Snow Birds: Will Your House Have Wheels?

BOSTON (CBS) - Snowbird envy happens to a lot of us as we watch those RVs head south. We wonder about all of the adventures and life on the open road.

If you think you might like the RV lifestyle do some homework before you make a down payment on an RV. Average age of an RV owner is close to 50 with 40% of owners over 60.

I would strongly recommend renting an RV for an extended vacation to see if this is the lifestyle you thought it might be.

Type in RVing at Amazon and you will find well over 300 books on the subject. A book recommended by a friend who loves the open road is RV Living.

While doing your research check out RV websites. But proceed with caution on the websites you find. They all make RVing sound so romantic! Start with the website Go RVing.

Don't forget the maintenance cost of an RV. They also need to be stored when you are not on the road. And excise tax on a fancy new one could be around $4,000 a year and you need to insure it. RVs get lousy gas mileage so running to the store for bread could cost you $5 in gas before you get in the store.

And don't forget the campground fees. Figure $50 a night or more. There will be just so many nights you will want to spend in a Walmart parking lot.

Do you think the nomadic lifestyle is one you could embrace? Visiting the warmer states in the winter and summers north? Do you want to park your RV in a mobile home park in Florida for the winter and New England in the summer?

And something so many folks don't think about because they romanticized so about the traveling, you are going to eventually have to empty the toilet storage tank.

Best advice here, do not sell your home and all of your worldly possessions and buy an RV to drive off into the sunset until you have done your homework.

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You can hear Dee Lee's expert financial advice on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 each weekday at 1:55 p.m. and 3:55 p.m.

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