Hey James! I just took the plunge myself on a 97 Allegro Bus because we've got a disabled son and will be retiring next year and we just needed something to travel with him so we could finally get out and enjoy life.
All I have is my memory of my father's travel trailers so the MH thing is new to me too....still trying to piece the systems together in my mind. It's too cold here in Wisconsin yet to really get out and do anything with it but I figure now the initial investment is made (by budget was similar to yours)and now it's paid for, no financing, so everything else can be saved for and worked on as I go. I've also got an emergency CC dedicated to the motorhome.
I went into this armed with the knowledge from these fine folks and so far so good! (Knocking on my wooden head.) I also got lucky and found the sellers to be really nice people and part of it is having a good feeling in your gut about who you are doing business with. Good luck to you!
PS> I googled and printed out a list of questions before I got on the phone with the seller for the first time. Checked off the ones that I thought were important and skipped the ones that didn't apply. That way I kept control of the conversation and hopefully appeared to know what I was doing. lol
