danielsomers

I want to buy something to use in the southwest for 4 - 6 months and would love some advice. It's just for me, solo, so I don't need large. And I don't want super fancy. No overstuffed lounge chairs or big screen tv. I'll mostly be driving it to one spot in Arizona and probably not traveling too much once I'm there, so I don't think I'll put more than 8 or at most 10k miles on it. I also will probably put up a large awning or canvas tent once I'm there, so the RV could potentially be fairly small, as they go. Budget is limited, so I'm considering two possible ways to go about this. One is to get something newer and nicer and then sell it next summer--I can afford the cash now I just can't keep it tied up long term. The other is of course to get something older but still reliable. I have a pretty good sense of reliability for cars, but this is a whole new world for me. A few possibilities I've seen so far are a 1990 Toyota Itasca, 70k miles, for $10,000; a 1993 VW Eurovan camper for $6,000 that looks in good shape but had the transmission switched from auto to 5 Spd so "estimated" mileage of 1k miles (I know...I would proceed with great cautions!); and a very nice looking Dodge transit van with a full camper conversion for $36,000...I think mileage was something like 70k. So really the two main questions are: Would I just be asking for trouble with those first two? And with the third, how hard is it likely to be to sell next spring or summer and how much is it likely to depreciate? Of course, something between those extremes may come up, so I'd also love any general advice on what to look for. Thanks!