Lady_Katie
Explorer II
Joined 10 years ago
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Renting out an RV for profit?
Hi there, I'm sure this is a stupid question, but I just have to ask it anyway. Can you realistically make any money renting out an RV on on RVshare? I do not own an RV, but some websites are suggesting that people are making money doing this, so would it make any sense to invest in a travel trailer for the purpose of renting it out for profit? I'm not talking about buying myself a nice RV that I love, and then renting it out to strangers to trash every other weekend when I'm not using it. I mean purchasing an average, affordable travel trailer that would only function as a rental. I'm sure the idea is too good to be true, but I figured I'd check. Thank you!7.2KViews0likes30CommentsRe: Best ways to purchase a used RV?
Thanks for the great info, everyone! I'm glad I asked about the RV show's because I'm not really interested in drooling over what we cannot afford. We did look around our local campers world when we first started considering this idea, just to see what the difference between the different kinds of RV's are and what not - and I will admit, I did find myself sitting in the drivers seat of a $100k motorhome wishing I could drive it away lol. I will say this about the newer models though - I walked into most of them expecting to be more impressed than I actually was. They were very nice, but in my opinion, not worth the money they ask for them.528Views0likes0CommentsRe: Best ways to purchase a used RV?
theoldwizard1 wrote: Lady_Katie wrote: That being said, I kind of have my sights set on the Winnebago View (2006 - 2008 model), but I'm only seeing a handful of these across the entire country, so I'm not sure how realistic it would be to look for a specific model. That was just prior to and in the middle of the Recession ! The RV industry all but dried up and blew away. Sale probably did not pick up into 2010-2012, maybe even later. Good point!106Views0likes0CommentsBest ways to purchase a used RV?
Hi there! After going back and forth about our various options for months, my husband and I have a rough plan in place and we've started saving money! We are heavily leaning towards a small class C. I really like the models that have a bed, a fold down table/bed and a bed over the cab with a very small kitchen area. I don't really feel like I want to haul around much more than that, but just to be sure, we ARE going to rent an RV when the weather warms up, and see for ourselves what kind of space we actually require. We have two small children, by the way. That being said, I kind of have my sights set on the Winnebago View (2006 - 2008 model), but I'm only seeing a handful of these across the entire country, so I'm not sure how realistic it would be to look for a specific model. Can anyone give me any advice on actually shopping for an RV when the time comes? Our area has an RV show twice per year, could that be worth attending? How flexible should I plan to be when it comes to what I think I might want? Oh, also, I wanted to ask - what percentage of the sticker price should we expect to pay at a dealership? Thank you! PS: Getting very excited about this!3KViews0likes16CommentsRe: Financing vs. buying older model?
Thank you, everyone! And thank you for not being negative about my being a newbie. I am so relieved to hear everyone say that paying cash on an older model makes the most sense. I am not comfortable financing something like this, but I kind of had it in my mind that older models might be hunks of junk due to the huge differences in price that I'm seeing. If I can pay less and get something that is reasonably reliable, then that is the obvious way to go. Also, I think that renting an RV is a GREAT idea! I had not considered doing this as a way to "try it before we buy it", but it does make perfect sense. Thank you again for being so helpful :)311Views0likes0CommentsFinancing vs. buying older model?
In your opinion, is it better to finance a newer motorhome, or to pay cash for an older one (10 - 15 years old.) - or maybe something in between - like a heafty down payment on 6ish year old model. We have never owned a motorhome before. I am estimating that our yearly use would be approximately 4 - 6 weekend trips within a 300 mile radius (or less) and one or two longer trips within a 700 mile radius. I have no idea if this is accurate or not (since we've never done this), or if this is considered average use, or what. I'm just taking my best guess. I would be surprised if we used it less than that. I could see my husband handling most of the repairs and maintenance that the actual house part (is there a word for this?) would need, but he is not a mechanic, so any repairs to the part that you drive (is there a word for THIS? The cockpit? lol) we would have to bring it in for - so that's a factor. Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about here, so any advice is helpful! Thanks!8.8KViews0likes31CommentsHow do we get started?
Hi there, my husband and I are considering purchasing an RV of some kind. We live in a very cold region, and are interested in traveling south for a couple of months during the winters. My husband would likely be able to work remotely for periods of time and even though we have two children, we already homeschool for other reasons, so we should have the flexibility to leave for the winters. I have a couple of questions though, if you don't mind. We went to a place that sells RV's, just to take a look around and get an idea of what each kind of RV is like in person. After looking at them, I absolutely hate the idea of towing a 5th wheel or a huge trailer, and I don't even think I'm willing to entertain it. The space inside was nice, but the thought of driving the thing down the highway is a total deal breaker for me. I really don't even love the idea of towing anything, to be honest, but my husband likes the idea of being able to drop the trailer and have a smaller vehicle free for exploring/shopping/etc. Say we did decide to purchase a larger trailer. Could we pay someone to haul it around for us? How much does something like that cost? Could we leave it somewhere during the summer months? Does that even make any sense? If we decided to go for a mid sized or smaller trailer, how hard are these to tow? We have a Jeep Commander in decent condition, would we have to purchase a larger vehicle? Would an RV sales place let us try towing some of them to get a feel for it? When we were looking around, what I did like, however, was a very small, compact motorhome. I know next to nothing about these things, but I think this thing might have been considered a class B or possibly a small class C. Either way, it was small. What I liked about it was that the whole thing seemed very do-able when I was sitting in the drivers seat. It felt like any other truck would. I was comfortable and felt like I could handle the vehicle. Of course, it was pretty small, and we'd have two kids sleeping in it with us, so what we gain in ease of use while traveling, we lose while actually parked and using it. Also, the price was outrageous, so we'd be looking to buy used. There do not seem to be a lot of used compact motorhomes to choose from within a 400 mile radius of where we live. How difficult would it be to actually purchase one of these if we did decide to go that route? How do I know how small is too small? Anyway, sorry about all of the questions, but these are some of the thoughts that are going through my head. We need to find a way to cope with these winters that makes sense, and we are completely open to other ideas. I think that ideally, whatever we purchase will not cost more than $40k, and if there is some other option that we are unaware of that we could pay for on a yearly basis, I don't think that we would want to spend more than $4,000 total per year on it. Please help us to thaw out! :) Thank you!12KViews0likes24CommentsCan you buy an empty travel trailer?
Hi there! My husband and I are just starting to consider getting a travel trailer. I'm pretty attracted to 5th wheel trailers, but we'd have to get a truck to tow it. Either way, I'm kind of interested in completely customizing a trailer to suit our family and my very picky taste. Is it possible to purchase an empty trailer shell? We'll probably just end up buying an older model with good bones and gutting it, but I figured id pop on here and see if there are other options. Thanks!36KViews1like14CommentsRe: Is this completely ridiculous?
Oh, by the way, if anyone could answer my original question about heating an RV in Virginia, that would be helpful! Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate all of this advice, and we're not making any plans to move into an RV any time soon (if ever), but I'm still wondering about that. Thanks!337Views0likes0CommentsRe: Is this completely ridiculous?
tatest wrote: The work situation might be what needs changing, in order to have a more mobile lifestyle. It is not completely ridiculous, but it might be addressing the wrong part of the problem. Thank you for your insight, your response feels the most accurate to me. Many of these responses are advising me to figure out the root cause of my unhappiness, and I've honestly been giving this a lot of thought. I can't help but conclude that the bottom line is boredom. I'm really not a "dig my roots into the local community" type of person, and neither is my husband. We've been here for 4.5 years so far, and we still cannot bring ourselves to call it "home". In all honestly, I think I might actually, truly and honestly be a wanderer. Once I hit my 20s, I moved around our state quite a bit for about 5 years, and I was pretty happy doing that. But about a year into "living the American dream", I started to feel like I wanted to relocate again. Here I am, 3.5 years later...still feeling the same way. I don't want to be one of the ones who suffer through a lifestyle that doesn't work for them. Now, of course, having young children and my husbands job are factors. I've always planned to homeschool, so that's one non-issue. There actually is hope of my husband working remotely. We were talking about this the other day, and I guess he's been doing a lot of work that doesn't require him to be in the office. I used to actually work from home as a freelance designer, so there's hope of me being able to pick up work in the future too. I could probably even make money blogging about traveling (I worked in marketing and graphic design). Looking at our future with these ideas in mind makes me feel a lot more optimistic, to be honest.337Views0likes0Comments
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