I recently responded to an add for a 1984 21' Barth. Asking price 13,500.00 Cdn. Exterior was beautifully repainted. Although not original, this rig looked good. Only 49,000 original miles, 454 gas, blah blah blah. Someone had actually painted all the wood cabinets, there was almost no wood work showing anywhere. I offered 9,500 and the lady almost hung up on me. I would just like a second opinion. Thing is, my wife and I actually quite liked it.

Call her back and just leave your number.

I concur with El Segundo Bill. When it comes to sellers' opinions vs. true market value, sometimes it takes awhile for reality to set in.

On the other hand, there are coaches mouldering away in fields with grass growing up around them because some folks won't accept reality.

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
... there are coaches mouldering away in fields with grass growing up around them because some folks won't accept reality.

A prime example of one such coach...



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quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
I concur with El Segundo Bill. When it comes to sellers' opinions vs. true market value, sometimes it takes awhile for reality to set in.

I made the first offer of the final price on several items I have not taken home. Got yelled at by the seller as being unaware of what I was making such a bone-headed offer on as well.

Many of us have an emotional investment in our Barths in addition to the financial investment.

At selling time, the emotional investment obdurates clear financial thinking. Sometimes courtesy suffers, as well. I believe Timnlana can comment on the lack of courtesy afforded them in their Barth shopping.

Whenever more than a sawbuck is involved, I try to deactivate the emotional considerations.

Thanks for the comments everyone. My wife might try a visit in person sometime in the future. In the mean time, it won't hurt to have her think about what she's done. I'm sure by fall she'll be sorry she didn't accept. Unless of course some other die hard Barth fanatic just falls in love and has to have it no matter what the price. But I'm sure most, like myself, would do the research befored buying. I think if the interior had been original or been refinshed to it's original state it might hold a little more value.

It still amazes me how people come here for advice and then ignore it. If you're looking for a good gasser right now, Dave's is available,[as far as I know], for a great price, and there are no unknown factors. He RUNS THIS SITE!! How much more do you have to know? If you want to go off and spend way too much on a coach that nobody here knows anything about, that's your right, and when everything on it falls apart in the first few voyages, we'll be here to help, but don't expect a lot of sympathy. Course, you could scan what's available here and listen to those among us who actually know these coaches intimately and you'd wind up with what you want at a great price.

While it's a Barth, it's still an '84, and the low miles are, IMHO, a serious negative. $9,500 was a very generous offer. But the lady will have to find that out by having the coach sit idle for a while longer.

Few potential buyers have a clue about the differences between Barths and SOBs, so she's sitting in the econo-market.

I'm with Danny Z - buy Dave Bower's 28' Regal for about the same price, and know what you're getting. If you can get Dave to autograph it, that should boost resale value...

Bill is correct sometimes we and that means me too, can respond irrationaly in rational situations. That is OK we are people and this is allowed.

Lana and I budgeted for a restoration and began to look for an old (we found young a 73) motorhome to restore. We are happy with with what we found but it did take a while to find. Older things can take a bit of work to get sorted out so based on this when I made offers that were less than what was expected, we got a few responses that were difficult. Some amusing, some sad.

I am not a mean person; I still feel badly about making people feel sad with my offers but we made straight forward offers and if they were declined I moped a bit and then continued to look.


Thanks to all the good advice and help found here, we are having a great time working on a wonderful Barth that really has not cost too much. Working on the Barth keeps me at home, out of bars and such so I suspect we are way ahead in the money department. After some work the Barth sure goes, next year we'll paint it.

No we could not sell the Barth and break even. Yes we could burn it and walk away tomorrow with less of a loss than six months depreciation on a new coach, no make that three months depreciation.

In short something like Dave's motor home, a runner in known condition is a real buy. Unless you're like me, who's idea of a good time is working leasurely on a well made machine while my wife inquires, sometimes not too supportively, about the eventual outcome.


Timothy

quote:

I am not a mean person; I still feel badly about making people feel sad with my offers but we made straight forward offers and if they were declined I moped a bit and then continued to look.

Timothy

Yanking folks onto this astral plane from the fantasy (pricing) world in which they formerly existed isn't meanness. It's reality. You need have no regrets about declined offers, nor should the folks that declined 'em. They should have been appreciative of the fact their coaches were saleable, even though they thought a higher price was appropriate.

The value of a commodity is unknown until money changes hands. Then you only know the value of that product at that moment in time.