own preferences, priorities and be clear on why you're doing it. If it fits your preferred lifestyle then its great. But its not for everyone.

[TXiceman]

We found that a furnished house will show better than an unfurnished one. A fair number of people have problems visualizing how an empty room will look with out furniture in it.

 

We sold the house and then got busy with garage/moving/estate sales for two weekends.

 

Have fun.

 

Ken

[LFDR3116]

We sold our house empty as we had renters in it prior to listing it for sale. Had no problem selling it. Sold in first few hours.

[kb0zke]

Selling the house depends on the area. We needed about a year to sell our 10 acres in SW Missouri. Our son and his wife sold their bungalow in St. Louis in a couple of days. Talk to your Real Estate agent about the best way to handle the sale of your house. You may be advised to rent some furniture to stage the house.

 

Buying property to use to park your RV and live in it can be a good way to go, but there can be dangers. Ask at city/county offices and require them to give you an actual copy of the applicable laws that supposedly say you can park your RV on your land and live in it. Be sure to also check the domicile laws in whatever State you consider. Owning property in a State is one of the things States look at to determine whether you are subject to their State income taxes. Another factor is how much time you spend in the State. Some States are more vigorous than others about claiming people are subject to their taxes. One rather famous Floridian refuses to ever set foot in New York because they claim that they can tax ALL of his income if any of it is earned in New York. That is probably an extreme example, but you get the idea. Ask lots of questions and get the answers in writing.

[Selah]

Just my opinion. The Escapees Florida mails service is not like other mails services. Your mail sent to the FL address is first sent to TX, which you pay for, and then the Tx facility sends it to where every your at, which you again pay for.

If your going to use FL as a domicile just use one of the other FL services. We use St. Brendon's Isle mail service which we are very happy with.

If you use TX as your domicile you will need a Class B license and annual inspections on your vehicles. This is a minor inconvenience but may be important to some people.

[Big Greg]

I would not rush into purchasing property for a home base. I suggest you travel for a couple years to see what area of the country you enjoy best. We find our winter campground very enjoyable as we have made many friends there and enjoy all the social activities you might not have if you had a private lot somewhere.

We see RVers with two or three dogs in campgrounds, unless yours are huge or an aggressive breed you shouldn't have too many troubles. Greg

[roger&debbie]

As with most everything there are pros & cons to our choices that must be weighed according to each of our situations. We talked about having a home base also... however we found most building lots end up being subject to HOA's and usually require a minimum square footage if you decide to build! If you build, most DO NOT allow you to stay in an RV while building.

 

We looked at unrestricted lots and found the areas end up having junk piled up or you may end up with a storage rental being built right next door. We also checked out an RV community in Texas... but you NEVER really own the lot, but rather lease it. So every Avenue should be looked at from the prospect of "Is this what I want/ need?" or "Will this suit my needs/ wants?" Check it out THROUGHLY!

 

We had the "perfect lot" 6 acres in the country... unfortunately our home sat on it and we sold that! LOL... too bad the kids live in smaller neighborhoods where we can NOT park. We are currently using a campground as our "home base"... fairly close to kids/ grandkids. My MAJOR problem is a lack of trees at our current "home base"!

 

Debbie

[2gypsies]

Just my opinion. The Escapees Florida mails service is not like other mails services. Your mail sent to the FL address is first sent to TX, which you pay for, and then the Tx facility sends it to where every your at, which you again pay for.

If your going to use FL as a domicile just use one of the other FL services. We use St. Brendon's Isle mail service which we are very happy with.

If you use TX as your domicile you will need a Class B license and annual inspections on your vehicles. This is a minor inconvenience but may be important to some people.

If using Escapees Mail Service but registering in Florida, the only mail that goes to Florida are a few pieces a year pertaining to your registrations and license. All your other mail goes to the mail forwarding in Texas - the address everyone else has - and you pay postage to have it mailed to you just like any other mail forwarding company.

 

You don't have to have a vehicle inspection every year if you don't stay in Texas. I forget now, but if just driving through Texas you have 3 or 5 days before you have to have an inspection.

 

Here are the different classes of licenses:

 

https://www.txdps.state.tx.us/DriverLicense/dlClasses.htm

[SPII]

We do have plans to domicile in either Florida or Texas (probably Florida, since it is closer to our kids and grandkids in GA), and use the Escapees mail service. But, I was wondering if it might be beneficial to buy a lot somewhere out in the country, where we could park occasionally and hook up to our own electric pedestal, with our own water and septic connections, without HOA restrictions. We have more than 2 dogs, so we are sometimes limited in the RV parks we can stay at.

 

Does anyone have such a setup? Is this be worth pursuing?

We bought a house lot in northern Georgia in a wooded division that allows rv's in some of the lots. It's gated and I have full hookups for the rv. We don't have any plans to quit full timing but the mountains of north Georgia, TN, and NC are great for motorcycling so it is good to set down for a while and enjoy the area. Our domicile is FL and we use the MyRVmail for our mail and address which I can recommend.

[Big5er]

Ask at city/county offices and require them to give you an actual copy of the applicable laws that supposedly say you can park your RV on your land and live in it.

First, I would try "asking" for the information you want, rather than attempting to "require" someone to do something.

 

Second, "most" laws tell you what you can NOT do. There are very few that specify what you can do. IE: You can not take someones property without their permission. That is written down in the law. You will not find a law that says you CAN take their property if you have permission.

 

This will make it more difficult but with enough diligence you will find the laws that tell you where you can not sleep in your RV. A "good" realtor will most likely know where to start your search.

 

I thought seriously about a couple of acres for a home base but have been leaning more to the RV parks where you own your lot, partly because it is maintained and looked after while you are away. I would not want to return to my own over grown "jungle" after being away for a while, nor would I want to find my power meter missing, my well/pump stolen, or that someone thought my empty lot was great place to dump those old used tires they no longer wanted.

[Retiredin1993]

First, I would try "asking" for the information you want, rather than attempting to "require" someone to do something.

 

Second, "most" laws tell you what you can NOT do. There are very few that specify what you can do. IE: You can not take someones property without their permission. That is written down in the law. You will not find a law that says you CAN take their property if you have permission.

 

This will make it more difficult but with enough diligence you will find the laws that tell you where you can not sleep in your RV. A "good" realtor will most likely know where to start your search.

 

I thought seriously about a couple of acres for a home base but have been leaning more to the RV parks where you own your lot, partly because it is maintained and looked after while you are away. I would not want to return to my own over grown "jungle" after being away for a while, nor would I want to find my power meter missing, my well/pump stolen, or that someone thought my empty lot was great place to dump those old used tires they no longer wanted.

+1, this is the reason we purchased in a resort. Every thing is taken care of including cable, water, trash removal, grass cut, sprinkler system maintained. In addition there are pools, tennis courts, woodworking shop, free movies 1 night a week, plus much more. All this for less than $200 a month. If you had to pay extra for this service yourself it would be much more than this.

[JRP]

To each his/her own. Thankfully we all have different personal preferences & priorities.

For the same reasons I stopped staying in RV Parks during my extended seasonal stops, I would never be comfortable on a leased/owned lot in a structured RV resort. You're still surrounded by hundreds of folks with little personal space or privacy and lots of rules. Particularly the leased/owned lots subject to some type of HOA, you have to ask approval to use a certain paint color, to plant a bush or trim a tree, to invite more than x visitors, to park a spare vehicle in front of your place, etc etc

I can walk out in one of my part time backyards and fire off 100 rounds from my AR15 in my private firing range and no one hears or cares if they do hear it. My dog can do its business wherever it chooses and no one cares (on our property). I can do maintenance on my RV's & trucks in my garage or driveway. My 10 assorted vehicles are usually spread out between my 3 properties, but no one cares if I park 6 of them out front. I can ride my ATV right out of the garage and go in any direction and no one cares. I can have a BBQ party with a bonfire for the entire local Elks club membership and their families on my property, without anyone calling the sheriff (who is usually already present).

My few neighbors are great friends and we all get along and help each other out. I've found that its much easier to get along with the neighbors when they're 1/4 - 1/2 mile away.

 

I've never had anything stolen or dumped at any of my 3 remote rural part time properties. But I agree in some areas it does happen. I do take some common sense precautions, use online security cameras, fencing & gates, and a few signs making it clear that I shoot first and ask questions later. We have had a few folks move onto nearby 40 acre lots with the intention to live off grid, but after one summer in the 110 degree desert they packed up and moved on, leaving some trash that I cleaned up voluntarily.

 

With some forethought and planning for a low maintenance property, taking care of the grounds is not that big a deal unless you're trying to impress someone with your gardening skills. My one property that has any real grass is where I spend most of the summer months (8500 ft) and in a normal year it only requires one mowing; in an unusually wet summer it takes 2. This summer its been very dry and the grass is all brown and no one cares; we rely on mother nature for watering. At my 80 acre winter ranch in the high desert it's native wild grass & brush can usually be left alone for 5 yrs. But I confess, after being gone one especially rainy summer, I had 10 bales of hay to donate to one of the local ranchers when I returned. Driving my tractor around those 80 acres with a brush hog attachment to keep it clear is fun. It also helps keep the rattlesnakes away, they get nervous being out in the open with all the hawks looking for an easy lunch.

To me it's well worth the small investment of time & money it takes to maintain my 3 places.

 

I'm glad many enjoy the close quarters of RV parks/resorts/lots, that leaves more open space for the rest of us. I still have 2 RV's that I use regularly year round, but only stay in RV Parks for short durations before the claustrophobia requires me to move out to the boonies. I've recently discovered the joys of ocean sailing and find many similarities being on my boat out in the middle of the ocean to being in my RV camped out in the middle of a National Forest alone. There are also many boating fulltimers who live on their boats year round, some who stay at the dock and some who travel the worlds oceans.

 

When making choices for yourself & your mate, just be sure you understand your personal preferences and make the choice that will make you happy, not the choice that made someone else happy.

[kb0zke]

Big5er, sorry if I came across a bit too strong. What I meant was to get it in writing. Going into any office, government or otherwise, and just accepting the statement of whoever happens to come up to the counter may lead to problems later on. By insisting on a copy of the law you have something to go on should someone question your actions. Any governmental office that is charged with enforcing laws or regulations ought to be able to either give you a copy of the applicable law or regulation OR should be able to give you enough of a legal citation that you can go look it up yourself.

[Lorrie]

First, I would try "asking" for the information you want, rather than attempting to "require" someone to do something.

 

Second, "most" laws tell you what you can NOT do. There are very few that specify what you can do. IE: You can not take someones property without their permission. That is written down in the law. You will not find a law that says you CAN take their property if you have permission.

 

This will make it more difficult but with enough diligence you will find the laws that tell you where you can not sleep in your RV. A "good" realtor will most likely know where to start your search.

 

I thought seriously about a couple of acres for a home base but have been leaning more to the RV parks where you own your lot, partly because it is maintained and looked after while you are away. I would not want to return to my own over grown "jungle" after being away for a while, nor would I want to find my power meter missing, my well/pump stolen, or that someone thought my empty lot was great place to dump those old used tires they no longer wanted.

 

+1, this is the reason we purchased in a resort. Every thing is taken care of including cable, water, trash removal, grass cut, sprinkler system maintained. In addition there are pools, tennis courts, woodworking shop, free movies 1 night a week, plus much more. All this for less than $200 a month. If you had to pay extra for this service yourself it would be much more than this.

[Lorrie]

I was afraid of getting priced out if the market in real estate and seen one too many Jerry Springer episodes.

Afraid what would happen after I wanted to slow down, I managed to purchase 2 acres in California. Seems I have not needed it since I now have a couple other properties. I have stored all my pictures and family stuff.

I actually own other property now and may end up selling.

I believe nice to have raw land and there is even tiny home there.

It has increased 4 times in value.

I can camp there if I want.

I call it Camp Wan Na B!

Any one looking for land in California, message me.

[coachmac9]

We have done pretty much the same thing except we chose Texas because our kids and grand kids live within a 200 mile radius and we love the temps in the winter...we have our own mail service...our grandson...he is old enough to ride his bike down to the mail box and get the mail then sort it. His first real "job" as he calls it and he is learning how to save money and open a bank account and we are saving a lot of money on mail forwarding service. Lots of small towns in Texas have few if any restrictions so we can park our RV in town, have all the "city" comforts of electricity, garbage pick-up ect ect without being in an RV park right next to someone else...not our cup of tea, but glad they are there for those that like it.