Pack in the job, rent out the house, get in the camper van, fuck off

[GotTheBug]

WIBU to do the above?

We have a house with a small mortgage, stable but unfulfilling jobs, a camper van and itchy feet. Some savings (but not a huge amount!) No kids at home, one ageing but currently still independent parent nearby. Both of us early 50s and healthy.

We have talked about doing this for years and I'm increasingly starting to think that we should do it now before we get any older - also I'm aware that my DF may need us around more in the years to come. I guess I'm worrying that if we leave it another 10 years/wait until retirement we'll have missed the window.

Obviously leaving the job and renting out the house are massive steps and that scares me - so much to potentially go wrong. But at the same time, life is for living, right? We could rent out the house easily I think - seaside location, an hour from London on the train - and the rent would pretty much cover our travel expenses. DH could take a career break for a year or so much more easily than I could, though, and we'd be pretty skint on our return.

Would we be mad to do this, or mad not to?

@LAMPS1 can I ask what you did about work when you returned?

It’s what I plan to do if I am ever left or widowed. Go for it.

Obviously plan it as well as you can and think carefully etc etc but oh my gosh, go, do it!! Life is short and it’s unpredictable and if this is something you want to do, you simply must! Enjoy!

My DB did this. Took their DC out of school for a year to do the lap (we're in Aus). Rented out their house. There were a few issues, but it was much nicer to come home to their house, rather than seek out a new one.

It was a fantastic experience & they managed on a very tight budget. They ended up working here & there for extra cash. They also spent a year saving whatever they could.

It did have a huge long term financial impact, but, the older I get, the more I realise we only have a limited time to enjoy life.

We are in our early 50's and have a touring caravan, we daydream constantly about trading it in for a motorhome, renting out the house and going touring.

If it wasn't for the fact we have teens at home, a mad rescue dog who hates travelling and my mum living around the corner suffering with Alzheimer's we would be on our way now.

I'd say go for it. Caring for a parent with dementia has made me realise how life can change and hold you back. My dad is constantly sad that he and mum didn't travel enough when they had the chance. I keep seeing these stickers on motorhomes saying 'Adventure before dementia', I couldn't agree more.

Hope you go for it and have a huge amount of fun. We (hopefully) will be doing it as soon as we are able to.

Do it!!!! Being a landlord is really NOT that hard, or that expensive if your mortgage is small. In general tenants don’t trash the house or refuse to pay rent.
Get a decent letting agent and factor that into costs.
I think about my future travels a lot… I’d love to explore Eastern Europe too. I’d spend the winter in Greece or Southern Italy.
I think if there are things you really want to do you should do them at the earliest possible opportunity.
Don’t waste your life over-planning and obsessing about pensions. Fortune favours the bold.

I would sell up. We had tenants and couldn’t get them out ( they didn’t pay in this time) so you need a big buffer to cover the mortgage just in case you run into problems. You can’t just rent out your house. A number of things will need to be done first. Every time something breaks down you will need to cover the cost. So you can not do this on a shoe string. Unless you have these areas covered I wouldn’t do this, no. Not yet.

What happens without your salary when you come back? If you almost certainly can’t go back what is the plan B? Retraining and getting a new job in a new profession doesn’t sound likely late 50s unless you are happy to work in minimum wage jobs. That will need thinking through.

What are your pensions like? How long do you have to work before they kick in?

I would probably negotiate a month break over the summer and do that rather than potentially lose everything I have worked for.

It is a risk though not inevitable.

Surely the pp was raising the risk into the considerations mix, which is helpful in a 'should I / shouldn't I' discussion isn't it?

Do it. Tomorrow is not promised. And as a care home manager I obviously work with alot of older people. Excluding the super wealthy, the ones who have saved for their retirement and therefore limited themselves during their younger lives get the exact same standard of care as the ones who haven't got a bean. The only difference is the savers get to watch their hard earned savings deplete by £1500 a week until (in a shockingly short time) they are down to the level of having none. They end up at the same place but without having had much joy on the journey.

We are having a similar conversation as dh’s parents are getting older, we are late 50s and want to travel while we are fit and so are they. Our 5 year old dog is the slight fly in the ointment.

we’ve both got good pensions and will have paid the mortgage off this year and have savings.

I think I’d factor in expenses if something happened to the house/motor home that needed big money. New boiler or engine blows whatever and make sure I had that saved up first then go. You are lucky your husband is a teacher.

I’ve done a fair bit of travelling and it’s interesting how you quickly realise you don’t need so much stuff and that probably translates well to returning to retirement….

We are both fairly unemployable in our fields again if we left now. And my husband doesn’t cope well with unemployment.

Go for it. There is a good Youtube channel called Early Retirement Wanderlust. Two teachers retired at 51, living off savings until their pension kicked in at 55. They go all over in their van. Make sure your van is winterproofed and maybe do a test run for a week to see what you think of it. You can rent a camper van for your trial experience.

DH and I caravanned all over the continent in our 40s...not full time, but up to three weeks at a time, and loved it.

Air BnB your place or rent it out...have an agency mind it when you are gone. Get a sabbatical from your job. But if you want to do it, do it.

Also, good book to read...Die with Zero....put things into perspective about time vs money vs experiences.

I’d wait until winter was over to make any drastic decisions like this. Many of us would happily escape right now but maybe not so much once spring is here.

I would be more worried about boiling alive in the intense heat not the cold. We are experiencing very hot summers in Europe now.

Look at possible tax issues. But if you have equity and could downsize, I’d seriously consider it. We have health issues now that mean it’s too late and we couldn’t do this.

Not mad at all. Will you have a bit of money so you can job hunt when you get back?

I part-owned a company in the UK, easily kept in touch while I was away, (but wasn’t taking wages) and picked up my old hours as soon as I returned. With good staff, I was lucky to be able to do that. In fact my business partner did pretty much the same thing at a different time, but didn’t rent out her house.
The forward planning with renting out the 4 bed house on my own was the really tough bit, although it was very easy to find the tenants.

Do it! Would it be worth saving hard for 6 months before you go to give yourself an 'emergency fund' for when you get back from travels and are looking for a job?

My DS did this and ended up living to another country. Their house has been rented out for the past 10 years and they use a letting agent to manage it for them. There are always a few wobbles at contract renewal, they always try to get at least a year. Current tenants have been there for four years.
Another wobble was the mortgage rate increase but as long as you include this in your figures you should be fine.
I would recommend going for it

Yep.

OP, go for it.

For me packing it all in and leaving would be too much of a risk, especially given you can only travel easily for 90 days at a time. Is there a middle ground to be had? You chuck in your job, maybe retrain, and go away for all the school holidays over the next year? You could Air B&B the house. It would be less risky, but still let you do a significant amount of travelling, and be back regularly for aging parents.

Being a landlord would be an absolute nightmare. So many regulations, so much risk, no easy way to just move back into your house.
You said you could sell the house, then what? Would you be able to buy outright on return? Or not be able to get a new mortgage and be stuck renting in a limited market? With no job?

Get an agent and do it. You will regret it if you don't.

I'm a LL and I have had an agent for the last two years. I regret not getting him sooner.

If I could do it, I would. Just blow with the wind but DH is too ill now and I have issues too. I wish we had done it when we first discussed it.

My parents made the same mistake. They planned to travel when Dad retired but Mum got cancer and he retired alone.

You would be mad not to.

DH and I are doing this later this year but we have retired early at 56 and 58 and are mortgage free and DS is living in the house when we do it. Have you calculated price per day of living like this. We have calculated £500 per week, DH has crunched many numbers and looking at 38k PA but we aren’t looking to be parking in lay bys, having a strip wash and eating in the van all the time. We did stay in sites overnight and that is England, on the continent it’s considerably cheaper.

We have spent the last six months researching vans, went to the national exhibition in Birmingham and have narrowed it down to a few different ones. Looking in earnest in around a month. Would have been further ahead but DH work place ended up pleading with him regarding covering something so he still did some work up till Christmas.

You really need to decide what sort you want, we have hired a couple and looked round absolutely loads.

I would never rent my house out but I also wouldn’t want to leave it empty.

What are your pensions like? I mean job wise it’s feasible for your DH job but can you do ok if you can’t get such a well paid job on return. Will a year or two of fun mean gruel and the lights out in future years?

I’ve sort of done this but with a job abroad.
the renting out was a lot easier than I thought, using an agency to find tenants and manage the property. You do pay fees but it’s worth it to be hassle and stress free while away.
if you have a small mortgage and can make the figures worth it, I would go for it. Early 50s (same as me) is the window while you still have the energy and interest, plus the finances, to do it before parental care/health and energy issues kick in.

The rent might cover your travel expenses but would it cover your mortgage payments too?