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Rhonda1210 · 10-13-2015, 11:51 AM

Hi all - I'm new to the forums!

We are going to be full-timing for a year(ish) beginning in January. We want to sell our house in TN before we hit the road. After the year is up, we will probably return to TN and buy a new property.

We aren't sure what to do with our legal address for the year we are gone. We're self-employed, with our business registered with the state of TN of course, and we need to keep it here and return to it after the year of travel. Our son will also start pre-school in TN when we return.

All our parents are in TX and we don't have any family in TN. We would love any advice from those of you who are more knowledgable about this than we are! Out-of-the-box ideas are welcome too! Oh and I know the easiest thing may be to just get renters for our house, but we are trying avoid that for a couple different reasons.

Thank you all!

AWCHIEF · 10-13-2015, 01:13 PM

Check out these folks,

https://escapees.com

Rhonda1210 · 10-13-2015, 01:23 PM

I have and it wasn't helpful to my specific situation.

Hittenstiehl · 10-13-2015, 02:42 PM

Maybe we don't know enough details but....why not just keep your address in TN. Get a PO box at post office or at one of the mail stores before you sell house and just forward and change of address your current mail to there. Is there any need to change it.

Mrjkq · 10-13-2015, 03:37 PM

An address can easily be moved, then moved again back to wherever you are. The real issue here and you may not be aware of this is your health insurance. Unless your on Medicare your health insurance is state related. By that I mean while on the road you may find yourself "out of network " for health care, you could be paying upfront for health issues & trying to get reimbursed from your carrier if at all. Suggest you approach residency from that standpoint as major medical issues out of network could prove to be a costly nightmare. I know people who say TX & FL are good states to establish residency & purchase health care with broad in network coverage.

Zil · 10-14-2015, 09:03 AM

You can't use a US PO Box if you don't have a physical address. Also it must be visited at least every few days or it is jammed full of junk mail.
My Florida medicare supplement would be 3 times more than it is in South Jersey.

Hittenstiehl · 10-14-2015, 09:22 AM

Zil, that's why I said get the PO box before they sell house.

You can put yourself on a no junk mail list. I will cut out the bulk of it.

You can go paperless on almost all bills.

You can suspend subscriptions and cancel catalogs.

You hire the post office store or a person to check your mail once every couple weeks and before you know it a yet is up.

chasgail · 10-14-2015, 01:43 PM

We were introduced to Americas Mailbox in S. Dakota since we can get a very reasonable registration and legal US License Plate for our Baja, Mexico car. We have a resident mailing address there and they will handle your mail and even purge your junk mail for a fee. Let them know where you are located for a week or so and they will forward your mail there.
Americas-Mailbox Home - mail forwarding - Americas-Mailbox

Hope this helps

Jaxon · 10-14-2015, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Check out these folks,

https://escapees.com

.
Agree with AWCHIEF’s post - we are Escapees members and only use the mailbox address when we are going to be on the road for a month or more. You can easily change your address back to Tennessee when you move back there.

When we are on the road, I’ll usually call Escapees once a week and have them forward our mail to where we are or will be. Takes usually 3 days for the mail to arrive. We’ve been members of Escapees for about 6 years and really appreciate having that aspect of life on the road taken care of so well.

.

Wolf Alaska · 10-15-2015, 08:44 PM

If U establish residency in TX, U will have Ur trailer insp each yr. B4 tag renew. Not reqd in most TN counties. Escapees can help U est. Res. in TN, TX, or FL. Can provide mail forwarding from each of the 3 states.

Mail fwd service is very impt if U don't visit a private maibox often.

Let's Roll !
Wolf

07007 · 10-16-2015, 09:14 AM

SD worked for us. We sold our home in NY however our business interest there required paying NY state taxes. In one day we became citizens of SD, voted, obtained driver licenses, registered our vehicles. SD has a low population so insurance rates for vehicles and medicare are lower, no income tax helped too. We chose Americas Mailbox Rapid City SD which is an online source for scheduling our mail delivery wherever we were and provide various services like dealing with renewal of licenses and registrations. However now that we have Homeland Security you have to show up for license renewal but that is just once every 5 years on your birthday in SD. We also wintered in Rockport Tx 30 min north of Corpus Christie which has excellent medical services and low food and RV costs. You might want to look into Overnight Parking $25 /year. Users provide information about free overnight parking, safety, restrictions etc. We found it very useful when traveling long distances to get to our next destination at low cost. Because it is on line you can check out sites up ahead before you waste time looking.

SCOTTinNJ · 10-16-2015, 09:35 AM

Can you find a place in TN that will rent you a room? Maybe in a local college town?

KJRitchie · 10-16-2015, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 07007

However now that we have Homeland Security you have to show up for license renewal but that is just once every 5 years on your birthday in SD.

Can you elaborate on this?

You mean when your license is due for renewal you have to travel back to SD to show up anytime prior to your birthday. So my wife's birthday is February and mine is October so we'd have to show up in SD during the winter months or could we renew during the previous summer or fall.

Kelvin

CDONA · 10-16-2015, 10:51 AM

I use a UPS store mail box as a "real" address. They can sign for packages from any delivery service (UPS, Fed Ex,) and then forward your stuff.

07007 · 10-19-2015, 07:13 AM

[QUOTE=KJRitchie;1697735]Can you elaborate on this?

You mean when your license is due for renewal you have to travel back to SD to show up anytime prior to your birthday. So my wife's birthday is February and mine is October so we'd have to show up in SD during the winter months or could we renew during the previous summer or fall.

Yes you must show up in person...2009 Federal law requires it.
We faced the same issue me in August wife in December. We had to do this in 2013. Things change so contact SD to find out what is involved now. I got an extension because I couldn't get there on my birthday. We both were able to obtain license same day with paperwork. Bottom line SD is a nice state to deal with unlike NY. Everyone we met in government were kind and understanding and down right friendly.

Contact Driver Licensing
Jane Schrank, Program Director
118 West Capitol Avenue
Pierre, SD 57501
Phone: 605.773.6883
Fax: 605.773.3018

Program Assistant, Arin Diedrich

nvestysly · 10-19-2015, 07:26 AM

There are certainly a wide variety of issues involved with making a decision such as yours. Health insurance, drivers license, taxes...

If you really are only going to be gone for a year it seems to me that maintaining your residency in TN far outweighs the benefits you might have with changing (for one year) to another state. Yes, some of the other states facilitate the RVer lifestyle but keeping everything in TN seems more straightforward since you plan to return soon.

The idea of being out of network for medical insurance purposes is blown out of proportion. Yes, you might find yourself out of network and I'm sure it's happened to people with dire consequences. Choose a provider with a wide network and purchase travel medical insurance too. There are lots of types of travel insurance - some pay to return you to your home state, return your RV, etc. Look around and find a policy or policies that will give you peace of mind.

Zil · 10-19-2015, 07:34 AM

I stick by what i have said about US PO Boxes. I have been there done that and US PO Box will not work for an absentee address. Pick a state with good commercial mail services, such as Texas. Not that I like Texas, but health insurance is very high in Florida, and SD is cold in winter.

Lily&Me · 10-19-2015, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

Maybe we don't know enough details but....why not just keep your address in TN. Get a PO box at post office or at one of the mail stores before you sell house and just forward and change of address your current mail to there. Is there any need to change it.

I'm with her.

Since you will be going back to TN, I would stay with them for your permanent address, forwarding to a p.o. box. Doing something out of state for a year could cause all sorts of unintended consequences.

You might look into getting a UPS box for your year of absence. We did this for a couple of years, having mail forwarded there from our home, then calling them every few weeks and they would send everything that has come in to whatever address you request.

The only thing to be aware of, and is the reason we stopped using this, is that Priority Mail to a remote area of Wyoming, Montana, etc., can be 7 business days, so allow plenty of time for mail to arrive before you have to move on.

My suggestion would be to make a reservation for a few days, 10 days or so out, at a well established campground, and let them know the mail is coming.

They will hold it for you if it gets there before you do.

Good luck, and have fun traveling.

Maggie

Lily&Me · 10-19-2015, 07:56 AM

As to the insurance issue nvestysly mentioned, check with your provider re out of network costs in an emergency before changing providers.

If you are healthy and have had checkups before you go, routine medical care should be covered for a year.

It's those ER visits and hospitalization that can bite you, but many insurances don't penalize you for emergencies.

You're going to get more info than you wanted, here, in all likelihood, as that is just the nature of the beast.

Maggie

kb0zke · 10-25-2015, 06:21 PM

We are full-timers, so the change of address was a permanent one for us, and that's not the case for the OP.

Escapees has a booklet about "Becoming a Texan" which will help with changing domicile. Since the OP is going to return to Tennessee in a year or so I'd suggest finding a mail forwarding service there. There are several to choose from. Simply do a PERMANENT change of address from your current address to the forwarding service. Please note that you cannot do a change of address FROM the forwarding service. You will have to notify everyone of the address change yourself.

As others have said, check with your health insurance company about your plans. If you have some idea of where you will be going that will help them help you.