If you only had $40k to spend.........

[MagillaGorilla]

Just for the sake of conversation, lets say that you have $40k to spend and you want to buy a MH. The entire world is your oyster.....as long as it costs under $40k. What would you buy and why?


Note: This would apply for used MH's only.

[SabreCanuck]

MagillaGorilla wrote:
Our must haves were:

Min of 2 slides.
Gas not diesel
10 years old or less
comfortable living room
over 32 feet
Class A
Auto Levelers
Back up camera
under 50k miles
excellent overall condition
Bright inside (light colors and lost of sun)
Turn Key ready

We have similar requirements but larger budget (60K).... I'm finding tons of them so not sure why everyone is saying you can't find a class A Gasser with those requirements.

I'm also not sure the folks commenting about buying a 5th wheel have ever spent any time over on the 5th wheel forum. That's where other folks like themselves constantly inform you that once you buy that fancy $20-30k 5th wheel you also need to double that amount to buy a truck to pull it so now you are at $60-70K :?

I'm more curious about the "I get gas for free" comment.. Where do you live and how much of a discount do you give your neighbors, or is that where you are getting the free gas?? LOL LOL

[MagillaGorilla]

We wanted the L shaped couch but could not find it. Our last MH had it and we loved it. Many newer models have it so by the time I ready to upgrade I should get the L shaped couch back.

[MetalGator]

MagillaGorilla wrote:

It seems as though if your budget is under $75k you have to look a little longer and harder to find a real nice rig. They are out there so don't give up.

What are your must haves?

I can probably go a little higher than 50K but I only want to finance around 50% of the purchase and putting down 25K is in my comfort zone.

The big must have is a full length closet. My wife only wears long dresses and most of the Class A's (really any RV) don't have full length closets. Most are like 2/3 or 3/4 length. She wants to be able to hand her dresses without the bottom of them laying on the floor. Right now, she hangs her dresses in our shower and it's a pain to have to move them all when someone needs to use the shower.

The other thing that we really like (not necessarily a must have) is the L shaped couch. We really fell in love with the Newmar 3401 but I think they have only been making that floor plan since 2014 so there isn't any on the used market yet.

The biggest must have it the RV has to be 35' or under. My storage carport is 12.5' x 35'. The spots are angled so I might be able to go as long as 35'8" or so without causing issues.

[MagillaGorilla]

iplante4, I found what I was looking for. It is a 2006 Damon Daybreak that is 35' long and has 11k miles on it. It is turn key ready and fit my budget.

[jplante4]

MagillaGorilla wrote:
Our must haves were:

Min of 2 slides.
Gas not diesel
10 years old or less
comfortable living room
over 32 feet
Class A
Auto Levelers
Back up camera
under 50k miles
excellent overall condition
Bright inside (light colors and lost of sun)
Turn Key ready

IMO, this is a tall order. I think you'll need to drop the less that 10 years old requirement. Also, limiting yourself to gas and greater than 32 feet puts you in a niche. Normally anything greater than 36 feet is diesel, so you're in a very narrow size range. The good news is, it's the most popular range.

Tell ya what, if you find any MHs that fit exactly this list for <$40k, buy and bunch and flip them.

[MagillaGorilla]

MetalGator wrote:
I have been following this topic with interest. We are in a similar situation and have a budget of $50K. We are hoping to be able to get one that is in the 2011-2008 range. Have found several on rvtrader but none that have the floor plan we like.

It seems as though if your budget is under $75k you have to look a little longer and harder to find a real nice rig. They are out there so don't give up.

What are your must haves?

[MetalGator]

I have been following this topic with interest. We are in a similar situation and have a budget of $50K. We are hoping to be able to get one that is in the 2011-2008 range. Have found several on rvtrader but none that have the floor plan we like.

[MagillaGorilla]

Our must haves were:

Min of 2 slides.
Gas not diesel
10 years old or less
comfortable living room
over 32 feet
Class A
Auto Levelers
Back up camera
under 50k miles
excellent overall condition
Bright inside (light colors and lost of sun)
Turn Key ready

[MagillaGorilla]

Jarlaxle wrote:
Wanderlodge. Can get a nice one for $40K or less easily.

The Wanderlodge is awesome but for $40k I would have to buy one older than my kids I think. Maybe someday but its not in my budget right now.

[Jarlaxle]

Wanderlodge. Can get a nice one for $40K or less easily.

[MagillaGorilla]

This is not my first trip to the RV rodeo. I have been camping since I was a kid. We've done the tent, upgraded to a tent trailer, up graded to a small travel trailer, upgraded to a large travel trailer and then stopped for a while. In 2007 I took a road trip in my car and we hit 17 states on the eastern seaboard. It was a great trip and we were lucky to have stayed in some nice hotels. When we got home we decided that we like road trips but other than this last trip, have stayed in some crappy hotels. So we bought a 36' Rv gasser. It had only 32k on the clock.

We've used it ever since and on years that we fly somewhere instead of driving the RV still gets used as a guest house for our guests. Its been quite handy.

So this is not a new hobby/sport for us. This is just an upgrade. Our first RV cost us $14k and served us well for 8 years. I sold it for $8,500 and fell that it owed me nothing after that. It booked for more than I sold it but I priced it at what I thought was a fair deal. I must have been right because I found a buyer in 2 days.

We look forward to taking delivery of our new (to us) motorhome in a few weeks. Hopefully enough snow will be melted so I have a place to put it.

[jplante4]

superk wrote:
I agree. In my short experience with my class A, I have come to realize that it might be overkill for my needs, but I (or rather my wife) refused to go camping without the conveniences of home.

And this is the long and short of it for me. My wife really enjoys the motor home, whereas we have a tent and all the other camping equipment sitting on a shelf in the basement. Getting out of the house and exploring is well worth the cost for us.

[superk]

John&Joey wrote:
Thanks for posting that Frankdamp.

The only time a Class A is economical is when you turn the key off and live in it.

I agree. In my short experience with my class A, I have come to realize that it might be overkill for my needs, but I (or rather my wife) refused to go camping without the conveniences of home.

In my opinion, you buy a class A for one of two reasons, Either you are planning to use it as it was designed for (a motor HOME), or you dont want to compromise on comfort, and even a 20 year old class A is still more comfy (in my opinion) than a 5 year old class C.


Although... that 5 year old class C would save a heck of a lot in fuel............... :s

[John_Joey]

Thanks for posting that Frankdamp.

The only time a Class A is economical is when you turn the key off and live in it. We would snowbird in ours for six months, put on about 5K miles during that time, and camp at nice but reasonable sites (COE, casino, etc..) Even with all of that going on I would view it as a breakeven. Thank goodness the engine or tranny never went. That would have pushed it way into the red. That was also the reason we sold it. I just no longer felt confident it was a cross country machine. I'm sure it was, but I didn't want to chance it.