Tired of all the misinformation on #vanlife?

[Cummins_expo]

At the end of the day its just the new hip version of retirees and snowbirds with the 5th wheel in Florida.....one of the fundamental planning flaws is what to do in 1-5 years down the road when the new wears off. I've had several friends sell everything, including the house to live the vanlife and very quickly realize they miss their homebase, family, friends, hobbies.....life. I get it, it can be fun, exciting, adventurous, etc.....but, never give up the homebase to come back too. Cheers.

We did that about 5 years ago- Sold it all and eventually settled back down. We were getting ready to hit the road again but, well Covid. This time we have a little home base. A little cabin ( 550 sq ft) just outside town in the forest. The idea was to always have a place we can land at should we feel the need to get off the road. We spent the last 5 years making moves to be debt and mortgage free. Now we can hit the road once stuff clears up and still have a place to land.

 

[Photomike]

We did that about 5 years ago- Sold it all and eventually settled back down. We were getting ready to hit the road again but, well Covid. This time we have a little home base. A little cabin ( 550 sq ft) just outside town in the forest. The idea was to always have a place we can land at should we feel the need to get off the road. We spent the last 5 years making moves to be debt and mortgage free. Now we can hit the road once stuff clears up and still have a place to land.

Smart idea!! I know a number of people that sold EVERYTHING to hit the road and found out weeks into it that they hated it. Then they had to buy everything back. Worse yet a few people that did that hit the road and within months one of them was sick. Without a home base doing Chemo or other treatments is really hard.

Add to that when you sell a house then go to buy a couple years later then the houses have gone up in price. So you may have gotten $500,000 for your old house but a few years later even a junker is $700,000.

I strongly recommend if you are older and going to hit the road that you either rent out the upstairs or the basement and keep a place that you can retreat to or lock the house up and keep the entire thing. A friend did that for 5 years, his wife and him went to Tialand to run a school. Locked the house up and paid a neighbour to look after it. They came back once a year for a vacation for a month and when it was all over the house was worth almost triple what they could have sold it for 5 years before. Like he said they could never have bought a house at today's prices.

 

[BritKLR]

^^^^^
Yep.

A few years ago a friend did the whole thing. Sold the paid off house for $800,000, ordered the loaded RV and every possible farckle you can hang off it. Figured they would travel the US and find that perfect house for a deal and settle down in a new location. Not so much.....the RV has depreciated in half and the toys are all gone, broken or never used and the old house is now worth $1.2 million and no retirement location yet.

 

[rruff]

....the RV has depreciated in half and the toys are all gone, broken or never used and the old house is now worth $1.2 million and no retirement location yet.

Ya, but they got $800k. Can't be hard to find a good retirement location for way less than that. Where are they looking? Maybe they aren't trying because they like traveling?

 

[Photomike]

In my series about real life vanlife this time I talk about being safe living in your van in the city. Many starting out are nervous about sleeping in their van as they have never done anything like this before. Mostly it is because they don't park in the right paces. Learn where to park and what not to do with your van.

 

[BritKLR]

Ya, but they got $800k. Can't be hard to find a good retirement location for way less than that. Where are they looking? Maybe they aren't trying because they like traveling?

True. Last time I talked with him was a year ago and they had done the four corners of the US and was heading back down to the SW. They seemed too like the desert areas I seem to recall. Their issue was family, grand kids and frustration over losing so much equity in the RV, over $100k. But I suspect they'll be fine.

 

[C p weinberger]

Van life is perfect for some, nightmare for others. Most fall in between. Impossible to clarify without really doing it. But you can take some steps. Rent a van for a few weeks and actually sleep in it in different scenarios. I’m always shocked people make life decisions based on someone else’s life Experiences and use that as their guideposts for success. Due your own due diligence. And guess what...if it takes you a year to convince partner/ spouse to give it a try you might want to spend a little time poking the stick into the fire before you sell the ranch.
Few of the Red flags...
You can’t take a potty break in the van with another person present
Need specific temp to sleep
Can’t sleep when noisy
cant sleep on unleveled bed
Don’t like bugs
Need to shower every day
Don’t like/ unwilling to clean up and reorganize Several times a day
Freak if someone/ authorities knob on van during the night
Need personal space privacy
And the list goes on, you can fix many of these issues with a much bigger rig but that’s not van life is it..
.........

 

[rruff]

Their issue was family, grand kids...

The SW is the best! ...but the old folks can't spend too much time away from family.

 

[southpier13]

"i don't know what all the hub-bub is about. i certainly don't have any problems living in my van. oh, Chadwick? please fill the air in my tires on the e-bike before you wash the van."

 

[Photomike]

The bears are coming!!!!! Another big #vanlife #tinyhome #bus #buslife #RV #camping questions is how do I protect myself from the wild animals that are waiting to devour my food and maybe me??? This video will give you real life suggestions on how to protect yourself from all the creatures that are lying in wait at every turn in the wilderness.

https://youtu.be/2zv3SS2Fksw

 

[Photomike]

Driving a van is different then driving a small car, this video I talk about some of the differences.

 

[Photomike]

What to do about food in the van.

 

[EricM]

So if you are interested my videos are on my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLod-4CkDF7aPD_x7sfRiFKVf1TtnJH5sx

you should have payed for an add.

 

[Photomike]

How I handle vanlife in the cold weather.

 

[Photomike]

Rethinking of my video series. When I initially thought of a quick series about real van life / bus life / tiny home life I never thought it would include so much.