Newbee question for long timeRVer's

Nickelman, we bought our first coach new and kept it 7.5 yrs. and 69,700 miles. Even though our coach was in fantastic condition and overly maintained, I knew that it would be a wonderful coach for a new buyer with some value still attached to it.

I wanted to sell it within the 10 yr. period as it's harder to get an RV loan on coaches approaching 10 yrs. (from what I have heard) if someone was not paying cash. I think our buyer did get a loan.

Over the 7.5 yrs., we got back 45% of our purchase price including the commission, 49% without the commission. We could have attempted a private sale but I just didn't want to deal with people. I think our percentage of return was not bad.

So, we now have bought new again with intentions of keeping this coach for at least 10 yrs. unless life throws us something not anticipated.

I do like new and I take very good care of my vehicles which make them good, fast sellers.

MM.

A 10 year old motorhome is just fine for traveling full-time but when you find one you should really get it checked out thoroughly by a private inspector - not the dealership. Also check the tire dates. So that you won't have to put a lot of money in tires right off the bat they should be 3-4 years old or less.

A diesel in this age would be better than gas, in my opinion, because it would just be broken in. :) Mileage doesn't count on a diesel. If you can find one by a private party it would be best because you can 'feel out' the owner as to how the motorhome was cared for and he should be able to give you all records for maintenance/repairs done on it.

Also consider a top manufacturer. We full-timed ten years in our Newmar and it was great and looked like new when we sold it. We previously full-timed in a 33' 5th wheel before the motorhome. We liked a motorhome best because we were able to pull the Jeep. We didn't like driving a big truck around when we had the 5th wheel.

A good manufacturer will have better insulation, double pane windows and solid cabinets with good drawer fittings. Everything about it would be good quality and will hold up better.

If you're willing to put some money in an older one to update it then I think you'd do just fine.

I do have concerns though on you not having RV'd previously and it sounds like your wife isn't totally sold on the idea. Having full-timed for 16 years I will say that you BOTH have to want to do it equally or it won't work. Is she really willing to give up all the 'stuff' in the house? Are you both extremely compatible that you can live together in a small space? Do you have the same travel expectations such as siteseeing, outdoor activities, staying in rv parks or campgrounds or out in the boonies, moving around or sitting in one place, possibly volunteering in parks?

If you're not going to retire for a couple years yet I might suggest either renting at least a 30'32' Class C (big enough to have some extra space) and doing so for a couple weekends to see how you do. It's very expensive to rent so you won't want to do a lot of it but it would give you an idea of living in a small area.

Good luck!

We have gone from a pop-up to a 43' DP with lots of variants in between. In each and every case, we changed due to one "main" fact....we wanted something larger.

Simple

Ron

I bought my class A DP MH brand new just before retirement, in preparation to go fulltiming at retirement. Its now 10 yrs old and I plan to keep it another 10 yrs. But I do all my own maint and knowing the condition of all the major components is a big part of using a 10+ aged vehicle. I would never buy a 10 yr old MH unless it was from a close friend - family member who I knew took as good care as I would. I agree completely with buying a well maintained used MH, but I would look more to 5 yr old units to avoid buying someone elses problems. It also depends on how mechanically inclined you are. Having to take a 10+ yr old unit into a $100/hr mechanic everytime you think somethings wrong, can add up quickly. At 5 yrs old, even a rig that didn't get top notch care is not too far gone to recover. But after 10 yrs of neglect, major problems are almost guaranteed.
just my opinion, others will vary