High fuel prices and low real estate values - RV-Dreams Community Forum

foxriverguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

High fuel prices and low real estate values

Loralie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi George and Sandy!
My husband and I are in a similar situatiion. After researching and studying for the last couple of years, we are getting close to our 'freedom' date. I am a teacher and will leave at the end of this school year. Lee will continue to work until January 09. Longer if we don't sell the house! It is certainly a scary thing to think about the house selling/or not selling. Our house is a rather unique one and so will need just the right family.
We are also worried about gas costs, but have dialed into our budget (Lee prefers 'spending plan') for 10,000 miles a year at a top cost of 4$ a gallon and an average of 10 mpg. Beyond $4 and we stay put even longer, do more workamping or more boondocking. Either way, we are really excited about getting on the road!
We bought a Saturn Vue to use as a toad and then after more research switched to a fifth wheel and have just bought a used set (2006) in Arizona. We go out next week to drive it back to De.

wmalefyt · RV-Dreams Family Member

Add us to the wannabe list!

We have a condo in Naples, FL to sell before we buy our 5th wheel and truck. Due to the slumping real estate market in this area and some health issues we have decided to wait another year.

I don't think that rising fuel prices will stop us, maybe slow us down and make us stay longer in some places which isn't all bad. It will give us more time to explore the local area. We may also try some workamping.

We do expect to take much less for our condo than we could have gotten 2 years ago. Just wish we had gotten the full-time bug back then! However, there is so much real estate on the market that it's hard to get people to even look, at least that is what we have heard as we don't have ours on the market yet. We do want to be debt free once we sell the condo and pay cash for the truck and 5th wheel, so there is a bottom line number that we must clear to do this and still have a cushion to fall back on down the road.

The other factor is the stock market. We are retired and need some income from our IRA's to supplement our income. Right now the stock market is in somewhat of a tail spin, which I hope is short lived. Our financial adviser tells us that they expect a late year end rally, but take that for what's worth which isn't much! biggrin

In the meantime we're not getting any younger and the clock is ticking.

I would guess that used RV's will come down in price as people get anxious to unload them. However, I don't expect new ones to get cheaper but in fact go up in price as they cope with increased costs for labor and parts like every other business. I suppose most manufacturers will try to hold the line on prices as long as possible. We may just adjust our sights on a nice nearly new 5th wheel instead of a new one, but that remains to be seen.

Lots to think about!

Good luck with your dream! Let's hope we can all meet at the 2009 RV-Dreams Rally to celebrate reaching our goal!!!

-- Edited by wmalefyt at 19:20, 2008-03-07

Donna162 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well.....we have been wanting to full time since about November or December 2006 (that's when I decided to retire early--retired 1 May 2007). We are still waiting because we can't really afford to sell our house for much lower than what we originally listed it for in November of 2006 and be debt free (a must for us to enjoy the full time life). It still hasn't sold and we have had very few lookers. We actually haven't had it listed with a realtor since last summer...we have had a For Sale By Owner sign in the yard (there are houses all around us for sale with lots of different realtors). We were going to list again this spring but after looking at prices in the area, have decided to wait to list again until the prices go back up (hopefully they will). In the meantime, we continue to pay on it and our Jeep Liberty (tow vehicle) and maybe they will pay down enough that we can lower the price on the house. Have thought of different options such as renting the house but do not want the responsibility of maintaining it....isn't the freedom from those responsibilities what a lot of full timing is all about! We'll wait but as Bill said "we aren't getting any younger and we also feel like the clock is ticking". I'm very impatient!!!

As to the gas issue, I think we plan just to sit longer in the places we visit or travel to if we run out of gas money. I've been working on the budget alot and plan to budget for emergencies or such as a backup. I think we will pretty much know how much each month we will have to spend on gas and just won't be able to go over that amount. When you are enjoying life as much as we expect to do when we start full timing, does it really matter if you have to sit in one place for a while before moving on....I don't think it will matter to us after sitting in one town for all of our previous life!!!

Speedhitch · RV-Dreams Family Member

Donna, very well put. I like your thinking. We are in the exact same situation you are in. We too have to get a certain amount for our house in order to pay off all debts and be able to live on the amount of money we will get. We want that insurance in our bank account for any emergency that may crop up. I believe you can stay in one place for a while and see the sites and experience the adventures there! You do not have to be on the road 24 7 to enjoy life. Save up a little for those long hauls and then start over. That is the beauty of this life. Hey maybe we will meet up and spend some time together. If we stay in one spot long enough no telling who you might get to know????

Thanks for your input

Joe and Sherri

Grant · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just a comment on “Do you think RV prices will drop if fewer people are able to afford the cost of fuel?”Back in the 70s during the “great gas crunch” many RV manufactures went out of business. If RV manufactures and dealers don’t get enough buyers to cover overhead they will have no choice but to go out of business. No doubt used RV prices will drop as more and more people try to unload their RVs.

phyllen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our goal to FT is 2/1/09. We plan to retire 1/31/09. I am old enough for SS, Len is not. He has two more years. However, he gets a small state pension of about $800/mth.

We moved some investments to annuities and will only draw down at the most 1,000 a month. We are fortunate in that we have enough put away and trust the market will rebound. Also plan on workamping some. (Looking forward to that!). Once he gets his SS, we will in good shape. Biggest worry will be cost of his medica insurance. I will be old enough by then for Medicare.

Like most of you, this all depends on house selling. We will try to sell it ourselves for the next two months. Then, it goes on the market. We owe little on it so proceeds will be put in CDs for when we can no longer FT and need to buy again. Fifth wheel is paid for. Only thing we owe is on the 2006 F250. We got it at 0% financing so have not rushed to pay it off. But we will before hitting the road.

As far as fuel costs - we will play it by ear. We plan on staying 2 -4 weeks each stop.

We all will be just fine! Keep the faith! Phyllis

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi!

I't am sorry that I don't have any concrete data to give you. When one is contemplating the future, one can only guess as to what will happen and concrete data is hard to come by. We live in a totally different society that what existed in the early 70's when the gasoline shortage occurred.

Let me address the first question first. Yes, I do believe that the cost of fuel will adversely affect the way folks use their RV's. More of the used ones will probably lose value and the sale of new ones will probably go down. Unfortunately, as stated before this will adversely affect the entire industry. Some marginal manufacturers will probably go out of business. In the long run that could be good or bad. Only time will tell.
Three years ago, when I worked up our budget for full timing, I figured in fuel at $6 per gallon. Now I really never thought it would get that high, but now I'm not too sure. If the price of fuel should continue to escalate, we will simply stay longer and chose our travel intervals a little more wisely.

As for the second question, we never counted on using the money from the sale of our home for expenses. We felt that, in the event some thing unforeseen were to occur that would force us to stop full timing, we would need the money from the sale of the home to buy us another. The RV will depreciated so we couldn't count on it being worth very much. We still feel it is unwise to spend the money from the sale of your home. Invest it instead as you may need it later! Selling out is a personal decision as many folks cannot afford to maintian a home and travel too. It seemed unwise to us to do so since the cost of maintenance on the home, insurance, taxes, etc. would continue to escalate too, and maintenance would become a bigger issue if we were gone all the time.

After a little over 3 years on the road, we are certain that we made the right decisions.

foxriverguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Great answers from all of you. A state-of-the-art crystal ball would sure help out here biggrin

.