Hello all!
Thanks for all the good info here! I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a 28 foot International Serenity/Signature. Lots of questions have been answered and lots more to come, I'm sure.
Two main areas of questions at the moment. First is the usual, probably, "I'm thinking about XXX Airstream, what else should I be thinking about..." The second is more of a work/business question. Maybe for the "Workamping" forum.
I'll set the stage here, and if the consensus is that the question(s) would be better asked in their respective forums, I'll move/rephrase them there.
So, WRT item #1. I have always been intrigued by Airstream trailers but have negligible experience. I like to hike, bicycle, tent camp, car camp, drive around and see the sights, drive cross country, etc. My sole AS experience is a several hour walk around at Lazydays in Tucson on one of the X-country trips. However, I'm thinking about going all in due to my current situation which may not last for too long, so I need to take advantage of it while I can. I am retired from the Navy and currently working part time 400 miles from home. The company I work for pays to put me up in a hotel every other week -- works out to 16 nights per month. I confirmed with them that they are fine paying the hotel or paying me the money to put towards an alternative living arrangement -- apartment, room rental or yes, an Airstream. So, for the short term, I think the cash from that arrangement would pay for a monthly RV site rental and cover the monthly payment and then some. Hate to pass that up. If my circumstances change or I just don't care for it, I can always sell it 6-12 months down the road and break even, take a relatively smaller hit or maybe even come out slightly ahead. If I love it, someone else footed the initial part of the bill... So, long story longer, 28 foot seems a bit bigger than I want to spend a lot of time towing (at least until I become comfortable with it) but a good size for a week at a time living arrangement for mostly one person with my wife and dog joining me sometimes...
All that being said, back to that first question. I'm thinking 28 foot Serenity/Signature with propane stove and inverter so that I can boondock and cook on occasion without killing the batteries, and a 2nd AC unit and additional awnings because my part time locale is Central Valley CA and can hover around 100 in the summers. I can't get comfortable at night when it is hot, and could sleep comfortably in a meat locker with a warm comforter... I'm interested in an eventual upgrade to solar, but it seems the consensus is that I can do better than the factory standard and it will come prewired for future solar upgrades. Any big mistakes there? I recognize that a used trailer would be fine to test the waters, but since the current situation may not last too long, to be able to take advantage of it, I want to be in a trailer sooner rather than later and the trailer needs to be up and running from day one. When/if the situation changes, it would presumably be for a better paying job close to home. Although I wouldn't need the AS for lodging, I would still take advantage of it for vacationing, and the job change should cover the payments I would still be making. If that job doesn't appear, the current situation could go on indefinitely.
2nd question is for the business/"work out of my AS" folks. Since this is going to be a business expense, any recommendations on how to best structure this? Seems there are two main options. Have the business (me as the sole-proprietor) buy it for lodging purposes, and then depreciate it as part of the business. For business purposes, I suspect I can depreciate it to nothing on some schedule -- 7 years or so. That can offset some of my business income. Downside is that it probably isn't considered a 2nd home and I can't deduct the interest on my personal taxres. Alternative thought is to buy it with my personal finances and then lease it to me, the business. This gives me a legitimate receipt I can hand to my parent company every month. I hand over my reimbursement check to me, the individual, to pay the monthly Airstream mortgage and RV site rental, but I can take the loan interest as a personal tax deduction. I lose out on the option to depreciate it...
Way more info than anyone wanted this late at night, and I promise to keep financial issues out of it in the future once I make it happen! Much more interested in the fun, the camraderie, etc. But I have to make the leap first, in order to fully experience that, and sadly, I must consider the expenses of this endeavor as part of becoming involved. Unless, of course, someone has a spare 28 foot that they want to send my way...
On a totally unrelated note, I have a Ural, a Ukrainian motorcycle with a sidecar, and would be interested in hearing from anyone about their Ural/AS experiences. I get the sense that it is a similar community!
If you made it this far, I owe you!
Cheers!
PDM
Thanks for all the good info here! I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a 28 foot International Serenity/Signature. Lots of questions have been answered and lots more to come, I'm sure.
Two main areas of questions at the moment. First is the usual, probably, "I'm thinking about XXX Airstream, what else should I be thinking about..." The second is more of a work/business question. Maybe for the "Workamping" forum.
I'll set the stage here, and if the consensus is that the question(s) would be better asked in their respective forums, I'll move/rephrase them there.
So, WRT item #1. I have always been intrigued by Airstream trailers but have negligible experience. I like to hike, bicycle, tent camp, car camp, drive around and see the sights, drive cross country, etc. My sole AS experience is a several hour walk around at Lazydays in Tucson on one of the X-country trips. However, I'm thinking about going all in due to my current situation which may not last for too long, so I need to take advantage of it while I can. I am retired from the Navy and currently working part time 400 miles from home. The company I work for pays to put me up in a hotel every other week -- works out to 16 nights per month. I confirmed with them that they are fine paying the hotel or paying me the money to put towards an alternative living arrangement -- apartment, room rental or yes, an Airstream. So, for the short term, I think the cash from that arrangement would pay for a monthly RV site rental and cover the monthly payment and then some. Hate to pass that up. If my circumstances change or I just don't care for it, I can always sell it 6-12 months down the road and break even, take a relatively smaller hit or maybe even come out slightly ahead. If I love it, someone else footed the initial part of the bill... So, long story longer, 28 foot seems a bit bigger than I want to spend a lot of time towing (at least until I become comfortable with it) but a good size for a week at a time living arrangement for mostly one person with my wife and dog joining me sometimes...
All that being said, back to that first question. I'm thinking 28 foot Serenity/Signature with propane stove and inverter so that I can boondock and cook on occasion without killing the batteries, and a 2nd AC unit and additional awnings because my part time locale is Central Valley CA and can hover around 100 in the summers. I can't get comfortable at night when it is hot, and could sleep comfortably in a meat locker with a warm comforter... I'm interested in an eventual upgrade to solar, but it seems the consensus is that I can do better than the factory standard and it will come prewired for future solar upgrades. Any big mistakes there? I recognize that a used trailer would be fine to test the waters, but since the current situation may not last too long, to be able to take advantage of it, I want to be in a trailer sooner rather than later and the trailer needs to be up and running from day one. When/if the situation changes, it would presumably be for a better paying job close to home. Although I wouldn't need the AS for lodging, I would still take advantage of it for vacationing, and the job change should cover the payments I would still be making. If that job doesn't appear, the current situation could go on indefinitely.
2nd question is for the business/"work out of my AS" folks. Since this is going to be a business expense, any recommendations on how to best structure this? Seems there are two main options. Have the business (me as the sole-proprietor) buy it for lodging purposes, and then depreciate it as part of the business. For business purposes, I suspect I can depreciate it to nothing on some schedule -- 7 years or so. That can offset some of my business income. Downside is that it probably isn't considered a 2nd home and I can't deduct the interest on my personal taxres. Alternative thought is to buy it with my personal finances and then lease it to me, the business. This gives me a legitimate receipt I can hand to my parent company every month. I hand over my reimbursement check to me, the individual, to pay the monthly Airstream mortgage and RV site rental, but I can take the loan interest as a personal tax deduction. I lose out on the option to depreciate it...
Way more info than anyone wanted this late at night, and I promise to keep financial issues out of it in the future once I make it happen! Much more interested in the fun, the camraderie, etc. But I have to make the leap first, in order to fully experience that, and sadly, I must consider the expenses of this endeavor as part of becoming involved. Unless, of course, someone has a spare 28 foot that they want to send my way...
On a totally unrelated note, I have a Ural, a Ukrainian motorcycle with a sidecar, and would be interested in hearing from anyone about their Ural/AS experiences. I get the sense that it is a similar community!
If you made it this far, I owe you!
Cheers!
PDM
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire