Inspectors are Worth it. (long but true story)
We all hear lots of advice on purchasing an RV. One thing I had heard was have the one you think you want to buy inspected. I am hoping to buy a MH soon and have sold my TT, so getting really serious.
I had looked at pictures and talked to owners of a MH I was interested in. I first encountered owner when I was asking on Owners group forum about the floorplan. The owner expressed that they loved their floorplan and would be selling theirs soon as they were not going to continue fulltiming. Time went buy and I finally was to the point I was ready to purchase. After looking at pictures sent to me and on-line ad, I made the owner an offer contingent on inspection. I really stressed was it worth the cost for the full “premium” inspection with fluid samples tested and everything, but decided I couldn’t travel to where MH was for that cost (would have been multiple day trip driving or flights, rental car and hotel). I picked an inspector from RVIA website and emailed. He responded right away and then called to see what I knew about RV’s. This allowed him to price his report to the level of detail I wanted.
Inspection was done, and I talked to inspector that day after he completed inspection. He mentioned that there were a few areas that were of concern, but that all the details I would receive in email within about 24 hours. I received the report and it was detailed… over 100 pages and lots of pictures and even a few videos. It annotated some “Life Safety” issues and some “Major” issues. I might have seen the bad tire but would not have seen the spot on the water heater where a rubber gasket/seal was missing. I might have realized the slide didn’t go quite all the way out, but would not have seen the gap at the slide roof that was letting light in. These were issues that I wasn’t willing to accept at the price I offered.
I sent email with “copy and pastes” from inspection report to buyer, who immediately denied that there could be slide issues, since he had previously spent money having one slide repaired. He ignored the “Life Safety” issues and my request for him to repair them along with the Major Issues. He stated that all the things that were wrong with RV were due to normal wear and tear for age, and discounted that preventative maintenance may not have been done completely (which was what I thought when I saw the list of issues, both big and small.
The seller refused to consider repairing, only wanting my best “as is” offer. Oh yeah, he wanted me to send him the full report (or link to website where it resides). After going back and looking carefully at pictures on ads (yes it was advertised two different places), I realized most of the pictures were from brand new. I felt like seller was deceptive in posting new pictures of almost 5 year old MH and then refusing to consider him having repair done was just icing on the cake. He even accused me of taking 6 months of his time in considering the MH, although I told him originally I was NOT ready to buy.
So the real lesson of this is BUYER BEWARE and don’t hesitate to hire an RVIA approved inspector.
Howard, you really saved my butt.
I had looked at pictures and talked to owners of a MH I was interested in. I first encountered owner when I was asking on Owners group forum about the floorplan. The owner expressed that they loved their floorplan and would be selling theirs soon as they were not going to continue fulltiming. Time went buy and I finally was to the point I was ready to purchase. After looking at pictures sent to me and on-line ad, I made the owner an offer contingent on inspection. I really stressed was it worth the cost for the full “premium” inspection with fluid samples tested and everything, but decided I couldn’t travel to where MH was for that cost (would have been multiple day trip driving or flights, rental car and hotel). I picked an inspector from RVIA website and emailed. He responded right away and then called to see what I knew about RV’s. This allowed him to price his report to the level of detail I wanted.
Inspection was done, and I talked to inspector that day after he completed inspection. He mentioned that there were a few areas that were of concern, but that all the details I would receive in email within about 24 hours. I received the report and it was detailed… over 100 pages and lots of pictures and even a few videos. It annotated some “Life Safety” issues and some “Major” issues. I might have seen the bad tire but would not have seen the spot on the water heater where a rubber gasket/seal was missing. I might have realized the slide didn’t go quite all the way out, but would not have seen the gap at the slide roof that was letting light in. These were issues that I wasn’t willing to accept at the price I offered.
I sent email with “copy and pastes” from inspection report to buyer, who immediately denied that there could be slide issues, since he had previously spent money having one slide repaired. He ignored the “Life Safety” issues and my request for him to repair them along with the Major Issues. He stated that all the things that were wrong with RV were due to normal wear and tear for age, and discounted that preventative maintenance may not have been done completely (which was what I thought when I saw the list of issues, both big and small.
The seller refused to consider repairing, only wanting my best “as is” offer. Oh yeah, he wanted me to send him the full report (or link to website where it resides). After going back and looking carefully at pictures on ads (yes it was advertised two different places), I realized most of the pictures were from brand new. I felt like seller was deceptive in posting new pictures of almost 5 year old MH and then refusing to consider him having repair done was just icing on the cake. He even accused me of taking 6 months of his time in considering the MH, although I told him originally I was NOT ready to buy.
So the real lesson of this is BUYER BEWARE and don’t hesitate to hire an RVIA approved inspector.
Howard, you really saved my butt.
