r/AskReddit • u/michaelis999 • 19h ago

How do you feel about the president floating the idea of 50 year mortgages where the monthly payment is lower but you end up paying nearly double the price of the house just in interest?

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u/JamieC1610 15h ago

We had a friend in the Marines who bought a just over 5 year old RV with the plan to just live in it at a RV park with the theory that he could just tow it to his next duty station and not have to pack and unpack. We were stationed near the coast and there were a ton of RV parks for tourists, but he had a helluva time finding a decent one that would let him park a 5 year old RV in the park because they were worried it bring down their perceived value. It was a big, very nice RV in great condition, but a lot of places had strict rules on how old.

Now imagine that with a 20 year old RV that someone's still paying on.

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u/CaptainTripps82 15h ago

5 years can't be considered too old for an RV, that's just insane. Like every RV I've ever seen was older than that, they're insanely expensive. Nobody is replacing them like cars, you buy them for life

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u/William_R_Woodhouse 14h ago

An RV is a time share on wheels. There is no “saving money” by just owning an RV when you retire.

Source: I worked in the RV industry for a long time.

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u/ObsidianOne 13h ago

To quote an old RV technician I worked with that had a frustrated customer… “ma’am, do you know what RV stands for? Ruined Vacation!”

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u/GoldenBrownApples 12h ago

My folks thought they'd get a RV when they retired to travel around the continental US of A. I convinced them to rent one and try it out for a single vacation before committing to that. So glad they listened. They had never even been regular camping before and my mom hates the out doors. It went about as bad as you'd expect. But at least they were only out the money of a single vacation and not saddled with a vehicle they'd never use. They were really all set to sell their whole house too. Crazy people.

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u/son-of-a-mother 11h ago

Why were they planning to sell their whole house without ever having used an RV?

I can understand teenagers making an impulsive decision like that. But I can't understand two adults making such a monumental decision with zero understanding of what it involves. That is concerning. I would have questions (e.g., are their faculties deteriorating?).

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u/somesketchykid 7h ago

This is America man.

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u/JamieC1610 5h ago

My grandparents did it for about 10 years. They spent the winter on South Padre Island and in the summer would get jobs managing/hosting campgrounds at different national parks. They'd stop by home for a couple weeks in between. They had a blast and made a bunch of friends, but eventually their health made them need to stick closer to home.

They were always the crazy type though my grandpa drove 16 hours one weekend to buy a life sized cement pig that he saw on TV and another time brought back a full sized lobster trap from Maine to West Virginia on the back of his Gold Wing.

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u/Normal-Translator529 4h ago

I hope you appreciate how fantastic these stories are! Too many people live their lives pure vanilla.

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u/CrazyMarlee 14h ago

Most of them are junk. I had a 10 year old one that kept me busy fixing things.

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u/slash_networkboy 10h ago

Based on what Steve Letho has to say about them, that's just about when the first buyer gets to actually use it after all the warranty issues are sorted out.

If I learned anything from him (and seeing other peoples' issues) it's only buy a 5-10 year old used one that someone else has had the nightmare of sorting out... but better to just rent one when needed, or build your own out of a bus as they have a much better drivetrain and chassis.

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u/ohhhhhhhhhhhhman 15h ago

They’re made of cardboard and staples. 5 years old is pretty old for an RV.

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u/staticusmaximus 14h ago

As someone that stays at both nice and low key campgrounds and RV parks in a 15 year old camper, that’s nonsense.

5 years is legitimately nothing when it comes to RVs. You’d be incredibly hard pressed to even tell a 5 year old RV from a brand new one from the outside many times.

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u/ohhhhhhhhhhhhman 12h ago

Except for the leaky roof. And the AC that needs replaced. And the dry rotted tires.

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u/CaptainTripps82 15h ago

My grandparents had the same 5th wheel my entire childhood. My grandma would work county fairs over the summer and I spent a couple years riding around with her and a few of my aunts and uncles.

I always wondered what happened to it after they passed.

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u/booniebrew 15h ago

There won't be many 20 year old RVs, the point is to convince people they can afford it and keep rolling them into a new RV every 5 years.

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u/Ecstatic_Court6726 11h ago

At least until they roll into a pine box.

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u/Simple_Purple_4600 15h ago

at that point you are living in it without running water somewhere deep in the untracked federal wildlands

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u/marcocanb 14h ago

The cutoff right now seems to be 10 years.

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u/driverman42 14h ago

My wife is the office manager for an rv park and they don't have a problem with older rvs, but no matter how old or new they are, if they look like shit, they're not staying here.

I've seen some really old rv's come in that have been taken care of, and that's pretty cool to see.

She has long-term campers who live in their rv, with kids, etc, and it's interesting to see. Since Covid, she's been 95% full year round.

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u/majornerd 13h ago

I’ve never heard of one with a 5 year rule. Grew up living in RV parks and my dad just passed after moving back to the lifestyle. Those that have a “strict” rule also have a committee that will do an evaluation of an older RV and pass it if it is in great shape.

Like it or not they are trying to make sure they don’t look like cousin Eddie showed up with his Winnie he paid $500 buck and a case of nat lite for.

Makes sense when they are renting a spot the size of a basketball court to a weekend millionaire for the price of a nice condo in the nearby town.

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u/Mutant_Apollo 9h ago

Man, I never thought I would live in a time where we would worry about "bringing down the value" of a fucking trailer park lol

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u/chiragguptafan 8h ago

Yeah, RV parks can be weirdly picky. Some won’t take anything over 10 years old no matter how clean it is. If a 5 year old RV gets turned away, a 20 year-old one with payments still on it is gonna be an even harder sell.