Anyone make a mistake buying first MH ?
Just curious.. No matter how much research you do , it seems there is no substitute for owning and using a MH.. Anyone buy one and then realize you made a mistake on the first one.. If so, how did you...
Forum Discussion
Mistake? Depends on who you ask.
Our first RV doesn't count... it was given to me. When my grandfather passed away, he left his 1981 Minnie Winnie 20RG to my uncle. My uncle wanted nothing to do with it, as he had little working knowledge of RVs and was in poor health himself. When I found it was going to be hauled off for scrap, I intervened and the paperwork was given to me.
I put a bit of work into it, but it was obvious it would never be what we wanted out of an RV (no A/C, no generator, and a tiny lavatory for a guy who is 6'5", 230?). We made it livable and left it behind my dad's garage in the same place it has sat stationary for 20+ years; only this time it is suitable to be used as guest quarters in the temperate climate of Santa Monica, Ca.
Last spring, we decided to get one we could actually use. We set a budget, albeit small, for an older Class A. We fell in love with a 94 Fleetwood Southwind in excellent shape (454/700R4) for under $10K, but it already had a buyer before we got there. After looking around a while, I stumbled upon an ad for an old Class A DP for $14K. I decided it was worth a shot and called the old guy up.
Turns out, he was a cabinet maker who came to NOLA form Alaska after Katrina to make money. The money was good, so he bought the DP and started traveling around performing his craft while living in it. After a few years, the economy tanked and he put all his stuff in storage in NOLA and returned home, only for "momma" to be upset a few years later when he still had a storage bill in the lower 48. She sent him packing to "take care of it," and he flew south. His truck sold immediately (8 years old with only 40,000 miels on it), and most of his tools sold quickly, too. He was only stuck with the RV, aqnd nobody in LA wanted it.
He headed west, blowing one of the ORIGINAL tires with 1993 DOT codes in East Texas. He eventually settled in Deming, NM, posting in Craigslist along the way. When I called interested about it, he asked what the ad said, as he had been lowering the price. I asked about the tires and he admitted they were really old, but if I would agree to $6k over the phone, he would come back to El Paso the next day to complete the deal.
It was a bit more work than we saw in the pics, but we talked him down to $5200, he called his wife who bought him a ticket home for the next evening. He wasn't allowed to return home until everything was gone.
In the end, we found ourselves in a worn-out 1995 Safari Continental 38' Prestige Edition in need of a lot of TLC on the cheap. We have used the heck out of it, and we still need to replace the roof before too much longer (not too important in the desert, but we wish to see other things). To this day, we are still only about $12K deep in the coach, all the appliances now work, we have remodeled the kitchen and currently remodeling the bath, and we are going to replace the flooring soon as well. Some would say the extend of the work was a mistake, but I call it a learning experience. There is little that can go wrong with the coach now that I won't immediately be able to identify and repair.
Our first RV doesn't count... it was given to me. When my grandfather passed away, he left his 1981 Minnie Winnie 20RG to my uncle. My uncle wanted nothing to do with it, as he had little working knowledge of RVs and was in poor health himself. When I found it was going to be hauled off for scrap, I intervened and the paperwork was given to me.
I put a bit of work into it, but it was obvious it would never be what we wanted out of an RV (no A/C, no generator, and a tiny lavatory for a guy who is 6'5", 230?). We made it livable and left it behind my dad's garage in the same place it has sat stationary for 20+ years; only this time it is suitable to be used as guest quarters in the temperate climate of Santa Monica, Ca.
Last spring, we decided to get one we could actually use. We set a budget, albeit small, for an older Class A. We fell in love with a 94 Fleetwood Southwind in excellent shape (454/700R4) for under $10K, but it already had a buyer before we got there. After looking around a while, I stumbled upon an ad for an old Class A DP for $14K. I decided it was worth a shot and called the old guy up.
Turns out, he was a cabinet maker who came to NOLA form Alaska after Katrina to make money. The money was good, so he bought the DP and started traveling around performing his craft while living in it. After a few years, the economy tanked and he put all his stuff in storage in NOLA and returned home, only for "momma" to be upset a few years later when he still had a storage bill in the lower 48. She sent him packing to "take care of it," and he flew south. His truck sold immediately (8 years old with only 40,000 miels on it), and most of his tools sold quickly, too. He was only stuck with the RV, aqnd nobody in LA wanted it.
He headed west, blowing one of the ORIGINAL tires with 1993 DOT codes in East Texas. He eventually settled in Deming, NM, posting in Craigslist along the way. When I called interested about it, he asked what the ad said, as he had been lowering the price. I asked about the tires and he admitted they were really old, but if I would agree to $6k over the phone, he would come back to El Paso the next day to complete the deal.
It was a bit more work than we saw in the pics, but we talked him down to $5200, he called his wife who bought him a ticket home for the next evening. He wasn't allowed to return home until everything was gone.
In the end, we found ourselves in a worn-out 1995 Safari Continental 38' Prestige Edition in need of a lot of TLC on the cheap. We have used the heck out of it, and we still need to replace the roof before too much longer (not too important in the desert, but we wish to see other things). To this day, we are still only about $12K deep in the coach, all the appliances now work, we have remodeled the kitchen and currently remodeling the bath, and we are going to replace the flooring soon as well. Some would say the extend of the work was a mistake, but I call it a learning experience. There is little that can go wrong with the coach now that I won't immediately be able to identify and repair.
