RE: Which way are you headed to avoid the snow?!
"Still waiting for the SOLD sign," but we're heading out for the winter anyway, to celebrate DH's retirement. Here's our itinerary:
Dec. 10 - 20 - Edisto Island, SC;
Dec. 20 - January 4 - Skidaway Island, GA; (plan to view Savannah and Charleston in their holiday finery);
January 5 - February 6 - Sunrise, FL, outside Ft. Lauderdale (getting our Motosat installed while we're there);
For the coldest part of the year, we are splurging and spending 6 days in the Keys, from Feb 6 - 11.
The rest of February and early March we will be spending at two COE parks, Franklin and Ortona.
In March we spend a few days at Collier-Seminole SP, before meeting up with friends for a two-week stay at The Groves outside Fort Myers.
To cap off the winter celebration, we have reservations the last week in March at Ft. Wilderness. Plans are to fly our 10-year-old granddaughter down to spend her spring break at Disney World with us.
This is probably the last year we will spend in the southeast; only staying this side of the country "in case" our house should sell while we're gone. Future winters we won't be so regimented (we have reservations this winter everywhere because we didn't know what to expect). I predict next year we'll head for Arizona and points west.
We are so excited that it's hard to tone it down in front of friends and relatives who are sad about our leaving!
RE: HAVE TO ASK
It is affecting us in that we cannot sell our sticks + bricks. We are heading out Dec. 1 anyway, at least for the winter months. I am glad to hear a lot of you can make it fulltiming on pensions + social security. That is what I was hoping for, not to have to touch our 403B investment for many years, which it may take to recover. When our house sells, we plan to put that proceeds into CDs or treasuries, something very safe, to save as our exit strategy.
I THANK GOD for the retirement adviser who presented at a retirement planner seminar at my husband's school two years ago. (My husband has been with an Indiana public school system for 36 years). I took notes, and when reviewing them as we planned his retirement last year, came across his advice to move the annuity portion of his pension into the "guaranteed fund" a year ahead of retirement. I moved those funds last fall, when the market was at its high. That would be a difficult decision now, as low as the market is. It was hard enough then, because human nature wants to think investments will only go up, and we are not conservative by nature. Now you would need a crystal ball to know what this market might do in a year's time.
Indiana state teacher's fund is made up of two parts; a guaranteed pension based upon years of service, income levels, etc., and a second part that is voluntary to contribute to, which we always had. This had always been allocated moderately, not conservatively, between large, small, domestic, international, etc. funds. It had built up to around $200+ thousand last fall. THANK GOD I followed the adviser's advice and moved it to the guaranteed fund last fall!!!!!!!!!!!! If not, it's very likely we would have lost nearly half of our funds in that account. That's a lot of money to a public employee. We plan to roll it over into an IRA in November, then wait until he's 59 1/2 to draw on it until social security age. This is the money we plan to use first, so it is VERY IMPORTANT that it is safe.
RE: Escapees website
I followed the instructions for getting a new password, but no e-mail back from Escapees, so I am not able to get on the site either. Said e-mail might take up to 10 minutes, but it's been almost 24 hours now.
RE: How many new snowbirds this winter?
First time snowbirds here. (If our house sells within the next two months we'll actually be fulltimers instead!)
Leaving Indiana Dec. 1 and heading for Chattanooga to visit relatives for a few days. From there, we will spend 10 days on Edisto Island, SC. From there, we will spend two weeks on Skidaway Island, GA, being there over the holidays. (Plan to view Savannah dressed in its holiday finery). From there, we will spend a month at Markham Park outside Ft. Lauderdale, where we plan to have a Motosat installed on our MH. After that, we will spend five days in Keys at KOA Sunshine Key, then two Corps of Engineers campgrounds, then the Groves outside Fort Myers (two weeks with friends from up north). Last, but certainly not least, we have reservations the last week in March at Fort Wilderness. We will fly our 10-year-old granddaughter down on her spring break to spend the week at Disney with us. After that, we'll head back north and try to sell our house so we can do it all again!!!!
RE: What are your travel plans for the 2008 holiday season?
This is our first year as snowbirds, too. (Actually we would be fulltimers, except that we're still waiting for our house to sell; oh, well, maybe next year....)
Anyway, we are starting out Dec. 1 and spending a few days near Chattanooga visiting relatives. From there, we will be at Edisto Island, SC for a couple of weeks. Over the holidays, we will be at Skidaway Island, outside Savannah, GA, until after New Year's. After that, we have reservations at various state parks and COE campgrounds in Florida for the winter, including splurging for five days in the Keys, ending the last week in March at Fort Wilderness. We're flying our granddaughter down for her spring break to spend the week at Disney with us. (To soften the blow of us selling our home and fulltiming). After that, we'll make our way back north and try again to sell our home. We are as excited as a couple of kids about our new adventure!
RE: How many of us are waiting for the SOLD sign?
We still have only had 2 showings since May 1. We have lowered our price. I did see someone stop and take a flyer, then sit and stare at our house for a L-o-n-g time the other day. Then I saw him drive around the block and take another slow look. That's what my husband and I did when we saw this house 11 years ago. It's the kind of house a person could fall in love with at first sight. Now if he'd only come for a showing....
If we ever DO have another showing, I have done a couple of things to hopefully help a little. I set up a digital photo frame in the kitchen and have it loaded with photos of the outside of our house in all seasons, to show the perennials and landscaping is pretty all year. I also put the same digital photos on the Photobucket web site, and put slips of paper showing the URL for the photo album taped in an envelope in our info sheet box out front. That way, folks can see our back yard as well as just the front. I did notice the man who took the flyer the other day also took one of these slips of paper. (My Photobucket page has also had some visitors, according to the counter). For those of you with way too much time on your hands, here's the URL to my pictures (don't know how to make it clickable; have to cut and paste):
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y14/DianneN/Photos%20for/Digital%20Frame%20Photos/
We are moving forward anyway, and are now finished with garage sale #2. I have hauled all that's left to the local Christian Center charity. We have nothing left other than what we're showing the house with, and what we plan to take in our motorhome. I felt almost giddy to be done with this second garage sale; like a big weight had been lifted that had been over my head all summer. Now it's time to move on to getting our mail forwarding set up, continue shredding documents, scanning photos, etc. My husband and I also each bought a Kindle to download books on when traveling. We're ready to go!!
RE: Who does Cabinet Re-Do for New TVs?
Thanks for all replies. I've passed them on to my husband. Actually, Decatur, IN isn't all that far from us; we'll see how expensive it is, and maybe that will give him more courage to try it himself!!
Who does Cabinet Re-Do for New TVs?
My husband and I will start full timing as soon as our house sells. One of the things we wish to go ahead and do now is replace our two heavy Sony TVs with flat-screen TVs which are digital-ready. I have seen several do-it-yourself topics on this, but my husband is not comfortable trying to secure a TV in a moving vehicle and especially if it requires reconfiguring the maple cabinetry.
Is there a place in Elkhart that does this sort of thing? Where do we begin to find a place?
RE: It's coming like a freight train
Whew! I've been worried about this same question, because we will be traveling with two dogs and one cat (who loves to look out the windows). Thanks for asking the question!
RE: CrusinSusan's FullTimer Blog (AKA: Blatant Ego Run Amok)
I'm looking forward to following your adventures! I've been enjoying your house-selling journey and hope that we're right behind you. Starting a travel blog is on my to-do list as well, but I'm still in the garage sale/furniture appraising/paper shredding/photo scanning/address-changing etc. etc. mode!!
RE: Reliability?
We also started out looking at new Bounders, Pace Arrow, etc. Then we found a
well-maintained, used 2003 Newmar Mountain Aire gasser a year and a half ago. We loved the interior and obvious high quality. We have been very pleased with our purchase, and plan to keep it as long as possible. We have even half-jokingly said when the engine wears out we might just replace it and keep the rig. We have been pleasantly surprised at how well insulated it is, which really makes a difference in temperature extremes. All in all, it is a well-thought-out, quality-built rig.
We plan to start full timing as soon as our house sells, and will take a trial run this winter whether the house sells or not. We tow a very small car (Toyota Matrix) and it seems to make NO difference on gas mileage. We can't even tell it's back there, other than seeing it on the camera! I know a lot of folks say to buy a diesel, but for us that extra $100k was just not an option. Besides, that will buy a heck of a lot of gas, even at these prices. We have not had any maintenance issues, other than regular oil changes, etc.
Wouldn't want to tell you what to do, but we've been happy with our decision. Quality is always an important factor, especially when you anticipate the wear and tear of full-time living in a rig.
RE: Fort Wilderness dog policy outrageous!!
We recently made reservations for the last week in March for a pet loop. There was no problem at all when I called, and our confirmation states that we have pets right on it.
RE: I'm Soooooo Close! Here's What's Been Done Thus Far
One thing I learned to do on this forum is to sign up with CatalogChoice.com to stop delivery of the mountains of unwanted catalogs we got in the mail. It takes about 10 weeks for it to stop, but it really did do away with most of them. I am so grateful to have learned that here on this forum; it really helped. Now if we can just sell our house!!!
RE: How many of us are waiting for the SOLD sign?
Oops! Just re-read the whole thread to boost my morale, and found the answer to my question several pages back. DH is going to call our agent tomorrow and ask him to add the cash bonus for the buyer's agent. In the meantime, I will try to price some of our antique furniture, and make up a price list so that when the time comes, we'll be ready. So much to do!!
RE: Campgrounds on Florida's west coast
For those of you considering Ft. Desoto, it is heaven if you travel with a dog or two. There is a fabulous fenced dog area for play time, and even a "doggie beach" area! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there, even though it was in the heat of summer.
RE: How many of us are waiting for the SOLD sign?
No activity here yet. Still only two showings since May 1. Good feedback on each. We are not discouraged, because we knew our house would take a while to sell -- needs a buyer looking for a historic home. Like the above poster noted, it only takes one! My husband has to work until Nov. 25 anyway, so we're stuck in this area regardless.
We have decided to move into the motorhome and hit the road December 1, whether the house has sold or not, and spend the winter down south. We are leaving it furnished while we are gone (to show better). Murphy's Law tells me that it will sell while we are enjoying the sunny south and we'll have to make a mad dash back to Indiana in January or February to sell all of our furniture!! Oh, well, I guess that's a good problem to have, if it turns out that way.
Our thinking is that this five or six month "trial run" will educate us big time on things we should have brought, should have left at home, etc., etc., when we can still come back here next summer and make adjustments. Still, I would prefer that the house sells sooner rather than later!
RE: Fort Lauderdale Short Stay?? Any Recommendations??
Wow, HeresLucy, thanks so much!! Your photos are a great help, and the dog park looks wonderful. Absolutely perfect for us! We'll probably end up staying longer than we had planned.
