I sold my house, now what?

Is there enough in your budget to rent an RV or mobile of some sort to live in on-site until new place is safe enough for family?

@canidmajor Funny you mention it. We were actually looking into living in an RV until we found a house but couldn’t find land. It didn’t occur to me to buy the house and have the RV on that land while we work on the house. The only question I have is, how do we not freeze in an RV during winter? (We live in NY).

RV’s have heaters and air conditioning.

@chyna Yes but don’t they need to be hooked up to electric and water? Won’t the pipes freeze during winter? (I’m new to the RV world).

Oh and congrats!
Yes they need to be hooked up to electric and water. Ours used propane for heat. It’s been 20 years since I’ve been in one, but I bet @dutchess can be of a lot more help as she owns one now.

I have friends who did this in Massachusetts, also a “harsh winter” place. I think they were able to hook up the RV to house power, which had to be turned on for the work to be done. I don’t know the details, but I bet Lucky Guy would know about this!

I just sent this to him.

Would a winter rental be feasible while you look for and fix up a house?

@janbb I was thinking about doing that but rent in our area is so pricey I don’t know that we could pay for rent, buy a home, and fix it up all at the same time.

Congratulations on the sale!

Can you move? Houses and rents in the area west of Rochester are quite low compared with the rest of the country.

@LuckyGuy Thanks! Actually I’m currently looking in that exact area to buy a home. At least I think that’s the area you’re talking about. Not in the city of Rochester but farther west (Batavia, Albion, Medina, etc).

@ItalianPrincess1217 there are lots of videos on YouTube that will tell you how to properly winterize an RV. Depending on how the RV has been set up, you may have to take it into a dealer to have it winterized (adding extra insulation and heaters for the water tank etc.) You can also put skirting around the bottom to help insulate underneath, and you can wrap exposed water pipes with heater tape and insulation.

Lots of places that sell RVs offer classes to help you with all these things.

@snowberry Great! Thank you!

We bought an RV last year. It has in floor ducted heating, which is run by propane. That means that the floor is warm even on the coldest day (a big deal)! The whole in floor heating system helps to keep the water pipes from freezing. It’s an ingenious and very effective system.

If it doesn’t get too cold at night (so there’s no danger of pipes underneath freezing), we discovered that a small space heater does a lovely job of keeping the inside warm without having to use the propane tanks very much.

We were thinking maybe of installing extra heat tape or some sort of warming apparatus with the fan to circulate the air and keep things warm under there. If we did that we would be able to use less propane and actually save money by using that tiny space heater to warm up the camper. We haven’t pursued it yet but we were thinking it might work. We would really need an expert to weigh in before we tried anything because it would be terrible to have broken pipes.

@snowberry In looking at some of the newer RV’s they do have some nice ways of preventing pipes from freezing/bursting now. The only issue is I’d be wanting to buy a used older model and I’m guessing those aren’t so great with insulation! We’d definitely have to take our own preventative measures.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Add Hilton, Hamlin, Kendal Bergen to your list. The crime rate is low but the weather is not the best (to put it mildly).
Also look at Eden NY (south of Buffalo). The weather there is surprisingly mild.
What will you do for employment? That is an important factor.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Oooo!!! Gates NY! It is not far from Rochester. It is known for its Italian population and it has open spaces near Spencerport. And housing is relatively cheap!

@LuckyGuy I’m a mom and photographer so I can work anywhere. My husband works for the post office and should be able to transfer wherever there’s an opening.

I think rent for a few months. Get a two bedroom place and stuff all those babies of yours in one bedroom. lol.

@JLeslie Lol is that even legal with opposite genders?

I would think about moving to relatives/friends’ house to save the costs. They will generally accept it if it’s just for temporary. Who would turn away a good family member/friend that said “I have no where else to go… and you’re the only person I can ask for help. I don’t know what else I can do”. Just try not to be a complete freeloader.

Think about the good thing. It should be safer being around people you trust and your children will have someone else to look after them when you’re busy. If you don’t have that option then I’ll agree with other advices that you should rent an RV.

It’s a fixer upper. on 2.6 acres. Check it out on zillow.
2780 Manitou Rd, Rochester, NY 14624
5 beds 2 baths 2,648 sqft
Pre-Foreclosure
Foreclosure Estimate: $102,585
Below Zestimate®: $91K (47%)

@ItalianPrincess Definitely légal for them to share.

@LuckyGuy Oh my gosh! If I was looking for a house in that area, I would snap that one up! It has so much potential, but yet not a total gut job!

@chyna Did you see photos of it somewhere?

Here

@LuckyGuy @chyna

That’s a fixer-upper, or is that a pre-FU photo?

The house in the photo you linked looks okay to me, or at least from what I can see of the exterior it does.

A house like that on 2.6 acres here in my part of Los Angeles, would go for at least $1 million.

It’s legal. You’re talking about an RV! There is no bedroom for the kids then.

I was showing you that as typical. Houses and property are inexpensive. But!!! Taxes are about $4,000 per year per $100,000 sale price.
Go to trulia or zillow and do a search. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

@JLeslie Oh right! Lol.
@LuckyGuy Yep, that’s how much taxes were in the city I just sold my house in too. I’m hoping to get some more land if I have pay that much in taxes again.

@ItalianPrincess1217 You will see that land here is relatively inexpensive. do a search for lot size 2 acres or greater. The price will mostly depend upon the house not the land.

The newly married daughter of close friends of ours just bought a house in Gates. They wanted to keep taxes below 4000/yer so they aimed for a house and lot that cost ~$100,000. it is 1960’s vintage. They are painting and decorating now and are still enjoying the ride. Also the commute is easy. There is not much traffic in this area and virtually no traffic if you work in any of the above mentioned towns.
But we do have snow and it does get cold so plan on it. Subarus are popular as are 4WD trucks. And you will need a good snowblower.

So ideally you need to live close to @luckyguy because he has all the machinery you will ever need and the know how to use them.

@chyna @LuckyGuy I only live an hour away from that area so we get lots of snow here! We have a 4WD but we’re going from city life to country so we’re definitely going to need a snowblower! @LuckyGuy I’m coming to live with you temporarily lol.

Party at @LuckyGuy’s house!

I’m in!

Now that the barn roof is almost off, I have plenty of space. :-)
Bring your RVs and plug in!

I want to go to NYS for the party.