'something that needs almost nothing except small detail stuff. Don't want
to spend more than 12,000 if possible.'
I think you will find plenty of sellers who will tell you theirs fit your
criteria, but none will. Regardless of the price, you would have to have
this thing scrutinized heavily and guess what, there are no guarantees when
you purchase a 20 year old vehicle. Especially one that is not reputedly
very reliable (though I've had remarkable luck.)
This brings up an interesting question (to me anyway,) and that is, is there
such a thing as a 'Vanagon Pre-Purchase Checklist.' This would, preferably,
come from this forum, and would include all the usual suspects, such as
Vanagon Syncrome, seam rust warnings, etc., plus other items, not
necessarily Vanagon specific, etc. and so on........is there such a thing?

Miguel