My husband and I attended the Hershey Rally and loved it. However I can not find what I did with my papers from there. You had suggested a book/booklet about choosing a home base. Can you please tell me the name of the book again or where to purchase it. We are moving our full time status up by a year! We picked a 3 year plan one year is gone and down to 2 which in a year's time we will be full timing. So in a bit of a panic now. My husband wants to put the house up for sale and get the fifth wheel and we will stay in that until we can move freely about the country. He wants to work and live in the fifth wheel until we have a surplus in savings before traveling.
Neil and Connie said
08:46 PM May 7, 2012
I'm not sure there's a good book; but if you look over at Howard and Linda's main site there was a good description of their thought process.
For Connie and I; we wanted to get out of being VA residents when we go fulltime; taxes and insurance rates are pretty high here and we don't intend to come back. We looked at the state income tax free states and pretty quickly narrowed it down to TX, FL, and SD. TN has no income tax on salary but does on investments so they were out. TX requires a CDL for a 5ver which is no big deal except you have to take a driving test in your vehicle. Since we didn't have either the truck or 5ver yet they were out. FL fell out because of some reported issues about having a mailing service being your "address" in the state and because of fairly high vehicle registration fees. SD felt right for us; tax and insurance rates are great and no issues with the mail service being our address. We didnt' even consider the Montana LLC option; although it might be legal some states are starting to crack down on it.
Don't forget to take everything into account; taxes, registration fees, health insurance, etc. into account. Connie will remain employed by the state of VA (on staff at a community college and working virtually only) so she'll have to pay non-resident income tax on her salary only.
53 Merc said
09:17 PM May 7, 2012
Neil and Connie wrote:
TX requires a CDL for a 5ver which is no big deal except you have to take a driving test in your vehicle.
Don't forget to take everything into account; taxes, registration fees, health insurance, etc. into account. Connie will remain employed by the state of VA (on staff at a community college and working virtually only) so she'll have to pay non-resident income tax on her salary only.
Actually, if you are under 26000 GVW, a regular driver license is adequate in Texas. There have been many discussions on this forum about both subjects. If you do a search, you will get lots of opinions, but most of all, someone will finally come up with a website to tell the truth.
Also, like has been said, look on the main pages for Howards comments on both subjects. He is the king of research, and whatever he says will be correct.
Neil and Connie said
01:12 AM May 8, 2012
53 Merc wrote:
Actually, if you are under 26000 GVW, a regular driver license is adequate in Texas.
True; but most large 5vers are close to or over 26000; I know our New Horizon and F450 will be.
Linda said
02:08 AM May 8, 2012
Hi guys! I thought I would answer this one for Howard.
Actually, if you are under 26000 GVW, a regular driver license is adequate in Texas.
True; but most large 5vers are close to or over 26000; I know our New Horizon and F450 will be.
I'm not a Texas resident, but GVWR is a rating on just one vehicle. Depending on whether Texas requires that Gross Combined Vehicle Weights are what governs, you may still be OK. The 2008 F450 that we have has a GVWR of only 14,500 lbs. The newer F450's are even less than that. Even if one gets a true MDT like the mini-Freightliners, their GVWR usually is 26,000 lbs.
Terry
Neil and Connie said
01:49 AM May 9, 2012
Sorry; meant GCVW, not GVWR. In any event, the insurance rates were higher in TX when I checked so we would have gone with SD anyway. Besides; Connie didn't want to be a Texican
53 Merc said
03:36 AM May 9, 2012
Well, in TX it all depends on your selection of location. When I moved from Comal County to Crosby county, my auto insurance went down about $300 per 6 months. If you looked at Livingston, it is impacted by Houston and surrounding counties.
Scubabeck said
02:57 AM Jun 10, 2012
Thanks Linda! and everyone else for the information and input. It seems to be happening a lot faster than we originally thought and I am panic'ing just a tad!
Speedhitch said
12:57 AM Jun 11, 2012
Sorry Connie we would have loved for you to be a Texan...
My husband and I attended the Hershey Rally and loved it. However I can not find what I did with my papers from there. You had suggested a book/booklet about choosing a home base. Can you please tell me the name of the book again or where to purchase it. We are moving our full time status up by a year! We picked a 3 year plan one year is gone and down to 2 which in a year's time we will be full timing. So in a bit of a panic now. My husband wants to put the house up for sale and get the fifth wheel and we will stay in that until we can move freely about the country. He wants to work and live in the fifth wheel until we have a surplus in savings before traveling.
I'm not sure there's a good book; but if you look over at Howard and Linda's main site there was a good description of their thought process.
For Connie and I; we wanted to get out of being VA residents when we go fulltime; taxes and insurance rates are pretty high here and we don't intend to come back. We looked at the state income tax free states and pretty quickly narrowed it down to TX, FL, and SD. TN has no income tax on salary but does on investments so they were out. TX requires a CDL for a 5ver which is no big deal except you have to take a driving test in your vehicle. Since we didn't have either the truck or 5ver yet they were out. FL fell out because of some reported issues about having a mailing service being your "address" in the state and because of fairly high vehicle registration fees. SD felt right for us; tax and insurance rates are great and no issues with the mail service being our address. We didnt' even consider the Montana LLC option; although it might be legal some states are starting to crack down on it.
Don't forget to take everything into account; taxes, registration fees, health insurance, etc. into account. Connie will remain employed by the state of VA (on staff at a community college and working virtually only) so she'll have to pay non-resident income tax on her salary only.
Actually, if you are under 26000 GVW, a regular driver license is adequate in Texas. There have been many discussions on this forum about both subjects. If you do a search, you will get lots of opinions, but most of all, someone will finally come up with a website to tell the truth.
Also, like has been said, look on the main pages for Howards comments on both subjects. He is the king of research, and whatever he says will be correct.
True; but most large 5vers are close to or over 26000; I know our New Horizon and F450 will be.
Hi guys! I thought I would answer this one for Howard.
The book is called Choosing an RV Home Base.
Here is the link: Travel Books
Have fun making all your plans!!
I'm not a Texas resident, but GVWR is a rating on just one vehicle. Depending on whether Texas requires that Gross Combined Vehicle Weights are what governs, you may still be OK. The 2008 F450 that we have has a GVWR of only 14,500 lbs. The newer F450's are even less than that. Even if one gets a true MDT like the mini-Freightliners, their GVWR usually is 26,000 lbs.
Terry
Sorry; meant GCVW, not GVWR. In any event, the insurance rates were higher in TX when I checked so we would have gone with SD anyway. Besides; Connie didn't want to be a Texican