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?

Do it! I just proposed this to my DH last night. Half joking as our kids are still early high school, we don’t own a van and don’t really camp. I’ve just returned to work after two weeks off over Xmas and I am really struggling to see the point of working.

It sounds like you have a small window between your kids flying the nest and your parents requiring care, so do it while you can. I think in your 50s you only have another 10-15 “go years” left where you are healthy and mobile enough to enjoy this type of adventure. (Sorry if I offend anyone with this comment, I’m late 40s and starting to feel it).

Would you go over to Europe? Not sure sure how daunting it would be driving on the other side of the road, or how it would work with a car with the steering on the “wrong side”. I’m in australia so that’s not a consideration for me.

Yes.

Another possibility for the OP is a house exchange....they live in another country for a while and travel around, and their house is occupied.

DH and i are trying to figure out how to spend retirement. we have seven figures in the bank and a paid off mortgage, no debt, great pensions, and all parents have passed, no kids. He's 60, I'm not far behind. He likes his job and wants to work, and at the least I am trying to get him to ask for more holiday or work part time. In the meanwhile, I'm going on fellowship next year and going to take solo trips if he rather would be at work.

Go for it!!!

Do it whilst you're still young enough to travel. If you wait another 10 years, you won't have the same energy.

My mum said, 'when we were younger we didn't have much money to travel, now that we're older and have the means, we don't have the mobility'.

Go and see the world and come back revived. Or maybe don't come back and go live in a different part of the world.

Do it. You will regret not doing it. I quit my job in 2014 when DC were 8 and 10, took them out of school for 5 months, we went down to Morocco and across Europe to Poland and back. It cost me about £8000, plus about £4k for an ancient 25 year old camper. I still had some money left when I got back, and I rented my house out through airbnb for 2 months (same tenant) which covered the bills while i was away. It was just me, I've been a single mother virtually all my kids' lives. I can fix things on cars though so I wasn't worried about the camper van being old. My family were trying to tell me I was taking too much of a risk giving up my job, but when I got back my manager asked me to go back temporarily to cover my old role, then a new job came up that paid more and was a bit more varied so it all worked. I've just done it again- DD left school in June and I left my job, which I did like actually but there are other things I want to do. I was trying to sell the house to downsize but nothing's selling in my area so now it's rented out for 6 months to a couple who are moving abroad, so i know they won't refuse to move out. I'm taking a few hundred a month from my private pension and that plus the rent money is enough to live off; I'm heading off long distance hiking soon, so I'll be living in a tent- I'm currently at my parents' place helping them out. (They're over 90 now and yes, they need more help- I'll have to come back here every couple of months to see what else they need.) I am 59 and in a hurry to do things that I probably physically wouldn't be able to do by the time I'm 67 and retired on state pension, if I have to work part time then I will do that.

Go for it! Your own circumstances might change as well as your parents, so take the opportunity and enjoy yourselves.

Do it! I'm similar age and definitely feeling like I need some adventure in my life in this window between caring for children and caring for parents. Our youngest leaves school in 18 months, mortgage paid off in 2 years so assuming parents are still OK then we will be taking a break too. We plan on house sitting rather than camper van (something worth considering if you want the odd break from van life) and intend to take 6 months off and willing to go wherever the 'job' takes us across UK or Europe.

Why not plan for a shorter trip? It's more likely to happen as less daunting and potentially more affordable to do without renting out the house. The 90 day thing is definitely not a barrier - there's the whole of the UK for a start and as another poster says you can go to the Balkans to travel out & back avoiding the 90/180 days.

I can't wait 😁

The rent for a house in the SE would be enough to cover living simply in a camper van in Europe I'd imagine.

My DH and I did this a year and a half ago. We were lucky to be just retired and mortgage free, sold our house and lived off our interest for a year before buying another home.
we travelled around the U.K. staying in Airbnb (cheaper than you think if you stay longer than 28 days). This way we could really explore the area around you before moving on.
You have down days sometimes wishing for more stability but it was the best thing we did and don’t regret it at all. We have now bought another house (less expensive than we sold for) in an area that we fell in love with on our travels!

Do it. Ask the questions of others who do this to cost it out and have contingencies (eg mechanical issues).
We nursed MIL through bedbound dementia for 2 years and my dad died suddenly last year. Certainly gave us an insight on doing things whilst we are fit enough to. I was suddenly diagnosed with breast cancer at 58 and my life stopped overnight. I have a few months of chemo to do and I will be back at it - I don’t have that Shirley Valentine feeling as I’ve always gone hard at life, although there are a few things I’ve learned from being out of circulation with treatment. Currently also looking at 2nd hand vans …

You now have to use an agent to get landlord insurance if you are outside the UK. We found managing our agents as hard work as managing our tenants. They would ignore the tenants, who then came to us, on minor issues. They were extremely cavalier with our money if not closely watched, getting expensive tradespeople in for everything (we had local people we had used ourselves for years who we trusted and were much cheaper but had to fight the agents to call them in over their preferred people), and also told the tenants without us knowing that we provided white goods, which we didn’t, but had to as the tenants then rightfully asked for them. And of course they take a cut, and charge for their services too.

Add in the costs of getting the place in a good condition to rent out. As well as all the regulatory stuff, there’s also the costs of decorating, potentially replacing items you are happy to live with but wouldn’t be good enough for a tenant. It can end up being a lot for a year.

Then you may have to pay CGT when you sell as well as tax on the rent. Would you be able to pay the costs of the house if it were empty, or the legal costs of evicting a tenant on your return?

Go for it OP. Both of my best friends died young, my Dad died young, as did DH's sibling. It's changed my view on life completely. If it's possible to make things work financially, chase every dream you can. Many of us live such small lives, there's so much to see and do away from the daily grind.

Your husband can find a job on your return, you can find a new direction in a fulfilling job. Take the risk!

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

I think this is partly what's prompting me. I'm now the same age as my mum was when she got ill (mental health). She lived another 15 years but drugged up to the eyeballs, in and out of hospital with zero quality of life, and of course my dad struggled hugely during that time too. They had a big house and financial security but so much sadness and regret. I don't want that for us.

Bloody hell @BeAzureAnt with seven figures in the bank, no mortgage or debt, great pensions, and no kids or parents.....you wouldn't see me for dust! No way would I still be a slave to work at 60 I'd be getting out in the world whilst I still had health & energy to see it.

Do it! I wish I could too but I have too many responsibilities and not enough money! Do it while you can. You can’t really predict what life will look like in 5 years time. Also I know too many people who put things off until retirement and ended up too weighed down by elderly parents, ill or sadly too dead to enjoy it. Now is the perfect opportunity.

People complaining about being a landlord, there are Lettings Agents out there!

Do you mean a campervan or motorhome, I doubt you could live easily in a campervan for any length of time, I struggle for a week

If it's something that would make you happy, go for it. Life is for living

Sounds fabulous. Do it.
Life is for living! Enjoy!

I did this for 2 years (another form of transport though, not campervan.) Schengen is a complete PITA, but there is Turkey and most of the Balkans as an outlet by land. I saw lots of EU/UK campervans and motorbikes crossing to Turkey so that is very doable.

If you don't do it there will come a point when you are no longer able to, and you will wake up one day wishing you had.

Well, they could just up and drive somewhere cooler then. Also, insulated vans don't get as hot as you'd think, IME. It was in the high 30s in S. France and N.Spain last year, and I never felt too hot in my van with the windows open a crack.

We used letting agents! Letting agents can’t force people to pay, nor can they force them out of the house or pay hefty boiler replacement bills! They oversee the ‘small stuff’ with a capital S - at best.

Do it, if you go with a letting agency they will screen your tenants or you could sign up for something like sabbatical.com and find someone that way - generally academics who move around and who have public profiles so really not in the business of trashing houses and ruining their reputations.

You won't have any household bills, just the car, fuel and food, and there is so much to see, just do it is my advice. I did something similar, moved overseas for five years, looking back I would not have done it had I known how hard and stressful it would be, equally it was the happiest time of my life, so really you don't want the regret of not doing it if you've got itchy feet.

Another thought (& how we plan on funding our travels) if you have a decent chunk of equity & able to downsize, why not do that now? Buy somewhere cheaper and use some of the equity to find the trip and stick whatever is left into your pension pot.

I know a couple of people who thought vanning would be wonderful and quickly found that van life is pretty demanding — and not as cheap as people expect it to be. And that wild camping comes with all kinds of surprises, like parking in a lovely quiet spot for the night, only to be woken in the early hours by locals banging your van and telling you to drive on or they'll puncture your tyres.

Have you checked what you need to do to your house to make it let-worthy? You have to have an electrical certificate and an EPC of D or above. And given proposed changes to tenant rights you may not be able to get your home back again until the tenant decides they're ready to move out.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but we've done the camper vanning thing ourselves and it's not as easy or idyllic as it looks.

Do it now! We left the uk for Spain at 48yrs old and live off rent. It’s epic, liberating and fun! No regrets! X

True.

If you go op, don't go expecting everything to fall out of view. You'll still need to attend to your affairs and be in touch and sorting things out...

But if you don't expect any different I'm sure that's manageable if you're happy to take the risk.

So long as your tenants come with well checked references you will be minimising the risk. Don't skip checking the references - and make sure your agent doesn't, I know someone whose agent didn't bother and... Well, it was not good.