Newbe here. Put my condo up for sale last week, my shop goes on the market this comming week. Intend to sell everything that will not fit in my Roadtrek and hit the road for places unkown. Should have done this 20 years ago. Hope my children learn from my mistakes. I am 66 years old and feel like a kid again.
mikeway said
02:25 PM Aug 18, 2007
Welcome from an ex-Clearwater-ite. Been on the road for 14 months now even though the market in Clearwater is still totally tanked and the house is still for sale.
Mike
wmalefyt said
03:26 PM Aug 18, 2007
Welcome Sharkskinner!
We're about 150 miles south of you in Naples, FL. We're planning to put our condo on the market in the fall to go fulltime.
Don't worry about your children, they will figure it out!
Best wishes and we hope to meet you on the road soon!
Froggi said
04:10 PM Aug 18, 2007
Welcome to the forum and good luck on the sales...tough market right now. I'm heading out anyway, not going to wait for the house to sell. LOL!
jdensie said
05:48 AM Aug 19, 2007
Welcome Sharkskinner. We did what you are doing in the past year. Sold business, home, bought a MH and are now in NH workamping. Kid's will get over it, when they see that you are enjoying the fruits of you labors. Congrats again. We will be in your area for the winter, as we are headinf to Florida for the winter. Maybe our paths will cross, good luck down the road.
Sharkskinner said
01:52 PM Aug 20, 2007
I feel like I have already met a bunch of new friends. Always liked new adventures, just sometimes a little slow in putting them into action.
Lived the first 41 years of my life in Michigan, moved to Florida in 1981 after vacationing there from 1969(I said I was slow putting things into action). Lost my beautiful wife after 43 years of marriage, and now after 4 years of being alone deceided something needed to change.
Thanks for all the words of encouragement, and I hope to meet all of you down the road. It just seems like the right thng to do now.
Tony-Clearwater Florida 2004 Roadtrek 190
Froggi said
06:34 PM Aug 20, 2007
My latest motto, Tony, is:
"I refuse to sit around waiting for the perfect tomorrow, I'll continue to work on savoring my perfectly imperfect todays."
leilani59 said
12:27 PM Aug 22, 2007
Hi We are 60 and 59. Have had the house up for sale in jacksonville fl. for 5 months. no bites.. We have another 3 wks and will take the house off the market and try buy owner and see how that goes.. since we won't have to pay them but a couple thousand it is worth not paying a large sum to a realtor.
The purchase on the fiver and truck will be bought with the sale of the house. We are very anxious to go but the house is holdding us up.. hope to sell after the holidays and be on the road..
Does anyone know when this housing market will turn for the better?..
Froggi said
02:17 PM Aug 22, 2007
We talked about it at our staff meeting (I work for a realty company with about 100 agents). According to the NAR (National Assn of Realtors), they feel things are going to quickly rebound next spring. Not soon enough for a lot of us...
wmalefyt said
10:29 AM Aug 23, 2007
Froggi wrote:
We talked about it at our staff meeting (I work for a realty company with about 100 agents). According to the NAR (National Assn of Realtors), they feel things are going to quickly rebound next spring. Not soon enough for a lot of us...
Wow, that sounds good to us! The talking heads on TV seem to think it could take a year or two!
We hope to sell our condo in Naples, FL this coming winter/spring season. It has been very slow in this area.
Froggi said
01:01 PM Aug 23, 2007
For everyone's sake, I hope it turns around quickly. The good news is that the mortgage rates dropped again. For qualified buyers, they won't have any problems. Our banker at the meeting told us that FHA/VA/Fannie Mae loans are going to become much more popular since they allow lower FICO (but not way low) FICO scores.
Non-conforming loans (jumbo, no doc, stated income, etc) will be harder to get but still available for well-qualified buyers. But banks will be requiring much more paperwork (as they used to) to back it up.
Tylersamma said
06:53 PM Aug 23, 2007
Hey Sharkskinner,
You are pretty brave to full time in a class B!!!!
We have been traveling in a Pleasure Way for the past 2 years (RV101). Loved it, but traded up to class A DP for fulltiming. DH is retired and he has gone off alone several times for one or two months at a time, had no problems. But for 2, it gets a bit cramped if over a week. I will retire Sept. 7th, then we are off to see the country (finally!!!!)
Sharkskinner said
07:23 AM Aug 24, 2007
A Class B fits me just fine. After I lost my beautiful wife the thought of a van brought back nice memories. I built a 71 Ford Van during the "Van Hippy Craze" and my wife and two kids, and I would live out of it every year for a four week vacation. At least now I can stand up in the Roadtrek.
I also parked it at my shop, and lived out of it for three months, just to be sure I would be happy-so far so good. I'm a simple man so I really don't need much. I have the SeaEagle inflatable boat, a few fishing rods,a small libary, a couple of camp stoves for outside,and a cargo carrier on the rear for additional storage. Life is good.
Right now the biggest hurdle is selling off all the stuff aquired in a life time. I don't like baggage, or storage. When we left Michigan 28 years ago to move to Florida we sold everything we owned and started fresh. So now I get to do it all again, except this time I have to sell not only the condo but also a machine shop, a 1964 Corvette, a 1973 Corvette, a 22' boat, large art works, just to name a few. Getting rid of everything for my freedom: PRICELESS
Happy trails
Free Spirit said
05:25 PM Aug 26, 2007
Welcome Aboard Sharkskinner,
I am new to the board too. I am still at the research stage of things and plan to take early retirement at the end of 2008, put the house up for sale, purchase and RV and head south. It's great fun planning. This is a great place to find lots of information and ideas.
All the best,
Jaime
Mike
We're about 150 miles south of you in Naples, FL. We're planning to put our condo on the market in the fall to go fulltime.
Don't worry about your children, they will figure it out!
Best wishes and we hope to meet you on the road soon!
We did what you are doing in the past year. Sold business, home, bought a MH and are now in NH workamping. Kid's will get over it, when they see that you are enjoying the fruits of you labors. Congrats again.
We will be in your area for the winter, as we are headinf to Florida for the winter. Maybe our paths will cross, good luck down the road.
I feel like I have already met a bunch of new friends. Always liked new adventures, just sometimes a little slow in putting them into action.
Lived the first 41 years of my life in Michigan, moved to Florida in 1981 after vacationing there from 1969(I said I was slow putting things into action). Lost my beautiful wife after 43 years of marriage, and now after 4 years of being alone deceided something needed to change.
Thanks for all the words of encouragement, and I hope to meet all of you down the road. It just seems like the right thng to do now.
Tony-Clearwater Florida 2004 Roadtrek 190
"I refuse to sit around waiting for the perfect tomorrow, I'll continue to work on savoring my perfectly imperfect todays."
We hope to sell our condo in Naples, FL this coming winter/spring season. It has been very slow in this area.
Non-conforming loans (jumbo, no doc, stated income, etc) will be harder to get but still available for well-qualified buyers. But banks will be requiring much more paperwork (as they used to) to back it up.
A Class B fits me just fine. After I lost my beautiful wife the thought of a van brought back nice memories. I built a 71 Ford Van during the "Van Hippy Craze" and my wife and two kids, and I would live out of it every year for a four week vacation. At least now I can stand up in the Roadtrek.
I also parked it at my shop, and lived out of it for three months, just to be sure I would be happy-so far so good. I'm a simple man so I really don't need much. I have the SeaEagle inflatable boat, a few fishing rods,a small libary, a couple of camp stoves for outside,and a cargo carrier on the rear for additional storage. Life is good.
Right now the biggest hurdle is selling off all the stuff aquired in a life time. I don't like baggage, or storage. When we left Michigan 28 years ago to move to Florida we sold everything we owned and started fresh. So now I get to do it all again, except this time I have to sell not only the condo but also a machine shop, a 1964 Corvette, a 1973 Corvette, a 22' boat, large art works, just to name a few. Getting rid of everything for my freedom: PRICELESS
Happy trails