Why We Chose the RV We Now Call Home
I have been asked several times now why we chose our specific rig. I am always hesitant to explain because frankly I do not know much about the logistics of our RV. In my head, I chose it purely based on the fact that I was able to visualize it as a home. However, once I got back to them & went a bit deeper, I realized that this was information I once looked for. Why not give my honest take? So here we are, why we chose the RV we now call home.
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Luckily for us, we personally knew someone already living the RV life. Yes, I had the billion accounts I followed on Instagram, seeking inspiration & help, but in addition we had my sister. My sister was living in her fully remodeled, cute little RV for several months now. Almost a year! It was so helpful to be able to chat with her about how she liked it, was it actually live able & most of all, what was the shopping experience like. Going to both our families was a must, truly needing their opinions.
After that, we broke it down into three parts : did we want new or used, what were our “musts” for it to be livable for our family, and lastly how would this look for us when our one year was up & we would be ready to move on.
If you are wanting more information on why I say one year, head on over & read about why we chose the RV life here at “Our Road Abode Story”.
For reference, we live in a Forest River Wildwood 27re.
Should we Buy a New or Used RV?
To be honest, this was both an easy & hard question. Knowing our love for flipping houses & creating a space into our own, we truly did not know what to do. Our knowledge of campers in general consisted of a mediocre common sense of how they work & our tiny year of experience with a pop up. Luke is a professional when it comes to knowing houses, but does a house on wheels work the same way?
After going back & forth & doing some research on the quality of new rigs vs. old ones, we decided that regardless if we buy a new or used, something could go wrong. Something can always break. We took out the reliability factor & looked at it more on the angle of what kind of quality & what kind of work do we want to do while we are on this adventure. You see, we just sold our 1905 house. That is old. Like super old. We were able to make it brand new inside, but was this adventure about putting in the hours for that like it was before? No. It wasn’t. So that is what we decided. Choosing a new rig with shiny, unused vents & appliances with a slightly better interior meant little to no efforts making it our own. No huge projects at least.
Once we decided that the price of a new one & the little amount of work we wanted to do to it compared was worth the purchase, it was a no brainer. We figured we would never have the chance to live in something brand new again, so why not just do it now!
What Layout of an RV Works Best for our Family?
This was the fun part of it all. Knowing the few items that were a must for a livable RV for our family really determined which travel trailer we would end up with. There were a few manufactures that we liked better & felt better moving forward with. Once we knew that, then we spread out all the layouts & decided what was important & what wasn’t.
For us, having a rear living space with ample room to hangout in was important. Having the couch, chairs & fireplace all in a separate section makes the flow of the tiny home much more livable. Instead of the dining space, kitchen area & living room all collide together, we lived having the separate designated areas. Well, as separated as they can get being in an RV.
Next was the kitchen. We loved the idea of the island, although it was not a deal breaker. What was however, would be the size of the sink & storage space. This one had lots - in our opinion - so having the island was a win win.
The bathroom had very little “musts” on our list. I would say the only one would be a decent size shower, which this one does. Lastly, the bedroom is a lot bigger then any other we looked at within our size & price range. Some bedrooms have a slide out which makes them even bigger, but we wanted to stick to a certain weight limit & since the kitchen & dining were already in slide outs, we knew the bedroom probably wouldn’t. Lucky for us, with this one it wasn’t necessary. The bedroom has a couple extra feet of walking room in front of the bed & has a full standing closet. Having this much bedroom space was what really sealed the deal for us.
Once we knew that this was the layout we wanted, it was as simple decision.
What Happens When We are Ready to Move on from RV Life?
Probably the most important thing to consider when making a huge life decision is what will that decision turn into in a year, five years, whenever you are ready to move on from it. We knew this adventure of ours would be temporary. For sure the RV living thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but they won’t necessarily let you adopt a little baby when your home can roll down the road. Our plan for doing this for about a year is our constant time line to keep us on track.
One thing we really had to learn & open our eyes to is the resale value. Since purchasing a new one, we had to be smart about how much we would spend & be okay losing money at the end of this. We have been so used to making money from selling houses, that knowing we wouldn’t being doing that this time was hard to get used to. We had to change our perspective.
Knowing that this is a life changing, once only type of adventure throws all that out the window. Truthfully, we are so eternally grateful that we have had the chance to do this, that any money lost is just letting worldly possessions take over.
Being that we bought a brand new (2020) RV & only planning to spend one year in it, we will be able to sell a still very nice rig. We understand that they depreciate, but the time spent, money saved & experience lived is well worth it. Choosing to buy new to enjoy a bit of luxury as well as having such a roomy space to live in makes the RV life an easy transition.
If you are in a place that you are looking to join the RV life, then congrats! It is so exciting! My advice would be to navigate whether new or used is right for you & set important “musts” that your new home must have. From there find a few that would work best for you & then do some extra research. Check reviews, read articles.
I wish you the best of luck!
