"bound" to a land-based responsibility, like property that you have a mortage on? I'm sure this thought comes up often for lots of folks, as real estate is one of those things that have important implications for lots of aspects of life and cruising...no easy answers, and lots of perspectives, pros/cons, risks, etc.

Anyone here ever rent out a house while cruising? Anyone have any bad experiences doing so? Good experience? Etc.? Is it, financial commitment aside (i.e., b/c of maintenance issues, etc.), too big of a potential 'burden' to own property that you're still paying for while cruising?

Naturally, there are different kinds of cruising, but I'm talking a somewhat extended period of time, perhaps 2-3 years. Our general idea is to cruise south (from west coast of Canada) --circle the Pacific? Just head south and make our way to Mexico/C. America/Hawaii and back? Or head south then east through the Canal and then Caribbean/East Coast? In short, who knows, but presumably 2-3 years, and presumably return to the same place (but one never knows!).

Just kind of rolling around the pros/cons of renting out property while away, while also thinking of the issues of 'building a nest egg' (which is kinda hard to do if your not working for a few years while out cruising...but can at least move toward while renting out one's condo or house). In our situation, we're far from "retirement" at least in terms of financial self-sufficiency, so renting out our property, if we did it, would be out of sheer necessity, at least as we are currently defining our needs! I.e., not renting out a house just for extra income generation as some retired people do.

I'm almost hesitate to ask a question about renting out property while cruising, b/c it isn't really a question, but really a fairly complex series of personal considerations, trade offs, personal choices, etc. that probably vary tremendously according to the person/couple and length/type of cruise, and vary according to how one's plans may develop and change while cruising --but I'm curious just to get various perspectives for ideas, alternatives, etc.

One thing that often occurs to me with regard to having a place on land while way for several years is the 'psychological bind'...I'm grasping at words here...that you may have while cruising, which is a totally different state of mind. Kind of like bringing work with you while on an extended cruise, it can be very, very distracting and burdensome in a way, hard to mesh the two states of mind (work responsibility and cruising). So, I sometimes wonder if having a place on land half way around the world from where you may be --a place that you must rent out in order to pay the mortgage on while out for a couple of years-- somehow might make it hard be in the moment, always wondering in the back of your mind if your house is OK, renters still there, and if not, and you're in the back of beyond, out of close touch for weeks and weeks, how are you going to deal with finding someone else, dealing with the burst pipes, etc. etc. etc. or whatever...just having a land tie that is a major responsibility might somehow weigh on you while out...whereas sorta the whole purpose of being out for a couple of years, in some sense, is to "Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover", to use that cliched but true quote from Mark Twain. Can you really explore, dream, discover without undue stress if you've got a serious land tie always in the back of your mind?

Long-winded...sorry! Just curious about anyone's own personal take on all this (besides telling me that's long-winded ;-) )

I suppose one could make the choice to have a satellite phone or stay in regular touch with ham/ssb email or land-based email, to monitor property issues, check in every couple of weeks to be sure the house hasn't burned down, etc........but is this really want I would want to do while out cruising? I really don't think so! But I'd like to hear what others think or have done.