Author Topic: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?  (Read 9461 times)

Exflyboy

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Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« on: April 24, 2015, 11:27:40 AM »
One of the options for when my Wife quits next year (I'm already ER'd) is to perhaps decide we don't want to be in the rental business, nor own a house (rentals plus house on same piece of property.

Just looking at options right now but travelling round the country for a season or two has some appeal. We are thinking of maybe buying one of the new Ford Transit Vans (claimed 19mpg) and converting it to live in. Maybe buy it used 2 years from now although the $35k to buy a new one is quite affordable as our house sale would probably net $350 to $380k.

The thought is a Transit would probably go in a standard tent site in the parks ( $0 to $7/ night), plus we really don't like the idea of driving a bus at 6mpg. We could also volunteer as camp hosts too.

Our house taxes and utilities work out to be about $10 a day right now, so it looks fairly cost neutral... except I assume we would avoid the 9% OR state income tax. I can fix almost anything so buy a code reader and a new van should be very reliable (really don't want an old POS that is more likely to let us down).

Anybody done this?.. what was your experience in going from a house to living like a hobo?..:)

terran

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2015, 11:37:04 AM »
I could be wrong, but don't you have to live in a state for a certain amount of time before residency is established for tax purposes? Is it possible to be a resident of no state without living abroad?

Exflyboy

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2015, 11:45:40 AM »
Good question.. If had to be residents of a State we certainly don't want to be residents of this one..:) I'm interested in how this works too.

bacchi

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2015, 11:54:41 AM »
Yeah, a state won't just let you leave its grasp until you establish residency elsewhere. You could always find a cheap apartment in Wyoming.

Also, where are you finding these $7 campsites? We're figuring on $20/night (except for BLM land, of course). New Mexico probably has the best annual parks pass; most of the others seem to require a co-pay.

Exflyboy

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2015, 11:58:05 AM »
In Oregon and Washington we were paying about $7 last year.

Yes, buy the Van in Oregon (no sales tax).. then move to Wyoming for a couple of months is quite doable.

pbkmaine

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2015, 11:58:20 AM »
You may want to look at Glenn Morissette's blog: tosimplify.net. He's a musician who lives on the road and has modified two RVs and a VWVanagon. Right now he seems to be changing the blog to a slightly different direction, but if you go to the blog and click on the "1.0" header, you will get the RV stuff. I believe he registered the van in South Dakota and has a mail forwarding service based there.

JLee

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2015, 11:58:51 AM »
Good question.. If had to be residents of a State we certainly don't want to be residents of this one..:) I'm interested in how this works too.
http://stephaniehenkel.hubpages.com/hub/Full-Time-RVingHow-to-Establish-State-Residency

Cookie78

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2015, 12:03:59 PM »
I'm currently looking at doing something similar.

I want to sell everything when I FIRE and spend the summers in Canada with my family and the winters in Phoenix with my SO. There's a cabin I could stay at up north, but I was looking into getting a small van set up with all the camping necessities so I could go wherever, and also take my time driving between Canada and the US so I can take different routes and see lots of parks.

After a few years when my SO FIREs too we want to travel all across the states and Canada too, in a slow travel and visiting family sort of way, before we head north to Alaska, then south to Argentina.

arebelspy

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2015, 02:29:04 PM »
Tons of people have--GIYF.  :)

The wife and I are doing it ourselves in 4 months.

Here's one example: http://liveyourlegend.net/how-to-pack-1-carry-on-for-a-year-around-the-world/ -- Scroll to the pictures at the bottom of the post.

Lots of RV and other nomad sites have info on establishing residency in other states.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

messymoneymay

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2015, 03:52:37 PM »
Not me ~ but I do dream of it from time to time.
Here is a blog I like to follow on the subject: http://www.cheaprvliving.com/


The_path_less_taken

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #10 on: April 24, 2015, 09:10:47 PM »
 I guess technically I've done it a couple of times. For a few years at a time, once for 4 years.

I think everyone should travel the country once: how do you know where you want to live until  you've been (almost) everywhere once? (that said, haven't been to Hawaii because of the dogs, but have been to the other 49.)

"Legally" <wink, wink> diff states have diff requirements to establish residency. But the 'good' ones, like NV and AK and others that have no state income tax are pretty damn easy to be a resident of. Half of Alaskans vacation 3 months or more every winter anyway. You could rent a studio apartment for $300 for a month, and pay a utility  bill if you wanted to be truly legit...but most people just rent a postal box (but not from the post office).

Besides camp hosts, there's house sitting and other gigs. Even ranch sitting if you're going out WY way...
I love it around Cody and by the park there.

Only thing is: how tall are you? Whatever you get, make sure you can stand upright in it. Seriously. I did it once with a one ton van, I'm 5'3" and even I got tired of it.

Other than that...the freedom is like no other. Cheapest is camping on public land (free), sleeping in WalMart parking lots in urban area (or just slink into a nice neighborhood late pm and leave early), and showering at gyms, etc. Food/gasoline/and a few paid showers are your only expenses unless you have to have a park.

There are TONS of van living blogs, btw.

Exflyboy

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #11 on: April 24, 2015, 09:40:17 PM »
Thats funny.. its like travel hacks for van dwellers..:)

Yeah I'm 5'8" and we'd get the extra height Van (especially if we order one new (unlikely) and apparently a 6'5" dude can stand upright in them.

The extra height  means you can build a bed up high at the back .. then have bicycle storage/tools accessible underneath the bed but from the doors at the back.. looked pretty slick anyway.

Kaminoge

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #12 on: April 25, 2015, 01:03:36 AM »
There's loads of resources available for people who want to do stuff like this. One you might like to check out is
http://www.technomadia.com/

I know they've done posts to do with residency etc.

I'm not American so it's not on my list of things to worry about but I enjoy reading their blog from time to time.

Zamboni

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2015, 06:30:53 AM »
I've always thought about doing this and one of the things that has worried me is headroom in the back of the van.  Glad to hear there is a new one I can stand up in!  I've seen some on the road recently that seemed like it would be possible, so thank you for confirming.

People who have done this, thank you for sharing tips!

use2betrix

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2015, 07:02:29 AM »
You can get really legit little campers that pull behind for as little as 10k. I have a 42' 5th wheel I live full time in, but just yesterday for fun we were getting some stuff fixed on ours and looked at the small ones. They had some with basically a shower, stove, sink, fridge, oven, table, bed, for like 10k. Even had small air conditioners. For 20k you can get way nicer ones.

I would get the van, or a truck with a camper shell (for storage of other belongings) and then get a small pull behind camper. It would be a million times more convenient to have your own fridge, bed, shower, etc. some have generators so they can run off gas and use water in your holding tanks, then can swing by an Rv site to dump the tanks in their sewage. Right now we pay 600/mo at our location which is steep, but my next place in moving to will be 400, as have some past places.

I know slightly less mustachian, but if you're selling your house and doing all that, might afford yourself a little comfort, plus, go look at a few and it'll be 1000x easier to convince the wife.

FrugalZony

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #15 on: April 25, 2015, 07:12:13 AM »
In the process of doing exactly this!
As others have mentioned there's a boatload of blogs and websites out there, that explain the practicalities
from establishing residency to cheap/free campsites, to customizing RVs and travelling with pets.

My SO already has a small custom RV and has been doing this for seven years.
I can't wait to join him next year.

Depending on how my "selling it all" goes, we are even considering getting the upgrade now and living in it, until
I am ready to leave, so we'd be all ready to go when the time comes.

We have been looking at RV's and honestly it's insane what some people move around.
They are all way too big for us.
The one he has right now, he considers too small and not practical enough for our joint needs,
so we are considering our options.

hancock.tom

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Re: Anyone &quot;sold it all&quot; and gone on the road?
« Reply #16 on: April 25, 2015, 07:54:45 AM »
I would heavily research the costs of conversion and compare to buying a used class b motor home, the really small ones.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #17 on: April 25, 2015, 07:59:44 AM »
For the reason the_path_less_taken mentioned.


use2betrix

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #18 on: April 25, 2015, 08:41:33 AM »
In the process of doing exactly this!
As others have mentioned there's a boatload of blogs and websites out there, that explain the practicalities
from establishing residency to cheap/free campsites, to customizing RVs and travelling with pets.

My SO already has a small custom RV and has been doing this for seven years.
I can't wait to join him next year.

Depending on how my "selling it all" goes, we are even considering getting the upgrade now and living in it, until
I am ready to leave, so we'd be all ready to go when the time comes.

We have been looking at RV's and honestly it's insane what some people move around.
They are all way too big for us.
The one he has right now, he considers too small and not practical enough for our joint needs,
so we are considering our options.

A lot of it depends how much you want to bring, and how often you will be moving. We have our 40' because we only move it a couple times a year (I travel for work and work extended times at different locations) but if I were going to move weekly or monthly, we would want something much smaller. I e always wanted an old airstream to fix up eventually. It would all depend on family size and what we want to bring during travel. Ours is actually a toy hauler, so we have about 30' of living space and a 12' garage we use for storage of bikes, tools, etc.

LiveLean

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #19 on: April 25, 2015, 09:29:05 AM »
We've had a couple of Sprinter Van threads pop up around here recently.

Our FIRE plan is to live mostly in a Sprinter Van converted to optimize the outdoors lifestyle (read: No campgrounds, hookups, RV lifestyle, etc.) We'll retain our current second home/beach rental property in Virginia that rents mostly from June through September, retain Florida residence in a 1BR condo and sell current Florida estate.

stlbrah

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #20 on: April 25, 2015, 12:13:35 PM »
I would rather live abroad than live in a van. What if someone farts...

fartface

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #21 on: April 25, 2015, 06:26:25 PM »
I would rather live abroad than live in a van. What if someone farts...

Well, of course I found this ^^^funny...

But to stay on topic, I'd love to "sell it all" and travel cross country! My little (semi-mustachain) sister is doing something similar w/her family of four.

They just bought a sweet (25K) rig that they pull behind their truck. Her husband works from home, so as long as he's got wifi (they also have a "hot spot") he can work from anywhere. Has to fly to LA once a month.

They're on their way to Wisconsin for a few months to visit family all around the state. Then, they're going out west for a few months this summer. Pretty cool adventure. Her kids are not yet school age, but she's leaning towards home schooling if they find this way of life is something they'd like to keep pursuing...especially if they can sell their mountain home in CO.

The_path_less_taken

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #22 on: April 25, 2015, 08:15:09 PM »
Kriegsspiel II....that is such a great pic!

Reminds me of an old NYPD episode, where they get a call that there's a cow in a 4 story walkup apartment.

Somebody stole the cow and wanted to butcher it and the neighbors complained; when the cops came they realized that cows legs will let them walk up stairs, but not down. Too funny.

Every horse I've ever had would have smeared their face against that glass, looking out, btw. I had one that would come up behind you and casually set her chin on top of your head, like..."oh, don't mind me".

Bigass dogs, and burros are even worse.

Kriegsspiel

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #23 on: April 25, 2015, 08:22:53 PM »
So I was in _the attachment_ the other day, and a herd of cows was stampeding up and down those fields. Them going downhill is out of control.

Don't even get me started on the goddamn horses. I hate them. One ate a $500 data collector (also this week). This horse had previously threatened me with a hoofing, so I stayed near the forest's edge, as the other guys stayed in the middle of the field. Even after I told them that this particular horse was a land-dwelling shark, they had the gall to laugh it off. But I saw the evil. You see who had the last laugh.

The_path_less_taken

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Re: Anyone "sold it all" and gone on the road?
« Reply #24 on: April 30, 2015, 10:35:41 AM »
So I was in _the attachment_ the other day, and a herd of cows was stampeding up and down those fields. Them going downhill is out of control.

Don't even get me started on the goddamn horses. I hate them. One ate a $500 data collector (also this week). This horse had previously threatened me with a hoofing, so I stayed near the forest's edge, as the other guys stayed in the middle of the field. Even after I told them that this particular horse was a land-dwelling shark, they had the gall to laugh it off. But I saw the evil. You see who had the last laugh.





I love horses because they have an attitude similar to cats: they assume you were put on this planet entirely for their own amusement. And to provide treats.

If you're not doing either at the moment...expect them to attempt to change that. While the $500 data collector probably wasn't 'tasty' or nutritious...your screams of rage were probably quite amusing to the horse...

Most horses and most cows are EXTREMELY good at reading body language. Taking quick stamping steps toward them while waving your arms about and yelling will usually make them retreat promptly.

The exceptions are stallions/bulls and mothers with young nearby: those will trample you to death. So check for dangly bits or young nearby and act accordingly.