Full time but still own property. Good or Bad?

[sandsys]

20 hours ago, lappir said:

I too was part of the generation of 14-16-18 and maybe even 20% interest rates of the 70's and 80's. It was not fun

I, however, lucked out. I bought a five-year Certificate of Deposit just before the rates dropped. The bank I bought it from was not happy with me since they had to pay that 20% for all five years.

[lappir]

6 hours ago, sandsys said:

I, however, lucked out. I bought a five-year Certificate of Deposit just before the rates dropped. The bank I bought it from was not happy with me since they had to pay that 20% for all five years.

That was a good one. Congrats. 

 

Rod

[Gwytolla]

On 4/12/2024 at 5:05 PM, lappir said:

I thought I'd never stop working. But that seems to have changed. I finished my last Travel Contract in February 2023 and haven't taken a Nursing paycheck since. Planned to over the winter, but things didn't work out as I expected and I'm sort of glad. 

The past year I've been able to survive on the SS monthly payment and have dipped into one of my retirement accounts for a little extra, but the advisor assures me it won't cause me to go "Broke". 

I've spent the past few winters in the lower Midwest and  have enjoyed some cold and snowy weather without the deep freezes of the Midwest where I grew up and am thinking about purchasing a spot to park during the winter months October to May and they I will head to the cooler weather locations during the Summer. If I can finally get the job I've been waiting to interview for in this location, the decision would be made. Since it's still not certain, I'm wondering if I should proceed in the acquisition of one of the two plots I have looked at. I know I will be here again next winter and the spot I have stayed at is in a good location, but it's also near an ambulance service that uses their sirens every single time they go on a call. 

So I'm asking. Is real estate really the best investment? 

 

Rod

I have this one place I got about a few years ago. But since I only visit it 3-4 times a year, it's gradually deteriorating. It would take quite a bit of effort and money to get everything back in shape. A few times, neighbors mentioned someone was interested in buying it, so I'm thinking maybe I'll just sell it altogether.

[lappir]

9 minutes ago, Gwytolla said:

I have this one place I got about a few years ago. But since I only visit it 3-4 times a year, it's gradually deteriorating. It would take quite a bit of effort and money to get everything back in shape. A few times, neighbors mentioned someone was interested in buying it, so I'm thinking maybe I'll just sell it altogether.

If I purchase something it will be mostly "Wild Land" requiring little upkeep. If there is a building or home on the property it would be rented out with the "Renter" responsible for keeping up the property for a very reasonable rental rate. The "City, County or State" would have to allow me to park my 'Home On Wheels' and live on the property as often and for how ever long I would decide. So far that's what's blocking me in my current area and the properties I have had interest in. 

Not sure if the interest I had over this past winter will come back again when I finish my Summer travels or not.

 

Rod

[Dutch_12078]

3 hours ago, lappir said:

If I purchase something it will be mostly "Wild Land" requiring little upkeep. If there is a building or home on the property it would be rented out with the "Renter" responsible for keeping up the property for a very reasonable rental rate. The "City, County or State" would have to allow me to park my 'Home On Wheels' and live on the property as often and for how ever long I would decide. So far that's what's blocking me in my current area and the properties I have had interest in. 

Not sure if the interest I had over this past winter will come back again when I finish my Summer travels or not.

 

Rod

When we decided to go fulltiming in 2010, we sold our mountaintop home and 400 acre forest property, but we kept our lakeside summer cottage on a 2 acre wooded lot. Over the years we've completely remodeled the cottage into a year round home with a full hookup RV site alongside to be both our base and our "hang up the keys" home. We didn't rent it out, instead letting family members use the property for vacations in exchange for helping with maintaining and improving the place. Now that our health has taken us off the fulltime road, we're going to be enjoying the best of both worlds we hope, by still making limited RV trips and having a home near our family to come back to.

[lappir]

2 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

When we decided to go fulltiming in 2010, we sold our mountaintop home and 400 acre forest property, but we kept our lakeside summer cottage on a 2 acre wooded lot. Over the years we've completely remodeled the cottage into a year round home with a full hookup RV site alongside to be both our base and our "hang up the keys" home. We didn't rent it out, instead letting family members use the property for vacations in exchange for helping with maintaining and improving the place. Now that our health has taken us off the fulltime road, we're going to be enjoying the best of both worlds we hope, by still making limited RV trips and having a home near our family to come back to.

That was a great plan. I don't have that type of "Family" members. Congratulations. 

 

Rod

[Vladimir]

Not full time. 

BUT, having houses, meant that we could never really go full time.

Our primary home is in a small city, with a vacation home 10 miles away as the crow flies, and a escapees lot in Arizona.

Between the three properties, it makes full-time travel impractical.  

The properties are pretty special, and their appreciation over the years pretty much makes it important for us to die and leave it to our daughter so we don't pay horrendous capital gains taxes.  It is important for her for us to maximize  her inheritance so she can sell on the new tax basis.

IF the focus is on full-time travel I would buy a property without a home, but with electricity, water, septic in the area I wanted to retire.  I guess that means when you stop traveling, that gives you a home "spot" locked in on costs when you stop moving.

I don't regret our decision, but we really locked ourselves in by keeping the houses.  It was a great financial decision, not so for traveling full-time.

The other thing to consider is do you "want" to travel full-time?? 

For me, it was about my hobbies, astronomy, hiking, hunting and fishing.  I am doing lots of travel, but they are focused on the hobbies not traveling. 

So much of my travel is back to the same spots over the years for fishing and hunting.  Not sure that meets the definition of full-timing if you head to the same places year after year.

I do have a bucket list and finally managed to get the Sand Hills of Nebraska checked off this spring.

I do need to focus on checking off more spots on the bucket list.

 

[Kirk W]

10 hours ago, Vladimir said:

Not full time. 

It used to be a hot topic on these forums just to define exactly what being a fulltimer is. We had one or two active members who stated that they were part-time fulltimers and a lot of disagreement on exactly what the term means.

10 hours ago, Vladimir said:

I do need to focus on checking off more spots on the bucket lis

That issue seems to loom all too quickly for most of us. It has become a major planning factor at out house. I used to advise my parents to spend some of their savings and do things together while they are both living and able. Now we seem to have reached that same point in life and so we are trying to follow the advice I gave to my parents. 

[lappir]

13 hours ago, Vladimir said:

IF the focus is on full-time travel I would buy a property without a home, but with electricity, water, septic in the area I wanted to retire.  I guess that means when you stop traveling, that gives you a home "spot" locked in on costs when you stop moving.

I was thinking that same thing. 

While I didn't move more than a couple times a year, I will continue to live in my home on wheels as long as I can. I may move around more, but that will depend on what type of work I might want to do.  

I'm also still on the first real trip with the recently acquired (last summer) truck. My trip to the HDT Rally and then to Norman have been it's only adventures with me. This summer it will move around a bit more for sure. 

 

Rod