Money Matters

We got a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), big enough to cover the truck, the trailer, the home repairs, and the trailer upgrades.  We've always paid off our credit cards in full each month, and bought used cars with cash and driven them until the wheels fall off, and paid off our house as soon as we possibly could.  The next few months of being in debt are going to be painful for us.  In addition to the HELOC, we got a couple credit cards with zero percent introductory rates, to try to put as much on those cards as possible for the next several months until we can sell our house and pay off everything.  

We're really glad we've lived cheaply and don't carry debt usually.  We've never bought a new car, never bought a new house, bought very little new furniture.  We rarely go out to eat or to the movies.  It usually isn't primarily that we're trying to save money, just that we are homebodies and don't really want to do those things.

After we went to the credit union and got the HELOC, we went shopping for trucks again.

The next steps - financing

This was a fairly boring week, so we'll show a pretty picture we took of the Arkansas river - can you believe that a non-professional with just a cellphone can take a picture like that?!  We ordered the fifth wheel last weekend, and it will be delivered in five to seven weeks.  During that time, we need to buy a truck, and get money to pay for them.

Our house is paid off, and we have good credit.  So we went to our credit union to ask about options.  It turns out that a first mortgage on our house would take about two months, primarily because there aren't enough appraisers in Colorado and they're backlogged.  But a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) works, and the advantage is that we don't have to pay interest on money we don't need yet.

Additionally, Brad has been working on fixing up the outside of the house, we've both been decluttering (not nearly fast enough), and we've casually looked at trucks.  Shopping for trucks isn't nearly as fun as shopping for trailers, but we now have a deadline.  We thought we were going to get a used trailer, and ended up with a new one.  We seriously hope we don't get a new truck.

Shopping for an RV - third time's the charm!

We finally chose an RV, ordered it, made a deposit, and are still happy with our decision.  It's a toy hauler (with a "garage" to carry motorcycles, ATVs, etc.), but we plan to have an office in the garage, and will likely never have any "toys" more exciting than electric bicycles or possibly Segways.

We ordered a new 2017 Grand Design Momentum 349M.  It's different from the just-discontinued Grand Design Momentum 348M because it's six inches longer in the garage.  Apparently one of the most popular "toys" to put in a Toy Hauler needed the extra space.  We were planning to buy used, but our local dealership doesn't play the games about MSRP, and the price was pretty reasonable.  It was an odd choice for us still, because we've never bought any big-ticket items new before.  But this way, we don't have to buy a generator (we plan to go solar and have a small emergency generator).  We got a few other options, including a king-sized bed, for now (more on that later!).

It will be delivered in 6 - 8 weeks.  Now we need financing, and a truck would be a good idea too.

We'd post a picture of it, but it wouldn't be "ours", and they're packed too closely at the dealership to take a decent picture, and we don't know if we can legally post the official pictures. If you really care, you can go to the official website.  

Shopping for an RV II - Let's try it again

We went back to the dealership today to look at options.  The dealership is only open 8 - 5, so Saturday is really the only day we can go.  The options we had looked at on paper looked good on the lot, so we sat in "our" rig for a while talking.  As long as we were there, we decided to look at a couple other rigs.

The one we put a deposit on last week was only 35'11", which, honestly, should be fine for just two people and no pets.  But we have such a big house, with so much stuff in it!  We liked a different one, which is 38'11".  We aren't concerned that the dealer will give us trouble about changing units, especially since this one is a bit more pricey, but now we're waffling again.

Do we want the slightly bigger one, which is slightly harder to drive and slightly harder to back up and has an annoying kitchen island, but also has more space for our stuff?  Or do we want the smaller one, with less space, but will presumably fit in more camp sites?

Let the waffling continue.  All part of the adventure, right?

Shopping for an RV - false start!

We went shopping for the several dozenth time. Except this time, we were actually shopping, not browsing. We found a unit we liked, the same one we've liked since we started looking a couple years ago. We brought a friend to help us negotiate. We were supposed to meet him at a restaurant at 11, then go to the dealership and buy our unit.

We went to the dealership a few hours before 11, decided that our first choice was too big (42'2") and decided we liked a much smaller one (35'11"). Our friend helped us negotiate the price, and we ended up with a new one ordered just for us instead of something on the lot. We put down a $2000 deposit, and the dealership said they'd order it on Monday. Woo hoo! We're on our way!

Then, in the evening, after the dealership closed, we realized that there were so many options we didn't explore, for getting a new one. We could have dual-pane windows! We didn't have to have a generator! So we left a message to keep our deposit, we're still interested, but to please not order just yet because we're still exploring options. Oh well, it's a start.

Getting ready to go!

We're finally getting ready to start the next phase of our lives. We are going to sell the house, buy an RV, and live in it full time. We still have ties to Colorado, so we'll spend a lot of time here (and Colorado is a great place to spend time!)

There's So much to do!

• Decide - Fifth wheel vs motor home?  Space, driveability, cost, convenience (multiple kinds).
• Dejunk the house - we've lived in it for almost 25 years. 
• Buy the RV (and truck). 
• Discuss with Cindy's company the possibility of working remotely. We don't expect a problem, because many people already do, but it's still a delicate subject. 
• Figure out what Brad's going to do for money, since he will be losing the business he's worked hard to develop for years. :( 
• Move out of the house and into the RV. The good news is, we can keep it parked by our house for ease of moving. 
• Fix up the house - we haven't maintained it very well for those 25 years. 
• Sell the house - prices are pretty good in our neighborhood these days (but it isn't much of a house) and pay off the RV 
• Hit the road! 

 All while working full time (for Cindy) and recovering from major surgery (for Brad). We can start the process by buying a composting toilet and setting it up in an unused bathroom. Doesn't that sound exciting?

Someday soon, we're going to sell our house, buy an RV, and work from the road.

• Fifth wheel or motor home? Soooo difficult!  We decided on fifth wheel toy hauler.
• New or used? Used We thought we would get used, but ended up with new.
• Traditional or composting? Composting eventually probably (but not at first)
• Big or huge? 35 - 40 feet We ended up at 39 feet.
• Retired or working? Working