Hello to all, I am new to this forum and I am reaching out to my fellow campers for help/advice on a problem my wife and I have. There is a backstory that we want to share so that everyone understands our situation and I know many may say that we really messed up and didn't think things through but we really stepped out of our comfort zone for some life changes.
We have owned 2 previous travel trailers and absolutely love, love, love camping. In 2018 we traded our old travel trailer in for a slightly larger unit with 1 slide. Immediately after this opportunity knocked on our door and I had a tremendous opportunity taking a new job out of state. This was way out of both of our comfort zones and we never imagined living anywhere but where we grew up. So, in early 2018 we made the decision to move to Tennessee and our master plan was to live in our travel trailer until we found a home both of us loved. My wife was still living in our home in Illinois waiting for the opportunity to transfer to Nashville area with her company while I lived in our travel trailer in Tennessee. About 1 month into this our travel trailer had sprung a number of leaks and we had come to find out the floor and understorage area was rotted and full of mold. Fortunately the RV Dealer in Illinois had agreed to buy the RV back from us, but had unfortunately sold our RV we had traded in.
We spent the next several weeks living in a hotel while shopping for an RV here in Tennessee. Our master plan was to stay in our RV for 2 years to save some money and buy a home we really loved. We ended up going with a 5th wheel camper, which we had delivered to the RV park we were staying in. We did not have a truck at the time big enough to pull it, but again, our master plan was to trade in our truck for a larger vehicle and in the mean time we had friends that were able to move the RV for us whenever necessary. So bad decision 1 was buying an RV we couldn't even pull, remember, we are thinking big picture at the time... I know some of you are already shaking your head but we had delusions of grandure at the time.
Mistake no. 2. About 3 months into our new RV 5th wheel living we had just toyed with starting to look at houses, not being serious but we wanted to get a feel for the market. The market was very fast here and we ended up befriending a fellow camper who was also a financial officer for an institution here. He had talked to us about our journey and recommended we consolidate some of our debt so when we start looking less debt shows up on our credit and will make it easier for us to secure a mortgage. So, we had actually called our bank about refinancing our RV loan as our rate through the RV dealership, in our opinion, was terrible. We were talking to our bank back home and they were like "Hey, your RV is actually worth $65,000 original retail value, do you have any debt you want to consolidate in on this, nows the perfect time at 4.9%!!" We bought the RV for 28,000 so we were like wow that sounds like the perfect plan. My gut had told me at the time not to do it, something just didn't feel right but the more me and the wife talked she was burdened by our debt we had and saw this as an opportunity to get out from under it. So we made mistake no. 2 and consolidated our debt into our RV refinance. Yes I know, the hole is getting deeper and deeper.
Mistake no. 3 I know some of you are just holding your hands to your head right now and screaming NOOO! Our first winter was rough, although it doesn't get terrible cold here, our water lines in the RV park froze a few times, walking to the showers every morning in 30 degree weather was getting old, its different when your on vacation as you know its only temporary and its like an adventure. We ended up becoming great friends with the RV park owners and their daughter was a realtor. We had been talking about our plan and she had offered to help us find a home. So to keep this part short, we had looked about at least 10-15 homes we lost track, everyone one of them was on the market less than 5 days before selling. We finally came across one that we both absolutely loved and had to have and we made an offer fully expecting it to be either rejected or outbid. To our extreme surprise, our offer was first and it was accepted. Panic mode now set in, we completely tossed our master plan right out the window and went rogue. I think we were just exhasperated with our current situation and just totally disregarded what we both had planned on doing. So we made mistake No. 3 and threw our original plan out the window and moved into our home.
NOW I NEED HELP AND SOME ADVICE. So nearly 2 years later, we have a 5th wheel RV we have nothing to pull with that sits in storage, we are completely upside down on the loan and will end up having to take out a secondary loan to cover the remaining balance, and we have had maybe 3 bites on the RV in the last 5 months with only one looker. I know things are extra hard right now with the COVID 19 issues but we are in desperation and are just looking for some help/advice on what to do to get rid of this RV. it has become a huge reminder of our mistakes in the last 2 years and a burden we cannot even enjoy. We have posted in on RVT, Facebook, Craigslist, and even went to see about consignment, but the issue is the lean on the RV. Oh and here is the kicker, when we refinanced our RV loan the original financial institution signed the Title and sent it directly to us, not the new Financial institution, who by chance, thinks they have the Title, but we have it at this point.
We know we made some huge mistakes but any help or advice anyone has on how we can get rid of our 5th wheel and hopefully at some point find a nice travel trailer we can acutally use would be awesome. Thank you all so much for listening to my long story and if nothing else I hope it was at least entertaining if not educational on what NOT to do...
We have owned 2 previous travel trailers and absolutely love, love, love camping. In 2018 we traded our old travel trailer in for a slightly larger unit with 1 slide. Immediately after this opportunity knocked on our door and I had a tremendous opportunity taking a new job out of state. This was way out of both of our comfort zones and we never imagined living anywhere but where we grew up. So, in early 2018 we made the decision to move to Tennessee and our master plan was to live in our travel trailer until we found a home both of us loved. My wife was still living in our home in Illinois waiting for the opportunity to transfer to Nashville area with her company while I lived in our travel trailer in Tennessee. About 1 month into this our travel trailer had sprung a number of leaks and we had come to find out the floor and understorage area was rotted and full of mold. Fortunately the RV Dealer in Illinois had agreed to buy the RV back from us, but had unfortunately sold our RV we had traded in.
We spent the next several weeks living in a hotel while shopping for an RV here in Tennessee. Our master plan was to stay in our RV for 2 years to save some money and buy a home we really loved. We ended up going with a 5th wheel camper, which we had delivered to the RV park we were staying in. We did not have a truck at the time big enough to pull it, but again, our master plan was to trade in our truck for a larger vehicle and in the mean time we had friends that were able to move the RV for us whenever necessary. So bad decision 1 was buying an RV we couldn't even pull, remember, we are thinking big picture at the time... I know some of you are already shaking your head but we had delusions of grandure at the time.
Mistake no. 2. About 3 months into our new RV 5th wheel living we had just toyed with starting to look at houses, not being serious but we wanted to get a feel for the market. The market was very fast here and we ended up befriending a fellow camper who was also a financial officer for an institution here. He had talked to us about our journey and recommended we consolidate some of our debt so when we start looking less debt shows up on our credit and will make it easier for us to secure a mortgage. So, we had actually called our bank about refinancing our RV loan as our rate through the RV dealership, in our opinion, was terrible. We were talking to our bank back home and they were like "Hey, your RV is actually worth $65,000 original retail value, do you have any debt you want to consolidate in on this, nows the perfect time at 4.9%!!" We bought the RV for 28,000 so we were like wow that sounds like the perfect plan. My gut had told me at the time not to do it, something just didn't feel right but the more me and the wife talked she was burdened by our debt we had and saw this as an opportunity to get out from under it. So we made mistake no. 2 and consolidated our debt into our RV refinance. Yes I know, the hole is getting deeper and deeper.
Mistake no. 3 I know some of you are just holding your hands to your head right now and screaming NOOO! Our first winter was rough, although it doesn't get terrible cold here, our water lines in the RV park froze a few times, walking to the showers every morning in 30 degree weather was getting old, its different when your on vacation as you know its only temporary and its like an adventure. We ended up becoming great friends with the RV park owners and their daughter was a realtor. We had been talking about our plan and she had offered to help us find a home. So to keep this part short, we had looked about at least 10-15 homes we lost track, everyone one of them was on the market less than 5 days before selling. We finally came across one that we both absolutely loved and had to have and we made an offer fully expecting it to be either rejected or outbid. To our extreme surprise, our offer was first and it was accepted. Panic mode now set in, we completely tossed our master plan right out the window and went rogue. I think we were just exhasperated with our current situation and just totally disregarded what we both had planned on doing. So we made mistake No. 3 and threw our original plan out the window and moved into our home.
NOW I NEED HELP AND SOME ADVICE. So nearly 2 years later, we have a 5th wheel RV we have nothing to pull with that sits in storage, we are completely upside down on the loan and will end up having to take out a secondary loan to cover the remaining balance, and we have had maybe 3 bites on the RV in the last 5 months with only one looker. I know things are extra hard right now with the COVID 19 issues but we are in desperation and are just looking for some help/advice on what to do to get rid of this RV. it has become a huge reminder of our mistakes in the last 2 years and a burden we cannot even enjoy. We have posted in on RVT, Facebook, Craigslist, and even went to see about consignment, but the issue is the lean on the RV. Oh and here is the kicker, when we refinanced our RV loan the original financial institution signed the Title and sent it directly to us, not the new Financial institution, who by chance, thinks they have the Title, but we have it at this point.
We know we made some huge mistakes but any help or advice anyone has on how we can get rid of our 5th wheel and hopefully at some point find a nice travel trailer we can acutally use would be awesome. Thank you all so much for listening to my long story and if nothing else I hope it was at least entertaining if not educational on what NOT to do...
But now that we have the problem identified, let's set a workable plan and start plugging away for the next few years to get this debt off the books... for good. Debt consolidation often sounds tempting, but all that does it move the debt around. Interest rates and payback terms are rarely what keep people in debt, so changing those around doesn't do much either. Hard work and dedication toward the end goal are what will eventually solve this problem.
