Selling our coach is proving to be more challenging than I expected. I recognize that our floor plan (1991 Marathon bunk coach) may not appeal to the typical Prevost demographic. The coach isn't selling for lack of interest. The dealer that is representing our coach sent me the following e-mail today:

"We have spent parts of the last two days with the local couple that would like to purchase your coach but with the new financing changes the banks have imposed in the last month we are unable to arrange financing for them. The banks we use have all decided to no longer finance any Class A RV's over 10 years old and any Prevost over 15 years old. I have been talking to another couple"..."with an 803 credit score and the banks won't even look at the deal due to the age of the coach. I have contacted 5 brokers and 7 banks that do RV financing with no luck. We will continue to call banks as I hear of ones that may finance coaches over 15 years old."

The problems in the credit markets are well known. The fact that lenders are limiting the age of the collateral on these types of loans will have and is having a profound impact on the market value of all of our coaches. Historical depreciation assumptions will no longer apply going forward. I believe that the impact of these changes will be felt all the way up to the converter level.

Having spent 20 years in the investment banking industry, I realize that markets can change. However, based on my experience I expect that the problems in the credit markets will last much longer then most people expect and the days of "any one with a pulse gets a loan" are probably gone for good (feel free to chime in Loc).

One of the attractions to selling our coach through a dealer was the dealers' working relationships with various lenders. I really like the dealer that we are working with and will stick with them, but at this point they are not adding the value to the transaction that I expected.

So now I'm trying to figure out what the correct clearing price is for our coach in the cash market. I'm in the camp that says the value of these coaches won't go back up so I'd just as soon lick my wounds and move on.

I'd be interested in any thoughts on this and specifically on what the correct value is for a coach of my vintage.

Thanks.

AJ