Living On The Road

[Lieney]

I have had a career since 17, have a house, children and travelled a little with work.
My brother is a chef, has no career as such, house or children but has travelled all over the globe.
I once said to him, 'it would be nice to be in your shoes some times'.
He said exactly the same to me, and we realised quite obviously the grass is greener.....
The grass is always greener on the other side, but that's because it's watered.
No matter what you do, have a 'basic' plan A, B and a safety net if it all goes belly up. DO the research before you leave to see if you can line up anything on the road between this place and that. You might be surprised. Have a cut-off plan ($, date, kids school / care)
Ensure the kids and wife are happy. I'd be looking at a bigger style van, so you have those little comforts like toilet, running water and warm shower (even a hanging bag of sorts)
Have a home base (parents) for all your bills etc
Post pics on the forum
Oh yeah, and remember to water the lawn so it stays green in front of your travels.

[Chris79]

Not sure what its like over in SA but over here the estate agents take a hefty chunk when you decide to sell a property, combine that with stamps etc once you buy another when you get back and your talking a nice sum of $$$$. I would keep the house and rent it out.

My parents did a 6 month lap many years ago, they just short term rented out their place fully furnished. Everything surprizingly went smoothly even though the tenants had a big dog. But I would be picking tenants very carefully these days.

[Cuppa]

In my late teens & early 20’s I did a fair bit of travelling around Europe, hitch hiking, sometimes working, until the money ran out, at which time I'd return home & get another job to save up so I could head off again. In reality I was never away for more than about 6 months, but the thing that was different was that in terms of time, the travels had no set beginning & end. This lack of time limit creates a totally different 'feel' to the travel, it is no longer a 'trip', but instead is a 'way of being'. Whilst our 'Big Trip' around Oz was without doubt the best thing, bar none, that I've ever done, it was certainly a trip. We had to be back by a certain date. It is the only regret I had. I recall the day we were halfway through the trip thinking sorrowfully that we were now on the the ever decreasing homeward leg even though we had many months left. Trips are better than not travelling, but I hope our future travels will not be trips. I remain envious of those folk out there who are working their way around for 'as long as it takes'. They stand on the green grass.

Cuppa

[BigRAWesty]

Thanks for the input so far guys. Its a lot to discuss.
Were gathering our paperwork together first up and seeing a fincial panther (simpson's pun) and this will ultimately define our aim, or kill it once and all..

What we have discussed a few things. The housing market here mt g is buggered.. after the sa gruberment sold the 110 year lease to the local timber, which creates 80% of the local workforce the regions market has dropped already.. our house has dropped 10thou over the last year or so. Thus why rent won't cover repayments.

So yea sale is probably the way for us, and I with the farm we have a safe haven to fall back on and start again. So yer, were looking at probably mid next year if all goes to plan..
First up, financial panther...

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories

[rotor138]

Have you thought about putting the house on interest only loan? It may sit there and pay for it's self using this option.

[NP99]

Watch those financial planners mate........they look after no1 not you. We parked ours in cash at the moment.

[BigRAWesty]

Have you thought about putting the house on interest only loan? It may sit there and pay for it's self using this option.

That is a good one. Hadn't thought of that.. thanks

Watch those financial planners mate........they look after no1 not you. We parked ours in cash at the moment.

Yes you have to careful. Were looking at debt clearing first, down sizing the falcon to a not so expensive new one, keeping the patrol for short trips in the mean time, quitting things like austar, etc.

Tell you what, the last few days I've been buzzin. Now that we have a new direction I'm hooking into unfinished jobs which I just couldn't be stuffed doing last week...
Lovin it..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories

[NP99]

That is a good one. Hadn't thought of that.. thanks



Yes you have to careful. Were looking at debt clearing first, down sizing the falcon to a not so expensive new one, keeping the patrol for short trips in the mean time, quitting things like austar, etc.

Tell you what, the last few days I've been buzzin. Now that we have a new direction I'm hooking into unfinished jobs which I just couldn't be stuffed doing last week...
Lovin it..

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories

Good stuff

[emm]

Best thing we ever did, rent out the house and travel with our 4 kids aged 9, 7, 5 and 3 in a Mitsubishi Delica towing a 1982 viscount grand tourer. Family allowance and rent covered the mortgage and we worked our way up the centre and west coast for a year. Big plug for the west coast: when else would you see it? It's absolutely magnificent. Best beaches in the world and who could go past karijini?? I'm sure you'll make the best decision for your family, so good luck!

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

[BigRAWesty]

Well an update guys.. And another discussion point for you guys to throw around..
We've decided to part with the house. It was always our plan to "upgrade" as we have out grown this one. So both the wife and i are happy with the decision. As it stands we'll get around $50,000 in our hand once sold, and that's an realistic price.
We also have a nice lump sum in our bank atm which would cover a good size caravan, around 20 feet, or clear most our dept.
So we have come to the agreement that either way some of the house money will be used to get this trip going. And were ok with this as we have flogged our asses off to get in front and if it means we do something we really wanna do then were happy to use a small bit of it.
We have come to a figure of at least $35000 in the bank at the end of it all. The more the better. This will be put into a high interest account so hopefully turn a nice little profit and grow..

Now the options, As i mentioned we can go 2 ways.
1- The money we have now goes to a nice van. have found a few, all with ups and downs.
Both will need some mods to get to how we would like. Mine needs a full size annex instead of the roll out one, But has a bit of off road capability for those outback tracks we want to do..
Wifes has the annex, but looks pretty much black top only. A quick spring lift, but annex mods will be need.. Anyway, plenty of fish in the sea...

so, option 1 our atm cash goes onto a van, finish the house and sell. money from the house clears the debt, $35k into the bank.. inlaws have said we can setup at there joint for a little to really save and boost the safety net, and iron out any little creases.. and we'll be in the van

Option 2- clear our debt with cash we have now.. and get the van once our house is sold.

Im torn between the 2, if we get van now were effectively only waiting on the house to sell and were off..
If we clear debts its extra cash while waiting for house to sell, but then have a limited window to purchase a van.. and may have to settle for not quite what we want. We can't actually live with the inlaws, but the happy for us to be in there driveway..

So, thoughts..

Also as a side note, the wife has been reading the forum and threw this thread. She commends all you guys on the positive attitudes you all have and the advice that has been given. She posted the same sorta thing on a forum of hers and basically got good luck... So thanks.