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Anyone try living in a park model RV or a mobile home in the place you get away to? How did that work out for you? I am aware that these types of structures depreciate, as opposed to most houses, condos, etc.
SUPER popular in FL. I'd guess not for single women, though. Mobile homes are, too, and somehow they stay standing for decades in many cases.
My "next door" neighbor property, age qualified RV park and it's nice! :
Residents with lot leases pay $420/month for lake front, $410/month for a standard lot.
Co-op shares are available for home owners at $27,000. Monthly Co-op fee is $160.00.
It's not considered a home in FL - it's under motor vehicles law.
Like other places, it seems this park is promoting some factory build manufactured homes now instead of just being all RVs. But I don't know much about it first hand.
Last edited by runswithscissors; 01-18-2018 at 08:33 AM..
We lived in Central Illinois most of our lives and spent a lot of time in Chicago because we have family there.
We got tired of lousy weather most of the time (not very many good days of weather). Moved to Naples, Fl where it is absolutely gorgeous about 6 months of the year. A bit hot a few of the before and after summer months and absolutely horrendously hot and humid for at least 4 months (June-September).
We have become reverse snowbirds. Now we rent a house in Chicago for a few months (August and September) whehn the weather is usually very nice there.
We have two dogs, so that means we have to drive 1,300 miles each way and rentals are harder to find and more expensive.
Make sure you want to live somewhere before you move. Florida is not Illinois and vice versa.
Up North
1. Taxes up North don't diminish 2. Heating concerns
3. Security concerns at empty house
4. Travel expenses.
5. Minimum electric bills.
Down South
1. All of the above expenses
Your comment about heating concerns in the north made me think of my sister's recent email below.
Quote:
C's cousin who lives in Webster MA just told us about their neighbor's house pipes being frozen due to the severe weather there last weekend.
They had a new furnace installed last year, on automatic delivery of propane to the house. They were away for a few weeks. As it was too cold, the furnace burnt up propane very fast. Delivery company got backed up -- and also due to the bad weather / lots of snow, didn't deliver propane on time so the furnace quit.
They had Internet access to watch the house and control the furnace thinking everything was OK as the thermostat showed a 40F temperature in the house. What happened was that the thermostat has a 40F lower limit -- the temperature in the house dropped to 20F and some sort of alarm went off, alerting C's cousin to go to the house and checked for them and found out that the house was freezing inside and the furnace had quit.
They will have to replace the furnace, all the pipes as well as the toilels, and not sure what else.
So, long story short -- there are limits to electronic gadgets.
Your comment about heating concerns in the north made me think of my sister's recent email below.
There’s limits to electronics and with home checkers.
We were advised not to go below 55 degrees in the house. Having time to get someone in the house for repairs before the temps go critically low was the main reason. 40 degrees leaves a very short window of opportunity for repairs and getting parts during freezing or below temps.
We were on natural gas, so didn’t need to worry about propane or oil being delivered. We had a yearly contract for our boiler and gave the company a key to our house, so no need to involve the neighbors and co-ordinate times for a repairman to get there. In five years we had one repair needed. On my daily check I noticed the temp had dropped two degrees and the set temp never varied at all. I got service in right away.
It’s easy to have eyes and ears on another residence now with electronics. Having someone check on the house once a week doesn’t help if the heat fails after their check. By the time they come for the next visit, the pipes could be frozen. That’s why we decided to go with a WiFi thermostat. Nothing is infallible, and having a good relationship with neighbors for back up is advisable.
It's funny to me you define "decent" as a dollar figure - you didn't provide any info on what YOU consider decent LIVING. I'm talking about decent LIVING. But then you jump to anything below $1500 in America as homeless shelter living.
I said there must be a reason that you chose your foreign land other than economics. Women? Cheap labor? "Hobbies"? Some type of business? Ex Military and you're comfortable there? Enjoy dog meat dinners? Medical care because you have a terminal illness or plastic surgery addiction (LOL)?
BTW, I've lived in a foreign land and you couldn't pay me enough to do it again. Vacationed for months at a time for many years - then finally "moved". It's NEVER the same when you "permanently relocate". And I even speak the language and had native family there, too. And it was an EU country, not some more far east version. Starting with the substandard toilet paper and having to put a penny under the fuse in the fusebox to make the water heat up. Thank God we could shop at the military base for American products because the stores had half Soviet Union crap and less than half random American. BTW my family members are doctors and professors at the major University and they come HERE for any serious issues they many have. You want a car there? Great, you pay for a Russian car or perhaps Italian if you have money but if you import one from the US you pay a $20,000 import tax. Even an old used car.
When I was there with my baby he got bronchitis. My cousin, a renown pediatrician and university professor prescribed Garamycin. I had a PDR with me and panicked. Called my pediatrician in the US who asked me: "Runs, is he dying? We only prescribe that IV for the most serious cases".
We went with something we got at the US base, instead.
Your choices here are not $1500 per month or squatting in a homeless shelter for less.
Just for starters there is an abundance of housing here where you pay 30% of what your income is. The minimum payment is $25.00. Seniors can live very comfortably for say, $325 per month rent including utilities. And many of those properties are for "frail" seniors with supportive services on site. We even have them in my wealthy FL county and we have a FREE bus transit system. AND tons of community health care services.
So let's not exaggerate, okay?
It's okay if you don't want to reveal why you made that choice. It's a rare American who can culturally assimilate in foreign countries, especially the far East.
Many of the snowbirds in the Destin area, buy a second/third condo/home here and then rent it out for 6-9 months. The year-round market here allows many to pay their mortgage and produce a profit - as well as appreciate in equity towards a potential full-time retirement home.
Unfortunately for those of us who live here full-time, we're faced with year-round tourist traffic. About the only semi-downtime seems to be Oct-Dec, but, even that draws tourists.
The problem with Destin is that it can get quite cold there, as it has recently.
The problem with Destin is that it can get quite cold there, as it has recently.
Boy ... isn't that the truth! The Destin weather is more akin to L.A. (lower Alabama), than the rest of Florida below the Panhandle. That said, thousands of snowbirds and vacationers still pack the rental condos year-round.
While we often shiver in our sweaters and wonder why people would come here in the 'winter,' one doesn't have to look much further than the beach to see Northerners frolicking on the beach in their swimwear. In looking back, I remember we did the same thing when we moved to Florida in November almost 45-years ago.
Yes, you can live in a comfortable way with all the amenities as a westerner is used to, here in a foreign land. And you can live here much more cheaply than anywhere in the US, just what level are you willing to accept. I found my decent level at about $1500 and that is my meaning of decent, it may not be yours. Some people consider squatting at a homeless shelter decent and that's fine with me also.
Same here, e-z. Our "level" is around $1,500 too, but often much less. It's one way around the prohibitive cost (for many) of retiring in the U.S. I find it stimulating to get out of one's comfort zone sometimes.
We snowbird in our Rv. Much cheaper than trying to purchase and maintain two properties. Or you could keep one property, and either buy a park model in an rv park or travel one season in the rv.
We snowbird in our Rv. Much cheaper than trying to purchase and maintain two properties. Or you could keep one property, and either buy a park model in an rv park or travel one season in the rv.
You assume the majority of us like camping, we do not. We prefer a proper home with a proper neighborhood and stability. Being nomads in our later years, living in a pre-fabricated home, a trailer or a mobile tent may be fine for an extended vacation, but not for a permanent retirement, at least not fir us. Being forced into that way of life for financial reasons not withstanding, but by choice is a different matter.
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