IMHO-- any thought of maintaining some sort of home base would strictly be a decision based on your pecular situations.  Have goods friend who have gone both ways.  Some have divested themselves of everything and enjoyed the on the road full timing.  Then at some future date they have re-established a home base for various reasons. Doesn't mean that they didn't like the full time experience, just means that people and their priorities change.   Again some have maintained a home base and relied on family members to use or maintain . 

Remember life changes may cause  you to alter the best laid plans.  Again circumstances/cost may dictate. In our case, we built in a very nice section of town that has maintained its value/appeal. Being a fair sized brick, A/C  house,  built in the early 50's for $18K and by good fortune was paid for in 3 years, the house is now valued at about 15 x that $$$.  Senior exemption/freezes have been in affect for 21 years so tax cost is less than $1K a year. 

With the various time outs for family or health reasons it was a good decision for us. It allowed us to maintain relationships with close friends/activities we have cherished for 50 - 60 years.   We still were able to enjoy the life style 200 to 300 days a year and have a place of respite when needed.

good luck in "your" decision what ever it will be, nothing is cast in concret

 

john       

-- Edited by jomago at 12:54, 2007-01-14

Tmcblane gives good advice in "It's not really about the cost but the convenience of having a place to stay." Here’s another thought. Are there any "ownership" campgrounds in the area? That might be a way to 1) eliminate maintenance of a home/lot and 2) earn some rental income while you are not using it. Just a thought.

I worked on this issue hard for more than 10 years and each time I went through the math, I could never get it to come out. I really would like to have had a site like you are describing so I tried many times to make it work out. Some of the things I considered were as follows:

1. Initial cost of purchasing land and building the RV site.
(This will vary depending on where you put down or you may already own property and whether there are utilities already available.)

2. Taxes.
(Will again vary on where)

3. Upkeep on the property
(Mowing of grass, etc.)

4. Insurance.
(You need to protect yourself with some liability insurance just in case someone gets hurt on your property, and to protect your investment.)

5. Utilites.
(Initial hook ups can be very expensive if the site doesn't already have stuff like water, electric and sewer services. There may also be minimum monthly charges even though you may not be there. If you pick a place without city utilities you will have to put in a well and a septic system. These items aren't amintenance free.)

6. Concern about possible missuse and/or vandalism.
(a concern for me when we weren't around)

When I compared all of that to the cost of a couple of months at an RV park, well suffice it to say we do not have a home base site. Every time I went through the process, I found that the taxes alone were close to a couple of months at an RV park. It wasn't just the cost either. Maintianing the site, mowing, raking leaves, etc, just aren't what I want to spend my time doing. If it were, we probably would not be full-timers.

Of course what is right for you is what counts. I just wanted to mention what we went through when considering the same option and why we made the decision we did. We wish you happiness in whatever you do!

This questiion can be to ones own liking..I guess.  When we decided to full time it in our fiver' a home in the background was not to be.  That is what full timing is all about.  However, since we love New Mexico (which is considered our home base) our UPS store where our mail goes is there plus some of our collectibles are stored there....owning land is an investment and an expense you do have to maintain it plus considering taxes.  In our case this is something we want no part of right now in our lives.

southwestjudy & Bob & 2blackdogs

Hi Doncat,  We just done what your thinking about.   As  Bjoyce said that rubber band is stronger on every trip.  We sold out stick house,  and prior to selling I was very luck to have a great father in-law that gave us land to develope our home base.   We had to do a lot of clearing of large trees and site work.   Then we had a sewer system installed and a 200 amp electric system put in and also a 50 amp box for our 5th wheel.   With all the site work,  Bull Dozer work and back hoe work, also we had a lot of rock and gravel put down.  We don't want much yard work.   We also have a place to build a small house in the future.   Out of pocket money was $10,000,  keep in mind I did a lot of the work myself,   I ran over 500' of water line and did all the rock and gravel work.  But we have a Million Dollar view,  and its paid for.   And our taxes is next to nothing.   Thats one reason we moved to that location.   We are also out in the country,  45 minutes from the nearest Wally World.   We have a excellent highway system,  and have very little traffic.   If you see 5 vehicle's a day its unusual.   Go go our web site and take a look.    http://www.webspawner.com/users/lnhdch   Good Luck....GBY..         

Just an update....... my investment advisor suggest that I do not sell my house and buy an RV,  she says the depreciation will tear my nest egg apart. I guess that is why they call them advisors.  I think if I sell my house and safely invest the equity then if I want to get into another house when I'm 90 then I can. I may not have all my nest egg, but I will worry about that when I am 100!  .............. Doncat

LLL,......... That is the way I am thinking of going. Sounds great, I just need to work about 5 more years to reach some financial goals and then I am going to make the move. 

Lee     know several people were from various other states that belong to "ESCAPEES" and use the LIVINGSTON TX address as their TX address for residence .   As iI understand it this is just a box No.   Don't know all the info, but maybe some others on here do. 
Just a suggestion.

We have given this a lot of thought. We thought about keeping the house to come home to, but there are the taxes, maintenance (grass cutting, etc.), utilities, insurance and on and on...that's out.

Then I thought about building a "barn-domenium" which is simply a large barn or storage building. I figured we could design it so that we could pull the rig into the barn and convert one side of the storage into living quarters and the other side for storage of "stuff" that we don't want to take on the road with us. Again, we would have the taxes, less for maintenance because it would be out of the city area, so grass would not have to be maintained as much, utilities, insurance and so on....that's out too.

We have decided to use one of our kid's home address as ours. That way, we can pay them for mail forwarding-bill paying will be done by computer while on the road-which will give us a good reason to return to see the grandsons.