Is Living in an RV Right for You?

Why We Decided to Live in An RV Full Time

I have mentioned a couple of times that Joel and I were going to be living in an RV full time pretty soon. Well, it is officially official! Because we bought an RV. There is no turning back now! But we are pretty pumped, so it’s all good.

If you are thinking about living in an RV, you might be wondering how you should decide whether or not the RV lifestyle is right for you.

Leaving behind the typical life for a life of adventure shouldn’t be taken lightly. You want to consider all the factors before deciding to make such a big life change.

I have heard some stories of people who decided to live in RV only to bail less than a year later. They ended up losing thousands of dollars on RV depreciation because of this choice. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you!

Although we haven’t actually started living in an RV just quite yet, we did think about it and consider all the pros and cons before making the jump. Here are some of the factors we kept in mind when making our choice to become full-time RVers.

Think About Your Reasons for Living in an RV Full time

There are lots of reasons you might decide to live in an RV. Maybe you think it will save money (which is possible depending on your current vs RV lifestyle).

Maybe you are sick of the mundane day to day of working a desk job. Or maybe you’re just feeling burned out and would like to become a digital nomad.

What you need to do is take a minute to pause. Think about why you are even considering living in an RV in the first place.

One reason Joel and I decided to live in an RV is because we love to travel and see new places and things. We will be married four years in July, and during that time we will have lived in four different states!

Clearly, we already have the roaming part down. All this bouncing around has been hard though. We have had to pack up all our stuff, find a new place to live, figure out work, etc.

With RV living, the bouncing around will be much easier to manage. We will have our whole house with us at all times, packed and ready to go! No more packing or looking for housing. Hooray!

Living in an RV will allow us to travel more often and check out some of the amazing places the United States has to offer. We won’t have to be tied to just one geographic location.

If you didn’t already take a second to think about why you want to be a full-time RVer, do that now. Because you have to have a good reason nailed down before you move onto other considerations for RV living.

Working While Living in an RV Full-time

Having a job while on the road is a big one. This is probably the main reason most people end up not wanting to or not being able to commit to living in an RV full time.

But if you have a solid reason and truly want to make this lifestyle a possibility, don’t let the job factor stop you!

So what will we be doing?

Well, Joel already works from home, so no problems there. When we were moving from Albuquerque to Utah for my first job, he talked to his company.

He told them the situation, and they were more than happy to have him stay on as a remote worker. Woohoo, easy peasy.

I think we got a bit lucky with how easy it was for us. But, if you have a computer-based job, don’t be afraid to ask about going remote.

If you have been there for a couple of years and have established yourself as a good worker, all the better.  In this day and age, more and more workers are becoming remote.

In fact, according to Forbes, more than 50% of U.S. employees engage in some level of remote work already. Why can’t you?!

If the company doesn’t seem convinced, try suggesting a trial period. You (or your spouse) could start working from home one or two days a week and goes into the office the other days. Make sure to prove that just as much work gets done this way!

While I could work remotely, I will actually be continuing with in-person jobs despite being on the road.

I am going to be working as a traveling speech-language pathologist (much like a travel nurse). My placements will last 13 weeks on average, and then we will move on to the next placement!

Truly remote work would give us more flexibility to choose exactly where we wanted to go and how long we wanted to stay. But the financial and professional benefits of travel therapy outweighed this consideration for us.

Finding the Right RV to Live In

So you decided living in an RV full time is the way to go. First of all, you’re awesome. Second of all, now it is time to find the right RV.

There are tons of different RV styles and layouts. So how is one to choose what is best? My recommendation, go to an RV show so you can look at multiple different types of RVs all at once.

(DO NOT BUY ONE there unless you are a millionaire and you don’t care about 50% depreciation!)

Joel and I went to a local RV show when we were first trying to figure out exactly what we wanted for our future home. When we first started looking, there were a couple layouts and sizes we *thought* we liked.

By the end of the show when we revisited those earlier options, it turned out we liked others MUCH better. That is why it is so important to look at a lot of options. It also helps to see them in close succession to each other so you can really compare and decide what is best for you.

The easiest way to do this is at an RV show, because different RV makes will have different options. If a dealer carries just one or two different makes, you won’t have the opportunity to compare more layouts. This could make it hard to find the perfect RV for you.

We decided we liked opposing slides the best. This layout really opened up the living area significantly. You may opt for a single full slide or some other combination. So check to see if there is an RV show near you coming up, and jump at the opportunity.

Buying an RV

I said before, to look at options at an RV show, but not to buy one there. The reason is that RVs have MASSIVE depreciation, especially if you are buying new.

You could lose 30-50% of the value of your RV in the first year or two. So if you do end up selling down the road, you will take a huge hit with buying a new RV.

Do yourself a favor. Let someone else take the hit on depreciation for not being as smart with their money as you are.

We bought our RV used, and it only had 9,000 miles on it! But, it had depreciated by 60% when we bought it!

So many people buy an RV with grand intentions and then end up barely using it. Make sure that isn’t you!

Buying a Used RV

Buying a used RV is definitely the way to go if you ask me. But of course, you have to be careful with buying something used as well.

Going through a dealer when buying an RV versus a private seller increases your chances of avoiding issues. As with anything used though, there is no guaranteed you won’t run into issues at some point.

Realistically, RV repairs are just part of the deal if you are living in it full time. Just like you would expect to have to do some maintenance and repairs on a home, the same will be true of your RV.

So plan for those expenses and you’ll be a happier camper.

When we were buying an RV, we decided to purchase from a dealer. There were multiple things they fixed up for us before we drove it off the lot.

Then, after we drove it off the lot, there were quite a few additional things that we noticed. The dealer ended up having us bring it back in to fix everything else. All in all they dropped $3,000 more into repairs!

This is something you definitely wouldn’t get if you bought it from a private seller.

While not all dealers will do that, we really lucked out by choosing a reputable dealer with great reviews. In the end, it saved us thousands of dollars! If you’re in the Salt Lake City area, I HIGHLY recommend Washburn Motors!

The Best Time of Year to Buy an RV

We discovered, honestly kind of by luck, that buying an RV in the off-season can save a lot of money. When we were negotiating with the dealer (see below for tips on this) he said he wouldn’t even be considering what we were offering if it wasn’t just before the busy season.

We got lucky and squeezed in our RV purchase right at the end of February. This was before the majority of people start thinking about that summer road trip life.

If we had bought our RV even sooner, we might have been in an even better position. So if you’re preparing to live in an RV, planning ahead and buying at the right time could potentially save you thousands of dollars!

Negotiating the Price of an RV

When you are buying an RV, it is important to negotiate for both new and used purchases. Lots of people hate negotiating, especially women.

But you know what I also hate? Playing $5,000 more for something than I have to.

That’s how much I was able to negotiate off the price of our used RV. Here are my best suggestions for negotiating on your purchase price when buying an RV (or any vehicle for that matter).

Know what you want to spend before you even go looking

Knowing how much you want to spend will help you avoid spending more than you budgeted for and having buyer’s remorse.

Plus if you have a particular price point in mind, it makes it much easier to negotiate because you know where you want to be.

Ask “how much lower can you get?”

Just by asking this simple question, I was able to get about $1,500 knocked off the price.

Work to Get the Price Lower

To get the next $3,500 of additional money off was much harder. Honestly, my heart was racing the whole time.

Here’s what I did. I listened to what the dealer was saying earlier on. He mentioned he wanted to use the money from this RV sale to buy more travel trailers (his best sellers).

So, I negotiated by bringing up (multiple times) how much he had to gain in the long term by lowering his price for us in the short term. I kept going back to how this would be better for him.

Listen to what they are telling you and see if you can use any of that information to your advantage.

Then stick to your guns! (Keep reading for more on this.)

Don’t Let Pressure Get to You

This kind of goes along with the negotiation process. Buying an RV is a huge purchase. You are likely going to be spending tens of thousands of dollars, so it is important to keep a level head throughout the process.

Dealers like to put you on the defensive and in their defense, I understand they have a business to run. But, you have a budget to stick to as well.

They try to be in control by saying things like “this price is only good until the end of the day”. It gives them all the power and can make you feel pressured to jump. This might lead to you paying more than you want to when you’re buying an RV. Especially if this is your first purchase like it was ours.

When our dealer said this, I basically reversed the tactic to gain back some control of the situation. (He may disagree if he is reading this, but I like to think I did pretty darn good at negotiating.)

I told him that our bottom line price was another $1,000 below his bottom line. Then I told him to call me if he decided to sell for that. Since I wasn’t afraid to walk away, he ended up meeting us in the middle rather than letting a sale slip through his fingers.

 All in all, these negotiation tactics helped us buy our RV for about $5,000 less than the original asking price.

I know negotiate can feel awkward or intimidating.

Don’t be afraid to negotiate! It is all part of the deal. You are a strong, smart, awesome person who doesn’t deserve to be milked for all their worth. Just remember that! And then go milk the dealership for all their worth instead.

How We’re Preparing for Full-Time RV Living

So, you decided that living in an RV is for you. You checked out an RV show to decide on the style that is right for you. You nailed down a remote position or plan to find something wherever you end up.

You’ve been a negotiating fiend to get an awesome price on the house on wheels of your dreams. Now what?

There are a few things we have been doing in preparation for becoming full-time RVers.

The first thing is we have been selling a lot of our stuff. You obviously cannot fit a whole house worth of things into an RV. You’re going to have to decide what you need and what you can live without.

Maximizing storage space and minimizing what comes along is a must for RV living.

Another important thing to consider for full-time RV living is deciding where you will go and how long you will stay in one place. If you plan to stay at RV parks, there are some camping passes you might wish to consider. One of these is the Thousand Trails Camping Pass.

On the other hand, if you plan to boondock, or camp for free on public land, you’ll have to figure out how you will work if you need internet access.

Since I will be working in a physical location, we will stay each place for approximately 3 months before moving on to the next spot. I have less flexibility for where to go and how long to stay than a truly digital nomad would.

You’ll also want to familiarize yourself with your RV. Make sure you know how everything works. You might also want to take it for a few “shakedown” trips to find out if anything needs fixing before hitting the open road. For all things RV, you’ll also want to pop over to RV Resources.

Making the Leap to Living in an RV

While living in an RV isn’t something that should be taken lightly, it offers a whole host of possibilities you might otherwise not get.

You can travel more, potentially save money depending on how savvy of a camper you are, and get to experience new and exciting things every day.

There will always be new people to meet and new places to go if you live in an RV and travel the country.

So if you think RV living just might be for you, think about what is stopping you. Then, find a way to overcome the obstacles to make it happen!

You don’t want to look back on life and wish you had followed your dreams of traveling and seeing the country. The time to adventure is now!

Be sure to check back in for travel tips and destinations as we keep you up to date on our RV living adventures!

Thinking about living in an RV? Drop a comment below so we can be friends!