Back in 2011, when we first moved into our RV, we did some research as to what it takes to become a full-timer. Mainly, we learned quite a bit just going through our own hoops. In this episode, we share some of the first things we had to consider when breaking ties from a house with a foundation into a lifestyle on wheels.
 

 Episode Highlights:

There are three major things we had to work out.
 
1) Residency
  • When we first went full-time living in our RV, we were in Florida. We were renting a house in FL so we initially wanted to keep our Florida residency.
  • We did a lot of research as to what other full-time RVers were doing and where they would establish residency.
  • We kept Florida because we already had our drivers license there. There were no vehicle inspections to renew license. We thought that would be the easiest and most straightforward way to go. Florida also didn’t have state income tax. 
2) Mailing address
  • To establish residency, you must have an address. We were renting a house, but soon that address would not be valid. Many online references guided us to establish a box at places like a UPS store that could have a street address and a box number.
  • We would have our personal mail shipped to us once or twice a month where ever we were in the country.
  • The drawback was not getting info timely. Although most of our bills were online, some official notices do not arrive electronically. 
3) Bank accounts
  • Any time you establish a bank account, you must have a valid street address. They do not accept addresses from a UPS Store.
  • So, if you are without an official home address, you’d need to use a close family or friend’s address. Not a big deal, I suppose. Just irritating that people thought you were up to no good if your home is on wheels.
We established our business and our personal residence in Florida and kept it there for quite some time. For all practical purposes, we ended up coming back to our home state of Missouri and are using it as our home base now. We are closer to family and have decided to really grow our business here and take time to travel in our smaller vehicles.
 
Yes, Missouri has state inspections and state income tax. We find that it’s the best place for us to call our home base. We transferred our business to be established in Missouri. We have a PO box for all our business affairs. We have team members who check our PO box and make sure everything is filed or deposited timely. We are closer to our rental property to check on it occasionally. And since we don’t like driving around the big 38 foot RV any longer and like back roads and little highways and byways, we park it on family property in the country and that is our retreat. 
 

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