Hello From Clearwater Florida - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Sharkskinner · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hello From Clearwater Florida

mikeway · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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. smile

Sharkskinner · RV-Dreams Community Member

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 idea

Froggi · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Family Member

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 · RV-Dreams Community Member

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 idea

Happy trails

Free Spirit · RV-Dreams Community Member

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