Park homes is there a downside?

tori.k

Hubby and i have a plan! kids are getting older and in this day and age unlikely to leave home before 30 so we've been thinking about us moving out instead of them, If they covered the cost of running the house when the time comes, we could raise enough to buy a park home by the time our youngest starts 6th form, (back to the point) i never met anyone who lives in a park home is there a downside other then ground rent?
Many thanks

chesky369

Is a park home a mobile home? If so, perhaps you should read this :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8222356.stm

tori.k

Thanks thats scary stuff! and i was thinking more along the lines that someone would state they are really cold to live in, those poor folk!

nerak_y

hello tori.k,

my folks live in a static caravan onsite. they had to sell their property due to neighbourhood degeneration (drug addicts in the common close injecting & leaving used needles).
they are quite happy where there are, although i think the novelty has worn off. yes the winters are cold, but you can buy a home with double glazing and central heating and insulate properly.

one thing to be aware of tho is that some if not most sites close for a period for site maintenace, and you have to be living offsite. since you would be keeping your property on it may not be an issue for you. it is a month offsite in my parents case.

good luck with your plans!
nerak_y x

Errata

one thing to be aware of tho is that some if not most sites close for a period for site maintenace, and you have to be living offsite. since you would be keeping your property on it may not be an issue for you. it is a month offsite in my parents case

This doesn't apply to park home places that are designed to be residential, but to 'holiday home' sites.
OP one thing you might wish to bear in mind is how much value a park home loses, which may cause difficulty if you would need to sell in a hurry due to unforseen change in circumstances.
Park homes are much better insulated than they used to be, but tremendously noisy when it rains !

Savvy_Sue

An alternative (seriously!) is a houseboat ... yes you have to pay mooring fees but I haven't heard of so many problems with living in one of them full-time as with the non-mobile homes sites.

Savvy_Sue

BTW, bear in mind that young people can change their plans fairly rapidly. They fall in and out of love, they move in and out, they don't necessarily 'settle'. It sounds as if you're talking of leaving them in the house if they pay the bills: what happens if all bar one of them disappear, leaving just one unable to do that?

Also, do watch Skins before thinking of leaving a 6th former to live independently, even with older siblings. I know it's fictional, but the level of emotional maturity seems about right to me!

tori.k

I know Savvy sue i was one of them a million years ago it seems now
the place we were thinking of is a 5 min walk from our house now (spying distance) just happend to be a place up for sale thats what got us thinking TBH.
Our house is only a 3 bed and 2 of the boys now have to share a room (its a shame but we cant re-design the upstair's to make a fourth bedroom just to small and we cant extend)
This is were i put my bad mothers hat on, we wouldnt dream of moving until the youngest was 18 min. and things may change before then (if so we have built a nest egg for when we retire) but i know what im like and i will still be running around after them all (and worse they would let me..lol)
money wise it be cheaper for them to say at home they have no rent to pay just CT, water,electric and food. if two move out for good we'd cross that bridge when it happened we'd have an investment property if nothing else.
We could never afford another proper house so a park home seemed ideal, but seems there is more issues with them then i first thought.
Many thanks

Savvy_Sue

tori.k wrote: »

This is were i put my bad mothers hat on, we wouldnt dream of moving until the youngest was 18 min. and things may change before then (if so we have built a nest egg for when we retire) but i know what im like and i will still be running around after them all (and worse they would let me..lol)

Whoa there! Stop the running around now. :rotfl:

They do get out of the habit. DS1 is unexpectedly back home after Uni, and actually doesn't WANT me fussing and doing things for him. I mean, tonight I asked him to come down to the chip shop with me, in the car, so I could nip to the shop and buy milk etc at the same time. He was HORRIFIED at the idea of taking the car, even though it was raining very hard, and couldn't understand why two of us needed to go. I said I couldn't manage chips and the shopping at the same time, so he went by himself! :rotfl:

tori.k wrote: »

money wise it be cheaper for them to say at home they have no rent to pay just CT, water,electric and food.

Yes, but that might not be doing them any favours, and you'll NEVER get rid of them. :rotfl: I don't charge mine rent while they're in education, but DS1 is paying me, even though he's not got a proper job yet!

chesky369

... unlikely to leave home before 30............
well, they certainly won't if you do everything for them and don't even charge them rent! Remember, you're really not doing any favours for their future partners if they've had a kind of "Italian mama" situation. If they're working and earning a wage, they should certainly pay you a regular rent.

tori.k

Italian mama! i like that...lol
And here's me thinking the plan involved leaving the kids
Behave Chesky.....or ill be sending the boys round (spoken in a cheesey italian accent)...lol