Hi there, I'm new. I don't know if anybody reads these, but here goes:
The idea of living out of a trailer (or a sailboat) was brain crack for me for a while when I was still in college, from as early as age 19. It was fun to dream about and discuss with my best friend, but I wasn't that serious about it. But I started watching more documentaries on tree houses and tiny houses when I turned 22 or so, and the tiny house movement seemed to be picking up around that time.
After I graduated and started renting out different spaces, the dream seemed like something that could become a reality. I started researching prices and wondered if it was possible for me. When I first mentioned it to my parents, I was still living far away from them and my dad thought it was kind of silly. He has a notion that people who lived out of trailers did so because they had no other choice - basically that they were one step up from being homeless. I didn't feel the same way - I felt it was a lifestyle choice, and one much more preferrable and cost-effective to renting until I found a place I liked enough to settle more permanently. Even if it cost the same, I would be putting money into something I owned and belonged to, rather than renting a space that belonged to someone else.
I mentioned it a few more times over the course of a year or so - I can't say where it turned from an idea to a goal, but at some point it did. I proved to my parents I was serious about it and they got more on-board with the plan. My plan became: move home, save up, and purchase an Airstream before I turned 25.
I turn 25 in August, and I am well on my way to meeting that goal. I've saved up more than $3,000 - a reasonable low starting price for a beat-up vintage from the era I'm looking at (68'-75') and the model I like the best (Overlanders and other Land Yachts).
I'm still in the education/research stage - trying to learn as much as I can about the trailers so that I don't waste my money on piece of junk. I just bought a few books to read through, there's still a renovation series I started watching on Youtube that I need to finish, and I'm looking at listings regularly to see what's out there and at what price points.
Living in Florida has the disadvantage of being far away from the majority of the listings. I've upgraded to occasionally sending emails to the owners to ask for more information, but I'm worried that even if I traveled to see one, I still wouldn't know what I'm looking at. So I need to get more education from people who are more experienced than me, and I don't know anyone who has one first-hand. I have a friend familiar with mechanical things (he just bought himself an old VW van that he's restoring himself), but even he will only know so much.
So I'm looking forward to getting involved on these forums (read: doing a lot of quiet reading and listening). But I am slightly worried that prices/demand might go up the closer we get to summer - but I don't even know if that's a real thing that happens, it's just a guess? But I don't want to rush into a bad purchase OR wait too long. I am continuing to save up more as I do my research, and I am confident that I will succeed.
I'm just torn between getting a really cheap shell and putting most of my money into a custom interior, or getting a slightly more expensive original model with all the working parts already there - and then just update it a bit to be a little more my style. In your experiences, which is more cost-effective, and more importantly, which one is more fun? And what is the NUMBER ONE most important thing you look for when shopping for a trailer? :D
The idea of living out of a trailer (or a sailboat) was brain crack for me for a while when I was still in college, from as early as age 19. It was fun to dream about and discuss with my best friend, but I wasn't that serious about it. But I started watching more documentaries on tree houses and tiny houses when I turned 22 or so, and the tiny house movement seemed to be picking up around that time.
After I graduated and started renting out different spaces, the dream seemed like something that could become a reality. I started researching prices and wondered if it was possible for me. When I first mentioned it to my parents, I was still living far away from them and my dad thought it was kind of silly. He has a notion that people who lived out of trailers did so because they had no other choice - basically that they were one step up from being homeless. I didn't feel the same way - I felt it was a lifestyle choice, and one much more preferrable and cost-effective to renting until I found a place I liked enough to settle more permanently. Even if it cost the same, I would be putting money into something I owned and belonged to, rather than renting a space that belonged to someone else.
I mentioned it a few more times over the course of a year or so - I can't say where it turned from an idea to a goal, but at some point it did. I proved to my parents I was serious about it and they got more on-board with the plan. My plan became: move home, save up, and purchase an Airstream before I turned 25.
I turn 25 in August, and I am well on my way to meeting that goal. I've saved up more than $3,000 - a reasonable low starting price for a beat-up vintage from the era I'm looking at (68'-75') and the model I like the best (Overlanders and other Land Yachts).
I'm still in the education/research stage - trying to learn as much as I can about the trailers so that I don't waste my money on piece of junk. I just bought a few books to read through, there's still a renovation series I started watching on Youtube that I need to finish, and I'm looking at listings regularly to see what's out there and at what price points.
Living in Florida has the disadvantage of being far away from the majority of the listings. I've upgraded to occasionally sending emails to the owners to ask for more information, but I'm worried that even if I traveled to see one, I still wouldn't know what I'm looking at. So I need to get more education from people who are more experienced than me, and I don't know anyone who has one first-hand. I have a friend familiar with mechanical things (he just bought himself an old VW van that he's restoring himself), but even he will only know so much.
So I'm looking forward to getting involved on these forums (read: doing a lot of quiet reading and listening). But I am slightly worried that prices/demand might go up the closer we get to summer - but I don't even know if that's a real thing that happens, it's just a guess? But I don't want to rush into a bad purchase OR wait too long. I am continuing to save up more as I do my research, and I am confident that I will succeed.
I'm just torn between getting a really cheap shell and putting most of my money into a custom interior, or getting a slightly more expensive original model with all the working parts already there - and then just update it a bit to be a little more my style. In your experiences, which is more cost-effective, and more importantly, which one is more fun? And what is the NUMBER ONE most important thing you look for when shopping for a trailer? :D
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