Dreaming and planning... would love advice!

Acampany · January 17, 2019

My husband and I and our 2 kids (5 and 8 years old) are hoping to spend a year or two traveling around the US researching a place to settle down. We currently live in wayyyy upstate NY and the bitterly cold winters are tough. I also have an autoimmune disease that worsens in the winter with the cold and lack of sunlight. My husband works in IT and is currently on the hunt for something remote, so he can continue to work full time while we travel. We plan to travel slowly for this reason to make sure we have time to explore and to make sure we have stable connectivity. While I have a million questions about getting started, I thought I would mention a few here in hopes that some more seasoned RV’ers can help me be as realistic as possible about our plans/goals.

Since we will be selling our home to purchase our rig and truck or class a and toad, I am looking to minimize depreciation as much as possible since we will sell them and need the proceeds when we settle back down. We are pretty frugal people and are patient researchers. I feel fairly confident that if we purchase something a couple of years old, we can beat most of the initial depreciation while still ending up with something that won’t need constant repair. Perhaps this is naive? Please advise...

With regards to domicile, we currently homeschool and are interested in TX for that reason. I’m not sure about other considerations that we should keep in mind. Is there any reason that we might not want to domicile there? When starting out, should we plan to spend a few weeks there and return periodically? I would assume a few weeks to start would be necessary for paperwork etc.

Another question regarding choice of rig... We are considering a truck and travel trailer or a class a with a tow car. Is this really just a matter of preference or is one generally less expensive than the other? Is one or the other generally a better fit for families? Are there better states to purchase in? I know there is no one right answer to this, but I really value the input of others that have done this already.

I am also wondering about the order of how this will all play out. Obviously, securing a traveling income is our first priority, but after that, I am bit unsure of how to proceed. Should we sell our house first and hope that the right rig will be available before we close? If we wait until after and just put our things in storage while we shop, we would have the benefit of cash in hand, but I’m not sure that it would be worth the headache. Also, buying something and registering everything here just to then register in another state doesn’t seem like a good use of time and money. I am also wondering about how long all of this has taken others. Any advice to simplify and/or streamline this process?

We are big-time planners (aka very uptight), so we like to dot as many i’s and cross as many t’s as possible before we do absolutely anything. I realize we are going to have to chill out a bit if we are going to make this lifestyle work for a couple of years. I appreciate any input that anyone is willing to share!

Kirk W · January 17, 2019

Welcome to the Escapee forums! Thank you for putting your faith in us and we will do our best to live up to that responsibility.

You mention your husband is in IT and you plan to domicile in Texas, that seems it could be a good match as Dallas is second only to San Jose as a hotspot in the computer-related industries. This could be a very good match as the Escapees mail service could well serve as your domicile base and should not be any problem for him to be employed in a different city in the same state. In addition, TX has no state income tax which makes our pay go farther. I suggest that you take a close look at what the club has to offer in support.

3 hours ago, Acampany said:

Since we will be selling our home to purchase our rig and truck or class a and toad, I am looking to minimize depreciation as much as possible since we will sell them and need the proceeds when we settle back down.

It is very important to understand that an RV is a depreciating asset, in much the same manner as an automobile. You can save some in depreciation by buying a used RV of a couple of years old, but no matter how well you shop you should expect to see the resale value of any RV to decrease by 10% each year.

3 hours ago, Acampany said:

Is there any reason that we might not want to domicile there? When starting out, should we plan to spend a few weeks there and return periodically?

There are other states that can work out well for domicile but what state is best is really a personal choice.

3 hours ago, Acampany said:

We are considering a truck and travel trailer or a class a with a tow car. Is this really just a matter of preference or is one generally less expensive than the other? Is one or the other generally a better fit for families?

While I prefer to travel in a motorhome, I believe that for families the best choice is usually a fifth wheel and crew cab truck. It is a very rare motorhome that has bunk beds, while they are very common in trailers. In terms of cost, the price range for suitable RVs is very wide but you will probably find very few class A motorhomes that will fit well for a full-time home for all 4 of you. We know several families that live and work on the road and all of them have chosen truck & fifth wheel combinations. It is less complicated if you buy the RV in the state where you plan to register it, but that isn't absolutely necessary. If things have not changed, you can get an RV loan more easily and usually at a lower interest rate if you still own a home, but there are companies who do finance RVs for fulltimers. I am not the best source of information on RV loans for fulltimers as I have not had one in 15+ years but there are others here who do have so hopefully they will join in.

I suggest that you check out the website of X-scapers since that is where most of our younger, still working families tend to exchange information, and come here with any and all questions about RVs and RV experiences that you may have. We are here to help so visit us often.

sandsys · January 17, 2019

Welcome to a great way of life. I have heard Texas is a great domicile in terms of home schooling but, as others have said, you'd likely get better information regarding that from the X-scapers branch of Escapees.

We sold our home back in 2008 so this may no longer be a viable choice but what we did was take out a home equity loan to buy the RV then pay it off when we sold the home. That took away the worry about timing but we did have to pay both the loan and the mortgage during the interim.

Linda Sand

2gypsies · January 17, 2019

Here's a good site to check out for full-time families:

http://www.fulltimefamilies.com/

rynosback · January 18, 2019

8 hours ago, sandsys said:

Welcome to a great way of life. I have heard Texas is a great domicile in terms of home schooling but, as others have said, you'd likely get better information regarding that from the X-scapers branch of Escapees.

We sold our home back in 2008 so this may no longer be a viable choice but what we did was take out a home equity loan to buy the RV then pay it off when we sold the home. That took away the worry about timing but we did have to pay both the loan and the mortgage during the interim.

Linda Sand

That is how we bought our rig. Paid it through the home equity loan and then it was paid off at settlement.