What would you do differently?

[Plozano]

Concerning depreciation. In my opinion, no factual proof, depreciation is so great on these coaches because MSRP and the usual 25% discount off MSRP is an elevated price point that does not have any direct correlation to the actual "value" of the coach. I often wonder what the true, actual factory cost and the actual dealer cost is. My very uneducated guess is that it is substantially below the prices being charged. (I understand the need for manufacturer and dealers to earn overhead and profit). Again, my opinion, they charge elevated prices because use they can and I pay it. I know it will never change. Just one of my random thoughts.

[DSL417]

Couldn't have been said better...DW and I could have waited five more years to retire at 65...naw...we won't be millionaires in retirement, and we won't leave our kids rich. It's about doing what you want while you can. I doubt we'll be a burden on society in our old age, but if something strange happens and we end up twenty years from now in that position; well, we paid the way for lot of folks to do same that came before us....well, we'll probably be OK. And we'll have been doing our bucket list for five extra years.

[Mychesh]

I guess my comments to the depreciation post is... Thank you for the enlightening data... But we do know going into a venture such as this there is going to be some financial loss.. After all hasn't there been the same when Enron crashed, the housing market crashed and I am sure along the way there will be many more " crashes" all which no doubt will hit someone some where financially.

We brought our 5th wheel knowing the moment it was hooked to our truck that it no longer had the value we just signed the paperwork for... But I guess we all buy these expensive coaches to follow our love of traveling and the freedom that they bring.

We have always wondered if we had done things differently would we have started with a MH instead of a 5th wheel...well we have learnt that it was a good decision based on the fact that if we didn't like the lifestyle we would have lost a whole bunch more money on the sell out!

So what we do know is that before we buy our MH we must evaluate all the options and this was our reason for this post.

My thoughts are that with our house paid for we will always have that as collateral should we ever need to pay off the finance early if that issue ever arose but in the meantime we would working down the payments while still both having full time jobs.

We have good credit and would secure a good APR while the rates are good. We currently claim the 5th wheel as second residence and this give us a tax return nothing to dance about but nonetheless a return.

Our home has been well maintained and is 2900 sq ft and we believe we could comfortably rent through a property manager and supplement our income while living full time. We need to decide whether it would be better to do this while working or wait for retirement. The bottom line is that the house would be increasing in value (70k in 5 yrs for us so far!) and we would still have that as collateral should we cash out

We like the comment that was said "live for today as you never know what might happen tomorrow" how true is that?

As for buying used.. I have reservations and I guess this is just me...but it always goes through my mind.. "But why did they get rid of it???" I'll be honest I can never convince myself of a satisfactory answer.. Crazy I know because I will trade mine and it is pristine!

In conclusion we always wish for hindsight and all the posts here are as a result of that ... Well that and the expertise of all the many years of experience .. The posts are awesome and I know that our decisions will in someway be influenced by each one

[brobox]

Originally Posted by Mychesh

As for buying used.. I have reservations and I guess this is just me...but it always goes through my mind.. "But why did they get rid of it???" I'll be honest I can never convince myself of a satisfactory answer.. Crazy I know because I will trade mine and it is pristine!

My Dad was way that way, "all you are doing is buying someone else's problems" so he always bought new.

All of the investment classes I have taken, they all said to buy one year old to let the first owner suffer the heavy deprecation. I have done that my entire life with luxury cars and RV's until now, first new MH after several. Most of the MH I have purchased used was a lifestyle change or RV'ing wasn't for them after one long trip. Very common being in close quarters for 4 or 5 months. I never had a problem with any of them and the transferable warranty with Entegra is a Big plus. I had that from Travel Supreme when I bought it one year old and I was treated like a VIP. Those same people are at Entegra today

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by brobox

My Dad was way that way, "all you are doing is buying someone else's problems" so he always bought new.

All of the investment classes I have taken, they all said to buy one year old to let the first owner suffer the heavy deprecation. I have done that my entire life with luxury cars and RV's until now, first new MH after several. Most of the MH I have purchased used was a lifestyle change or RV'ing wasn't for them after one long trip. Very common being in close quarters for 4 or 5 months. I never had a problem with any of them and the transferable warranty with Entegra is a Big plus. I had that from Travel Supreme when I bought it one year old and I was treated like a VIP. Those same people are at Entegra today

Financially, buying used makes sense. But it means that you can't be ultra-picky about floorplans, colors, and equipment. You have to get really lucky or else be willing to work hard at finding the right coach in a sea of used offerings. I chose to splurge and buy new so that I could get exactly what I wanted without compromise. I did this with eyes open, knowing that it would cost dearly. Sometimes we pay extra to get just what we want. I have plenty of company in this. It is good that people like me and the other new buyers exist, as there would be no used coaches and no factories if somebody did not buy new.

[brobox]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

Financially, buying used makes sense. But it means that you can't be ultra-picky about floorplans, colors, and equipment. You have to get really lucky or else be willing to work hard at finding the right coach in a sea of used offerings. I chose to splurge and buy new so that I could get exactly what I wanted without compromise. I did this with eyes open, knowing that it would cost dearly. Sometimes we pay extra to get just what we want. I have plenty of company in this. It is good that people like me and the other new buyers exist, as there would be no used coaches and no factories if somebody did not buy new.

So true, we finally bought new this time for the same reason you described, and the upgrades on the 2014. However, the other direction wasn't bad either and it let us work up to pay cash for the one we will use the most.

Another plus was the TS increased $5,000 from the time we were looking at the 2013 until we waited for the 2014. That market increase I feel was the popularization of the Entegra's and Entegra offering support for TS with verbal customer service, parts location and outside service centers made up of previous TS employees. TS is no longer an orphan and buyers are seeing that.

In conversation with Jacob in CS, Entegra has taken this attitude as so many previous and current TS owners are moveing up to Entegras.

So much for deprecation figures for certain models of MH

[Jake62]

Since I'm one of those who would look to purchase a used Cornerstone in late 2015, I'm all for tracking Marc & Chuck's travels, just in case they decide to hang it up or upgrade in the next 18-months!

Of course, if Entegra continues to increase its sale base, maybe it can start a similar "classified section" for Entegra DPs (kind-of like Tiffin has on their web-site)!

[ie2special]

Originally Posted by Jake62

Since I'm one of those who would look to purchase a used Cornerstone in late 2015, I'm all for tracking Marc & Chuck's travels, just in case they decide to hang it up or upgrade in the next 18-months!

Of course, if Entegra continues to increase its sale base, maybe it can start a similar "classified section" for Entegra DPs (kind-of like Tiffin has on their web-site)!

Yeah, all you current owners....we are ready to buy this time next year too