Fair Price

[alan in alberta]

Hi All
First ....this is not an ad the trailer is buried in snow right now...
I recently purchased an escape 17 b
So sadly I will be selling my Surfside front kitchen in a few months.
She is very much a work in progress but we have been doing a few improvements each year.
I am trying to decide if i should complete some paint and maybe install a new fridge before i sell or just let her go as is for a little less

Do you think i would get the extra investment back
How long should i wait to sell ...end of May?
What is a fair asking price?

Alan

[Carol H]

Alan is the old fridge still working? If it is I wouldn't spend the extra on replacing it.
If the snow has melted by the end of May that would indeed be a good time to look at listing it ... earlier if you have an early spring thaw!

[Carol H]

Forgot to add that you can go to Fiberglass-rv-4sale.com to look at current listings - your Surfside would be listed under Other trailers. Also look at the Fiberglass RVs SOLD section to see historical pricing.

[mszabo]

As Carol said go to fgrv and find the mean price for those sold. I wouldn't replace the frig. You won't get your money back. They can look for a used one.
The picture of your trailer looks great. I would think your trailer will sell at a premium. Painting such things as bumper, wheels, tongue, lp tank, is a plus.
Wash, wax, clean the inside well, make it smell good. Fix the little things.
These simple things will put $100 bills in your wallet.
Set your asking price for more than you want.
Good luck, you will do well!
List it as so as you can.

[Mike Watters]

Here's a "you'd think this would be obvious, but..." sort of suggestion.

Clean out misc junk and trash out of it before you take pictures. I've seen soooooo many pictures of trailers for sale where the inside is just plain full of garbage. And these are the pics they want to sell their trailer with?

[alan in alberta]

The fridge still works fairly well unless it is quite warm out.
I was going to try a small fan to see if that helped
Just seems like i should finish the "to do" list before i let her go... but maybe not

i sure am going to miss that huge bed

it is supose to warm up to the frezing mark out here on the weekend so i think i will be able to get some heat on and check out the new escape in the driveway finally

[mszabo]

Dig that thing out and get it listed.
People have been waiting all winter for trailers.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by alan in alberta

The fridge still works fairly well unless it is quite warm out.
I was going to try a small fan to see if that helped
Just seems like i should finish the "to do" list before i let her go... but maybe not

Thats a pretty common issue with all of our fridges. sure wouldn't worry about it.

[Borrego Dave]

Alan, RV fridges only cool down to a certain degree to outside air temps so yours may be fine. One of the old time RV mechanics here in town (over 40 years) told me one time he could lower my refer temp with no mechanical changes. Just by tilting the rig a couple degrees to the side changed the amonia pressure/flow a bit. I don't remember if it was to the curb or street but I did do it during the summer on one or two trips and it did bring the temp down a bit. Not looking to get into any arguements with anyone, just passing the info on so you can try it yourself to see if it works with your refer.

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by Borrego Dave

Just by tilting the rig a couple degrees to the side changed the amonia pressure/flow a bit. I don't remember if it was to the curb or street

It would be nice to know which side to raise. Any chance you can ask the old time RV mechanic again?

[Bob Miller]

It seems that there is always a ready market for turn-key FGRV's and for "Fixers", everything in between usually results in lots of price haggling.

We have refurbished and sold 4 FGRV's in as many years, promoting each one as being in "TOP" condition. In spite of several calls complaining about high asking prices, every one sold at or above our expectations. At least in our market, there is always someone that has the money and will spend it for a quality unit.

As prices will climb over the next few months, I would take that time to put it in the best possible condition, price it high and let the market determine selling price.

About that refrigerator.... It's sounds like it is building up sediment in the bottom of the boiler and is on it's last legs. As that is a big expense for a new owner, I would suggest looking high and low for a used one to pop in place before selling. A cold refrigerator is a big selling point.

BTW: Tipping or inverting a refrigerator is a temporary fix, the sediment will resettle and clog up everything, sometimes within a few days. It's sorta like the used car dealer that paints the tires to make them look new.

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

It would be nice to know which side to raise. Any chance you can ask the old time RV mechanic again?

Think about it..... LP refrigerators are supposed to be operated as level as possible. Tilting it only moves existing sediment out of the way temporarily and allows even more sediment build up. In short, it will get worse faster.

Gotta say, in umpteen years of working on RV's I have heard a lot of ideas for "fixing" an LP refrigerator, but I never heard that one.

[Hazel in Sk]

My observations brought me to the conclusion that there is always someone looking for the trailer you have to sell. Some buyers have little cash and prefer to slowly make improvements. Some want a beautiful trailer in top condition that they can take off in right away. Some just enjoy fixing trailers and reselling.

I don't know you well enough to know how much you enjoy fixing. If you do - I'd say dig her out ASAP and get at it! If you don't dig it out reasonably soon, clean her up, make a list of the things that are 'right' and the things that need attention.

The people I know personally who are thinking of buying are already checking.

FWIW - when we sold a trailer we were totally upfront and honest about the condition it was in. It looked pretty bad, fridge, stove, furnace and lights all worked, no water tank. It had been checked over by an RV repair man recently. We wouldn't hesitate to take it on the roads. Buyer was delighted with a lower price for a usable unit that they planned to paint and refit to suit their own needs.

[kootenaigirl]

When I sold a Boler that was having some fridge 'issues' I was just upfront about it, put it in the ad and stated i was taking $500 off the price due to this.

[David Tilston]

If your fridge is working go with that. Paint may be exactly the wrong color for a prospective buyer. As others have said, just clean it up and advertise it. I would assume that unless it is in terrible shape, a good asking price would be in the $5000 area. Then be prepared to haggle.

I went looking for pictures of your trailer. I didn't find any. I would be able to give you a more precise estimate of it's value if I could see pictures. Is the interior fibreglass, or wood?

[Bob Miller]

Advice I always offer to:

Buyers; Buy now, before prices go up in the next 3 months, will stay high
through August, and as the supply goes down, prices will go up further.

Sellers; Don't sell now, prices will go up in the next 3 months, stay high through August, and as the supply goes down, prices will go up further.

[Borrego Dave]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

It would be nice to know which side to raise. Any chance you can ask the old time RV mechanic again?

Unfortunatly he passed on a while back. I'll have to check mine next time out to see. When camping in the desert at 100* one time I did tilt the RV a bit and the temp dropped about 5*. Just don't remember which way I went with it.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by kootenaigirl

When I sold a Boler that was having some fridge 'issues' I was just upfront about it, put it in the ad and stated i was taking $500 off the price due to this.

I guess the big question is what the 'issues" are as to whether or not its a problem worth discounting the trailer for. One only has to read this forum and do a google on the topic of fridges not working all that well in hot temps to know its pretty well wide spread issue with the types of fridges found in many of our small trailers. Many threads on the topic of how to improve that problem... some work some don't and a combo of things may work for some. Cleaning out the burner & stack, adding a fan inside and at the rear, more insulation around the fridge, sealing off the fridge etc have resulted in giving the biggest bang for the buck for many including myself, but often it does not totally solve the issue just improves it somewhat. But putting in a whole new fridge of the same type as many have found out doesnt always fix the problem either.

Now if a fridge was having issues such it can't keep a safe temp even when its only 75 degrees outside, or it doesnt work at all on electrical but works on propane only or the other way around or sometimes it doesnt work at all & sometimes it doesn't then those IMO are real "issue" and something I would for sure discount the trailer price for. If its just the standard the fridge works but struggles in hot weather I would disclose that but also mention its common to the type of fridge in my trailer and warn them that spending money on replacing it with the same type of fridge may not fix the problem.

[Mikmay]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Advice I always offer to:

Buyers; Buy now, before prices go up in the next 3 months, will stay high
through August, and as the supply goes down, prices will go up further.

Sellers; Don't sell now, prices will go up in the next 3 months, stay high through August, and as the supply goes down, prices will go up further.

For a little perspective on supply and demand for fg trailers if you look on kijjii Ontario under trilliums for sale you will see 1 for sale and 8 ads for trillium wanted

[Bob Miller]

A Word about Gas/Electric Refrigerators when buying.

If a refrigerator work well on gas or electric, and gets real cold, then it is repairable.
If a refrigerator stays lit on gas or the boiler feels hot on electric, and doesn't get cold, it's toast.

Early Dometics (square boiler cover) are very sensitive to being operated off level and the result is less cooling capacity every time it was operated that way. There is no known repair for this other than replacing the entire cooling circuit. Once they don't cool well it never gets better. You can try fans and other ideas, but the basic damage is done. And tipping and/or inverting only works on the third full moon of any given month, it's more of a very temporary fix (sometimes) that some sellers might trick you with.

The 40+ y.o. Dometic in my Hunter still freezes food, when it's 90 degrees out, just as quickly as the 8 y.o. Dometic "Spare" sitting in my garage that I pulled out of a wrecked camper a couple of years back.

In buying a used RV I see the refrigerator as a Black or White situation, Not even 50 Shades of Gray, it works right or it doesn't work and I pay accordingly.

Remember, a 2 or 3 way refrigerator is the single most expensive item in an FGRV.