The other option is to stay in a caravan park..... there are some good cheap ones around .......we live full time on the road but have a small property we can go back to but it has no house ...we would never own another house
Moranbah is not cheap, yes prices have come down from the $1 million they were asking for in the boom for a typical house. Better deals in country towns with vacant shops with back lane for van access
The GNT in last issue asked that very question with a vey big majority saying YES keep your house. There were varying reasons offered for doing so of course, mostly for the security of having something to come back to. It also offers a bit of an income stream.
But yes Jay & Dee that is a great idea for those considering. I would think best to downsize before you get on the road.
In WA several country towns have been offering cheap houses for a few years now ....... Bruce Rock did quite well and Kambalda tried a few years ago with the downturn in nickel
When we get out there we will be renting our house out............although that to can be a scary proposition..
-- Edited by Bushpie on Saturday 27th of February 2016 09:58:47 AM
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I Remember It ...............All Too Well
Wherever the four winds blow. I'm restless, I'm ready
Bushpie - use a Real Estate company to manage your rental, but before taking one on, check with a few other of their property owning customers who rent out. There are good, but many useless Property Managers in the market. We found that out when we rented our property about 10 years ago. We would now want to contact 3-4 of their renting (the house owners) customers to see if they do what you want and pay them them to do.
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
We were renting before we left. I never, ever wanted to own a house - I despise being tied down. Always have. If we need a base, we'll caravan park it. That way we at least have the illusion of being able to pack up & go. Plus, we can choose to stay near the services required at the time (several different health issues between us), which will make life easier, should we ever need to stay put.
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The Mobile Madhouse: me (Rosie), him (Troy), a kelpie, a kelpie-dingo, a husky & a rainbow lorikeet.
I have met many desperately unhappy folk who remain in their own abodes, and do little but hide inside, tend their lawns/ gardens and watch T.V., eventually disappearing up their own derrieres'.
I am yet to meet a desperately unhappy Nomad on the road and if we spend our life worrying about the 'what ifs' of potential health issues as we get older, I fail to see why it would be any better lying in bed at home rather than a RV or Caravan and possibly seeing something interesting besides your front fence you've looked at, for umpteen years....and if you own your home the only thing you can be certain of in this day and age, is you are likely to have a constant stream of relatives...'checking on your health'....
Renting out our property in Port Lincoln was a nightmare of Estate Agent requests like..."your HWS has unexpectedly shat itself and needs replacing..only $1200 to install"..or you need to replace the dividing fence as strong winds now have it tilting over...and...have you had white ant treatment recently as several homes nearby you, have been found to be infested"...your gutters could do with a re-paint....plus other gems to ruin each day for us.... at our age that is not living the dream..its living the nightmare....keep your house for your relatives by all means...we decided to sell...and we are FREE....and I reckon we're in better health than we were in the last 10 years of working/worrying/maintaining and the utter boredom of dancing to others drums....to each his/her own..family replaces a home base of our own these days......I hope I die out in the goldfields having already dug a decent grave/hole and they find my body with a huge gold nugget across my chest..they won't be able to wipe my smile away.........Hoo Roo
-- Edited by goldfinger on Saturday 27th of February 2016 07:01:37 PM
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'The secret of happiness is not in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less'.Socrates BC399.
'Be a Cheerful Nomad, not a Grumpy Gromad, it's the Surly Bird who catches the Germ'!
I am a solo. When my wife and I were both planning our retirement and future for our five daughters every thing was running smoothly. We had a Nissan Patrol, then a Toyota 55 and a Viscount 8 berth pop up expanda and travelled whenever and wherever we could . Our girls loved to camp in the middle of nowhere and explore and nothing has changed their view. When we thought we had secured our future and finance my wife was diagnosed with an aggressive form of MS. It was a long 23 years for her and a battle at times but she was a very strong woman and fought right up to the end. She had a quote she would say to everyone " If I wake up it's a good day and and what happens for the rest of the day is for me to decide. I will do whatever I am capable of doing on that day". I have decided to do what we had planned before the MS came along and that is to sell and travel this beautiful country. It is four years since Thea left us and my daughters have been pushing for me to go. A house is just a possession but your memories can travel with you and when the time comes for my travels to cease then I plan to return and rent or buy in a suitable dwelling with people my age. So for me selling up and travelling is what I intend to do and the fact that I have been sidelined four twelve weeks with a large kidney stone has just spurred me on. I hope to have my house ready four sale soon and purchase a tug and van ( DMax and Jayco Sterling) and travel hopefully meeting some of the wonderful people who frequent this forum.
To sell or not to sell is a choice made sometime by circumstances and life takes you in a different direction. I love to draw, paint and have just started to learn how to play the guitar. Hopefully I will have learnt to play before I have to settle down and if not does it really matter as long as I am enjoying life.
Whatever choice you make is just that your choice and you have worked hard all your life and entitled to that choice.
Bushpie - use a Real Estate company to manage your rental, but before taking one on, check with a few other of their property owning customers who rent out. There are good, but many useless Property Managers in the market. We found that out when we rented our property about 10 years ago. We would now want to contact 3-4 of their renting (the house owners) customers to see if they do what you want and pay them them to do.
Thanks Bruce."........Jury is ou t on this one for us .............whilst we spent nine years in Kimberleys our house was rented ....three useless property managers.......but then we rented a place for a while and that property manager was darn good......which ever way there will always be something......
At least the hot water system is good......replaced Friday
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I Remember It ...............All Too Well
Wherever the four winds blow. I'm restless, I'm ready
I'm with goldfinger. I don't want to worry about some ****bag trashing my house. Sell up, do the Big Lap and keep doing it until you drop dead. Just keep an eye on the real estate market in case you need to buy into it again.
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"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."
Dorian, Agreed....I suggest the only eye you need to keep on real estate prices around Australia generally in 2016 is by how much the prices will now fall.....Australia is the most Domestic borrowed nation on Planet Earth...the giant Ponzi Scheme of ever increasing values has to now come to an end, and is already starting.......many reasons for this which I won't elaborate here.....based on my experience as a Bank Manager 21 years and Registered Real Estate Agent for 26 years.......I did not mention the substantial number of times as an Agent I would be called in to appraise a property where the husband and wife had been preparing for years for 'the Big Lap' together....health issues ruined their dreams unexpectedly and one would inevitably pass away.....one left to live in the house which is now largely meaningless and worse too many memories....and facing a daunting 'Big Lap' on their own...I apologise if this touches a nerve with some....it's just what I have seen by experience....if only we had a rule book for life...and better still, knew exactly how long we can enjoy our stay here with our partners, most of our expectations/decisions could be more soundly based......
It's one of the reasons I believe as we get up into our late 60's we should organise ourselves if we ever harbor dreams of doing it....and actually start doing it!..........we did/are...Hoo Roo
-- Edited by goldfinger on Sunday 28th of February 2016 12:11:29 PM
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'The secret of happiness is not in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less'.Socrates BC399.
'Be a Cheerful Nomad, not a Grumpy Gromad, it's the Surly Bird who catches the Germ'!
...I did not mention the substantial number of times as an Agent I would be called in to appraise a property where the husband and wife had been preparing for years for 'the Big Lap' together....health issues ruined their dreams unexpectedly and one would inevitably pass away.....one left to live in the house which is now largely meaningless and worse too many memories....and facing a daunting 'Big Lap' on their own...
-- Edited by goldfinger on Sunday 28th of February 2016 12:11:29 PM
This is why we left when we did - we got the "You'll be dead by 60" line, and thought we'd best get a wriggle on. And here we are. They still tell us he'll drop around 55. And we keep on going. Because what else is there to do, sit and wait to die, staring at a wall? And when that happens, what does the one left behind do? Sit and stare at the same wall, and wait til the Reaper comes to call again? I couldn't do it, but I'm not sure I'd have known how to hit the road by myself either (I didn't drive back then, but I do now). So we don't have a base, but we are making memories, and at the end, that's what we all any of us have to hold onto, our memories and our regrets. The goal is to have lots of the former (hopefully more happy than not), and as few as possible of the latter. Bricks and mortar aren't going to help with that....
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The Mobile Madhouse: me (Rosie), him (Troy), a kelpie, a kelpie-dingo, a husky & a rainbow lorikeet.
We have sold up and traveling fulltime, best thing we ever did. Yes right now it's not so good as the boss is waiting for hip replacement and the van was just not right for her so we are renting. Once she is able to move again we will be off on the rest of our adventure.
We are looking at buying a block of land somewhere near a good town and when we have to pull up stumps, we will move there permanently. Only a idea yet.
We went through the renting and it just ended up costing us money. Changed RE and still had problems, no one would do what they where meant to do, inspect and collect, we ended up having to chase the RE for our rent and in the end we lost over $10,000.00 just in repairs and back rent, that was with one renter. Next time cost us about $6500.00, bond did not cover anything. So we said stuff it sell and off we go. Best thing we ever did no hassles or extra costs.
Good post Moorey, hope you travel far and wide and enjoy! I would prefer to travel full time but probably rent the house out because unfortunately RE values just keep climbing and if we sold and decided to buy again in another 10 years we probably couldn't afford it. I was in defence for most of my life and we traveled extensively and in a previous life I moved frequently both as a kid and an adult so I guess I'm a drifter by nature; unfortunately, my wife isn't. usually after a week away she's ready to go home. I would love to live out my life on the road. but health problems and an unwillingness on the wife's part put a stop to that - not to be I guess.
I thank JayDee for pointing out about Moranbah, I also notice that others have said that there are cheaper houses elsewhere. The opinions seem to be about 50/50 for keeping/selling/renting home.
I would like to give my opinion
It personally does not worry me, if I do/not have a home to come home to. On the other hand, my better half of nearly 49 years, says that she will be leaving our home in a box. Therefore for no other reason, apart from my future wellbeing, I have decided that I will never make any plans to sell our home.
My era, are close to the forefront of the baby boomers. There are a lot more retirees coming along the pipeline. According to my Googling, for many past decades 30% of people have never owned a home.
I met a most delightful couple, much younger than myself, in the Richmond Bowling Club Wanderest overnight stay camp. I went to get some information about the roads ahead. They were in what I would describe as a newish motorhome, while I was in an old disposable sedan car and caravan.
As soon as they started to talk, and I heard their very refined accent, I thought that I was well and truly out of my social circle. I found them to be travellers, just like myself. They treated me, in the same respect, as I try to treat all others.
I would describe this couple as being very highly educated, professional academic type people, who were deep thinkers. Up to that period in time, they had been full time on the road, for the previous four years. I shall pass on some of the advice they freely gave to me, as I more or less remember it
As this is your first lap, when you get home, you will have either enjoyed or hated it.
If you have enjoyed it, then sell up and come on the road full time
I asked them for their reasons, about why I should sell up? Their answer was
Just like our friends, throughout our life, we had accumulated many material objects
As our older friends sadly died, we noticed that none of them, had taken any of their material objects with them
After selling up, we have enough, to live our preferred lifestyle, while we are still young enough to enjoy it.
If I had to describe this travelling couple in a few words, those words would be:-
