Owning CLass A or C vs buying a vacation home
We are looking into buying another class A or C which we have been out of the RV world for three years. We had a 33' class A for 6 years and kind of now what it takes to up keep one. We are retired i...
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We first rented a Class C in 2005 which gave me the itch to get an RV (grew up popup camping). However, I had always dreamed of owning a cabin in the mountains near the skiing and hiking I enjoy. Assuming that was the more "responsible" approach for an early-30's couple trying to look out for investments and retirement planning (because a cabin would likely appreciate over time while an RV would certainly depreciate) we purchased a mountain house about 1.5 hours from home in 2007. We rented it out through VRBO (had people lined up to do the cleaning/changeovers, etc.).
Long story short, since we bought what WE liked rather than the most rentable property, we didn't rent it a ton - a decent amount, but not packed full like some of the places we had rented from other owners. Additionally, since we preferred a single family home rather than a townhome/condo with the exorbitant HOA fees you find in ski towns here in CO, we were stuck with the maintenance and/or finding people to maintain it in our absence (it didn't need much, but plowing the driveway regularly was an issue). Basically, we underestimated the difficulty in finding service providers when we weighed a townhome/condo versus a house. We quickly learned that "mountain time" is completely different than normal time and finding reliable, timely service was a huge headache.
A couple years later, we bought our "dream" RV. Now the RV was trumping trips to the cabin. And our work lives had gotten more consuming rather than less as I had hoped, making weekend trips rare. When we made it to the cabin, there was usually a list of things to do. As someone else mentioned, the RV (while at times a maintenance-hog in its own right) allowed more relaxation and cost just a fraction of the cabin. Couple that with the fact that our timing wasn't ideal relative to the economy and real estate market (i.e. the house wasn't appreciating), and we eventually decided the cabin wasn't fitting into our short- or long-term plans and the RV was a better fit for us. So, after about five years we sold the cabin. Still have the RV!
Obviously, the numbers may work out differently in other areas...towns near Denver-area ski resorts are not inexpensive places to own/live. I don't necessarily regret the vacation home, since at least I fulfilled that dream. However, in hindsight I wish some things would have worked out differently. We almost purchased a townhouse first (long story) and I think if that purchase had gone through we would likely still own the property (more easily rentable, little to no maintenance, cheaper, etc.).
Long story short, since we bought what WE liked rather than the most rentable property, we didn't rent it a ton - a decent amount, but not packed full like some of the places we had rented from other owners. Additionally, since we preferred a single family home rather than a townhome/condo with the exorbitant HOA fees you find in ski towns here in CO, we were stuck with the maintenance and/or finding people to maintain it in our absence (it didn't need much, but plowing the driveway regularly was an issue). Basically, we underestimated the difficulty in finding service providers when we weighed a townhome/condo versus a house. We quickly learned that "mountain time" is completely different than normal time and finding reliable, timely service was a huge headache.
A couple years later, we bought our "dream" RV. Now the RV was trumping trips to the cabin. And our work lives had gotten more consuming rather than less as I had hoped, making weekend trips rare. When we made it to the cabin, there was usually a list of things to do. As someone else mentioned, the RV (while at times a maintenance-hog in its own right) allowed more relaxation and cost just a fraction of the cabin. Couple that with the fact that our timing wasn't ideal relative to the economy and real estate market (i.e. the house wasn't appreciating), and we eventually decided the cabin wasn't fitting into our short- or long-term plans and the RV was a better fit for us. So, after about five years we sold the cabin. Still have the RV!
Obviously, the numbers may work out differently in other areas...towns near Denver-area ski resorts are not inexpensive places to own/live. I don't necessarily regret the vacation home, since at least I fulfilled that dream. However, in hindsight I wish some things would have worked out differently. We almost purchased a townhouse first (long story) and I think if that purchase had gone through we would likely still own the property (more easily rentable, little to no maintenance, cheaper, etc.).
