Fueled by a desire for exploration after pandemic-related confinement and the newfound flexibility of remote work, many people realized they no longer needed to stay in one place to make a living. Rather than pay an expensive mortgage each month, a growing number of people decided to trade their monthly bills for a nomadic lifestyle in an RV.
An RV — defined here as a motor home, trailer, van or fifth wheel — offers changing scenery and lower home costs while still having all the creature comforts of home with you. RV sales soared in 2020 and hit record levels in 2021. New RVs were hard to find and used models were commanding high prices.
In 2023, RV sales were down about 16% year over year, according to Statistical Surveys Inc., the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based subsidiary of Trader Interactive that compiles retail sales and consumer demographic data. But, the RV Industry Association projects a significant upturn in RV wholesale shipments for 2024.
As someone who has lived and traveled full time in an RV since 2017, I can vouch that the lifestyle can be dreamy. However, there are drawbacks, including financial consequences that should be considered. If you’re on the fence about living and traveling in an RV, here are some things to think about before hitting the road, and why after six years of living in an RV, I am transitioning back into traditional home living.
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Reasons to Love Not Having a House
There are many appealing aspects of living in an RV full time. I have an ever-changing backyard. I lost count of the number of times my husband and I woke up to million-dollar views of mountains, beaches, prairies, forests and other magnificent scenery. Many of these camping sites come at little to no cost, with settings thatare only accessible by vehicle. Former full-time RVers Gabe and Rocio Rivero from the Instagram account, Our Mixed Journey, who now own a home in Tennessee, second that. “We love the spontaneity of the lifestyle and the ability to wake up to a new gorgeous place or so easily go on a new adventure with our pets in tow,” said Rocio Rivero. Now, the couple travels on longer trips part time and enjoys having a home to return to in between.
My husband and I decided to go on the road in 2017 after growing our real estate investing business remotely. We were renting before the RV, so we sold nearly all of our belongings, keeping a few boxes in a family member’s closet, and headed out with our two cats.
It’s a crazy feeling to sell most of your things, but there’s a lot to like about living more minimally. In our first year on the road, I noticed we had a lot more time. Our spare time was spent less on doing mundane tasks a home often requires, like yard work and cleaning, and more time hiking or relaxing outdoors. Visiting some of our country’s most incredible landscapes, like national parks, meant we were more physically active and felt more grounded because we spent a lot more time in nature than we did in Orlando, the city we called home before RVing.
RV life can also be a way to save money. In our case, the cost of living in an RV and traveling full time was about the same as it was when we rented our home, and roughly the same cost to maintain as the Florida home we recently purchased. However, if you live in an expensive housing market, living in an RV can lead to notable monthly savings compared with a mortgage, property taxes and insurance. Plus, you get to visit new places consistently.
[READ: Guide to Average Home Maintenance Costs.]
Things You Miss Not Having a House
While the beautiful views, fun adventures and flexibility this lifestyle offers are amazing, it’s not without challenges. One of the most obvious is living smaller.
RVs come in many different shapes and sizes. Thanks to the magic of RV slides and cutting-edge designs, you don’t have to compromise a ton of space to live comfortably in an RV. Some even have washer-dryers and dishwashers. But you will certainly have less space than a traditional home. That means you have to get creative and become an expert at conserving water, energy and space.
There are also unpleasantries, things like dumping your RV’s gray and black water tanks (which hold bathroom waste), and showering or doing dishes every few days. If you aren’t paying to stay at a full-service RV park with water, electricity and dumps at each campsite, you have to figure out where to get water and dump, which can be an inconvenience.
“Everything, even mundane tasks, takes extra work in an RV,” says Gabe Rivero. “Normal chores like finding a grocery or doing laundry are always a new experience. You have to be alert about rationing water and resources. It was an inconvenience we happily sacrificed for the amazing lifestyle, but it can be taxing from time to time.”
Driving the RV from place to place can be fatiguing and physically demanding. It’s also a prime opportunity for things to go wrong. Dealing with repairs on the road can be a nightmare. Depending on the type of vehicle you have, that may mean having to move into temporary housing like a hotel or Airbnb while it gets repaired, leaving your entire home behind. It’s also difficult to find a shop that can work on your RV on short notice in an unfamiliar area.
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Why I Chose To Buy a Home in Florida
After six years on the road, my husband and I were longing for more stability. We missed the creature comforts of a permanent home: being able to wash our clothes in our own washer and dryer, shower in a larger more comfortable space, turn on a faucet and have water without having to set up your hose first, and not having to dump our RV tanks every few days.
The community we built on the road was great, but the time with the wonderful people we met was fleeting. We longed for a consistent community and missed our families. Plus, we wanted more space to spread out and do our things separately.
The Riveros were driven to buy a home in Tennessee for many of the same reasons. They now travel part time, and the rest of the time enjoy the extra space, home amenities and ease of day-to-day chores. “We also love getting to see our group of friends and family regularly before we go adventuring again,” says Gabe Rivero.
We ended up buying a home in St. Petersburg, Florida, which is my hometown and near my family. The house was a great deal given the red-hot local housing market, but it is certainly a less-than-ideal time to buy, given how high real estate prices and mortgage rates are.
[READ: Confessions of a First-Time Homebuyer: 3 Costs That Shocked Me After Buying]
Before Giving Up Your House and Buying an RV
We were ready to buy a home in 2023, and thankfully in the financial position to afford it. However, looking back on our journey into RV living, I wish we had purchased a home before we transitioned to RV life. If we had purchased a house in 2017 and rented it out while we were gone, we could have bought at a much lower price and mortgage rate, making homeownership far more affordable than it is today. We also would have had equity to tap into when buying a different home, or better transition our lives when we were ready to settle down again.
Lauren and Aaron Grijalva, who have been living and traveling with their two kids in their fifth wheel since 2018, kept their home in Texas when they headed out on the road.
“When we originally took off in our RV, it was only going to be a one-year trip, so we just got a renter for our house as we thought we would be coming back after a year,” Lauren Grijalva says. “We ended up falling in love with the lifestyle, and once we realized we would not be coming back, we decided to sell it and make a nice profit, as the market was high.”
Keeping their home gave them the financial means to reposition their family’s goals. After spending several winters RVing in Baja California, Mexico, they sold their Texas home, which had rapidly appreciated, and used the profit to buy land where they plan to build their dream home.
All three of the RVs we owned in our six years on the road held their value, since we renovated them with several upgrades like solar power, suspension improvements and home-quality finishings. But like cars and other vehicles, RVs are typically a depreciating asset. Putting all of your money into a vehicle that normally loses value over time isn’t setting yourself up for future financial success. This is especially true if prices and cost of housing rise, as we saw over the last several years.
“The ideal scenario is to be able to keep your home and pursue RV life,” says Amber Edouard, a real estate agent with West + Main in Denver. “If you can rent your home and at least have the rent cover most, if not all, of your mortgage, you can always return to the home if RV life doesn’t work out as hoped or simply when you’re ready. If you do end up enjoying it, hopefully, you are maintaining or lowering your cost of living and saving money while building equity in your home.”
If you can’t afford to do both, Edouard says, aim to set money aside as you travel.
“That way, should you want to revisit a home in the future, you’ll have the capital to do so without the time constraints of selling your home putting pressure on the buying decision,” she says.
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Why I Bought a House After Six Years in an RV originally appeared on usnews.com
