failure2launch
RVF Newbee
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2023
- Messages
- 1
TL;DR: No prior RV experience. Bought RV to live and work from after being given the ok to work from home. Plans feel through for various reasons. RV has been sitting in storage for a year and it needs new batteries, slight body damage repaired and possibly more. I live an inconvenient distance from where it is stored, have been dealing with health issues, making very difficult for me to be making frequent trips for showings with prospective buyers. This has been causing me a lot of stress. I know I am going to be taking a loss, but I would like to minimize that as much as possible. I just feel way out of my element here due to inexperience. (I read a similar thread from two weeks ago which contained some helpful suggestions but there are differences with my situation).
Questions that come to mind:
What do you think my options for a quick easy sale?
How much is that convenience going to cost me(I paid just a little bit under NADA value)?
What about trying to find someone who will market and sell the RV for a percentage of the sale price - including customer showings?
Or listing the RV online and trying to find someone trustworthy who could do the showings for a fee?
Do I get the body damage repaired before sale? I assume that would require driving the RV to a shop?
Please give me some advice and ideas to help me decide the best way forward so I can have one less thing to worry about.
Thanks!
Full long story for anyone who cares:
During the height of COVID, I had the idea to sell my home and buy an RV to live/work from. I had already been working from home full time for a year and was given the green light by my manager to transition to permanent remote status. Having zero experience with RVs, I spent the first few months just doing research. After deciding a Class A would be the best option, I spent the next 4 months looking at ads and travelling around to see RVs that looked promising . I finally found what I was looking for: a spacious and excellently maintained diesel 2006 Travel Supreme 40DS04. After paying for an inspection, haggling over price and getting a back clean results on the oils and transmission fluid samples I sent out for testing I was the proud owner of a new RV and ready to start my new life. Unfortunately, the only place I was able to find to store it was nearly an hour drive away but I was constantly checking for openings nearer by.
The bad news started when I submitted the paperwork to update my employment status to permanent remote. We found our that once had been a relatively simple procedure at my employer, mostly left to the discretion of direct managers - now required a long chain of approvals - and it was eventually vetoed at the final stage by a high level executive in the country we were headquartered. The company had decided to take a hard line since these requests had started skyrocketing due to COVID and no amount of appeals got me anywhere.
So I began looking for a new job while practicing taking the RV out as much as I could to get familiar with it. Spent a bunch of extended weekends at various parks in the general area with my wife and toddler son. I ended up finding a new job that is fully remote, but it required I go through very intense training the first 6 months, so my plans were pushed back again. While I was liking my new job it much more demanding then the previous one. I slowly came to doubt that I would be capable of learning to live out of an RV with my family and do what was required of me to keep my job. Then last year I started having health problems that I am still struggling with. I haven't taken the RV out since but put fuel stabilizer in the tank and had been going out monthly so to start it up and let it run for awhile. Last time I went out the battery was dead and even with the jumpstarter I brought I was not able to get it to start before the juice ran out. I know I should replace the batteries and try to start it again but I've been occupied with selling out home up until fairly recently. Additionally, last time I took it out I took a narrow turn and scraped a tree doing some damage to the rear passenger side panels and lights. I hadn't yet gotten to the point where I 'felt comfortable' driving it yet but with the last time and how long its been since I got behind the wheel I feel extremely anxious to even drive it somewhere to get it fixed up - even if I am able to start it after replacing the batteries. Though now I worry about the age of the gas even though I added stabilizer. Sorry for such a long rambling post, I will add a TL;DR at the top.
Questions that come to mind:
What do you think my options for a quick easy sale?
How much is that convenience going to cost me(I paid just a little bit under NADA value)?
What about trying to find someone who will market and sell the RV for a percentage of the sale price - including customer showings?
Or listing the RV online and trying to find someone trustworthy who could do the showings for a fee?
Do I get the body damage repaired before sale? I assume that would require driving the RV to a shop?
Please give me some advice and ideas to help me decide the best way forward so I can have one less thing to worry about.
Thanks!
Full long story for anyone who cares:
During the height of COVID, I had the idea to sell my home and buy an RV to live/work from. I had already been working from home full time for a year and was given the green light by my manager to transition to permanent remote status. Having zero experience with RVs, I spent the first few months just doing research. After deciding a Class A would be the best option, I spent the next 4 months looking at ads and travelling around to see RVs that looked promising . I finally found what I was looking for: a spacious and excellently maintained diesel 2006 Travel Supreme 40DS04. After paying for an inspection, haggling over price and getting a back clean results on the oils and transmission fluid samples I sent out for testing I was the proud owner of a new RV and ready to start my new life. Unfortunately, the only place I was able to find to store it was nearly an hour drive away but I was constantly checking for openings nearer by.
The bad news started when I submitted the paperwork to update my employment status to permanent remote. We found our that once had been a relatively simple procedure at my employer, mostly left to the discretion of direct managers - now required a long chain of approvals - and it was eventually vetoed at the final stage by a high level executive in the country we were headquartered. The company had decided to take a hard line since these requests had started skyrocketing due to COVID and no amount of appeals got me anywhere.
So I began looking for a new job while practicing taking the RV out as much as I could to get familiar with it. Spent a bunch of extended weekends at various parks in the general area with my wife and toddler son. I ended up finding a new job that is fully remote, but it required I go through very intense training the first 6 months, so my plans were pushed back again. While I was liking my new job it much more demanding then the previous one. I slowly came to doubt that I would be capable of learning to live out of an RV with my family and do what was required of me to keep my job. Then last year I started having health problems that I am still struggling with. I haven't taken the RV out since but put fuel stabilizer in the tank and had been going out monthly so to start it up and let it run for awhile. Last time I went out the battery was dead and even with the jumpstarter I brought I was not able to get it to start before the juice ran out. I know I should replace the batteries and try to start it again but I've been occupied with selling out home up until fairly recently. Additionally, last time I took it out I took a narrow turn and scraped a tree doing some damage to the rear passenger side panels and lights. I hadn't yet gotten to the point where I 'felt comfortable' driving it yet but with the last time and how long its been since I got behind the wheel I feel extremely anxious to even drive it somewhere to get it fixed up - even if I am able to start it after replacing the batteries. Though now I worry about the age of the gas even though I added stabilizer. Sorry for such a long rambling post, I will add a TL;DR at the top.
