Unfortunately, I may have to spray just a wee bit of cold water here. From my thinking, if you are going to deal with Craig's List, make sure to have an extra person or two when you do the meeting with ANY potential buyers. I don't like the service at all because I hear of too many incidents where the potential buyers are actually criminals looking for a score. (Remember that Jo and I work for a law enforcement agency, so we have a tendency to be very cautious about such things.) When Jo sold some of our furniture from our RV and out house, she used Craig's List. But, we had a small-town address and most interested buyers were from small towns here in Oklahoma, so our "clientele" are a totally different sort than city-dwellers.
I have absolutely no knowledge of your business, but if you don't have a real need for an office, but your employer prefers that you have one, look into some "virtual" office service such as Regus offices. I hear them advertised a lot on the radio. You might even find that your employer could find it less expensive than "keeping" an office of their own. Is it essential that your business remain in the NY/NJ area? If not, I'd try to convince them to let you look for a place where business rentals would be less and that you could maintain within an area with a lower cost of living. (Oklahoma is good.....)
If you do sell the house and need to live elsewhere until the RV is purchased, I'd go with an extended stay place where you wouldn't be locked into a longer term lease. After all, even if they have to build your RV, it should only take a few months for that to happen. Our Mobile Suites was built within about 12 weeks back in 2010.
Good luck with all the planning and research. Here's hoping that you can move offices to a state where some good RV parks are located. Also, as Vance suggested, consider some of the mobile home parks in an area if you still have to live and work for a spell. We are staying in one here in Oklahoma where our lot rent and utilities are less than a monthly rate at the RV park next door. In addition, we were able to select a good lot with a nice "yard." We were able to use some existing fence that the mobile home park had on this lot and with some temporary fencing from the hardward stores, we've got a really nice yard for our two Miniature Pinschers.
Now, if a long term stay in an rv park/mobile home park is not in the cards, then a yard would likely not be important. In our case, perhaps rare, our monthly lot rent is less than $190 and includes water and sewer.
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Saturday 5th of January 2013 10:10:23 PM
cherylbrv said
02:07 AM Jan 6, 2013
Been dreaming; nay, moved "dream" to "plan" for the past 2 years already. We're already FT'ing in our minds; just selling the house is the only thing holding us back. We've been slowly trying to make many cosmetic repairs (but money obstacles keep getting in the way). The hope was to have it on the market by late Spring (been trying that since 2010). Getting closer every year, but still....
Anyway, just for the heck of it, I put an ad on Craiglist spelling out exactly what needs to be done and how we'll knock off a lot of $$ to someone else who wouldn't mind puttering. No realtors or investors who plan to flip the house welcome. Well, I actually got 2 serious inquiries. Hopefully they will show up tomorrow and we'll take it from there. I suspect it may be the Universe toying with us, but you never know. Perhaps our prayers are being answered now.
Suddenly it hit me -- what if this IS the real thing and we sell really quickly? I got scared. Are we really ready for this? Are we insane????
I know lots of you have gone though this and its perfectly normal to get cold feet before any major lifestyle change. Perhaps what scares me most is that I have all the long term research done (which RV we want, which tow vehicle, domicile). But I haven't really planned out the immediate needs like what to do between the time the house sells and the RV is ready. I also have a full time job and hope to convince my boss that it IS possible for me to perform all my duties remotely (it's a UK based company, I'm the only person in the US office, we don't get clients in to visit, so they wouldn't be the wiser anyway!), but am I ready? Should we live in a studio apt or an extended stay hotel while looking for the RV? Should we buy the RV and figure out where to park it while I maintain my job in NJ (no campgrounds nearby, so where would I go?) Just all these issues to consider that I didn't previously.
Oh well; I do love planning and research. I'll figure it out. Besides, it may still be years away anyway.
Lucky Mike said
02:32 AM Jan 6, 2013
Cheryl........The beauty all lies within the dream and how you go about it...........it will all work out if you allow it to and not try to force it.
As far as Jersey parking..........HHHHHHmmmmm........that would be my answer.....No room on the jersey pike , cant park in the street and if you dont own a subcompact it doesnt fit in the driveway.....LOL
I would think if the company is UK based and your it in the office with no foot traffic, that unless they are required to maintain a Physical place of business it would be more than cost effective to allow you to Telecommute and close the office or merge it into a microshared office system.
We all get second thoughts and everything that comes with it............then once you do it , the what if's will come about.......then you hope it will never end!!
kinda like the day before you married.........the week after you found out you were pregnant and the days before you committed to buy your house.
Life is amazing.........sometimes its best to be part of all it!....rather than regret that you never tried to strive for some of it!!!.....its short
PIEERE said
03:18 AM Jan 6, 2013
My employment of 8 + yrs. ended in October of 2009, I wasn't ready being 58 yrs.old and hoping to stay until at least I turned 62 and could get my Early SS. I was fortunate to have an older motor home which I still have. I left with about 3,000.00 and stayed in a park for a month searching for employ which I located a job to start in December. Had to drive 1,300 miles, but said what to heck I was heading to warmer climate. I then drove another 800 miles to get a summer job, which gave me the opportunity to visit my daughter's family. I went another 700 miles for employ and did the seasonal jobs This past March; Yes the heart attack and in mid-July had to quit working an outdoor job because of the heat and blood thinners don't mix to well. I have managed to hang in there so far. The finances are stretched beyond being stretched. I hope to be able to scrape up enough to pay February's rent and electric; so I can return back to work in a seasonal job I had for the past two years. This August i will be able to get that early SS and hope to continue working. I will tell you not to put it off, we never know what tomorrow will bring!!!! If I can not continue, I have had some really enjoyable times with the freedom i had on the road. Some want to just travel and camp; I want to travel and work camp because I have met some real lifetime friends; gained some more friends on these forums that I hope to get to see in the near future.
VanMar said
05:42 AM Jan 6, 2013
cherylbrv wrote:
Should we live in a studio apt or an extended stay hotel while looking for the RV? Should we buy the RV and figure out where to park it while I maintain my job in NJ (no campgrounds nearby, so where would I go?) Just all these issues to consider that I didn't previously.
Cheryl,
Terry has suggested this to several people and we have done it ourselves. Check out trailer parks. We stayed in one in our 25' TT for the month of Nov '11 while between houses. Five years ago we stayed in one three months while between houses. Here, they run about $2-300 per month with utilities.
As far as what to live in, if you have settled on only one specific floor plan, it might be more difficult unless there are several of them in your immediate area. DW and I both have veto power on floorplans but, between Keystone, Heartland, and Forest River, we have found five we have mutally agreed upon. So, it shouldn't be hard to find one on short notice.
Hope this helps. Good luck on selling your house.
Vance
WestWardHo said
07:42 PM Jan 7, 2013
Hi Cheryl,
Welcome. We plan to sell our home to close no earlier than June 1 for tax reasons so I have been going thru all the similar feelings but sooooo looking forward to full timing. Before I retired I had a 92 year old father here in AZ who had been recently widowed and he asked me to move closer. I had a significant (for me) position for a small national golf wholesaler in Cleveland. A friend suggested I telecommute as our business was all computer dependent anyway. I searched online for a telecommute proposal template and found an excellent one for about $29.00. I downloaded and personalized it and submitted it to my boss. It was very well done and took some time as it was very thorough. Took him a little while to get used to the idea and some negotiating about who would pay which expenses but he finally agreed. No problem getting access to the main database from my new location. You might want to consider that.
I agree with Terry & Jo that one needs to be careful on Craigslist or anywhere else on the net, but find it a great resource if one just uses their head and is street smart. We tend to hear the negative not the positive experiences. I ALWAYS hear from scammers when I post something but just hit delete. I also hope you did your research for comps in your area as I often find FSBO listings are priced on the high side.
Best of luck with all your decisions!
Sherry who is Sheryl with an S
Racerguy said
02:49 AM Jan 8, 2013
Although normal precautions need to be taken Craigs List is a great tool for selling.I have sold hundreds of items all over the United States and have never felt unsafe.I do get fed up with the Craigs list scammers but just delete them and move on.Never meet anyone by yourself or out of the way and you will be o.k.
Lucky Mike said
03:09 AM Jan 8, 2013
I deal with Craigslist on a daily basis.........to eliminate scammers if it doesnt have a phone to cross check it.....I dont deal with it.........when the price looks to good to be true it is.........if you have to email get a disposable email account
If you tell me to meet you in a parking lot , you will be there by yourself.......always a physical adress.......and always see Identification before buying......possession of stolen property is as bad as stealing it in most states!!!
I mostly buy motorhomes on craigslist and sell them.........I have yet to meet a scammer or thief.......they are the ones that I require to bring cash or we go to your bank and withdraw cash........then I take the cash and wire it to my bank in a separate transaction!!
Unfortunately, I may have to spray just a wee bit of cold water here. From my thinking, if you are going to deal with Craig's List, make sure to have an extra person or two when you do the meeting with ANY potential buyers. I don't like the service at all because I hear of too many incidents where the potential buyers are actually criminals looking for a score. (Remember that Jo and I work for a law enforcement agency, so we have a tendency to be very cautious about such things.) When Jo sold some of our furniture from our RV and out house, she used Craig's List. But, we had a small-town address and most interested buyers were from small towns here in Oklahoma, so our "clientele" are a totally different sort than city-dwellers.
I have absolutely no knowledge of your business, but if you don't have a real need for an office, but your employer prefers that you have one, look into some "virtual" office service such as Regus offices. I hear them advertised a lot on the radio. You might even find that your employer could find it less expensive than "keeping" an office of their own. Is it essential that your business remain in the NY/NJ area? If not, I'd try to convince them to let you look for a place where business rentals would be less and that you could maintain within an area with a lower cost of living. (Oklahoma is good.....)
If you do sell the house and need to live elsewhere until the RV is purchased, I'd go with an extended stay place where you wouldn't be locked into a longer term lease. After all, even if they have to build your RV, it should only take a few months for that to happen. Our Mobile Suites was built within about 12 weeks back in 2010.
Good luck with all the planning and research. Here's hoping that you can move offices to a state where some good RV parks are located. Also, as Vance suggested, consider some of the mobile home parks in an area if you still have to live and work for a spell. We are staying in one here in Oklahoma where our lot rent and utilities are less than a monthly rate at the RV park next door. In addition, we were able to select a good lot with a nice "yard." We were able to use some existing fence that the mobile home park had on this lot and with some temporary fencing from the hardward stores, we've got a really nice yard for our two Miniature Pinschers.
Now, if a long term stay in an rv park/mobile home park is not in the cards, then a yard would likely not be important. In our case, perhaps rare, our monthly lot rent is less than $190 and includes water and sewer.
Terry
-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Saturday 5th of January 2013 10:10:23 PM
Been dreaming; nay, moved "dream" to "plan" for the past 2 years already. We're already FT'ing in our minds; just selling the house is the only thing holding us back. We've been slowly trying to make many cosmetic repairs (but money obstacles keep getting in the way). The hope was to have it on the market by late Spring (been trying that since 2010). Getting closer every year, but still....
Anyway, just for the heck of it, I put an ad on Craiglist spelling out exactly what needs to be done and how we'll knock off a lot of $$ to someone else who wouldn't mind puttering. No realtors or investors who plan to flip the house welcome. Well, I actually got 2 serious inquiries. Hopefully they will show up tomorrow and we'll take it from there. I suspect it may be the Universe toying with us, but you never know. Perhaps our prayers are being answered now.
Suddenly it hit me -- what if this IS the real thing and we sell really quickly? I got scared. Are we really ready for this? Are we insane????
I know lots of you have gone though this and its perfectly normal to get cold feet before any major lifestyle change. Perhaps what scares me most is that I have all the long term research done (which RV we want, which tow vehicle, domicile). But I haven't really planned out the immediate needs like what to do between the time the house sells and the RV is ready. I also have a full time job and hope to convince my boss that it IS possible for me to perform all my duties remotely (it's a UK based company, I'm the only person in the US office, we don't get clients in to visit, so they wouldn't be the wiser anyway!), but am I ready? Should we live in a studio apt or an extended stay hotel while looking for the RV? Should we buy the RV and figure out where to park it while I maintain my job in NJ (no campgrounds nearby, so where would I go?) Just all these issues to consider that I didn't previously.
Oh well; I do love planning and research. I'll figure it out. Besides, it may still be years away anyway.
As far as Jersey parking..........HHHHHHmmmmm........that would be my answer.....No room on the jersey pike , cant park in the street and if you dont own a subcompact it doesnt fit in the driveway.....LOL
I would think if the company is UK based and your it in the office with no foot traffic, that unless they are required to maintain a Physical place of business it would be more than cost effective to allow you to Telecommute and close the office or merge it into a microshared office system.
We all get second thoughts and everything that comes with it............then once you do it , the what if's will come about.......then you hope it will never end!!
kinda like the day before you married.........the week after you found out you were pregnant and the days before you committed to buy your house.
Life is amazing.........sometimes its best to be part of all it!....rather than regret that you never tried to strive for some of it!!!.....its short
This past March; Yes the heart attack and in mid-July had to quit working an outdoor job because of the heat and blood thinners don't mix to well. I have managed to hang in there so far. The finances are stretched beyond being stretched. I hope to be able to scrape up enough to pay February's rent and electric; so I can return back to work in a seasonal job I had for the past two years. This August i will be able to get that early SS and hope to continue working.
I will tell you not to put it off, we never know what tomorrow will bring!!!! If I can not continue, I have had some really enjoyable times with the freedom i had on the road. Some want to just travel and camp; I want to travel and work camp because I have met some real lifetime friends; gained some more friends on these forums that I hope to get to see in the near future.
Cheryl,
Terry has suggested this to several people and we have done it ourselves. Check out trailer parks. We stayed in one in our 25' TT for the month of Nov '11 while between houses. Five years ago we stayed in one three months while between houses. Here, they run about $2-300 per month with utilities.
As far as what to live in, if you have settled on only one specific floor plan, it might be more difficult unless there are several of them in your immediate area. DW and I both have veto power on floorplans but, between Keystone, Heartland, and Forest River, we have found five we have mutally agreed upon. So, it shouldn't be hard to find one on short notice.
Hope this helps. Good luck on selling your house.
Vance
Welcome. We plan to sell our home to close no earlier than June 1 for tax reasons so I have been going thru all the similar feelings but sooooo looking forward to full timing.
Before I retired I had a 92 year old father here in AZ who had been recently widowed and he asked me to move closer. I had a significant (for me) position for a small national golf wholesaler in Cleveland. A friend suggested I telecommute as our business was all computer dependent anyway. I searched online for a telecommute proposal template and found an excellent one for about $29.00. I downloaded and personalized it and submitted it to my boss. It was very well done and took some time as it was very thorough. Took him a little while to get used to the idea and some negotiating about who would pay which expenses but he finally agreed. No problem getting access to the main database from my new location. You might want to consider that.
I agree with Terry & Jo that one needs to be careful on Craigslist or anywhere else on the net, but find it a great resource if one just uses their head and is street smart. We tend to hear the negative not the positive experiences. I ALWAYS hear from scammers when I post something but just hit delete. I also hope you did your research for comps in your area as I often find FSBO listings are priced on the high side.
Best of luck with all your decisions!
Sherry who is Sheryl with an S
If you tell me to meet you in a parking lot , you will be there by yourself.......always a physical adress.......and always see Identification before buying......possession of stolen property is as bad as stealing it in most states!!!
I mostly buy motorhomes on craigslist and sell them.........I have yet to meet a scammer or thief.......they are the ones that I require to bring cash or we go to your bank and withdraw cash........then I take the cash and wire it to my bank in a separate transaction!!