Nomad vs Sticks and Bricks Dollars and Sense!

[ORANGE]

IGBT that medical info is crucial! And something I never even considered.

It seems like the 2 top vehicles to me is the Prius cuz of air conditioning ahhhh and the Ford Transit, cuz gas and comfortable living space.

 

[wayne49]

Quality of Life.
Houses need maintenance. A roof has a limited lifetime. Plumbing, etc. same thing.
Neighborhoods can change over time. A once desirable working class neighborhood can become less desirable.
You see the same thing and people every day. You have neighbors and they think your home is their business. Consumes energy to maintain 68-72 degrees. Limited in the aesthetic changes you can make to your property. Difficult to sell. Title searches. Annual property taxes. Less Freedom, mostly Responsibility.

Vehicle - different places to be. Every so often moving, to different, or none at all, neighbors. Vehicles wear out as well and need maintenance. A camping spot becomes overused, move on, find another. Minimal investment in where you are physically located. Consumes energy to move about. Annual registration fees. Easier to sell. Freedom and Responsibility.

It is about what you want out of life. How and where you want to allocate your limited resources.

Recently, I went nomad for two and a half months to have a better quality of life experience than what I was having at the time. The premium I paid over my regular budget was worth it to me for a better state of mind. I came back to my base when it became more about HAVING to spend x overnights in each site to minimize my fuel spend. Loss of freedom of movement was an issue. My thinking switched from freely moving about to optimizing drive time, grocery stores, tank refreshes, and BLM/USFS rules. Driving Y miles to a different site to do the same thing, until it was optimal to move again.
I love optimizing computer code and planning optimal driving routes. Turns out that I don't want to live an optimized existence.

 

[ORANGE]

Wayne does that you dont want to live an optimized existence mean you dont want to go nomad again if you have to be really super frugal to do it?

I never thought about this either.

Is city stealth then easier? Less optimizing/planning?

 

[dellaterra]

I recently took a break from nomading for 8 months because the idea of not having a home -- a home base, a place to land, my own space to be indoors, a regular bed and kitchen, a physical community--all of that, was starting to freak me out. I felt like I was just wandering around. I was getting anxious all the time, so I quit and came back home and am now living with family. Maybe a lifetime of work and middle class values of "purpose" is hard to drive out me.

When I was planning to be a nomad I was ready to quit my job. I got a tiny pension and was able to trade in my car for a van and did my own conversion. I would recommend nomading to anyone who is fed up with life--it is a very valuable experience. I can camp and travel anywhere easily now. I plan to take extended trips-1 to 3 months or more, and still have a little corner of the world that I consider my stable "cave".

I will readily admit that it was a GREAT, AMAZING experience, but for me, now (55 y.o female) I need a home base. How to do that? My current idea is to work a few more years--I can get seasonal jobs in my profession--and use IRA money to buy a small manufactured home in the foothills of CA --Tuolumne county?-- (I know, CA is expensive etc...but want to be sorta close to some friends and family) for $40 to 70,000 and use Social Security and rest of IRA and seasonal job money to pay the monthly site rental fee. Usually the rent is $400 to $600. Yes, I know its a lot, and there are other living expenses, but there are intangibles--like having a built in community and a place to call home. If that doesn't work I may look into renting an apt.

So, I guess I can say I have seen both sides. I think there can be a third option, with planning, of a hybrid lifestyle--part cheap sticks and bricks and part nomad. It does cost more, but I for me, it makes sense.

 

[MrNoodly]

...the idea of not having a home -- a home base, a place to land, my own space to be indoors, a regular bed and kitchen, a physical community--all of that, was starting to freak me out. I felt like I was just wandering around...

Yes, some (most?) people need those things. I don't. Besides, my van IS my home base, my place to land, my regular bed and kitchen. Other nomads are my community. Friends from my building dwelling life are my community too, even when they're spread all over the country. Yes, I'm just wandering around, and the problem with that is... what? I put in 61 years not wandering. That was too much.

 

[dellaterra]

Wow, no need to get defensive about your choices, I was just offering up my (heartfelt, personal, honest) experiences.

 

[ORANGE]

dellaterra and MrNoodly we are very different.

I am a 55 year old female trying to find my way into/through this.

Part cheap sticks and bricks and part nomad. That sounds about right to me.

The nomad experience is completely artificial. True historical and present nomads are goat/sheep herders, moving in seasons and many generations back taking the same paths year after year.

Vehicle nomads are not the same. This is a new/artificial way to live if you think about it.

I can see some feeling untethered and wanting a non moving home.

 

[MrNoodly]

Wow, no need to get defensive about your choices...

Not defending, just explaining how different people need different things.

 

[PODebbie]

The vast majority of RV owners are part timers. Some use their vehicles for vacations, others may go on the road 3-6 months a year. I think once you are on the road, you can decide whether you like or need a home base. If a person can afford both, I would always suggest keeping the home for six months to a year before you make the decision to live on the road. When every mountain, or desert looks the same, I know it is time for the sticks and bricks. Same with traveling in foreign countries. When I am tired of cities all the same color of brick, museums, churches, trying to order food so the native people understand me, it is time to go home. If I had to live in my RV/van full time, I could adapt, just don't want to at this time in my life.

 

[jacqueg]

Both good answers.  Keep them coming.

I guess I cant walk to see most waterfalls already.  So adventure is the least of it.  Outdoors is a biggie.

I watched Dee's videos  the new one this week.   She suddenly got health problems, broken bones, a stroke.  Her first set-up that nomads helped her with had to go.  I guess gofundme helped with bills (majority of nomads contributing because thats the sort of folks nomads are---great) and now she is in the cargo van and she hopes she can travel in a year and a half.  I thought she was much older but she is mid 60s.

Thats what got me thinking.  

What is better if it was Dee pre-car living 1st video Bob made?  If she had that modest paid for home with her low/modest constant income or if she right now had that bankroll and started with much better than car, but started with that cargo she now has, or better.

I guess which way lasts longest Dollars and Sense wise?

Don't forget that a common reason for losing your home is major medical bills.

There is no sure bet in life for anyone, but that's especially true for those of us of smaller means. 

Hedge your bet as well as you can, then stop worrying so much. Enjoy your life while you've got it.

 

[lenny flank]

Vehicle nomads are not the same.  This is a new/artificial way to live if you think about it.

It's really not. People have been living in wagons for thousands of years.

 

[Kaylee]

Lenny, yes that's true.
What's "new" is the concept of a centrally funded retirement pension. That's what truly gives most people the means to "live free".

It sounds like most mobile vehicle dwellers are of retirement age, as opposed to non-mobile dwellers.
Does anyone have stats on that?

For a quarter century, I've been a "traditional" Nomad (i.e. migrating for paying work opportunities), albeit high tech (IT contractor), without a permanent home. In the earlier years I did visit my parents & other friends between contracts, and several times stayed at their Northern cabin when they weren't using it. They've been dead for many years, so I no longer have any sort of "regular" place to migrate to/from.

In contrast, I'm very new to full-time vehicle dwelling, and will have to move for winter, then again for summer, but am otherwise keeping my travelling to the absolute minimum.

The two things have overlap, but aren't the same.
I feel the need to be pedantic on this point.


Back to the original focus:
I think it's essential to have self knowledge.
Most Newcomers are swayed by glitzy-Matrix-y Youtube videos.
I strongly encourage everyone to experiment with your existing vehicle, if it is reliable.
You'll gain experience of what's important to you.
Limit your financial investment, until you truly know this will work for you.

When I made the decision to try this, I had enough life experience & self knowledge that I knew this was the only viable option left for me.
I still took baby steps, because this lifestyle is a huge change, and for those of us of limited means, it's hard to "go back".

ORANGE: My sympathies on your vehicle issues! I literally feel your pain!
That's the biggie in this lifestyle: having a solid, reliable vehicle.
If a storm puts a hole in your roof, you can throw a tarp over it and continue "sheltering in place".
In a van, that's not always an option, since you have very limited rights on where you can stay.

You're approaching this in a very mature manner, starting slowly & asking good questions.

 

[shadowmoss]

I live in my older class A full time. I have a spot down on the edge of Phoenix Metro area in a small RV park where I spend most of the winter, and a spot in a nice small RV park up in the pines about 75 miles and 5K' up where I spend the summers. It took about 3 years to tweek in the right rig and parking spots for each part of the year. I then travel in my Mazda3 for a few weeks at a time several times a year.

There are many ways to optimize a mobile lifestyle that has the community and stability we each need, and it is limited mostly by just not checking out the options available.

 

[lenny flank]

It sounds like most mobile vehicle dwellers are of retirement age, as opposed to non-mobile dwellers.

Alas, we get a very skewed view of that here, since this particular forum is very heavily weighted towards older folks, and also geographically weighted towards the southwest where BLM land is plentiful and easy to move around in.
If we were in, say, the Reddit Vandwellers forum, where almost everyone is urban and younger, the picture would look very different.
Me, I'm an old fart (though not of retirement age--I am able to work online while mobile), so I move easily between both forums.

 

[B and C]

I would imagine the majority of nomads are not on either forum. I know when I was able to roam, I didn't check any forums.

Edit to add: I am an old retired fart myself. Started throwing newspapers at 14 and retired at 68 + 2 mos. Shoulda retired sooner.

 

[Elbear1]

Nomading is really the true human condition. The neo-lithic city dwellers are whats actually a mew way of life. Its just now is a special time that jas never existed in history. We can make our own electric, find water relatively easy, have internet almost anywhere we go.

 

[michaelwnoakes]

Financially you are absolutely right. The lifestyle one chooses has really nothing to do with money, but quality of life. Most homeowners spend the majority of their life paying for the dwelling, working, eating, sleeping, get up and do it again, year after year. You squeeze in vacation when you can thinking about retirement and dreams of final freedom.

Kids grow up and move onto their life. Maybe like me, you actually get to pay the house off. You retire only to realize that in your mind you are still very alive and energetic, but physically you cannot fulfill the ideas within you. The beautiful places you saw in the movies, videos, books, etc. while living the imitation vicarious life you so wanted while working to own things that when you die, someone else acquires are not accessible to you anymore. That awesome waterfall picture you hung on your wall is 20 miles in the mountains and you can't walk 2 anymore.

Then you die, never have lived.

Your live once, then die. You have to decide what your priorities are while you can. You get shot, that's it.

Sorry for being illiterate; I meant to say you get one shot at this life, that's it.

 

[maki2]

If you get a house with more than one bedroom if money gets tight you can rent out a room. Or if needed it can house someone who can give you physical assistance if you get to the point of needing a helper around.

I have a girlfriend who has a very small amount of SS not enough to live on. But she was able to pay cash on a house that had a basement area. She got that finished off and rents it out. Nowadays it is rented to her grandson and his girlfriend because at 80 she need a reliable renter as well as some help. She has two extra bedrooms and sometimes rents those out as well.

As long as you can tolerate sharing it is a good way to generate enough income to pay for the taxes and insurance, put money aside for the repairs and have some spending money too.

Or maybe you can find a place where no one would object to a tiny house on the property.

But for myself I am done with home ownership. I no longer have the ability to do the upkeep or yard work. The most I would ever consider owning is a very small one room house with a small workshop space.

 

[RoamerRV428]

I can't and won't base my life on money or fear of getting old anymore and what if and and and....all that other jazz.

I am now doing what I want, when I want and how I want. Thing is you have to know what you do want out of life. A sticks and bricks 'means some kind of security' that a 'home on wheels' does not for many What security truly? What does a sticks and bricks give that a wandering life can't give? Other than maybe location to family at all times I can't truly think of one thing that is exclusive to a S&B. And on the family thing you can wander in a more controlled area to visit family when wanted etc. so that kinda isn't a monster big deal in a way if you can work your traveling life out to include others who are stationary.

So it boils down to truly what do you want and how do you want to live.

You can part time between S&B and camping when you can and that suits ya
You can go full nomad in a nice rig.....if you got 40 for a home you got a great amt for a nice rig to suit you
You can snowbird. 1/2 season on place stationary and go to another nomad home base later....or 1/4 the seasons if ya want....spring here, summer there, fall in that place and winter in another.

What do you want?
WHAT?

once you know that you can move forward with confidence. the almighty dollar does try to rule our lives, many of us as nomadic types won't let that effect our dreams and lifestyles we do want. We make it work as we need it!

best of luck in deciding what to do!

 

[ckelly78z]

A $40,000 home that needs no repairs for a few years is a unicorn that isn't out there. It will also be in an area that is ripe with drugs, crime, undesirable neighbors, and daily drama I live in a fairly LCOL area, but still, a decent house, in a decent neighborhood will start about twice that money, while my farm was 4 times that money for a peaceful rural setting.

If I ever start a full time nomad lifestyle, I will probably sell/rent my homestead to my daughter, or son for cheap, and still have a home base to visit, repair, relax, recharge in a place of familiarity (have owned, and improved this place for 25 years now).