I am familiar with the "50 things to check" list when taking delivery of your FT. But has anyone ever used a checklist when just shopping/looking for your new-to-you FT? I've searched online, but found nothing.
First thing to check is your bank account. Actually, even before that you and your spouse should check that you are both on the same page.
Actually, we used a combination of that checklist and some others that we found to go over our coach. Your first impression, though, will probably be a good guide. If it doesn't look/smell/sound right (or the seller doesn't) you probably ought to leave. We thought we were "just looking" when we first saw ours, but the more time we spent with the coach and the sellers the better we liked it. We operated on the plan that we could filter out most coaches that were for sale while still at home. Once a coach looked like it was a good candidate, we would assume that it would pass muster until we found something that would be a red flag.
Simple way is to figure out the size and floor plan. Then look at those coaches.
When I was looking in the 1988-1992 range, I found lots of little differences and put them all into a spreadsheet. I found Generators could be either propane or diesel; some had a trash compactor and some didn't; there were a couple of floorplans for each model. I actually preferred the narrow coaches back then as I was still just getting used to driving the behemoths. Every time I came onto a 12 ft wide construction zone (or what passed for a federal highway in Missouri), I was very happy I had a narrow coach. Now 70,000 miles later this past June, I went through a 10' wide zone with concrete barriers in Western Nebraska with my wide body and it only raised my blood pressure a few points.
I just made my spreadsheet and marked what items I "had to have", what I would like to have if the price was right, the asking price, and the mileage. So many things are standard on all of them.
We didn't use a spread sheet. My DW said she had to have at least 1 slide. That narrowed the list down a bit. I wanted a U320 for the engine and Aquahot. Didn't much care which floor plan we got but we both preferred the private pottie. Would have bought a 36 or a 40 footer. At the time we felt the 42s were too long. (Perception) As it turned out we found what we wanted and love what we have. ;D
Set your budget and buy the best FT you can afford - what ever floor plan, whatever year, just as long as you are comfortable mentally and physically.
No, aside from DW and I like the layout, and everything works like it should (systems). Don't let small issues almost every coach has slow you down to much (things like old tV's or slipping window seals) things like that just come with the territory on older coaches.