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Moving into a travel trailer


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After 20 + years with the same woman, Claire (aka Mean ol Lady #71247) passed away on Feb. 1st 2018. I was looking for a new place to live because her brother wants to clean out the house and sell it to settle the estate.  After a year(mourning) I had a few near misses in finding a place to move to. Mike, Claire's brother has bought me a 27ft travel trailer and I am moving to Rio Vista, Ca.  It seems that in an early version of her will, she said she wanted Mike to buy me a trailer. So, I am making the leap, any words of wisdom about life in a RV ? I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life, and I feel I will fit in Rio Vista. At least I will not be the only person looking like a cowboy.  After the house sells, I will get a percentage of the sale of it and the money  Mike put up for the trailer will be repaid from my share of the sale. Then I might make Rio Vista my base and make some traveling plans.  The hard part is downsizing and the Dog will lose a back yard to play  in, she will have to deal with going out on the leash more. We will see what happens.

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Sorry for the passing of Claire and the loss of your home. Hope the transition to the next chapter of your life provides new & pleasing opportunities & experiences (blessings).

 

Vaya con Dios, Keystone

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Maybe you will have enough funds left over to purchase a small piece of property for your trailer and the dog to have a yard. Good Luck to ya Pard.

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It is not hard to live in a travel trailer,  the wife and I have done it a couple of times.

Just curious why are you moving to Rio Vista CA ?

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Sorry for your loss. 

 

As you said, the hardest part is downsizing. 

 

If you have an extensive library you'll need to figure out what you absolutely want to keep with you, what you want to put in storage, and what you need to get rid of. 

 

A LOT depends not on the length of the TT but the interior design / layout. 

 

Are the closets designed to hold clothes on a hanger, allowing the clothes to hang freely or do the clothes bunch up on the bottom of the closet? When the clothes bunch up, it's a pain putting more things back in or taking others out - typically resulting in less usable space. 

 

Gun and ammo storage is also difficult if you're full timing in a TT - if you're still shooting. 

 

You'll only need a couple sets of dinnerware & utensils so that shouldn't be a problem as far as storage. Understand you won't be able to shop for 2+ weeks of groceries and stock the pantry or fridge / freezer. 3-4 days is probably more realistic.

 

The gas ovens in most TTs really heat up the unit. Not bad in cooler climates but can get uncomfortable in hot climates. 

 

Be sure your shore power can support you running the A/C (or furnace) and microwave at the same time. 

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To answer your question "The Shoer" I was checking places to put or rent a trailer and Rio Vista came up. It is a good thing because Alameda County(where I will soon be leaving is not very  gun friendly, there are very few if any gun shops. and no gun shows. ) And the area just feels right.

 

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Living in that small a space will introduce you to the New Man inside of You, if you and him can be friends ,,,, all will go well ...

Me my Wife and 4 Kids  lived 9 months in a 16 foot Travel Trailer,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, And emerged as a still strong and Loving Family ....

Not sure I would want to repeat this 21 years later,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The Kids are all Married now and it's "Gran-Baby" time ...

 

Jabez Cowboy

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Make Sure you have lot's of Propane Sat. Night ..... Drove 120 miles return to finally find Propane very early one Sunday morning in a Snowstorm ...

I won't forget that night ever ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The Wife will make sure of that !!!

 

Jabez Cowboy

 

 

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You need to join a National Camping club like "Thousand Trails" and/or Escapees out of Texas. In Escapees, you can become a Texan on paper and pay no State Income Tax. If you are a Californian, you are in for a nice pay raise! .  You put some $$ up front (for Thousand Trails/ Escapees about $70. a year) , but if you stay Full Time, it will save you a ton of $$. If I were you, I'd get out of CA ASAP.  Good Luck,  Hoss C.

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8 hours ago, Hoss Carpenter said:

You need to join a National Camping club like "Thousand Trails" and/or Escapees out of Texas. In Escapees, you can become a Texan on paper and pay no State Income Tax. If you are a Californian, you are in for a nice pay raise! .  You put some $$ up front (for Thousand Trails/ Escapees about $70. a year) , but if you stay Full Time, it will save you a ton of $$. If I were you, I'd get out of CA ASAP.  Good Luck,  Hoss C.

 

This sounds interesting... on several levels. Hmmm.

 

 

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8 hours ago, Hoss Carpenter said:

You need to join a National Camping club like "Thousand Trails" and/or Escapees out of Texas. In Escapees, you can become a Texan on paper and pay no State Income Tax. If you are a Californian, you are in for a nice pay raise! .  You put some $$ up front (for Thousand Trails/ Escapees about $70. a year) , but if you stay Full Time, it will save you a ton of $$. If I were you, I'd get out of CA ASAP.  Good Luck,  Hoss C.

A note of caution.  Not familiar with this program, but the IRS and many state revenue agencies have their own rules for determining residency, and a piece of paper from a private organization is unlikely to fit the bill.  With tax revenue falling and large segments of the population migrating in search of favorable tax treatment, be sure that you study the rules closely before you rely on a camp address or a car registration alone to claim residency.

 

LL

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One could always go to Texas, establish an address (storefront P.O. Box), get a license and wallah! You’re a Texan.

 

Just a thought.

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8 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

One could always go to Texas, establish an address (storefront P.O. Box), get a license and wallah! You’re a Texan.

 

Just a thought.

 

If only it were that simple....

https://www.kitces.com/blog/change-domicile-residency-new-state-income-taxes/

 

And an example of how convoluted it can be....

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/learn-about-legal-and-residency-status-in-massachusetts

 

LL

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6 minutes ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

You do have a very good point. I do seem to recall that California has regulations on residency vs visitation and they are strict about it. I had forgotten what a hassle it was for a friend of mine’s parents when they would come to CA for a several month “visit”. 

 

Man from Boot Hill, belay my last...at least until you look into CA regs on residency versus visitation. 

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Hey Guys, when I retired from my second career as a Defense Contractor, we sold our Home and put a few things in a Barn we owned in CO. Then we joined Escapees in Livingston , Texas. You get a TX Drivers License, you register to vote in Livingston, TX and you get a Mail Service the Escapees club runs at their Park in Livingston, and a Street address (my was 161 Rainbow Drive) and you become a legal Texan. Escapees has been around for years and it is for the benefit of Full Time RVers. We lived in a 42 foot Motorhome and pulled a Jeep for 8 years. Never had any trouble with the law or the IRS. Check it out ; it works!   Cheers, Hoss C.

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The PRoK Franchise Tax Board has been known to go after retirees that have set up residence in states without an income tax. Especially those that have good pension plans and plenty of retirement income. Used to ride with a guy that retired with a nice pension plus military retirement. About 6 months after he retired he bought some land and moved to South Dakota. The Franchise tax board went after him and his wife to prove they were no longer a California residents. They won but it was a real aggravation having to prove they were no longer residents of the PRoK. I have also heard reports of the FTB harassing people that moved to Nevada after retiring. The tactic was to send people a tax bill and when they ignored it the FTB would file a lein on their retirement fund for back taxes plus interest and penalties.

 

Where I work the field service folks have to file state income taxes in every state they work in for more than 9 days. . They used to fly under the radar but a few years ago a state got wise and went after the company for failing to report employee income earned while working in that state plus failure to pay into thing like workman's comp. Now the company files W2s with every state where you exceed the number of days threshold.

The first year field service got bit by this new policy was rather painful as the company did nothing to offset the lost income or assist in filing tax forms in all these states. For some people the the money they paid was a pittance compare to all the tax paperwork they had to have professionally filled out. Others got hit for thousands of dollars in state income taxes.

 

BTW DIY tax software is not really setup for those kinds of situations and the local H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt people found out that they were in over their heads pretty quickly. 

 

I think the Escapees thing is a great idea but if I were leaving a high tax state and setting up shop in a no income tax state I believe I would spend a full year in my new state of residence paying utilities, rent, and voting in local elections before I ever went back for anything more than a couple of days. Even if you win a court fight you'll be out money for a lawyer plus all the inconvenience and harassment. Not saying they go after everybody but why set yourself up to be a potential target.

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