wife and i are selling the house in Branson in april and moving into the Dutch Star. 58 and 61, both retired from the school district, the Jeep goes behind. everybody tells us pick a domicile state and don't stay in Missouri, and the ones that keep coming up are South Dakota, Texas and Florida.
what i want from people who actually did it: what did the first year cost you, how often do you physically have to go back, and what caught you off guard. registration on a 43 foot coach worth around 180 is the number i can't get a straight answer on.
we're both on Medicare so the health insurance side matters less for us than for the younger crowd.
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fulltime_since_2016
Toad TowerThe Villages, FLPosts 52 · Joined Sep 2025
Florida since 2016, mail goes through St. Brendan's Isle in Green Cove Springs. honestly we didn't pick it, we already owned a condo in The Villages that we rent out, so the address was sitting there.
Florida registration on a motorhome goes by weight, not by what the coach is worth, so it's cheap every year. no state income tax, but you'll hear that about all of them.
what surprised us was insurance. quotes with our Florida address came in a good bit higher than what our South Dakota friends pay for the same coach. get quotes BEFORE you pick a state. and you do have to show up in person for a license renewal every other time, so plan a trip.
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quartzsite_winters
Toad TowerQuartzsite, AZPosts 44 · Joined Sep 2025
South Dakota, 2011 to now, through Americas Mailbox in Box Elder. you need one night in a SD motel or campground with the receipt to get the license, then you go back in person every five years to renew it. that's the residency part.
they charge a 4 percent excise one time when you title the coach there, and the yearly plates after that are cheap. the Department of Revenue has the motor vehicle forms at dor.sd.gov.
the thing nobody mentioned to us was jury duty. you get summoned in Pennington County like anybody else and you write back that you're 1,200 miles away. they excuse you. it's just a letter every couple of years.
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cummins_isl_owner
Toad TowerSan Antonio, TXPosts 37 · Joined Sep 2025
Texas, Escapees in Livingston. we're an odd case because we still keep the house in San Antonio and go out about five months a year, but i've helped four couples set it up.
if you already paid sales tax on the coach in another state, Texas charges a flat 90 dollar new resident tax to title it instead of the full 6.25. registration after that goes by weight. the part that trips people is the driver license, you have to walk into a DPS office, and the ones around Livingston book out for weeks in the spring when everybody shows up at once.
from Branson i'd look hard at SD. it's a day closer and you'd drive through it anyway going to the Black Hills.
this is really helpful, thank you. jury duty had not crossed my mind once.
quartzsite, how do the insurance companies treat SD for a 43 footer, is there a specific company you call first? our current company straight up said they don't write full time policies.
we don't name insurance companies on here, it turns into a comment section for agents inside a week. what i will say: ask for a full timer endorsement by name. it covers personal liability when the coach is your house, which a plain RV policy may not.
and read the line about where the coach is principally garaged. that's the question the adjuster asks after a claim, not before. linked this one from the welcome thread.
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quartzsite_winters
Toad TowerQuartzsite, AZPosts 44 · Joined Sep 2025
late reply, we were bringing the coach down from Idaho. the companies that do full timer policies all asked us the same handful of things: years driving a coach, do you tow, does anybody else ever drive it. our premium went down when we switched from Oregon to SD, but a 45 foot Newell is a strange one to price so don't read anything into our number.
get quotes in writing with the SD address on them before you sell the house. once the house is gone you're stuck with whatever they offer.
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