Saturday, August 18, 2012

BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING!

Friday, August 17 - Well, we've gone and done it! We bought a house.
front of house
When we began full-timing, we committed to living on the road for at least two years. Well, it's been three years, and we've decided to become “Part-Timers.” We don't intend to stop traveling. We still have a daughter in Houston, TX, we plan on seeing frequently, and we have places we want to see and people we want to visit all over the country. We just felt the time was right to move in another direction. Time to slow waaaaay down!

Backyard is nice a large.back of home

Our plan is to sell our Tiffin Phaeton and downsize to a trailer in the near future. We'll use the trailer to escape the cold Ohio winters and travel about six months a year. If anyone is looking for a wonderful 2005 Tiffin Phaeton diesel pusher, that has served us well over the past three years, we have just the vehicle for you and you certainly won't be disappointed.

We both had some reservations about buying a house, but felt the time was right to slow down and give “Part-Timing” a try. With interest rates at all-time lows, and it being a buyer's market, it wasn't a hard decision to make. We both knew we wouldn't be full-time RV'ers for ever and thought we would start the process of home shopping. Little did we know we would find a well-priced house so quickly.

A scary moment when we signed the contract. Yes, that wallpaper will come off…and fast!signing contract

Being “part-timers” or “snowbirds” seems like a comfortable compromise for us. We can spend some summer months in the Canton, Ohio, area with our daughter, Kelly, family and friends, and then escape the snow in the winter months to visit our other daughter, Carrie, in Houston. Mix in some trips to places around the country we still want to see and we should be happy!

So another lifestyle change has begun. Wish us luck!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

30 comments:

  1. Congrats you guys. It's always exciting when you start a new phase in your life. And I'm sure glad that wall paper is coming down. Good luck with the travel trailer hunt. I'll be watching to see what you end up with.

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  2. well if we can ever find a spot we would like to call home we could easily become part timers, congrats!

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  3. We can understand why you'd want to slow down after your whirlwind travels the past 6 months!
    Looks like a nice house. Hope to see you in Mission this winter.

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  4. Congratulations on your evolution to a new life style. Embrace it with as much enthusiasm as you did full timing and I'm sure you will be two happy snowbirds.

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  5. Congratulations on your evolution to a new life style. Embrace it with as much enthusiasm as you did full timing and I'm sure you will be two happy snowbirds.

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  6. No I sure did not see that coming. Congratulations on your new lifestyle.

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  7. Louise said "I saw it coming" We will be looking forward to seeing you in the south during the winters. Are you going to have a rv hookup for when we come to visit?.....lol

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  8. Congrats, sounds like you have about the same reasons we did for leaving the full time lifestyle a few months ago:)

    To be honest I am still adjusting to having a house and all that goes with it, but I am getting there:)

    Enjoy!

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  9. Well, should I say "kinda"? I knew when you left us you had said you were going to look for property when you got back to Ohio. I thought it was land. You had also mentioned again the two year commitment. However, good for you and congratulations on finding what you wanted!! For now I like our little cabin in the woods. However, we'd like to find something a little more permanent in the south but haven't found a place we like that well ... yet.

    Again, congratulations.

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  10. Good for you! Took us seven years to buy the park trailer we are squatting in between travels. It's still an RV, so we can consider ourselves as FT RVers. Best of luck to you in your new summer quarters!

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  11. Congratulations on the new home and change of lifestyles. We consider ourselves "part time fulltimers" now, as we live in our fifth wheel fulltime but spend about 90% of our time at either our site in Dillard, GA or the one in Crystal River, FL. Enjoy yourselves!

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  12. Congratulations on your new home! I wish you many years of happiness as part timers.

    When Rich was alive, the plan was to keep the house, travel for full time for a few years or until we decided to spend more time in Georgia near our children. I was all for selling the house, thinking we could visit the kids as often as we pleased because we would be mobile. Rich, however, felt that keeping the house was the wise thing to do, as long as we could afford to do it. Turns out we would have made the correct decision though we never had the opportunity to employ it.

    Again, enjoy the best of two worlds.

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  13. Well, shut my mouth! I'm speechless...you're right. Never saw it coming! But it is a good time to buy. Congratulations!

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  14. Congratulations! Now we will be looking for a tour of the new homestead. I am a "nester" I guess and can't imagine being without a home base. Now you can travel and come home as you please. NICE! As for the wallpaper...can't imagine why you would want to tear it down hahahahaha!!!

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  15. Congrats on your new home and change in lifestyle! Looks like you've found a great place. You surprised me for sure!

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  16. I did NOT see it coming but, somehow, I'm not surprised. All those trips back to Ohio Marsha has been making did make me wonder a bit if she was developing a need to be "home" more. Now that you've done it I wonder if all that frantic traveling you've been doing recently was an attempt to get it all in before making this move. :)

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  17. Congratulations; and yes, that did come as a surprise. We're thinking 3-5 years ... at our pace, and with non-Phaeton trips thrown in here and there ... we figure it will take us at least that long on the road to see what we want to see before we settle down and downsize to a smaller rig. Enjoy settling into your new digs.

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  18. If you're comfortable with your decision, then it's the right one for you! Best wishes.

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  19. congrats on the new purchase!..exciting new phase you are about to embark on!!!

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  20. As soon as I saw the title to your post I said to myself "they bought a house". Congratulations! It certainly is a buyer's market so I'm sure your timing was great. Best of luck to you both. You will now have the best of both worlds.

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  21. Did NOT see this coming. Still hope to see you guys on the road sometime. Good luck with the wallpaper, it was one of the reasons we decided to full-time :-)

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  22. As soon as I read the title of your post, I knew what was coming. Other friends of ours used that same title!
    Good for you. Do what feels right! Gives the rest of us here a place to visit ;)

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  23. Congratulations on the new house, Paul and Marsha. It looks like a wonderful place!

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  24. Wow is right! Congratulations on your new home and new adventures.

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  25. Didn't expect that! Thought maybe Houston would be homebase though. Congrats on purchase it's a buyer's market and home is where the heart is, right? I'm torn on what I want to do but after sitting still for almost 9 mo. I'm ready to go again. Glad you'll be PTimers!

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  26. What a nice home and pretty back yard. We wish you all the best on your new path.

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