I placed the keys to my motor home (incorrect spelling: motorhome) in an envelope yesterday and left them with the office at the lot where my coach is stored. Bank of America has hired someone to pick it up Monday, because I can no longer afford the payments.
Several years ago I needed to get away from California’s concrete and congestion. I grew up in San Mateo and after a stint in the military and habitation in Germany I ended up in Sunnyvale (Silicon Valley). I had visited Oregon several times looking for a house. I put in offers on two houses but rescinded them for different reasons. So I combined my dream of owning a luxury motor home with my need for housing. I bought a 39 foot class A Rexhall Rexair diesel pusher with two slides. My six cats and I moved in and went to live in a motor home park in Winston, Oregon. I rented a warehouse three miles away for my online book sales business, and life was okay for three years.
The Rexhall is a serious piece of shit that has spent more time in service than on the road. The payments, insurance and storage fees cost me over $1,200 a month. This doesn’t include the time I have to take to “exercise” the generator or run the engine. And imagine washing and waxing this monstrosity!
Fast forward… I wanted to buy a home and downsize my business. Unfortunately, I bought too much house in a failing economy financed by an ever increasingly competitive business that I had come to loathe. And I carried too much debt. The motor home debt is the first secured loan on which I am defaulting. More to follow.
As I removed the last remaining bits of my prior life from my coach yesterday (coach is the cool word for motor home), I remembered how happy I was when I first got it and set up camp at the RV park. From my bed I could look down the hall through the kitchen into the living room. Thirty-nine feet of “all mine.”
From the windshield and passenger side windows I could watch the river flowing lazily in the summer and threatening to overrun the banks in winter. Tall, elderly trees would let fall their burden of leaves as winter approached, and I enjoyed the budding and greening of the barren trees in spring. In fall I was filled with ecstacy each time I heard the migrating Canadian geese overhead. I once watched a bald eagle from first glimpse to vanishing speck, resolute. It definitely knew where it was going.
Clear winter nights I would go outside for a cigarette and stare at the stars, memorizing their patterns and their positions at various hours. I dug weeds out of the lawn (I refuse to use weed killer) and pulled up emerging ones with tweezers (which had the neighbors talking). I grew twenty-five pots of strawberries one summer and ate them every day. One of my trees was a cherry plum which bore abundant fruit. I used to sleep with my six cats, usually two under the covers and four on top. George always slept in the crook of my arm. Fourteen years beside me most nights. George has moved on and while I still have cats, I now sleep alone.
Now the coach is out of my hands. The bank will take bids on the coach and then come to me for the difference between what they get and what I owe. But that will only work if I have money or a job with wages that they can garnish. It won’t work if I’m bankrupt, and that’s the grand adventure I have planned for myself.
In this blog I will be writing mostly about health, metaphysics, spirituality, finance, and business with the goal of helping people make informed choices and be self-determinant. Once I learn Dreamweaver, Fireworks, PhotoShop, CSS, PHP, blah blah blah, then I’ll be posting book reviews and articles in my website. Since I don’t have time for any of that, the website won’t debut until late fall.
Right now my pressing concerns are my journey through closing a business, dealing with the IRS, bankruptcy, and starting a new life in another state. Oh, and menopause. So stay tuned for more exciting adventures!
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Well, this is my first post in my first blog. It was quite a bit of work until I got it just right. Did you enjoy it or lose interest? Is the writing style too dry, too verbose, just right? Does the post make you want to come back for more? If not, I’d love to know why. Your feedback is most welcome. Thanks so much for reading this.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m so sorry you’re going through this but I’m glad you’re sharing – your writing is captivating and really interesting. I love the photos, too! I’m really happy that you’re blogging and look forward to more!
You have a great deal of talent and writing is definitely your thing!
I for one absolutely love your prose.
I know this is a both stressful and blissful period of time for you right now for a multitude of reasons but you’re a strong person and will come out ahead on all accounts.
Just keep being the strong person you are and all will turn out for the best.
Thanks for the input. I’m so pleased you enjoy my writing. And yes, stressful and blissful sums it up well.
I take from this the sense that I am witnessing an eagle as she makes the decision to take flight. I believe that your strength, determination and intellect will combine to make the best use of your capable wings. Instinctively, you will carry yourself to the next place you need to be. I’ll be very interested in reading the stories of your travels.
Brightest Blessings!
It is good to know what you are up to — you have been missed. I wish it were happier things for you, but you know what to do with lemons when life gives them. You have given much to many, and inspired many who have never taken the time to say thank you. This is my thank you and the best wishes for a happy and completely refreshing lemonade!
That is really sweet. Thank you, Gen. Thank you, everybody.
You are a very talented writer..and re: motorhome woes …we can totally relate.
We bought a 36ft Class A National motorhome 6 years ago. Brakes failed last year costing us over $3k (and a scare of a lifetime) and leaks like a sieve..we’re retired and considering our options as we speak – upside down over $50k.
So..what steps did you take in notifying the bank? who did you talk to and how soon did they come get your rig?
Hi, Cher, and thank you for the compliment.
I don’t remember how long it took. I just called my lender and said I wouldn’t be able to continue payments on the coach and they could come get it. They hired an auction company who called me to arrange the pickup. It may have taken three weeks.
The auction company got the coach cleaned up and ready for auction and then sold it. I owed $105K on it and they sold it for about $47.5K. That took over a month.
I received a letter in August from the bank billing me for the balance plus repossession and repair/reconditioning expenses, and commission on the sale.
You have some options. If you want to keep the coach and plan on filing chapter 13 bankruptcy, you can “reaffirm” the loan but it will be reconfigured based on the actual worth of the RV, not what you owe. If you surrender the RV, they’ll auction it off like above and bill you for the rest. If you have assets, they will sue you. If you have nothing, they probably won’t bother, but they can sue you up to 10 years later, I believe, and even after that they can renew the debt. The other option is file bankrupty (7 or 13) and relinquish the coach and be completely free of the debt. That’s what I had to do.
Good luck to you. I’ve written a few articles on bankruptcy attorneys you might want to read.
Wow! When it rains it pours. Good luck. We are full-time RV’ers and love it but you are right, the economy really sucks these days.
I so wanted to do RVing full time, but I’ve had nothing but bad luck with RVs. Someday I may write an article on my experiences. I envy you.
Hi JoAnne, Where can I find your aricles on bankruotcy lawyers? We also have a motor home and since the economy is so bad w are thinkng of sending it back, however like you we wil be sued for the difference and ours is over $400,000. But we have a lear title to the MH, not the finance company. The finance companys sold several times and messed up and never got the title. So I was wonderng do you know if they can come get the MH without any paperwork or a title. The clear title is in our name. I hat to e dishonest and we have tried to work with the,but as you are aware they will sell it for nothing and sue us for the difference. Any suggestions??? Thanks
You can find the articles by clicking on the archive link and then scrolling down to topics. They’re under finance. But they’re just three articles on crappy advice from self-serving attorneys. Nothing really useful except what to watch out for when interviewing them.
My memory’s a little hazy, but I think if you file a chapter 13 (the chapter that allows you to repay over time), that you can surrender the motor home without having to pay anything else for it. Or you could reaffirm the loan and pay only for its current resale value.
I won’t know if they can come after you without the title. It doesn’t seem legally possible. Definitely see an attorney about that.
Just bear in mind that bankruptcy attorneys only make money by helping you with bankruptcy, just like doctors only make money when you’re sick.