Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
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Well, we have been using an RV for work, for about a year now. We are in it 4 days a week and about a month and a half ago, we decided we were house slaves. And the journey begins. We put the house up for sale, and guess what.......it sold! Now what? We have to get a bigger RV, because the one we have is quite old, no slide outs, but very usefull for what it was. SO......we have so many questions
1. what do you do first, get the domicile in place, I would assume.
2. why doesn' anyone use New Hampshire for a domicile, no state or sales tax. There has to be a reason, that no one uses this state.
3. Are there companies that help you find exactly what you are looking for in a used model. And if so, can they arrange transportation.
4. Our house closes in two weeks, and we are getting rid of just about everything. I would like to keep some art. Is it easy to install in RV's. Also, do you keep your stoneware dishes, wine glasses etc.
5. What about health insurance???
6. Are there any other questions I should be asking?
Well, we have been using an RV for work, for about a year now. We are in it 4 days a week and about a month and a half ago, we decided we were house slaves. And the journey begins. We put the house up for sale, and guess what.......it sold! Now what? We have to get a bigger RV, because the one we have is quite old, no slide outs, but very usefull for what it was. SO......we have so many questions
1. what do you do first, get the domicile in place, I would assume.
2. why doesn' anyone use New Hampshire for a domicile, no state or sales tax. There has to be a reason, that no one uses this state.
3. Are there companies that help you find exactly what you are looking for in a used model. And if so, can they arrange transportation.
4. Our house closes in two weeks, and we are getting rid of just about everything. I would like to keep some art. Is it easy to install in RV's. Also, do you keep your stoneware dishes, wine glasses etc.
5. What about health insurance???
6. Are there any other questions I should be asking?
No mail forwarding service in New Hampshire that provides a legal, physical address. That's the reason most full timers use Fl, SD, or TX.
Don't know of any concierge service for buying a used RV. And do you really want someone else picking out your home?
Yes, you need health insurance. Again, look at the states that service full timers.
Yes, there are loads of other questions you need to ask, such as full timers insurance, matching truck & fifth wheel, etc.
i'd suggest that you put everything you think you might want take with you in a storage shedd and get some temporary housing while looking for a fulltime rig. It takes time to get everything set up.
Barb
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Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
I live in New Hampshire and am pretty bummed we can't use it as a home state...couple of issues I have found. No mail forwarding but we could ask a friend or but more importantly is the need to come back every year to get our vehicles inspected. We are planning on spending most of our time out West so that is very impractical. It's a shame because I love my doctors here and am not thrilled with having to find a new primary
If you are going to finance a part of your RV you should do so before closing on your house. Many lenders are reluctant to underwrite an RV loan for a full timer.
When buying you will need to consider buying local with no sales tax (do you have personal property tax) with that if getting a lower prices at some of bigger dealers like Lazy Days, Davis MH, etc. Be sure to shop around and take in all the costs associated with the buy.
No, don't keep your stone ware. Corell is sooo much lighter, won't break as easy, and stores in a much smaller space.
Cookware, look at the nesting type that many boaters use. We use Rapid Chef because it works with our induction cook top. I think the site www.galleyware.com has various types of cookware.
With some planning you'll find that you will have more space in the MH than you actually need.
Just some thoughts to get you started.
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Paul & Kathy
2014 Phaeton 42LH
"When the time comes to look back, make sure you will like what you see"
There's a lot of stuff that will need to come together in short time, and picking out a new house is a very personal decision. And while I do believe there are such services, I know I wouldn't want a broker doing that for me. Unless you've already toured & researched other RVers and have things narrowed down to specific models... there's really no substitute for being inside and really feeling the space.
Why not move into the existing RV, but view it as a trial phase while you seek out your ideal next home? Or move into a temporary housing situation while you get all the pieces together, as was suggested above?
For the other stuff..
Remember, you can always keep what you think you need and purge later for what doesn't work in your eventual new home. It's really hard to predict what to keep and not if you don't have your RV already in your driveway so you can try it out during the purging process. RV storage space and construction styles can vary widely, so it's not as easy as saying 'this works in an RV' and 'this doesn't'. We've had 3 different RVs over our 8 years of full timing, and only a few things we started out were able to advance with us through the years due to size & space.
Yes, you'll need to figure out the domicile & mail forwarding issue pretty quickly, a lot of folks prefer to do that before buying their new RV especially if sales tax rates & registration processes will impact things. Here's our article with considerations for selecting a state of domicile: www.technomadia.com/domicile (which is part our series of articles going over a bunch of the logistics of preparing to full time.)
You'll also want to evaluate your banking situation, to make sure you have ample remote access. Make sure your business setup is correct for your new mobile lifestyle (if you're self employed). Have full timer's insurance on the RV. And get setup with health insurance that covers you (RVer Health Insurance is a great resource.. you'll see their ads at the top and bottom of this page.)
Best wishes.. and don't forget to breath :)
- Cherie
I think several people have answered or provided suggestions on many of your questions.
If you have no sales tax where you currently live, buying while you are still a resident of the state will provide a short term benefit. If you move your domicile to another state, many states will collect sales tax based on their current rates if you haven't paid at least that % amount. For example, we were WA residents, paid 9.5% in sales tax, moved domicile to SD which has a 6% rate so we didn't pay any additional sales tax. If we had only paid 4% or something less than 6% we would have had to pay the difference. Each state is different, so you will need to research this.
We brought our stemless wine glasses and correll ware.
We had very little art work that "fit" in our RV, we did have some artwork in our previous TT that we brought along and are slowly accumulating more as we travel the country. Our biggest issue with art work was size, very limited wall space in our RV compared to the home, I can fit a 5x7 print, the old 11x17 size just didn't work any more. We've used the command strips to hang most of our art work, so we don't have anything very heavy on the walls.
We just paid our annual registration on the new fiver in New Hampshire and it was $1500 YIKES!!! That's a pretty good reason to not make New Hampshire your domicle
If you are going to finance a part of your RV you should do so before closing on your house. Many lenders are reluctant to underwrite an RV loan for a full timer. .
We just financed our new Fiver and were told under no circumstances tell the bank we were planning on living in it full -time because it would make getting the loan very difficult. apparently banksdon't like when their collateral is a moving target and worry you could "disappear"