buyer beware

[Mike Hohnstein]

I started out with a "fixer" for 15k. Rear bath FC.
I wuz lucky, it's the cleanest FC I've ever seen, and I have inspected a few.
Bought it on the internet from on line pics. Blown engine. Figured I fix it up
a little and flip it. It turned out to be so nice, decided I never find a
better one.
Now that I am putting the final touches on the charge air cooler install, not to
mention the exterior restoration, the change over to 24.5s the unending chassis
electrical issues I'm getting real close to $60k and not much of that is farmed
out labor. I did all the heavy mechanical work and most of the inside repairs,
water system, lighting, vents, etc.
Depends on how you choose to spend the money, most of the good deals are when
somebody dies. It pays to be a buzzard.
Cold but true.
Mike Hohnstein
Germantown, WI
83 FC 35rb

----- Original Message -----
From: bubblerboy64
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 1:48 PM
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: buyer beware


And again my position as a buyer. My first preference would be a
completely "ready to go" older FC rear bath coach needing nothing. At
a price which is "fair". And I have seen some likely prospects.
Coaches which have had leather interior and repaints which have
pushed the asking prices into the range of the pushers. See that's
the problem. I've fooled around with antique car restorations and
this is so similar. A restored vehicle is not likely to sell for the
cost of the restoration. I feel some sympathy for the seller when
you know what he has invested to get it right but as a buyer paying
for his restoration just doesn't work either. So what's a nice coach
like I am looking for really worth? Well, it's worth exactly the
price negotiated between the seller and the buyer and there is the
rub. There are a couple real nice newerFC buses on the Bill Board
right now with prices from 50 to 60K. So are they in competition with
the pushers (?) I can't say. And what does that tell you about the
older FC's. One fellow has a 1975 listed for 30K. I e-mailed him
see what he comes back with. From what I have been able to figure to
this point his bus would have to be a ready to go coach plus some.
But on the other hand as a buyer I could see that a guy could easily
spend $15k and then in a short time spend an additional $15K to get
it right. Price is certainly not cost. Not to belabor a point. If
you have something worth the money do the work required to prove it.
I could see spending $30 for a really nicely restored older coach but
it would have to be exactly what I want with the proof there of. So
I guess what I am saying is that I personally am not looking for a
fixer upper. I can do some repairs but frankly its not my idea of
fun. Certainly others would feel differently. JEH

wrote:
>
> On 5/4/07, davidkerryedwards wrote:
> >
> > Hence, the market for older Wanderlodge's with some needed
repairs will
> > probably always be a little more healthy than for refurbished
coaches.
>
> Kerry,
>
> I agree to an extent. Personally, I think most people would rather
> have a refurbished coach - I know I looked for one that was
advertised
> as not having any problems. The disconnect between buyer and seller
> comes in price: Most buyers aren't willing to pay a premium for this
> work.
>
> In my search, I found that people were tending to sell "average"
> coaches in a certain price range - what I considered "market price".
> Then there were the occasional "refurbished" coaches where folks
> wanted twenty grand above "market price". I wasn't going to pay
that.
> In fact, I wasn't going to pay "market price" for a coach with a lot
> of problems, either.
>
> As a buyer, here's how it worked for me: A good coach with nothing
> wrong commands full market value, perhaps slightly more. In my
range I
> identified mid eighties PT-40s and the market value I came to was
> about $50,000. Now, I wasn't going to pay full market value for a
> coach with a lot of issues. Something that needed major work I might
> have paid $35k for, but sellers still thought they could get $50k.
On
> the flip side, many "perfect" coaches, folks were wanting $80k.
>
> When all was said and done I did find a very good coach with almost
no
> problems (few things here and there, but they all have those) right
> near what I considered to be fair market value. This tells me that
> those wanting $80k for their similar coaches are high, as are those
> wanting $50k for something that needs $20k worth of work to make it
> half as nice as mine.
>
> So, there's my two cents worth.
>
> -Ryan
> '86 PT-40 8V92
> Tri-Cities, WA
>





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