To sell or not to sell

Traveling through Asia is easy and cheap by bus or train. For example, we paid $65 for an on/off bus ticket to travel the whole length of Vietnam over a month - from Hanoi in the north to Saigon in the south. A 3-day boat trip thorugh the Mekong Delta from Saigon to Phnom Penh in Cambodia cost us $35 each and that included hotels, breakfast and a whole bunch of tours to rice noodle factories etc. For that price they also shepherded us through the Cambodian border processing.

We are both comfortable riding/driving motorcycles. Is that what you are talking about? We rented them for day trips - usually for about $5 each per day. If you are planning on doing this I suggest you learn to ride wherever you are now. There is quite a bit of learning involved and in the cities of SEA while EVERYONE rides motorcycles that also means the traffic is horrendous and really scary. And dangerous. I don't recollect anyone actually asking to see our driver's licenses but even so, please make sure you are VERY confident of your skills before setting out. We chose to rent motorcycles, not in busy urban areas but in the countryside and those experiences were truly magical. But you can also ride behind. In the town of Dalat, Vietnam there are a group of motorcycle guides (called Easy Riders) who will take you out into the mountains for anything from daytrips to multi-week trips. They have powerful bikes and I chose to ride behind a driver/guide while my husband rode his own. Thus we had the benefit of a guide taking us through the mountain villages. The guide/bike cost us $25/day while Steve's rental was $5. Worth every penny.

If it is bicycles you are talking about then you also really need to get your skills and bottom ready for the trip. Spending hours on a bike is not easy on the body - you are in the elements rain and shine, very exposed to whatever is around you. The trip will take a LOT more planning as you won't be able to depend on the gringo trail as much to identify what places you can sleep in and so on. I would also make sure you ship your own bikes around with you. On several occasions we rented bicycles locally and these were TOTAL disasters. Dysfunctional, bald tires, chains that constantly came off, brakes I would not depend on. Inevitably we ended up walking them for miles.

But truly, local public transportation is cheap and easy. Then rent motor/bicycles as you go for specific excursions.

As to selling your house? Well, the old adage is always sell high, buy low. With the real estate market in the slumps most places in the world you would be looking at selling low, probably VERY low if you are eager to get going. By the time you return, you could well find yourself in your 50s and now priced out of the market.

My personal financial philosophy right now (at age 59) is that I will permit myself to spend as much of my savings as necessary over the next 20 years to totally enjoy traveling and whatever else life holds but when the body gives out I will still have my house (with its 2 rental suites downstairs) to augment my smallish pension and I will be okay. When the time comes to downsize I will have a nice big, well maintained home to trade for a comfy old/old age.

If you can do it, I would rent out your house. Going through an agent gives added security plus they can look after maintenance etc while you are away. For that service they will take a small percentage of the rent. The other plus is that the agencies vet clients beforehand.

Well - I was going to reply to this but honestly can't beat Living's very full reply.
Just to reinforce - DON'T sell your house to do this. I've also travelled long-term and it's much cheaper than you'd imagine - especially if you plan ahead well (you don't have to slavishly follow those plans, but it helps a lot) and use hostels instead of hotels.

Travelling at a 'low' level puts you much more in touch with the local people.

I know some will disagree with this, but the better-off people tend to be 'just like the folk back home' so you won't engage with local culture - which is rapidly disappearing as the better-educated and wealthy folk seek to emulate the west.
In India, and particularly Pakistan, I was taken home by one or two rickshaw drivers and by taking time to talk to people and engage with them made many friends in a way that couldn't have happened if I'd been staying in 'posh' places. It was fascinating.

We sold our house to go and work in Ecuador. The money looked good on the bank statement but, in our absence, the market went ballistic, we had to put everything into buying a house on return, including many thousands of savings - then interest rates went through the roof and we lost everything. Once you leave the housing ladder you could find it difficult to get back on.

That said, be very careful to whom you rent. We used a reputable agent to rent our next house, the tenants didn't pay, the legal system meant we took 18 months to evict them and they had trashed the place. Once more, we were thousands out of pocket.

Swings and roundabouts.

Dave

I'm another one who would suggest you keep your home. If you have to put a small mortgage on it to travel - so be it - but keep the capital. While there may be damage to the home if the tenants are poor at least you still have a roof.

Perhaps another option is to downsize into something you like so you are buying and selling in the same market conditions. The surplus could be invested to provide a basic travel fund to add to what you already have.

Friends sold and also got rid of all their possessions to enjoy the "freedom to travel". Others suggested that they at least store some of the more valuable and dateless possessions such as cooking equipment but they would not listen.

He became very ill (not travel related) and the only option was to return for medical assistance - but they had nothing to return to. Friends rallied around and housed and equipped them as an interim measure while he had treatment but she found it very difficult being beholden to others. She is now alone and feels quite insecure without her own home and possessions and unfortunately the funds left will not get her into a home of her own.

Go - but think through your options and factor into the decisions some of the less welcome thoughts such as the above.

If renting find others who have used the same agent and ensure that the are happy with the agent. Some are great - some useless.

I agree with all of the above. I would be very leery of selling out when as #2 says you can use an agent and as WanderinWilco says it could be very hard to get back into the housing ladder. You could however consider downsizing to a smaller place for your return. It may or may not be an option.

We found travelling on our own in Thailand and Cambodia to be very reasonable and we didn't necessarily go lowest possible budget. In Thailand we averaged 1700baht per night for food accommodation and a modest beer budget and it was easily enough. We never partied (until we met some Brits who had a knack for finding cheaper beer and meals :). We did ride on some buses and short Air Asia flights but mostly we used trains choosing overnight routes in 2nd class sleepers. A typical fare was 1900baht for two about $63 for an 11 to 13 hour overnight trip (Bangkok to Chiang Mai or south to Trang).

Echoing all the good replies given above.. don't sell!

Another for don't sell............
Renting is a hard decision, but the right one.
Insurers usually insist on someone in the house regularly. House sitters have risks too, but without the income to compensate.
Find a good agent and rent.

Cheers,
Peter

don't sell............