Author Topic: Guide to becoming homeless?  (Read 7488 times)

Roland of Gilead

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Guide to becoming homeless?
« on: September 02, 2014, 04:18:50 PM »
We have pretty much decided to sell our house by April 2015 and become homeless, living in our RV.

Do you or can you claim the state you were living in as your home state for awhile until you settle down in another state (ACA is my reason for asking)?   We live in WA state but eventually will likely claim Florida or Texas as our home base as they have no income tax and good portable ACA policies.   I am unsure if you can become a resident without at least visiting the state (for DL pictures, vehicle registrations, etc.).   We would like to spend the spring and summer up in the northern states, maybe go across the top of the USA, then head south for the winter.

Anyone with experiencing pulling up roots but not settling back down, how quickly did you choose your new home state?   I know we have only had a short time for ACA experiences so we may end up being pioneers here.   Has anyone tried to get residence in Florida without actually traveling to Florida?  If so, how did you handle DL and vehicles?

SummerLovin

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2014, 05:31:48 PM »
I've been looking at a similar option of "test driving" a few states, and they deliberately make it hard to establish residency if you're not really going to live there.  Your best bet is to keep WA residency until you make  a final call. I can't speak to the other states, but I know you can't become a FL resident without actually being in FL or knowing someone in FL that is willing to allow you to use their address as record. You also need to show that you get bills there such as utilities etc in your name.
USPS allows anyone to get a PO box at any U.S. post office that has them. This is common for people who travel for extended periods of time or maintain seasonal homes.  There is one little hitch that isn’t so easy to meet: you have to pick up your PO box combination or keys, in person, at the post office where you rent the box.  You could get one in WA before you move using your current address, and then get one in FL later.

Beric01

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2014, 05:36:08 PM »
USPS allows anyone to get a PO box at any U.S. post office that has them. This is common for people who travel for extended periods of time or maintain seasonal homes.  There is one little hitch that isn’t so easy to meet: you have to pick up your PO box combination or keys, in person, at the post office where you rent the box.  You could get one in WA before you move using your current address, and then get one in FL later.

Doesn't a PO box come with disadvantages though? Many places won't accept a PO box as an address. I'm wondering if some mail forwarding service would be better.

Workinghard

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2014, 05:38:36 PM »
Feel free to pay one of our bills and you can use our FL address!

Dicey

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2014, 05:46:20 PM »
I believe South Dakota is the RVer's dream state. Glenn over at "To Simplify" has done so and written about it so I'd head on over there for been there/still doing it experience. He's a great writer, so it will be time well spent. There's also a place called Hitch Itch, which links to darn near every full-timer with a blog, so there will be a lot of help there.

Roland of Gilead

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2014, 05:50:05 PM »
I have thought about South Dakota but I have recently heard that none of the ACA insurers there will accept RV'ers who can't prove they live a majority of the time actually in South Dakota.

Workinghard, maybe I can pay your Netflix bill?  :-)

Workinghard

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2014, 07:15:06 PM »
I have thought about South Dakota but I have recently heard that none of the ACA insurers there will accept RV'ers who can't prove they live a majority of the time actually in South Dakota.

Workinghard, maybe I can pay your Netflix bill?  :-)

Lol. And how did you know I had Netflix? :P

Beric01

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2014, 07:25:36 PM »
I have thought about South Dakota but I have recently heard that none of the ACA insurers there will accept RV'ers who can't prove they live a majority of the time actually in South Dakota.

Workinghard, maybe I can pay your Netflix bill?  :-)

Lol. And how did you know I had Netflix? :P

Perhaps your post in the Netflix thread?

Wow, I can't believe no one has mentioned Leverage!

;-)

Workinghard

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2014, 07:32:55 PM »
Busted! You got me, Beric01.

FiveSigmas

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2014, 11:24:04 PM »
We live in WA state but eventually will likely claim Florida or Texas as our home base as they have no income tax and good portable ACA policies.

Hey, Roland. Sorry I don't have any help to offer, but I was curious about the above line. I know WA doesn't have income tax. Do the providers on its ACA exchange not offer coverage out of state?

arebelspy

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2014, 11:29:16 PM »
My suggestion: search RV forums for information (such as "establishing residency").

A cursory search, for example, found this useful "How to Become a Real Texan" PDF: http://www.escapees.com/mailservice/Docs/texan.pdf

:)
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Roland of Gilead

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #11 on: September 03, 2014, 06:44:19 AM »
We live in WA state but eventually will likely claim Florida or Texas as our home base as they have no income tax and good portable ACA policies.

Hey, Roland. Sorry I don't have any help to offer, but I was curious about the above line. I know WA doesn't have income tax. Do the providers on its ACA exchange not offer coverage out of state?

FiveSigmas, hi

I don't actually know that much about the ACA exchange in WA state even though we live here (have employer coverage right now).  For some reason Washington state is immediately crossed off the list at all of the websites that talk about RV'ers and home base states like the Escapees site that arebelspy mentioned.  Perhaps we should consider remaining residents of WA even though we will no longer live here.   Some state has to claim you (can't be stateless) and since we have lived in WA for near 20 years that makes a decent claim while we spend a few weeks in other states traveling.   I do not know if there is a mail forwarding service in WA like there is in Texas and Florida if Washington is not a popular RV'er home base.

When our adventures take us to Alaska for 1.5 years we should probably switch residency to that state since we will confine our travels there (it is a big state to explore).

dragoncar

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #12 on: September 03, 2014, 08:27:01 PM »
That's houseless not homeless

arebelspy

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #13 on: September 03, 2014, 09:18:09 PM »
That's houseless not homeless

Yeah, I thought the thread was going to be much more interesting too.  :)
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.

Roland of Gilead

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Re: Guide to becoming homeless?
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2014, 08:48:22 AM »
That's houseless not homeless

Perhaps.   I don't know if homeless means you do not have anywhere to stay or are too poor to afford anything.   A lot of homeless people live in tents.    If I sold my house and went on a biking trip across the country with just a tent and sleeping bag, would that be homeless?  Would having over a million in the bank make it not homeless?

I kind of like the term houseless though.   Maybe housefree as I can't wait to get out from under the taxes, insurance and maintenance hassle.