Hi everyone! This question has been nagging at me for a while - as you might know, I am stationary in an RV park in Half Moon Bay, CA. I don't have a truck and when I bought my 5er from the dealer, he towed it to my park and got it set up.
I expect to be in the park for probably another couple of years. I save a lot of money there, I love it, and I don't feel any particular urge to make a change - although I do miss some things about a sticks n bricks. I have 3 Chihuahuas and I'd love a yard for them, I have a parrot who misses flying around the house for longer than a couple seconds, and I miss my stuff - all of my furniture and most other belongings are in storage.
I love the RV lifestyle and would eventually like to retire to full-time in one. Other than that, I haven't been able to figure out what I want to do between now and retirement (about 6 years).
The RV came with the usual RV furniture, and the recliners and sofa are leather, which I totally dislike! The sofa makes into a bed which is nice, but it is uncomfortable to sit on (feels like sitting on a brick). I'd like to replace the sofa with my own (does not make into a bed) which is in storage, but my older step-sister keeps telling me that I need to hang onto the RV furniture until I decide whether or not I'm going to sell the RV.
What do you think? Just how important is it that I keep the original furniture for my 2001 5er, if I want to resell it?
Thanks, Roberta
Terry and Jo said
02:59 PM Aug 25, 2010
Roberta,
If you still have the fifth wheel financed, I recommend keeping the furniture. If you were to fall on hard times and the fifth wheel get repossessed, the finance company/bank would probably require that the unit be furnished as it was when you bought it.
If it is paid off, then do as you wish. Should you later decide to sell, just inform the buyers that you may be keeping the furniture and that they would be getting it unfurnished. Now, should they want the fifth wheel furnished as a condition of sale, then you might would have to find some more furniture that would be suitable to them.
With that in mind, should you change furniture and later sell, be sure and refurnish it before any buyers have a chance to see it. But, then again, potential buyers might like the idea of picking out their own furniture.
Wow!!! Look at the can of worms we've opened.
Point is, if it is paid off, do what you want.
Terry
rheadabovewater said
03:14 PM Aug 25, 2010
Thanks Terry! I paid cash for my RV, used my severance to buy it - best thing I've ever done, it's saving me $1000/month where I live. : )
The RV came with a dining table and four chairs, which I don't use. I threw them into storage, figuring I'd keep them just in case.
Unfortunately the hide-a-bed will be very difficult to get out of the 5er - I've been told I might have to actually move it out one of the windows - plus it's very heavy. But I'd sure like to get my comfy couch in there.
Thanks, Roberta
-- Edited by rheadabovewater on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 03:15:12 PM
Mallo said
03:55 PM Aug 25, 2010
It's yours replace the furniture with stuff you like just make sure you can get it in and out.
As to the remove a window odd mostly the furniture comes apart so it can go in and out of the door most anything you go to move in will have to also come apart so it can go in and out of the door.
I'd take a closer look at it I'll be you'll find that there are screws you can remove to break it down.
Mallo
Luvglass said
04:00 PM Aug 25, 2010
Roberta,
Go for it, it's your home, make it the way you are most comfortable. The only piece of original RV furniture we have left is one end table. we have replaced everything else with comfortable furniture of our liking. We also never used the dining table and chairs, they were the first to go.
We hardly ever have overnight guests, so also got rid of the sleeper sofa, and bought a blow up mattress if we do have a need.
Since we love to read and watch TV, we bought 2 large, very comfortable Lazy Boy recliners and finished the room with additional book cases and storage units. We have 2 foldup chairs we bring in when we have company over for dinner or drinks.
Just because it's on wheels doesn't mean it can't be comfortable and "home".
rheadabovewater said
04:03 PM Aug 25, 2010
Thank you Fred!
Delaine and Lindy said
04:11 PM Aug 25, 2010
We haven't used our RV funiture in our last four 5th wheels. We have Lazy Boy Love seat which is a re-cline away and a Lazy Boy recliner. We have no couch, we have a large furr kid and the extra area is his area. We have never found any RV funiture that was comfortable or very good. Most RV funiture is so over priced. In the past we would give the RV funiture to Goodwill and write it off our taxes. We called the RV manufactor to get a pirce to replace it, the last replacement cost for a couch was $1,500. Just over priced in opinion. When we ordered the 2010 Mobile Suites we deleted the couch and let the two Ultra Leather recliners stay with the trade in. Just make sure you measure the replcement funiture and make sure you slides will close. GBY...
The Bear II said
05:07 PM Aug 25, 2010
Ditto to all of the above. We just replaced our recliners last year with Lazy Boy models.
Also replaced the dining table with a desk/dining table unit and reused our chairs.
We feel both of these changes have increased the value of the RV for a perspective buyer.
Our sofa sleeper is very comfortable to sit on and sleep on, so it stays.
Next is to upgrade the flooring to pergo type.
rheadabovewater said
05:11 PM Aug 25, 2010
One thing I'd really like to change is the way they have the entertainment center configured in the living room area. It takes up an entire slide, and I consider it a real waste of space. For one thing, the wiring isn't hooked up right - I haven't been able to figure out what's wrong, but the speakers don't work and the holes for the wires to/from the TV are in the wrong place. Go figure.
I'd love to tear it out and re-do the whole thing, but unfortunately I'm not handy that way. I don't know anyone who could do it for me either. Believe it or not, in my area (30 miles south of San Francisco) there is no one who works on RVs. I've checked for a year, and there really isn't anyone. So I'm kinda stuck.
I've even thought about having someone from a furniture store or something come out and take a look at it, but I live in a rather remote area and it's a bit of a hike for anyone to get out to me. People just don't seem to want to do that these days.
-- Edited by rheadabovewater on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 05:12:38 PM
Delaine and Lindy said
06:51 PM Aug 25, 2010
If you happen to have a Best Buy near you, that would be you best chance in getting the entertainment center up and going. A few years back I had to get a Geek from Best Buy to get the system working correctly. Most every RV 5th wheel type we have owned had a issue with the wiring for the receiver. Geek said the RV manufactors are behind several years. The biggest thing he did was to remove the spliter and use the RCA type cables to get the surround sound working. We have a 40" Samsung LED in the living area and a 19"
LDC in the bedroom area both are HD system and works great. Good Luck with your choices. GBY...
rheadabovewater said
09:05 PM Aug 25, 2010
Really? Best Buy? I will have to check that out - thanks!
Denise said
08:15 AM Aug 26, 2010
We have removed all the RV furniture from our Fifth Wheel. We have pictures posted on our blog. Matter of fact the dining table and chairs we are now using are lighter than the RV table and chairs. We removed our sofa sleeper and replaced it with a residential style sofa. It too was lighter in weight. We are now in the process of removing the big bulky recliners that came in the fifth wheel too. We not only have lightened the load we now have more comfortable furniture.
We say GO FOR IT
nwtraveler said
03:30 PM Oct 30, 2010
Our sofa bed easily came apart. There were 4 screws holding the piece across the front, a flat board covered with material, near the floor and 4 more screws , 2 on each side, holding the folding mechanism to the frame. Then 2 people can easily get the pieces out the door. I reassembled it and sold it on craigslist a week later.
We replaced it with a desk made from 2 wood file cabinets and a pine board from Home Depot stained to match.
I expect to be in the park for probably another couple of years. I save a lot of money there, I love it, and I don't feel any particular urge to make a change - although I do miss some things about a sticks n bricks. I have 3 Chihuahuas and I'd love a yard for them, I have a parrot who misses flying around the house for longer than a couple seconds, and I miss my stuff - all of my furniture and most other belongings are in storage.
I love the RV lifestyle and would eventually like to retire to full-time in one. Other than that, I haven't been able to figure out what I want to do between now and retirement (about 6 years).
The RV came with the usual RV furniture, and the recliners and sofa are leather, which I totally dislike! The sofa makes into a bed which is nice, but it is uncomfortable to sit on (feels like sitting on a brick). I'd like to replace the sofa with my own (does not make into a bed) which is in storage, but my older step-sister keeps telling me that I need to hang onto the RV furniture until I decide whether or not I'm going to sell the RV.
What do you think? Just how important is it that I keep the original furniture for my 2001 5er, if I want to resell it?
Thanks, Roberta
If you still have the fifth wheel financed, I recommend keeping the furniture. If you were to fall on hard times and the fifth wheel get repossessed, the finance company/bank would probably require that the unit be furnished as it was when you bought it.
If it is paid off, then do as you wish. Should you later decide to sell, just inform the buyers that you may be keeping the furniture and that they would be getting it unfurnished. Now, should they want the fifth wheel furnished as a condition of sale, then you might would have to find some more furniture that would be suitable to them.
With that in mind, should you change furniture and later sell, be sure and refurnish it before any buyers have a chance to see it. But, then again, potential buyers might like the idea of picking out their own furniture.
Wow!!! Look at the can of worms we've opened.
Point is, if it is paid off, do what you want.
Terry
The RV came with a dining table and four chairs, which I don't use. I threw them into storage, figuring I'd keep them just in case.
Unfortunately the hide-a-bed will be very difficult to get out of the 5er - I've been told I might have to actually move it out one of the windows - plus it's very heavy. But I'd sure like to get my comfy couch in there.
Thanks, Roberta
-- Edited by rheadabovewater on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 03:15:12 PM
As to the remove a window odd mostly the furniture comes apart so it can go in and out of the door most anything you go to move in will have to also come apart so it can go in and out of the door.
I'd take a closer look at it I'll be you'll find that there are screws you can remove to break it down.
Mallo
I'd love to tear it out and re-do the whole thing, but unfortunately I'm not handy that way. I don't know anyone who could do it for me either. Believe it or not, in my area (30 miles south of San Francisco) there is no one who works on RVs. I've checked for a year, and there really isn't anyone. So I'm kinda stuck.
I've even thought about having someone from a furniture store or something come out and take a look at it, but I live in a rather remote area and it's a bit of a hike for anyone to get out to me. People just don't seem to want to do that these days.
-- Edited by rheadabovewater on Wednesday 25th of August 2010 05:12:38 PM
We have removed all the RV furniture from our Fifth Wheel. We have pictures posted on our blog. Matter of fact the dining table and chairs we are now using are lighter than the RV table and chairs. We removed our sofa sleeper and replaced it with a residential style sofa. It too was lighter in weight. We are now in the process of removing the big bulky recliners that came in the fifth wheel too. We not only have lightened the load we now have more comfortable furniture.
We say GO FOR IT
There were 4 screws holding the piece across the front,
a flat board covered with material, near the floor and 4
more screws , 2 on each side, holding the folding mechanism
to the frame. Then 2 people can easily get the pieces out the
door. I reassembled it and sold it on craigslist a week later.
We replaced it with a desk made from 2 wood file cabinets and
a pine board from Home Depot stained to match.
Kim