Check my math, tell me I'm nuts?

[DannyE]

Hi all! I have been kicking around the idea of full timing for a while, and I need to bounce my logic off someone to see if my plans are unrealistic.

I sold my condo and had been renting for the last 12 months, paying around $3500 all in (rent/parking/utilities). My lease is up shortly, and I’d love to move my stuff into storage, buy a class B, and spend a few years exploring. 
 
I work a 9-5 but am 100% remote, and I have 6 weeks of vacation that I can use for flexibility. I’ll need to stay within cell data coverage or close to it, but other than that I’m limited only by how much gas/water I can carry. I’m aiming for something like last years Winnebago Revel, upgraded with lithium batteries and enough solar to power my gear. So 125-130K all in, based on what I’ve seen via rvtrader. I’d be purchasing in February.
 
Here’s where I’m looking for another set of eyes. By my logic, even considering the monthly (~$1500 depending on term/down payment), maintenance, depreciation, and the plan to sell in 2-3 years, I’m still saving money vs. renting and I'll have a much better view.
 
Please tell me where I’m being naïve, or what I should really consider before making this sort of leap. Thanks!

 

[desert_sailing]

I think if even a person saved a measly 20 bux by living mobile vs sitx and brix it is worth it...at least to the pocket book.

There are many where no matter how much they saved they would never live in an rv/van/mobile situation fulltime.

Of course there are others that would gladly pay MORE in expenses to live a mobile lifestyle...but are shackled to a specific location.

I believe that a person should do what makes them fulfilled whether they save a few bux or not.  Id imagine that with your current 3500 in base expenditures you can easily afford a nice payment on a new/er rig and live nicely in it.

Sounds like you have a good plan sorted out already! Keep us in the loop with your progress.

 

[RvDreams]

Welcome Danny to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[bullfrog]

You should be able to do everything for the same or less in an RV and still be able to recoup some in a few years when you sell but not near as much as real estate. Right now prices are very high due to Covid 19 forcing people to recreate in the outdoors. I would think prices would come way down a few months after a vaccine is found that works as people will return to their previous forms of recreation or grow tired of camping. Be sure you keep enough funds to deal with emergencies as vehicles have problems and houses that go down the road have even more problems than ones that sit on a foundation. You can experience a total loss even with insurance and be out of a place to live for quite some time if you are not financially prepared. You have to really like the lifestyle to make it enjoyable as there are challenges.

 

[JuanKnucklehead]

Just remember, (even new) Rv's are NOTORIOUS money pits & it is a total sellers market right now.
what you pay today, you will be lucky to even get 1/3 in 3yrs when all the reps go up for sale, and the corona is over, people are socializing again & they realize they are paying 500mo for a rig they have only used twice and the market is flooded again
Not saying pro's or cons, just saying, are you mechanically inclined? or have the means to pay for the inevitable breakdowns?
Me, instead of a Rv, A van is cheaper & you can put what you want into it & go a lot more places & breakdowns wont cost you your first born child & 3 weeks sleeping outside camping world garage in a tent
Just a opinion from a different angle

 

[tx2sturgis]

You might want to take your question over to this other forum that is more inline with the kind of expenditures you are dealing with. I think you might have more common ground with some of these folks:

https://www.rvnetwork.com/

We tend to be a bit more basic here...not that we can't or wont help, but it's tough for me and maybe others here to run your numbers when they seem so...high. I assume you live in a large metro area....with monthly rent around $3500.

Spending $125,000 or more on a little RV that you will only keep for a couple of years and take a beating on depreciation, well...look again at our URL: Cheap RV Living.

Not trying to run you off, I'm trying to steer you to the right people who might be able to help you.

Good luck sir.

 

[shadowmoss]

If you are looking for something to travel in for a few years, look into the sales side of Cruise America. They take the former rental units, totally reconditioned them, and sell them as Majestic branded units. They run in the $30Ks and the folks I've heard.of who have bought them are really happy with them. Sharp part of the depreciation curve is out of the way and you shouldn't lose much when you resell it.

Just another option to consider. Look on their website under units for sale.

 

[DannyE]

Thank you all for the advice.

I'd given a bit of thought to post-COVID changes, but the points about RV prices crashing and the market flooding... I'll need to keep that in mind or I could end up taking a bath in a couple years. 

@tx2sturgis - no worries, I do live in a large metro and 'cheap' is certainly a relative term. If I had a mortgage or kept my apartment, a 125K RV wouldn't be a possibility. I'm trying to view this as buying a home, albeit a quickly depreciating one. I'll check out rvnetwork and run this by them as well. I appreciate the recommendation!

 

[maki2]

if you are 100% mobile for your work you can live in a place where rents are not so high and even land is way more affordable. You need to have a strong drive to be a nomad to make it worth your while to be able to deal with constantly trying to find locations with very good cell reception. Being on the road takes up a fair amount of time in chores and travel time versus just living in an apartment.

You might have a lot more fun in a class B van but one thing you will find out is none of them has a decent desk space for long hours on a computer. The dinette seats do not give good back support. It is pretty much essential to be able to have a decent desk chair and work space. But I have never seen any commercial motorhome or class B van designed for anything other than people who are on vacation or are retired and just do tourist stuff and watch TV in the evenings.

 

[bullfrog]

Escapees RV club has a sub group of on the road remote workers called Xcapers I believe they may have some good information as well.

 

[barleyguy]

Personally, I would never spend the money on a $125K Class B. You can buy a used high top transit for under $30K, spend another $30K on the build out, and you'll have a better rig for half the money. Of course, the downside to that plan is that you can't finance the build part of it, so you'll need to have that second $30K in cash.

I bought a used fifth wheel for $12K and a diesel pickup for around $30K. It's less maneuverable than a van or class B, but it's got about 300 square feet of living space. I can park the fifth wheel somewhere and use the truck for grocery shopping or exploring.

There are lots of choices of rigs. The depreciation of a newish Class B probably isn't the best one financially. But you may really enjoy the combination of size and luxury you'll get from it.

If you want to go the RV route, I'd actually recommend going to an RV dealership and look around, and check out all the different kinds of rigs. And then also research the cost of an empty cargo van and the labor for a builder. Having an idea of all of your options may give you other ideas of a direction, or you may find out you still want a Class B.

Cheers.

 

[mpruet]

You say that you are 100% remote, but at what distance? In my working years I was a software developer for IBM and worked remotely - initially from my home, but later from a combination from a condo in the Colorado mountains as well as from a class-A in an RV park. My team was literally all over the world. You said that you needed cellular/internet, but at what bandwidth? In my case I was having to upload/download a huge amount of data and would often run up a data usage in excess of 300 Gig a month. I often had to plan on uploads and downloads over night because of the slow speeds. In most locations that would be impossible to do - and most cellular data plans would top out with that much usage.

If you are remote enough to be some distance from your current location, then yes - I’d be heading out to the boonies and even try to go the boondocking route. With rental at $3500/month, then even if you didn’t sell after 3 years, you’d be pretty close to breaking even. But if you have to be close to business and/or clients, then you’d probably end up having to rent a spot in an RV park. In that case you wouldn’t have as much of a need for a large battery/solar build because the park would have power pedestals.

I guess I don’t fully understand your goals. Is it to be able to get away on an fulltime basis, or is your idea to be able to go out on a weekend basis? If it is on a weekend basis, then you can go much cheaper with a DIY van build or third-party build from someone like Wayfarer Vans. If you plan on being truly full time, then - yes - you might want a class-B (or class-C). Class-B are really van conversions and have very limited storage space and tanks. You’d only be able to go about a week before needing to dump and get fresh water/propane. However, most class-B vans have more ‘creature comforts’ than a DIY conversion.

 

[RoamerRV428]

Hi all! 

I sold my condo and had been renting for the last 12 months, paying around $3500 all in (rent/parking/utilities). My lease is up shortly 
 
 I’ll need to stay within cell data coverage or close to it, but other than that I’m limited only by how much gas/water I can carry. I’m aiming for something like last years Winnebago Revel, upgraded with lithium batteries and enough solar to power my gear. So 125-130K all in, based on what I’ve seen via rvtrader. I’d be purchasing in February.
 
Please tell me where I’m being naïve, or what I should really consider before making this sort of leap. Thanks!

Do you want this for a lifestyle and truth in that for 'whatever is missing in your life NOW' or is it ALL about money??
See you either truly want to explore, roam 'almost homeless and disconnected?' or do you want a 'more simple life as you have and cut costs there and travel more just cause you can with vacay time and all?   

Just wondering if this is a path you desire? or is it all about bucks? cause you didn't state anywhere in the first post other than 'desire to explore' and that can be done a ton of ways ya know......if the van/rv/whatever life on the road the way ya wanna roll?    Just thoughts on it cause you sound so on a fence and leap one way or not ya know   best of luck in how you do it but in the end IF YOU have more money than not, you can go in any direction and do well I would think, you can try and bail if needed, so you lose some bucks in the process but if you can't accept that then go buy a cheaper real estate and live that way and see??

 Not sure what to tell you truly LOL hope you find what you want in it all

 

[becida]

Personally, I would never spend the money on a $125K Class B. You can buy a used high top transit for under $30K, spend another $30K on the build out, and you'll have a better rig for half the money. Of course, the downside to that plan is that you can't finance the build part of it, so you'll need to have that second $30K in cash.

Another downside is you won't have that sticker/placard that says it's a "real RV", that makes a difference some places.

 

[barleyguy]

Another downside is you won't have that sticker/placard that says it's a "real RV", that makes a difference some places.

True. If you want to hook to the water and electricity at an RV Park, most of them generally require an RVIA seal on the side of the RV. (Which honestly I agree with. If I owned an RV park I wouldn't want self built rigs hooking to my electrical or plumbing either.)

 

[DannyE]

Personally, I would never spend the money on a $125K Class B. You can buy a used high top transit for under $30K, spend another $30K on the build out, and you'll have a better rig for half the money. Of course, the downside to that plan is that you can't finance the build part of it, so you'll need to have that second $30K in cash.

I bought a used fifth wheel for $12K and a diesel pickup for around $30K. It's less maneuverable than a van or class B, but it's got about 300 square feet of living space. I can park the fifth wheel somewhere and use the truck for grocery shopping or exploring.

There are lots of choices of rigs. The depreciation of a newish Class B probably isn't the best one financially. But you may really enjoy the combination of size and luxury you'll get from it.

If you want to go the RV route, I'd actually recommend going to an RV dealership and look around, and check out all the different kinds of rigs. And then also research the cost of an empty cargo van and the labor for a builder. Having an idea of all of your options may give you other ideas of a direction, or you may find out you still want a Class B.

Cheers.

Good advice. I think my plan would take me in a different direction if I had the time or garage space to handle a custom build, or if I didn't plan to spend time driving in areas/weather where four wheel drive would be handy. I also anticipate parking in metro areas with some regularity, so the shorter class B form factor and handling seemed ideal. 

No getting around the price, but my thinking was that if it's my only housing expense, and if I can avoid losing my shirt selling in 2-3 years, I'd be happy with the decision.

 

[DannyE]

You say that you are 100% remote, but at what distance?  In my working years I was a software developer for IBM and worked remotely - initially from my home, but later from a combination from a condo in the Colorado mountains as well as from a class-A in an RV park.  My team was literally all over the world.  You said that you needed cellular/internet, but at what bandwidth?  In my case I was having to upload/download a huge amount of data and would often run up a data usage in excess of 300 Gig a month.  I often had to plan on uploads and downloads over night because of the slow speeds.  In most locations that would be impossible to do - and most cellular data plans would top out with that much usage.

If you are remote enough to be some distance from your current location, then yes - I’d be heading out to the boonies and even try to go the boondocking route.  With rental at $3500/month, then even if you didn’t sell after 3 years, you’d be pretty close to breaking even.  But if you have to be close to business and/or clients, then you’d probably end up having to rent a spot in an RV park.  In that case you wouldn’t have as much of a need for a large battery/solar build because the park would have power pedestals. 

I guess I don’t fully understand your goals.  Is it to be able to get away on an fulltime basis, or is your idea to be able to go out on a weekend basis?  If it is on a weekend basis, then you can go much cheaper with a DIY van build or third-party build from someone like Wayfarer Vans.  If you plan on being truly full time, then - yes - you might want a class-B (or class-C).  Class-B are really van conversions and have very limited storage space and tanks.  You’d only be able to go about a week before needing to dump and get fresh water/propane.  However, most class-B vans have more ‘creature comforts’ than a DIY conversion.

A good point on data speeds! This is what I've been reading about the last few days. I used to work as a sys admin, but for my current role I'll only need a solid LTE connection for calls and the occasional video meeting. All else I can do without, or deal with the inconvenience of a slower connection. My plan was to pick up a direction antenna, amp, and LTE/WiFi router, but I'm early days on catching up on current tech, and I don't yet know how limited my boondocking options will be with those criteria. Seems like others are doing it.

Re: goals, I'm 40 and have spent 20 years in the corporate world. Goal is more time doing what I enjoy, less time worrying about the things people in downtown/metro areas worry about. This would be my only home, but I don't have any illusions about it being a permanent shift....so a few years? See where that takes me.

 

[DannyE]

Another downside is you won't have that sticker/placard that says it's a "real RV", that makes a difference some places.

Thank you - this is something I hadn't considered. I'd hoped that being off grid for 2 weeks at a time was doable, albeit with extra water and upgraded solar/ energy storage vs. what a typical class B would include. Figuring out how/where to dump and stock up will take some research.

 

[mpruet]

A good point on data speeds! This is what I've been reading about the last few days. I used to work as a sys admin, but for my current role I'll only need a solid LTE connection for calls and the occasional video meeting. All else I can do without, or deal with the inconvenience of a slower connection. My plan was to pick up a direction antenna, amp, and LTE/WiFi router, but I'm early days on catching up on current tech, and I don't yet know how limited my boondocking options will be with those criteria. Seems like others are doing it.

Re: goals, I'm 40 and have spent 20 years in the corporate world. Goal is more time doing what I enjoy, less time worrying about the things people in downtown/metro areas worry about. This would be my only home, but I don't have any illusions about it being a permanent shift....so a few years? See where that takes me.

Video conferencing does require a fairly decent network connection as it is fairly similar to streaming videos.  I’d suggest getting the “Coverage” app so you can see what cellular providers provide service.  However in addition to having coverage, you might nave to worry about network contention.  Some popular  boondocking locations might have good coverage, but have so much contention that it becomes virtually unusable.  A prime example of that is Quartzsite, Arizona in January.  There is good coverage by Verizon and AT&T, but because there are so many people trying to do cellular internet there during January, it’s pretty hard to get decent throughput.  I have Verizon and TMobile, but the Verizon was not able to get decent throughput last January due to contention.  However my TMobile was great - mainly due to the fact that more mobile folks will have Verizon/AT&T than TMobile.  

A very good plan is to have at least two cell providers, if not three.  (Sprint is now part of TMobile.). I wouldn’t go with the resellers.  The big three (AT&T, Verizon, and TMobile) occasionally ‘decomission’ the third party resellers. Don’t feel that you have to go with the provider that most folks have.  Remember the more people having a given provider, the more probability of network contention. 

I have a WeBoost 4Gx booster with an OTR 360 antenna rather than a directional antenna.  The only problem with a directional is that you only get those towers that you are pointed at.  You might have a lot of contention on the AT&T tower east of you that you are pointed at while the TMobile tower north of you currently has very little traffic. 

Also you need to focus on the plan you get.  You need to look for unlimited (or at least 200 Gig caps), and even more important - no degradation when towers have a lot of contention.

 

[barleyguy]

It really depends on the application. My company uses WebEx, and it's fairly efficient as far as bandwidth. When I work remotely, using webex 3 or 4 hours a day, and most of my job over ssh and https, I generally use about 1 gigabyte a day. My verizon hotspot that throttles at 30 gigabytes will get me through the whole month if I work 5 days a week and don't use it too much for personal stuff.

I generally leave my camera turned off, to save bandwidth and because I don't like being on camera. Sometimes I have to share my screen, or watch other people share their screen. And sometimes people do turn on their cameras but in my particular company it's fairly rare.

I have a Verizon hotspot with dual antennas, one directional and one omni curly-q. And then I have an AT&T cell phone with tethering. If you have those two, there is coverage just about everywhere.