Basically for my entire life I have lived on the move. When I was a kid I lived in Colorado, Texas, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, and Connecticut. The further breakdown is (I think) one town in Colorado, 3-4 towns in Texas, one town in New Hampshire and Vermont, and Virginia, and two towns in Connecticut.
That brings me to 18 yrs old at which point I join the military. Then it was boot camp in Paris Island, MOS school in Virginia, first duty station is Japan, and next duty station in North Carolina. That duty station was a deploy-able duty so that included small stints (less than six months) in California, Spain, on ship, Iraq, and Kuwait.
After my service it was back to Connecticut for college. Simple, right? Stay in one town to attend school? Oh no, not me. Again I was moving all over the place, three different towns in that time.
Then it's after college and I'm off to Hawaii for four whole years!!! (and three apartments) But then back to Virginia (do we see a pattern?), onto California (currently located) and next it's the Big Easy!! New Orleans that is.
And those are just where I lived - gathered mail, got an apartment, etc. It doesn't take into consideration everywhere that I have visited. We can save that list for another day. Suffice it to say, it's an extensive list.
It is time to embrace the fact that I live a nomadic life and to get the wheels to match. I'm making my full time home an RV.
There is an awful lot to think about when getting your first RV. Can I live in a small space? Can I deal with and do the maintenance involved with power, water, and engine? Can my finances take it given the RV as a home is different from an actual home. An actual home appreciates in value, equity. An RV devalues over time so you basically lose whatever money you put into it. To me, owning an RV is managing the money loss with the value of not paying rent as well as the value of not paying to move my stuff all the time.
**Side bar: I can pay to move all or some of my stuff. Or I can get rid of everything and just go with two suitcases. Which is what I did through out my 20's. I am frankly too old for two suitcases. I have hobbies, momentous, and just things that I need for everyday living that I'm sick of replacing every time I move. My life simply doesn't fit into two suitcases any more.**
I have no experience with RVs. I don't have an idea of the range of prices; whats expensive, whats cheap. Don't know the difference between the types. I've read some stuff on other folks blogs about living in one. What I need is to see some to get a frame of reference. To the dealership!!
Initially I just wanted to get the lay of the RV land. I looked at all of the types; travel trailers and Class A and B's. Asked lots of questions. Brought a friend who was also interested in RVs. And did some internet research. On day one of dealership shopping I fell in love with a gorgeous affair with lots of space, beautiful decor, big wardrobe, the whole nine yards. It was a Class C (self driving motor home that is most similar to a moving truck whereas a Class A is like a tour bus). There were tons of cool features like powered jacks to level the sucker, sway control so big trucks on the highway don't, well, sway you as they pass on by. Etc. It was also $95K. Which is about $900/month. I now know what the high end of the price range is and what features I can get for it.
**Side Bar: My last husband had minor strokes and heart attacks over my expensive taste. He insisted that I walk into the store and zero in on the most expensive thing there. I disagreed, I just went for those items that most appealed to me. In comes the blind test. In a shoe store he sets up three pairs of shoes. I'm to pick the one I like best. It was by far the most expensive of the three. This test was often repeated in any store. Two moderate priced items, one expensive item, I don't see the cost and just pick what I like. I like the expensive - or as I say - prettiest, best quality, most awesome one there, is the one I would always pick. There's a reason it's priced higher, cause it's awesomer!!**
Things I then considered now that I have a figure in mind. Devaluation: The general advice is do not buy new as these suckers devalue like crazy. So if you do buy new then make sure to put down a solid down payment so as to not be upside down as soon as you leave the lot.
RV park costs: I won't have this thing parked in my driveway waiting for the two weeks a year that I will use it. I will be living out of it full time while I live in one place for a year or two. That means a month-to-month payment at an RV park. For New Orleans that range is $450/month 40 mins away from work to $650 20 mins away from work. The loan payment for the super nice one and the park payment is just too much. I would use up all of my cash and have none left for fun.
And that doesn't even begin to take into consideration maintenance, insurance, gas, etc. of having this sucker. Resulting decision, lets go as cheap as possible and still try to match the space in the layout as the super nice one. But don't get my hopes up on auto levelers.
Resolution: I've made an offer on 2014, 40K miles, class C with two slide outs. PHEW!!