Community Forums

2500HD · 11-25-2014, 05:55 AM

There is an article in the December issue of motorhome magazine about this.
One guy writes in and basically talks himself out of a MH. The basically said he was still going to get the magazine and lust and dream of owning an RV.

I run into a lot of people like this and just shake my head. You really can't justify the intial purchase of any toy. It's cheaper to rent a boat 6times a year than to own one.

KennyGolub · 11-25-2014, 06:04 AM

The initial cost hurts, but that aside, no comparison. I vote for the MH.

Tetonchief · 11-25-2014, 06:13 AM

Let's see, I want to hunt grizzly bear. What do you think, bow or gun?

VP Chianese · 11-25-2014, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KennyGolub

The initial cost hurts, but that aside, no comparison. I vote for the MH.

Yea but you could leave it to the kids and they will find a way to spend it. I prefer to spend it myself. The plan is to pay for everything as I go and have the check to the undertaker bounce.

Back a bit the OP said $600 a month budget. I can't stay home on $600 a month. That's $20 a day. I must have miss read that. I went and read that again and I understand it to be $600 a month for the financing of the MH. So that can work.

So figure $20 a day for the movable hotel room and $50 a day for camp fees and such. Where are you going to find a $75 a night every night?

MH is the answer.

John H... · 11-25-2014, 06:32 AM

Motorhome...

Firebug5 · 11-25-2014, 06:39 AM

Good Morning, Greg.

After reading thru this thread, I think everything has been addressed to help with your decision. I will add my justification for owning a coach.

Have you ever rented a house? How about renting golf clubs? Maybe even a bike? Someone mentioned renting a boat, or an ATV? What about renting an RV? My answer to all of the above rentals is YUCK. YUCK. YUCK.

Ownership brings pride along with it. My coach is now one of my hobbies. I enjoy tinkering with it, making it "ours". Ultimately, it is paying for entertainment. You just cannot do that with rental crap. And hotels/motels fit into the category of rentals.

As a side note, I do miss the entertainment value I used to get by watching my wifee perform her hotel ritual. Trying to decontaminate everything touched or sat on by others. Wearing her clothes to bed, looking at her facial expressions as her shoes stepped into something sticky on the bathroom floor. Yes, I do miss those laughs. . .

Good luck with your adventure, whichever way you go. Just go.

Bruce

flaggship1 · 11-25-2014, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davdeb1

I love our RV, I wouldn't want to travel anyway else. I am realistic however about the real cost of RVing.

Dave - sure wish you had been able to swing by here... Hi Deb...

And now, oh wise and benevolent one bestow upon us the secrets of the RV Rosetta stone and reveal the real cost formula of RVing. We humbly await the conversion factors of intangibles such as joy of driving a DP, seeing the toad in the rear camera display, the smell of fresh ground coffee in the motorhome, and bacon cooking on the coleman....

I sometimes think when people say you can't justify the expense of owning a motorhome, it's just the inability identify and quantify value those intangibles. On the other side of the coin - room service is nice... but surely a lifestyle only for the champaign wishers and caviar dreamers...

* the taco place you guys were at yesterday looked like a million $s!!

Falcon190 · 11-25-2014, 06:46 AM

Has anyone considered the cost of owning a house vs staying in a hotel? It's basically the same argument. So, isn't it really about the lifestyle?

LarrytheBear · 11-25-2014, 06:46 AM

I would never want to go back to packing and unpacking with each move; depending on restaurants for our meals; sleeping in a bed used by the world (and the pillows!); being without the comforts of home.

We recently stayed in a very nice beach house because the situation called for us to be there, but we very much missed our MH.

We are not full timers but when we travel we take our home with us.

MSHappyCampers · 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Schoenberg

Next winter I plan to follow the sun. (56 PNW winters is enough). The question I'm debating within is most cost effective way to accomplish this. Pay for motel rooms and rented houses, traveling in a car, or buying/financing a high quality gasser Class A and using it to search for the sun? Timespan is January through April....for the next 5 years.

What say y'all?

Greg

Greg, I hope I don't have to stay in another motel the rest of my life! JMHO!

gemini5362 · 11-25-2014, 09:34 AM

I am going to keep my response as close as i can to answering his question. He asked about the financial side of it.

I did not buy a Motor Home for ten years because when I looked at them I did the math and found it was not even close to financially worth while. It was not until I just decided I wanted the convenience that I bought one. I notice a previous poster mentioned 100.00 a day for Hotel rooms I thought that was a pretty good figure. The original Poster mentioned High End. Since i am using 100 dollars a day for the hotel I am going to go middle of the road High End and figure 350,000 new. ( roughly a winnebago journey or Allegro Bus prices)
so 100 per day x 365 is 36,500 which is almost 10 years of Hotel Rooms to pay for it. You have to live in it for almost ten years to equate the cost of staying in a Hotel Room. Now if you add in campground costs ( I know you can boondock a lot but that has its own set of expenses) I am going to take a wild stab and say that it costs on the average 25.00 a night for a campground. I know you can stay monthly for as low as 10 to 15 a night but you can also stay monthly for 40 a night and if you dont stay monthly I have paid as high as 75 a night on a weekly rate. Add 9125.00 per year for a place to stay if we are figuring ten years that would be another 91, 250 to add on to the purchase price. But just to add some spice to the figures You might be able to sell your MH at the end of 10 years for 90,000 ( I cannot see that happening but ) To make my figures easier i am going to figure that the amount you sell your coach for at the end of ten years cancels out the amount you are going to have to pay for a place to camp so we are still at the end of ten years you will have broken even. You are going to have to have something to drive while the MH is parked so you are going to have to have a toad. That will cancel out the cost of having a car to drive to a motel. Another difference I see is fuel mileage for a vehicle to drive around the country versus for the MH. I do not see the MH being a winner in this category. So basically it will take you ten years to break even. This is assuming you paid cash for everything not considering cost of loans etc.

An alternative which is what i did first is a 5th wheel. You can buy a higher quality 5th wheel such as Big Horn or Montanna for 80,000 new. If you do not want residential refrigerator or auto leveling jacks ( which to me are not something to do without) You can bring that down to 50 or 60, thousand new. You still have to buy a truck but that will only be at the most 20,000 more than a toad ( we are talking new prices. With good deals on used these numbers come down significantly) The 5th wheel will be considerably cheaper to operate than a MH.

That was my opinion for what it was worth. Now personally I would buy a 5th wheel if you want to just go somewhere for two or three months at a time. I think they are actually more comfortable in a lot of ways. If you get a two or three year old one they depreciate like wildfire. If you are going to be driving every couple of days or weeks there is nothing as comfortable as a MH for all the reasons previous posters gave. My opinon of Motels is that I was a field engineer for a military contractor for several years. I came home for a week every 3 to 4 months. I lived in Motels the rest of the time. I would never want to live in a Motel full time again.

Alan Wilson · 11-25-2014, 09:47 AM

I spent the better part of 25 years as a road warrior living in motels and eating restaurant food. I have had enough of that to last me a lifetime. If I was traveling every day I figured $300 a day for gas, motel and food. That is a pretty close number depending on where you are the quality of the food and motel. Trust me, you will get all the McD's, Taco Bell, KFC, Wendy's and chain foods you can stand. They all get to the point of no return. Enough salad bars and buffets and, well, you get the idea.

Alan Wilson

2001 HR Scepter 38 PBD

Gocoffeer · 11-25-2014, 10:00 AM

Greg...I have an older MH...and if you were traveling and playing the touch and go type travel (dragging up every few days...or even every few weeks) the travel in a motorhome is not going to win the money battle for travel. I can burn thru $1000 in gas in a few days of travel by MH....and can usually get a room for under $100 per nite. My car travel versus MH travel experiences is...I never break even in my MH if I am regularly moving it. I can break even if i calculate long layovers where I find cost effective places to stay and budget well...but that is not the mode by which i use the MH.

tedandmaggie · 11-25-2014, 10:10 AM

It is, of course, impossible for someone to answer your question for you.

It will depend on the cost of the RV, if you finance, the period over which you average the cost of the RV and any financing, how often you drive the RV v. staying put in on place, if you cook in the RV or eat out.

The short answer is, the less time you use the RV, the more difficult the financial case v. hotels, so it comes down to personal choice and which lifestyle do you want.

I've done hotels for the last 20 years associated with my work and now am choosing to have an adventure with my wife. The closer to retirement I get, the more I appreciate the freedom to go where I want, when I want and as fast or slow as I wish to get there.

So, for me motorhome.

Best of luck and remember, there are no wrong decisions, only decisions you choose not to make.