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YAKEGLE@HOTMAIL.com

Devaluing used motorhomes

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Our used Class A motorhome has dropped in value from $85,000 to $45,000. Government is helping house owners, but there seems to be no talk of helping RVers. We can't refinance our motorhome, beause we have lost half of our value. Are we the only one in a pinch?

Yakegle

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In addition to that problem, we have the increase of state motor vehicle registration fees in many states. In California my RV registration increased $650 :rolleyes: from last year and the vehicle is now a year older. The state of Florida recently jacked up their fees too.

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This recession or depression, depending on how hard it has hit you, has hit owners of all kinds of resources from rental business properties to boat and airplane owners, automobile owners and those of us who are RV owners. When this first hit I read of many boat owners who would tow their boats out to sea and sink them. I don't think our RV's will float that far! If you want to keep your credit rating high, you have no choice but to continue to pay on that loan. I don't think there will be any kind of relief from the government for what most people see as a luxury item.

I hold out the hope, perhaps in vein, that motor home values will recover in the future. The large motor homes likely will not be manufactured in large numbers again in the future. I think most motor homes in the future will be smaller, 30 maybe 35 feet. Those that are manufactured will have environmental and energy saving features that will increase the price tremendously for new motor coaches. So people who want a 40 or 45 foot motor home at a reasonable price will be looking for a good used motor home.

Let me draw a parallel from my experience in the aviation community. In the 1950's through about 1980, large numbers of airplanes like Cessna 172's and Piper Cherokees were manufactured. A new airplane cost in the neighborhood of $18,000 to $30,000. Today you can purchase one of these older planes in "good" flying condition for $75,000 to $200,000. The new planes of the same basic type with all the new required bells and whistles cost from $150,000 to $500,000. The reason behind this was that airplanes began to cost more because the FAA began requiring many safety upgrades and improvements plus the paperwork to get new planes and equipment certified drove the costs even higher. As a result, older planes increased in value as they became more in demand. When demand exceeds supply, price increases. So...

If motor home manufacturers, the few that remain, continue to build large motor homes, I'm betting there won't be many and they will be quite a bit more expensive than in the past. At a recent Monaco International Rally it was pointed out that the old Monaco built 6000 motor homes in 2008 and that the entire motor home industry will build only 6000 motor homes in 2009. That is a startling drop in manufacturing. Will manufacturers be able to get loans to continue to build motor homes and expand their manufacturing to old levels? Will people who want to purchase motor homes be able to get ever larger loans to purchase ever more expensive motor homes?

Will used motor home values behave the same way used airplane prices have? Only time will tell. In the meantime, I'm paying on my loan and I'm updating my motor home to keep it in top condition. I enjoy living in my motor home and if the values do come back, I'll be ready to take advantage of higher prices to move back to a nice sticks and bricks home when I have to give up the traveling life style.

My conclusion: Be patient, enjoy your asset, you don't lose money until you sell it so keep it and see what happens... or you could become one of today's fire sale sellers!

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YOU AINT SEEN NOTHIN' YET BOYS AND GIRLS

Just wait a while, maybe 12 months and watch Uncle Sam hit us with a fifty cent per gallon government tax on vehicles that get less than 15 miles per gallon. Uncle knows that we will more than four fifty a gallon for fuel for these monsters and I an sure there is some ''think tank'' that knows this also. Add to that the probable increased cost of a license plate for these toys and another ''fee'' for pulling something behind our coaches. In my opinion somebody out there thinks we are ''rich'' and they are going to ''redistribute the wealth'' our of our pocket. If most of you are like me, I scrimped and saved for over forty years to have this lifestyle and now I really believe that good old Uncle Sam is going to make us pay thru the nose for this lifestyle.

I will not even the coming ''Federal Sales Tax'' that will hit us in the near future....

So it goes and so it goes ....

Seajay the sailor man

GOD BLESS THIS NATION EVEN THOUGH IT IS BROKE.....

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND BRING THEM HOME SOON ...

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