Expense vs. Renting. We use it a lot. We'd have paid way more in rental fees than we've paid so far in payments - especially considering the tax deduction reduced our effective payments by almost one third.
Customization. We've made a lot of changes/upgrades for the way we use it.
"Guest room." We are able to store this in our driveway and have. on occasion, had guests sleep in it. Our son also has occasional sleep-overs in it.
Disaster preparedness. Having our fully-packed MH available with a full tank of gas (primarily for the generator) and a full water tank is pretty much our whole disaster preparedness plan. We've got food, water, kitchen, bathroom, etc. all ready to go. We can also use the generator to power key house systems in case of an extended power outage.
I think that if you use you MH a lot, renting will turn out to be more expensive than owning. We did have an advantage in that we already knew about how much we'd use it, having already had two trailers before this purchase.
Of course we could never justify this purchase monetarily, but we just consider this our one luxury item.
If you will use it a lot, buying is cheaper than renting. For only occasional use, renting is cheaper.
My one piece of advice is do not rent thinking you will sell it later. Selling can be a lot harder than you think, and with gas prices this high, I suspect it is going to get harder and harder to sell these gas hogs and folks look for smaller, more fuel efficient motorhomes.
Do you know you are going to use it four weeks a year? I got a great deal on a used C in 2005 because the prior owner figured out that his RV dream wasn't working for his family. A rental for the first time will help you with that.
Buying worked better for me because I am using it 12 to 20 weeks a year.
As a purely economic decision, the break-even point is probably going to be more than four weeks. You aren't yet considering cost of money, insurance, and storage (depending on whether you can park in your yard).
That Sunseeker you are looking to buy sounds like a rental, based on age and mileage. Is it at a dealer? Checking into renting it with option to buy; sometimes a dealer will credit a significant part of a rental fee toward a purchase.
Ed,
Check carefully on the personal property tax in Warren County. I too live in Front Royal and found the the tax very onerous. There is no "car tax relief" applied and the commisioner has a deaf ear. You are rich enough to pay the tax on an RV. The poor owners of airplanes and mountain view chalets need our support.
thanks - personal property is a factor, not great for my county (Warren County, VA) - might weigh in favor of the cheaper TT, or simply renting a MH.
Warren county personal property
$3.15 per $100 of assessed value
how do I determine "used wholesale value" of a TT or MH?
Recreation Vehicles - (i.e. travel trailers, pop-up campers, motor homes) (Used Wholesale Value) (years 1989-2007)
If its not in the book , then its 95% of purchase price, or 90% if purchased the year before
Not counting the tax ramifications, I agree with those that say rent before buying if you don't have much RV experience. You will get a taste of it and figure out wheter it's for you.
However, it is nice to have an RV sitting there ready to go. Mine gets used for times when I don't want to drive home after having too much fun. Just crash in the rig and leave the next day. Loats of folks find other uses for their RVs rather than the "big trip".
It is also (nice like this week) to be almost ready to go when we decide to split for the weekend. Throw some clothing aboard, load the bikes, grab food and beer, load the water tank and we're off to the pass tomorrow.
This math is what pushed me over the top and to buy vs. rent. I would have spent 5-6k renting in 2004, but shopped for a few days online and found a like new, 5 year old unit with 30k on it and paid 24k. I bought a one way ticket to OH and drove it home to MA. We have used it a ton and I have to say...it is one of the purchases I have ever made...the memories we all have and will continue to build are priceless. We are on our way to AZ again via New Orleans and I am in the back bedroom now chilling on the bed with 1 of the cats, doing some work and screwing off on RV.NET :-) Life is good.
1999 24' Coachman Catalina Sport 240WB, 62k (put on 30k in 3 years), Alpine/Infinity, Sirius, Nuvi 680, XPS Ribs, Bilstein's, Mobil 1, Baltaflex floor, modded 4 bike rack
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