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Will escapees give you an annual lease on say 1 sq inch in their park with each membership. Assign your Box number as a street address to each parcel - should satisfy the requirement to have a lease on real property and don't have to show some #, Suite, Box etc in your address!

 

I remember getting a deed of 1 sq inch of property in Alaska from Quaker Oats when I was a kid. Wish I had kept it as they were valid deeds and the Oil Companies were trying to buy them up a number of years ago. So dealing in 1 sq inch parcels of real property is not without precedent!

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We get our mail and all else at the escapees mail address in Livingston. We have a street address (209 Rainbow DR) and a number (#12345). We DO NOT use PMB for ANYTHING and have had no problems in 15 years. Vehicle registrations, voting, banks etc all of it.

 

Dave O

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Will escapees give you an annual lease on say 1 sq inch in their park with each membership. Assign your Box number as a street address to each parcel - should satisfy the requirement to have a lease on real property and don't have to show some #, Suite, Box etc in your address!

There is no need or reason to do that. Under TX law the address is quite legal for all functions and it was tested in the courts and upheld. Escapees is not the only such address that qualifies in TX but it is the only one tested through the courts.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

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For some people the reason NOT to domicile inn FL has to do with HDTs. In FL they can not be registered as an RV, and MUST be driven with a CDL.There is no upgraded non-CDL license class as in TX. If you follow the law. So it is not near as convenient as TX if you choose to tow with an HDT.

 

Likewise, SD is out for some people because there are ZERO insurance companies that will provide insurance to constant travelers.

 

One should not assume that a domicile that works for one persons situation will work for all - as Kirk has repeatedly said here and in his published articles.

 

The "pickins are getting slim". If Escapees fails to get the proposed law modified to accommodate those of us who travel out of state I will have to find an alternative state that allows use of an HDT for recreational (non commercial) purposes, AND has available health insurance. That may or may not prove possible. It may eventually become the case that one can not be a fulltimer and stay out of your domiciled state for extended periods legally.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Kirk,

 

Legally, right now, I agree BUT various financial institutions and being overly zealous in demanding proof of residency and are rejecting any that show (in their database) as a commercial / drop box address. (Several threads on this problem.) The banks don't care what is legal, they are free to set their own more restrictive policies and many have.

 

Escapees may want to get millions of potential physical addresses into the USPS database before the loophole of PMBs gets slammed shut.

 

EDIT: PS: It's one of those things that costs nothing but some computer time and may be a valuable asset in the future.

Edited by DuffMan
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The banks don't care what is legal, they are free to set their own more restrictive policies and many have.

 

Escapees may want to get millions of potential physical addresses into the USPS database before the loophole of PMBs gets slammed shut.

You are correct in that but know that Escapee's have worked with people and successfully gotten that problem resolved with a number of financial institutions and should you have the problem the business office is the first place to call. It could very well crop up again, but they have experience in dealing with this problem.

 

The fact is that as many of us as there are we just are not a significant factor in the overall market place so are seldom considered when companies or government agencies make up new rules. That is one advantage to doing business in Livingston since everyone there seems to understand and want the business of fulltimers.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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I seriously doubt that Escapees can get an institution like Merrill Lynch to change their policy. I would not count on that happening and would make alternative arrangements - if it happened that is great, but I have my doubts. BTW, Merrill, for one, accepts my Escapees address. And Alliant had zero issues with it when I joined. But Alliant has an arrangement with Escapees. Actually, I find Alliant to be the best banking institution I have ever encountered.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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I spoke to someone from Sen. Nichols' (Livingston's state senator) office yesterday and today in response to the note I sent (see earlier post). Claiming ignorance about the whole thing, she contacted the DPS to see what was going on. Upon reflection, I didn't feel like I adequately explained my concern to her so I called back again this afternoon. I explained that many of us who live full time in our RVs cannot necessarily get our vehicles to Texas to be inspected within a 90 window prior to expiration of registration. She mentioned that it seemed like an unintended consequence.

 

She is going to send me an email tomorrow so I can send her links to the new law. First I need to find something definitive enough for her to use with the DMV and DPS. I was pretty impressed that she actually phoned me.Maybe that's the difference between state and federal legislatures.

 

Haven't heard from our representative yet.

Michael

2017 Allegro Bus 45OPP
Cummins ISL 450

Visit us at schwarz.org!

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.Maybe that's the difference between state and federal legislatures.

I think that it demonstrates the importance of the Escapee residents to the Polk county political scene and the importance of the RV community to the TX economy. Both of them are far more significant to the economy and to re-election in TX than they are at the federal level.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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I wonder what percent of registered Polk County voters are Escapees members? I bet it's significant and so gets a lot of attention from the elected officials.

 

Enough so that there are two precincts for Escapees.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
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I wonder what percent of registered Polk County voters are Escapees members?

When I did some looking into that several years ago we made up about 20% of the registered voters, but the impact is far greater because we also happen to be the two precincts with the highest rate of registered voters actually voting. I think that the turn out rates brought our impact up to around 30% or so. Each election the Escapee's hold a "meet the candidates" nights and historically most candidates jump at the opportunity to attend.

 

An interesting bit of history is that over time the voters of Escapees have changed the political climate in Polk county from one of the swing counties to one of pretty solid political lines. That change is what caused the court case that has verified the validity of the Escapee address for legal purposes in the state. What happened was that a candidate for County Commissioner chose to file suit to block the election results when he lost, based upon the thesis that he lost because of the votes of Escapee members who don't really reside in Polk county. That was back about 1998 and the suit tied up the voting rights for us for about four years until it went though appeals all of the way to the TX supreme court. As I remember, it was finally settled about 2002 or 03. It also resulted in the TX legislature making changes to the laws addressing voter registration, driver's licensing, vehicle registration, and several other laws to make it very clear that our addresses are legal. Those laws do not specify the Escapee mail service but spell out what a mail service must do to qualify as a legal address of domicile and were based upon the Escapee Mail Service model.

Edited by Kirk

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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For those of us who are fulltimers registered in Texas, plan on being in Texas at some point in a 90 day window before your registration needs to be renewed. There is a new law that goes into effect on 3/1/15. This law eliminates the two stickers on your windshield and replaces them with a single sticker. Within 90 days of your registration expiration, you'll need to get your vehicles inspected, but will only receive a report if you pass it. The inspection station will collect their cut of the inspection fee and update a database that your vehicle has pass. When you submit a registration renewal, the DMV/county will check the database. If there is a record of the vehicle passing an inspection in the previous 3 months, your registration will be renewed. If there is no record, you don't get registered.

This development seemed pretty alarming to me. It could potentially remove Texas from my list of fulltime RV-friendly states. I was also rather surprised there wasn’t more discussion about this on the forum.

Because of my concern, I contacted the elected members of the state legislature that represent Livingston, TX, the home of the Escapees. I received a call from a member of Senator Nichols staff. I explained the issue to her. I then called her back the following day to more fully explain the issue. She got in touch the Texas DPS, who called me back yesterday.

He was familiar with the law and confirmed my description above. He said that the DPS only deals with inspections, not registrations so I would really need to speak with the DMV. He said that, based on his reading of the law, there wasn’t a lot of ‘wiggle room’ for the DMV to grant any sort of exemption.

This is a problem for full timers and military who may not be able to return to the state before their registrations expire. If you have two vehicles, you would have to do it twice a year. If you have 3, you get another trip.

The staffer said that this is an unintended consequence of the new law. The legislature in Texas only meets every two years. They will be in session in January 2015 so they’ll only have 3 months to fix this. I am not going to hold my breath.

When I learn more, I’ll report back.

For any of you full timers reading this, contacting your elected representatives would be a good idea. The more people they hear from, the bigger sense of urgency they’ll get. Here are links to Rep. James White and Senator Robert Nichols.

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist3/dist3.htm
http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/member-page/?district=19

 

Here's a link to one of the articles referring to this: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/vehicle-inspection-stickers-things-that-will-be-antiques-in-a-couple-of-years-when-texas-becomes-a-single-sticker-state.html/

Edited by mrschwarz

Michael

2017 Allegro Bus 45OPP
Cummins ISL 450

Visit us at schwarz.org!

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There is another "unintended consequence" to this law that will create a real problem for many folks who do live full time in the state. That is all those tens of thousands of folks who live in their motor homes or trailers year round and never move them, or those who may spend months on end in one place. This includes many who have their RV's on year round sites at destination locations they visit for weekends and vacations. This new law would require them all to figure out a way to get their rig to an inspection station.

2000 Volvo 770, 500HP/1650FP Cummins N14 and 10 Speed Autoshift 3.58 Rear 202" WB, 2002 Teton Aspen Royal 43 Foot, Burgman 650 Scooter

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There is another "unintended consequence" to this law that will create a real problem for many folks who do live full time in the state. That is all those tens of thousands of folks who live in their motor homes or trailers year round and never move them, or those who may spend months on end in one place. This includes many who have their RV's on year round sites at destination locations they visit for weekends and vacations. This new law would require them all to figure out a way to get their rig to an inspection station.

If the RV never moves, why would it have to have a current registration?

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A lot of people who never move their RV, don't bother to renew their registration. I don't know if it is still in affect, but when you went to renew your expired registration, you could sign an affidavit stating your vehicle has not been operated on public roads and get your new registration.

Al & Sharon
2006 Winnebago Journey 36G 
2020 Chevy Colorado Toad
San Antonio, TX

http://downtheroadaroundthebend.blogspot.com/

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If you don't register it for road use doesn't it then become taxable similar to a mobile home? I recall some fussing about that many years ago but not the details.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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If the RV never moves, why would it have to have a current registration?

I have seen long term RV parks where current registration is required to stay there. I'm not sure how common that is, but I have seen it.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Why would you say something like that?

 

My question is how did Escapees miss this so completely? Don't they monitor legislative action anymore - members have to do it for them?

 

Barb

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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