Anyone make a mistake buying first MH ?

This is our first and we love it. We thought we did a pretty good job of looking and educating ourselves prior to buying, but after a year we sure have learned a lot more and much of it from this forum. We bought a used 1-owner rig from a dealer. All of the warranty and service records as well as all manuals were intact and passed on to us. The prior owner loved this unit and it showed in looks and maintenance. I will say that we did not truely know what we wanted or needed until we had used the MH for several months and about 5,000 miles. Fortunately, this is a great unit for us and we couldn't love it more. Yes, we sometimes get "new rig fever," but it passes quickly.

Can't resist weighing in here...how about "you bought one and really hacked the wife off and got another?". True story. I got tired of the endless looking and the wife not wanting to let go of the old one. We had agreed that the Fleetwood Storm or Flair seemed to be palatable to her although I wanted a Class C. So on a Friday I struck a deal to trade in the old and drug home a 2003 Flair (non-slide). Wife didn't speak to me Friday or Saturday. Sunday she calls the dealer asking about the three-day cooling off period (dreamer). The dealer laughed at the "cooling off period comment" but understood her dislike and offered to take the Flair back if we bought up. So she finds an '03 Pace Arrow, double-slide and very nice inside. Dealer says he'll honor the trade-in from Friday and since they hadn't sent the paperwork in he'd give us 100% return on the Flair as a still new, unregistered vehicle. I told the wife she could have the Pace Arrow if she paid the difference.

So we've enjoyed the Pace Arrow now since early may...true story.

Regards, CD

You are "just curious"?? There are as of this writing over 19,000 folks that have read this thread. It is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Our first M/H less than 3 yrs ago was a 78 Sportcoach/Sherman tank/Hummer type steel thing on wheels. It taught us after a few uses that RV ing was the thing to do. We have gone from that to a TT to a 5er to a new Itasca due in at the dealer in 2 or 3 days. Although we have been slammed a little on resale we did it right a little at a time until we feel comfortable. DP is right around thew corner, I guess. Hey. It's only money!!

Wow this thread sure produced a lot of replies. Thanks guys for some great reads.................

Our first motor home was fine, until my wife started travel nursing. She works nite shift, and when she went to bed in the morning the bathroom was blocked all day. We traded it for a rear bedroom 32 footer, which was great until we got the 5er. Now we are having a hard time selling the 32 foot rear bedroom motorhome. Oh, well, someday....

Obviously this is a thread that will never grow old as long as the forum last. The 31 ft. Airstream travel trailer I once bought was a mistake. I should have gone with a 5th wheel at the time. For its size and weight it didn't have much living space and hardly any storage. Plus by the time I was hooked up with my truck I was 50 feet long. Oh well.

The "mistake" was basing my needs on somebody else's needs. My "consultant" said get the couch, not the dinette, in my first Flair 25' Class A. Went to the PA factory to chose one and they had a new 28' model that would have been preferable with both sofa & dinette but was scared of the length.

Since this topic seemed to get "reactivated" with a couple of posts. I'll add my $.02

My first unit was an '89 Class C. Similiar to a previous post, I found out quickly that we were in "separate" sleeping quarters as my wife counldn't stand the cabover. But, I bought it used and it was cheap ($15K) at the time so it met my needs as something to "test the water" wtih. The original poster stated that you need to buy one first to realize what mistakes you made. I agree somewhat in that you need to RV before you know what will meet your needs and what you want. Purchasing an older unit first has it's advantages and disadvantages. At least it's inexpensive and probably past the major depreciation curve so you won't lose much selling it. HOWEVER, if it's your first RV, and an older one at that, the fix-it headaches might discourage you from continuing. For us, we moved too quickly into unit #2. A GB Pursuit. Looked awesome when we bought it, but, in truth, it's their cheapest model and it showed quickly. Fortunately, we got a great deal on it and I sold it for only $5K less than I purchased it for after 14 mos. and 20K miles.

For some, a couple of rentals at $1500 to $2K might be a much more cost effective way to sample RVing before buying a unit, deciding after a year or so that it's not right and taking the deplreciation hit.

WOW... form April of 02' till Dec 03' what a thread!

Yep! Our first unit was a class C with the bed over the driver's compartment. On our first trip, after the second night, my wife informed me that I would be sleeping alone up there. We kept that unit less than six months. :)