Inching forward

With M working much more these days, there is just no time to get any of the improvement projects done.  I've decided to move ahead and contact a few contractors for cost estimates.  Hopefully it will come within the budget and we'll be able to hire someone to do some of the heavier work, such as laying the laminate floor and painting the entranceway.  Would love to get listed by the spring.

Meanwhile, starting to have 2nd thoughts about the type of RV we'll need.  We're really trying to get a good picture of what "a day in the life" will look like - what kind of setting will we live in mostly, how often will we need to move?  If M keeps his current job (which is the plan), we go wherever the work is, so it could be several times a week.  On Shabbat, we hope to stay at as many Chabad Houses as possible.  Hitching and unhitching, as well as finding a place to park a huge rig just doesn't seem practical.  We may need to consider living in a smaller Class C and giving up some of the luxury (like the fireplace and lots of leg and storage room).  Ultimately, one huge deciding factor will be how much we sell the house for and how much is left over for the purchase.  But also how we live needs to be considered as well.

Nothing new to report

Just a little update.  Have had the High Holidays and then building the sukkah take precedence over everything.  M continues to fix the outside stairs.  I thought that would take a day or 2; looks like a month or 2 long project for him.  Hopefully now that the holidays are almost over (next week we will take down the sukkah and finish cleaning up the pool deck), then we can devote our entire spare (ha ha!!) time to the inside - mostly replacing the flooring and painting.  I have taken on the task of putting all the giveaway stuff onto Craigslist.

Disappointment

Not that it should have come as such a surprise, but the folks who looked at the house last week couldn't even make an offer as it would have been too low for us to even pay off the mortgage.  I guess that's how all these "we buy ugly houses for cash" operations work.  Since we don't have the funds to hire contractors, and with both of us working (mostly) full time, we don't have the time to get all the improvements/repairs done, we were hoping to find someone who was willing to buy for a nice discount and take over the work themselves (we don't have to get top dollar -- just enough to pay off the mortgage, a few debts, have enough of a cushion for the first year, and obviously, enough to buy the rig and truck).  There's really nothing structurally wrong with the 30 yr old house - just needs a lot of aesthetic work like new flooring and painting.  Plus many of the rooms were used as offices or storage so they don't look very pristine as it should when showing it via a realtor.

We were also hoping to avoid a realtor as the closing costs and commission will greatly eat into whatever extra profit there might be.  But if we want to sell, we'll have to go that route.  Sigh.  As I always say, "God's will in God's time."

FIgured out the road map

Not sure if this is a good or bad character trait of mine (I suppose a little of both) - that I need to have every aspect of everything planned out to the max.  (At least I'm learning how to deal with the reality that nothing ever goes according to plan and not letting myself get too stressed out when I'm blown off track).  But that being said, I've been trying to figure out next steps once the house gets sold.  I don't really want to buy the rig and then park it somewhere near my office so that I can continue working.  That just defeats the entire purpose of full timing.  So here is what I think makes the most sense:

1. sell the house and pay off mortgage and debts.
2. Move to a small apartment near my workplace- either studio or 1 BR (to get used to living in a smaller space).  Furnished preferred, but we can keep some furniture if necessary.  Make sure it can be rented on a short term basis (ideal = 3 months at a time).
3. Give boss heads up that I'll be leaving/retiring within a fixed period of time - which is as soon as we take delivery of the RV.
4. While living in the apt - do serious shopping around for the RV and truck (money to buy it should be in the bank from proceeds of house sale).
5. Be ready to start our new chapter as soon as we take delivery of the vehicles -- when we drive it off the lot!!!

Moving ahead?

We have someone coming to look at the house tomorrow.  It's actually a company called HomeVestors (aka "We Buy Ugly Houses").  But they seem to fall into the strategy we have anyway - which is to sell the house at a discounted rate for someone who will take over the repairs and upgrades.  This company specializes in that.  Will they come up with an insult or a good offer?  Time will tell.  Of course, if it IS a good offer, we have to wait until at least January 2012 as we have a contract with a realtor until then.

After the PA Rally

Big thanks to Linda and Howard Payne of RV-Dreams.com for putting together an AWESOME rally.  Although the seminars were very intense, they were also very informative.  We met many new friends and found a great deal in common with the full-timing crowd.  There is no doubt that this is the lifestyle we choose to have, and we really can't wait (we are so revved up) to get this new chapter started already!!!  We decided as soon as we have a few extra dollars, we will invest in the home warranty program and then get on the multiple listing.  Really gotta get the sale of this house moving along!

So far, the option is still a fifth wheel and perhaps a scooter/moped for local trips, but of course all depends on how much we can sell for and how much is left over afterwards.

Moving Along

Not very quickly,  though.  We did spend much of the summer maintaining the pool rather than working on the house, but so far the bottom stairs are 90% complete and the upper steps are 50%, and 3/4 of the water damaged ceilings were painted.

In just a few days we leave for our first RV rally in Hershey PA.  There are 116 people expected to be there, with workshops covering pretty much any and every topic imaginable to learn about RV'ing and full timing.  We're very excited.

We have also given more thought about working on the road.  Currently I'm sold on the concept of temporary tatoos, to be done at street fairs and similar venues.  Mitch will still do his computer gigs, plus the pension, plus perhaps some workamping along the way for free lodging.  This is much more exciting (and has greater $ potential) than office temping.  Then again, our minds can still change, or we can both since fairs are more often on the weekends.

We really do need to put a lot of work into selling the house.  Mitch suggested that we should rent an apt. and buy a low end RV (class B) that we would use on weekends, to get a feel.  I don't think that would be anywhere near the same as fulltiming for many reasons, among which are 1) the space we'd live in will be much bigger and more comfortable, 2) we could come and go as we please with no time pressure whereas 3) I'd still need to keep my job in order to pay the rent so we'd be limited to weekends only with an occasional vacation thrown in, 4) since we wouldn't drive on Shabbat, that really limits the places we can go.  So although it would be fun to go camping in an RV, it would not show us anything near what full time living would be like.

I hope to post again after the rally.

Moving forward

I guess I should spend more time updating this blog. Since my last post, we also visited the RV show in North Carolina (while visiting dear daughter as well).  Still planning on the 5th wheel; possibly even a toy hauler 5th wheel.  As of now, the plan of action is to do whatever we need to get the house ready for market.  Once we go to closing and have the $ in our hands, we will live in a short term apt. or long term hotel while seriously searching for our new RV home.

So now all the research has been done and our course has been set.  Now it's time to turn on the engine and move forward.  Which we are doing now.  We started with the first room of the house: the dining room by removing all the junk from drawers and painting.  We will be selling the extra sofa bed (someone's coming over the weekend to pick it up) and will be putting the huge file cabinet for sale tomorrow.  We are emptying the fish tank and are trying to sell that as well.  We see now how emotional this can be, especially items of sentimental value (like kid's "art") that have no sale value and just take up space.

We have also just (almost) made the decision to take the pool down.  In any event, we know we have to sell the house as it's too large for the 2 of us and too expensive (and pain in the neck) to upkeep.  There's still a (very small) chance we'll land up renting a townhouse apartment, but since we've been talking about retiring to an RV for 25 years, we will keep that dream in front of us.  It's just getting a little scary now that we're starting to take action.

Narrowed down the choices

We went to the RV show in Atlantic City today. We went in with the notion that we were looking at Class A or C's, but left being very sure it'll be a fifth wheeler.  I think the Class A's, which are really customized buses, are ugly and too big and the C's are much too small to live in full time.  Although the 5th wheel needs to be hitched (i.e. your living room is not behind the driver's seat), I think the floor plans were actually much more liveable.  We narrowed it down to a few manufacturers.

Next step now is getting the house prepped for sale.  When we actually do this will be dependent on how long that takes.  I just hope we can get as much as we need.

The Start of "The Next Chapter"

We are ready to begin planning for the next chapter in our lives -- early retirement. M retired from ATT 8 years ago, although we are only 53 now (well, I still have 2 more weeks!). We are now empty nesters and there is too much house for us, besides which it is getting too expensive.

What should we do when we sell the house? It's too expensive to live here in NJ and our darling daughter lives in NC. We were thinking of renting a townhouse down there, but remembered a very long term dream we've had -- retiring to an RV. Well... we did some figuring and realized this doesn't have to be a fantasy at all. It is, in fact, very doable, especially if we take M's pension, and we both work to supplement it. His independent contractor work can easily be found anywhere in the country, and I can do administrative temp work, also anywhere USA.

So... we are meeting with a realtor within the next week or 2 to assess the worth of our house, and how much of an investment we'll need to fix it up (and what we'd get back in value). We are attending an RV show tomorrow and have already been doing lots of research on being "full timers" (people who live in motor homes full time). I know there are plenty of RV blogs, but hey, what's another one?