Thanks everyone, I am going to paste what I wrote on another forum to fill you in on the whys and what happeneds!
"Hi all,
We sure do appreciate all the great advice. We have decided to pass on this
casita (sighs of relief all around right?!)
I will say the seller has actually been really honest as far as I can tell. He told me it was on it's side when he found it
for sale. He got it up and moving, replaced the
windows, heater, stove,
tires, and took it hunting a few times with no problems. I was ready to pass until he sent me 30+ pics. But it actually looked really really surprisingly good in the pics. He included pics of all the damaged parts, etc. AND THEN he told me it was actually a lot worse in person than in the pics.
I still suspect that it could be a really good deal, as he is only asking 2k. But with the water damage he mentioned and with this being our first
casita and with me being the one who would be in charge of the restore, I think I could just be getting in way over my head. I think I just got so excited to even find one
for sale in our price range with no bath that I didn't think it through.
To answer some of your questions though.. we do not want a bathroom b/c we need the space. We have a 4 and 2 yr old and need bunk beds. But in addition I won't like having to make/unmake/make our double beds. So a perfect cas to us would be to have the front bunks for the little ones, the side dinette that could stay a side dinette to feed the little ones, and a back double bed that can stay a back double bed all the time. We are used to camping with a pop up and prior to that we were tent campers. Never had a bathroom and never missed one at all. We boondock only so running outside or bringing the lil porta potty in on the cold nights for the little ones has always worked really well and we have never missed a bathroom at all. Don't need a
fridge either, would prefer to have an ice-box, and the
microwave goes without saying I guess!
Our main reason for "moving up" to a casita is because I HATE dealing with the pop up at home. Don't even mind it when we are on the road but at home it would be so nice to be able to run out and clean it, get it ready etc whenever I felt like it, rather than making a whole procession out of it every darn time. We have a trip for march and all I keep doing is fantasizing about being able to run out and get the beds set up, stuff packed etc. just a little bit at a time, instead of having to feel all rushed because I will need to pop it up, put it back down etc... It is is DANG hard getting that stuff done with a 4 and 2 yr old so I think this would make life so much easier! Not to mention getting there, unhitching, putting down the jacks and just opening the door! Aaaaahhhhh!
And our price range is only about 4k-ish so that definitely does not help our cause!
We had considered finding one with a bath and converting but everything I have read on the forums says DON'T! When I called to talk to the sales people at casita about whether it was possible, they literally gasped when I said it!
Hope that explains the desperation when we found this one in NE! "