Going FT in mid 2025... Lots of questions!

GoldenKey · November 24, 2023

Hi Everyone,

This seems to be the place to ask the BIG questions!

So, my wife and I are planning a BIG lifestyle change in 2025.

I am 62, and semiretired, and my wife is 64, and still full time employed, but we can both work remotely. My wife is aiming to retire in 2027.

We will sell our home here in Southern California, buy a new 1 ton Dually PU and New 5th Wheel, and go full time for 3-5 years, before settling in Az.

Cannot wait to get out of CA... its lost its "Golden State" luster for us.

I'm trying to plan the sequence of events for a smooth transition, and maximize financial benefit.

We believe we will have the house cleared, and ready for sale in May/June of 2025.

It feels like we should have the Rig bought, prepped, and ready to go at that time.

But we don't want to buy, or register the Truck or 5er in CA, for obvious reasons.

We might have most of the $ for the truck upfront, but not the 5er, so we will need to finance, short term until the house sells.

I've heard talk about moving Domicile to SD, but I don't know how all that dovetails together.

Any advice or experience would be welcomed!

Kirk W · November 24, 2023

If you buy an RV or tow vehicle now and keep it at or near your home in CA, the law does require you to license it in CA and there are fines for failing to do so. On the other hand you could buy them now and store them in a state that you plan to claim as your home and if you keep an address in that state you could quite legally register and insure them in whatever state you have them stored in when not traveling over the highways. CA is one of the more aggressive states about enforcement of such laws, although many other states are becoming more active in that area.

I suggest that the first thing that you do would be to learn more about what domicile is and how it is determined by reading Ultimate Guide for Residency and Domicile as a Full Time RVer, along with several other similar articles. I think that you might find the Escapees RV Club to be very helpful as they are a support group for people travel in RVs with a lot of emphasis on those who travel of extended periods. While the majority of members are retirees, the most rapidly growing part of the membership is the members who still work as they travel. The club has a special subgroup called X-scapers that is made up of such people.

sandsys · November 25, 2023

Be very careful about buying a 5th wheel to be pulled by a pickup truck. Weight matters in stopping as well as starting. Do not believe a salesperson who says, "Sure, it can handle that." He/she won't be held responsible if you have an accident. Get the truck weighed as part of your test drive. After you buy it, pack it then weigh it again. That way you will have real numbers when deciding what you can tow.

Linda Sand

sandsys · November 25, 2023

As to timing, consider this. Get your new address then go there, buy your truck, and leave it there. When you are ready to buy your trailer, either go there to buy it or buy it in California but have it delivered across the state line in Arizona. Motorhome buyers, including us, do that all the time.

You do not have to live full time in the state where you register a vehicle. You have to register it where it will be garaged. People who have more than one home often keep a vehicle at each house, registered in the state where they keep the vehicle.

Linda Sand

Danfreda1 · November 25, 2023

41 minutes ago, sandsys said:

Be very careful about buying a 5th wheel to be pulled by a pickup truck. Weight matters in stopping as well as starting. Do not believe a salesperson who says, "Sure, it can handle that." He/she won't be held responsible if you have an accident. Get the truck weighed as part of your test drive. After you buy it, pack it then weigh it again. That way you will have real numbers when deciding what you can tow.

Linda Sand

👍

GoldenKey · November 25, 2023

Thanks for all of the info!

Good links Kirk, but I see you have special knowledge, so I need to dig deeper.

The 5er we have our eye on is an Alliance 385FL.

Its dry weight is 14,517lb, and GVWR is 16800lb as standard with the 7k axles, but we are planning to spec the Moryde 8k axles, and disc brakes.

The truck we hope to get is a 2024+ GMC Denali Duramax 3500 Dually. 5th wheel tow capacity is 31,000+lb, and payload is 5,662+ lb. GCWR is 40,000 lb.

I think the 5er is well under the trucks capacity.

Kirk W · November 25, 2023

We were fulltime for 12 years but have now been off the road for 10+ years so there would be some things that have changed. It was those years on the road that caused us to become life members of Escapees, but all of my club involvement has been as a volunteer so have a lot of experience with the group but have never been an employee. There is a lot of experience and knowledge to be found from club & forum members, and I'm only one voice among many.

GoldenKey · November 26, 2023

Good stuff, and Thank you for your service Sir.

I'm trying to get all the moving parts of the plan aligned.

We REALLY need the Truck first, as we have to tow a trailer, put furniture, and a couple of classic vehicles in storage somewhere when we are clearing the house.

When the house is cleared and ready to be listed, I'd like to be out of it and already on the road, leaving the Realtors to have at it!

Wife suggested I move my domicile when we buy the truck, but not sure if that would work!

jjwicklund · November 26, 2023

5 hours ago, GoldenKey said:

Thanks for all of the info!

Good links Kirk, but I see you have special knowledge, so I need to dig deeper.

The 5er we have our eye on is an Alliance 385FL.

Its dry weight is 14,517lb, and GVWR is 16800lb as standard with the 7k axles, but we are planning to spec the Moryde 8k axles, and disc brakes.

The truck we hope to get is a 2024+ GMC Denali Duramax 3500 Dually. 5th wheel tow capacity is 31,000+lb, and payload is 5,662+ lb. GCWR is 40,000 lb.

I think the 5er is well under the trucks capacity.

A few things jump out with your selection of 5th wheel. Don't know what type of RV campgrounds you plan on but the longer the 5er the more difficulty you'll have in choices and the gross vehicle weight of16,800 is well within the capacity of your planned truck but the 2,283 carry capacity is rather low. Adding larger axles does not add carry capacity though it will increase your security. Just a few things you may want to consider.

Danfreda1 · November 26, 2023

And you will have a rougher ride on the trailer with that light of a load.

kb0zke · December 1, 2023

Some thoughts that passed through what's left of my brain:

How much RV experience do you have? How much towing experience? I ask because I saw someone who was on their first trip with their brand new truck and trailer fail to avoid a tree while going around a curve in the park. Quite a bit of damage to the trailer and some to the tree. They were so spooked by the incident that they refused the offer of another site and insisted that we block the (nonexistent) traffic on the road while they turned around in a parking lot across the road so they could make a left turn onto the road. I'm pretty sure they went home and the next day took the trailer back to the dealer with instructions to fix it and sell it.

If you haven't had an RV before, you may be in for an expensive surprise. Many people go through several rigs before finding the right one for full-timing. Things that you think will be important turn out to not be all that important, while something you overlooked turns out to be really important. That's why many buy used for the first couple of rigs. They don't have the big depreciation hit that someone who buys new may have. When we were researching we met a couple who bought a "popular brand" (that's all they said) of motorhome brand new for their full-time rig. Within a year they traded it even-up for a 10-year-old Foretravel because they could see the difference in quality.

Some people have said that they have had difficulty in getting financing for an RV without a job. We've not run into that, but it is something to be aware of. As far as financing, do some checking around and see what deals you can get for both truck and trailer. A credit union may be willing to do a deal that banks can't. Also RV dealerships sometimes have several lenders available. Truck deals are all over the place. A deal that's good today may not be available tomorrow, and something that wasn't available today is available tomorrow.

RV warranty and service isn't like automotive warranty and service. You will be able to take your truck to any GMC dealer for warranty work or normal service. Not so with the trailer. Yes, there are Alliance dealers all over the country, but you will be behind all of their own sales customers. Some people buy the trailer from whichever dealer has the best deal, consider that the trailer has no warranty, and get any needed work done at their own expense from their preferred provider. Others choose a dealer that has the best reputation for service and figure that the additional money they pay up front covers that reputation and they will have a somewhat better trailer because of it.

Kirk's suggestion of buying, registering, and storing the vehicles in your intended domicile State is a good one. The only issue I can see is that, if you choose a State that's quite a ways away you may pay as much in fuel to go there to get the truck and trailer whenever you want to use it prior to going full-time.

GoldenKey · December 1, 2023

Good input.
Never towed a 5er, but Workamped in Europe for many years towing a 25’ trailer. I think I put 15k miles of towing in from Norway to Italy.
Currently own a 35’ Airstream Motorhome, and a Van conversion.
So, hopefully I’m not a dumb as the people described!
For me to get the wife out of the road full time, would need something larger, and more comfortable.
I could comfortably live in something smaller, but she won’t. That’s the trade off I’ve had to make. I’m not too worried about towing or dealing with a 42’ 5th wheel. We originally looked at 38-42’ Super C Motorhomes, but the $500k price tag was just too hard to swallow.
I’m watching the used prices on Alliance 385fl’s, and have no problem buying one a couple of years old.
The wife chose that one Floorplan, specifically after looking at many. It seems to be the best fit for her. As she needs an office space, as she will be working for a least a couple more years, remotely, and so will I, but part time. The from lounge on the 385FL has 2 sofa beds, and we will take one
and change it to a desk.
When we settle back down again, we plan to live in the 5er on the plot of land and oversee the forever home build. once it’s built we could keep the 5er for a “Guest Suite.
The pickup truck will earn its keep, towing trailers, with skid steers or tractors, and bringing build materials etc. We might also get a truck bed camper down the road for shorter term trips.
Sd domicile might make sense for us, financially, but I’m waiting to hear back from our CPA on what’s workable. But these recent rule changes might impact the plan.