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Static Caravans - Costs

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24

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  • auntymabel
    auntymabel Posts: 433 Forumite
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    I would definitely look into the site fees before you go any further. Also, if you're only doing this for a short time I'd go for the cheaper option - you've got less to lose.
    'Yaze whit yeh hive an ye'll niver wahnt'

    (From Mae Stewart's book 'Dae Yeh Mind Thon Time?')
  • Night_KD
    Night_KD Posts: 53 Forumite
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    LillyJ wrote: »
    Maybe so, but I don't tend to spend £50k on a car! (mine cost just over £1000).
    If you have £50k handy to buy one of these, then why don't you carry on saving and then you will be able to afford a house? If you don't have the £50k handy then you will have to have a loan for the amount and make repayments on these (assuming you can get a loan for that amount - if you can't get a mortgage then you may not be able to get a loan). Lenders lend on bricks and mortar as they can sell the house if you don't pay up and hopefully get their money back (or not lose too much) but a mobile home is basically like asking for a loan for a £50k car or a holiday. Risky for the lender.

    Also the maintenance costs are very large and like PasturesNew said there are many pitfalls to consider.

    Do you have the £10k deposit needed? You will also have to make sure that the site fees are worth it. You may be cheaper monthly just renting.

    I think you have made up your mind though so there isn't much point in telling you our opinions as your posts come across as very defensive.

    EDIT just read that you are planning to use credit cards. I have just easily got a mortgage with a 10% deposit and the halifax offered us £240k. However I know for a fact I couldn't get a £50k credit card limit on my earnings!

    Yeah, well I doubt seriously we're considering getting a £50k one. It's just nice to look at them. I'm not intending really to spend over £15k and that would be a push. £5k would suit us much better, and I'm sure my boyfriend's probably thinking the less the better too. But we were just looking at the £50k's because they're pretty.

    I quite understand how a credit card works. And I'm not intending to put £50k on one, that'll screw me over for life.

    I'm thinking more a couple thousand, there are two of us, we'll be on a decent wage by the time we're able to move, and we'll call in some favours from slightly wealthier family members.

    I have made up my mind, I just wanted some information on what we'd have to sort out and how much it would cost etc. Thanks.

    We were going to go for cheaper ones, then if the lifestyle suits us, perhaps upgrade to a more expensive one.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    Night_KD wrote: »
    Yeah, well I doubt seriously we're considering getting a £50k one. It's just nice to look at them. I'm not intending really to spend over £15k and that would be a push. £5k would suit us much better, and I'm sure my boyfriend's probably thinking the less the better too. But we were just looking at the £50k's because they're pretty.
    My blanket answer to this is: you won't find one at that price. If it were that easy everybody'd do it.

    This is the price of a mobile home not on a site. And it is most likely you won't ever find a site to put it on.

    Most mobile homes at this price would be purchased by people who were doing self-build houses and had planning permission to live on site.

    Holiday mobile homes are the cheapest. But the sites have holiday use restrictions (meaning you can't live in them).

    I've no idea how much site fees are now, but I know I was paying £25/week in the late 80s/early 90s. I paid £400 to move onto the site. And I paid 10% of my sale price to the site owner when I sold it 2-3 years later.

    Financially, in the short term, it isn't a good move. In the short term you'd get more for your money renting, without the hassle and cost of selling.
  • Pobby
    Pobby Posts: 5,438 Forumite
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    We looked into this. Amazing site in a village. 2 minute walk to the sea, woodland behind and a bus service into a nearby town. We knew people who already lived their and they loved it. Prices were from about £15k to £60, We went into the £60 double unit and we were really impressed. However at the time there were none available only the single units.

    You had to vacate for a month in February but a friend has a hotel close by so no problem. The site owners were strict ( no bad thing ) but very nice.

    We are still intending to do this but we are waiting for a double unit.
  • LillyJ
    LillyJ Posts: 1,732 Forumite
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    Night_KD wrote: »
    Yeah, well I doubt seriously we're considering getting a £50k one. It's just nice to look at them. I'm not intending really to spend over £15k and that would be a push. £5k would suit us much better, and I'm sure my boyfriend's probably thinking the less the better too. But we were just looking at the £50k's because they're pretty.

    I quite understand how a credit card works. And I'm not intending to put £50k on one, that'll screw me over for life.

    I'm thinking more a couple thousand, there are two of us, we'll be on a decent wage by the time we're able to move, and we'll call in some favours from slightly wealthier family members.

    I have made up my mind, I just wanted some information on what we'd have to sort out and how much it would cost etc. Thanks.

    We were going to go for cheaper ones, then if the lifestyle suits us, perhaps upgrade to a more expensive one.

    1. you didn't make it clear that you weren't looking at the £50k ones seriously. I cannot read minds .

    2. It seems to me a very bizzare thing indeed to have made up your mind when you don't even know the most basic of things like whether you pay council tax, or site fees.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    Pobby wrote: »
    We looked into this. Amazing site in a village. 2 minute walk to the sea, woodland behind and a bus service into a nearby town. We knew people who already lived their and they loved it. Prices were from about £15k to £60, We went into the £60 double unit and we were really impressed. However at the time there were none available only the single units.

    You had to vacate for a month in February but a friend has a hotel close by so no problem. The site owners were strict ( no bad thing ) but very nice.

    We are still intending to do this but we are waiting for a double unit.

    I can't dispute your figures. You know. It's your area. You've been and looked.

    But I am VERY surprised at such low prices. They were £15k in rural Cambridgeshire in the late 80s. Which is where I bought my single unit. Cheapest today: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-6998886.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy looks quite an old one. The next price up on that site is £68k http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16486309.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

    Where I've just moved from, residential units were never cheaper than £100k. Cheapest today: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16135885.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy
  • LillyJ
    LillyJ Posts: 1,732 Forumite
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    PasturesNew wrote: »
    I can't dispute your figures. You know. It's your area. You've been and looked.

    But I am VERY surprised at such low prices. They were £15k in rural Cambridgeshire in the late 80s. Which is where I bought my single unit. Cheapest today: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-6998886.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy looks quite an old one. The next price up on that site is £68k http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16486309.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

    Where I've just moved from, residential units were never cheaper than £100k. Cheapest today: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-16135885.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

    Wow that first one looks really tiny! And so close to the neighbours. I have been to some nice parks but they had more space than these!

    The one is Newquay is more like it, but that isn't far off what I'm paying for my bricks and mortar 2 bed semi!
  • linda.b_4
    linda.b_4 Posts: 126 Forumite
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    A friend has a static up at seahouses. They are thinking of selling their house to move into the van on a permanent basis. A few of the drawbacks. The site closes from end of Jan to March so they will have to rent a cottage or go into b&b. In the winter, even though the van is "winterised" the gas bottle was empty every 10 days or so and they cost £62! Another thing is, every so many years they have to upgrade the van to a newer one as the site owner does not want decrepid old vans on his site. I think her site fees are a couple of grand a year, but every time he does something,( last thing was WIFI on site), the rent goes up. Just a few points to consider.
  • LillyJ
    LillyJ Posts: 1,732 Forumite
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    Looks to me that this is a lifestyle choice rather than a money saving one.
    If you want to save money, rent. If you want to live on a park for the lifestyle, get a mobile home.
  • Strapped
    Strapped Posts: 8,158 Forumite
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    PN beat me to it. I would be absolutely amazed if the OP manages to find a mobile home on a site with full residential permission in Hampshire (exc IOW) for less than the £50k she quoted.

    You may find a holiday home for less, which may be an option for you, if your mum would let you move back in for 1 month each year? Although watch out for the cost of site fees (higher if the park has more facilities eg a swimming pool on a holiday site) and also, consider whether you really want to live on a holiday site year-round, with people coming and going. (People on holiday not necessarily being the most considerate neighbours). Might not be the warmest place in winter either!
    They deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth. -- Plato
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