Park homes is there a downside?

imho

Put your sons in the caravan and you stay in your own house.

Savvy_Sue

imho wrote: »

Put your sons in the caravan and you stay in your own house.

Oh YES! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

husard

tori.k wrote: »

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

Hi Tori K, I live in a park home and the first and probably most important thing I would recommend is TO DO YOUR HOMEWORK THOROUGHLY. The Law governing park homes is THE MOBILE HOME ACT 1983. There are two types of home, residential which is permanently sited and which would be the main residence and the other are Holiday homes/chalets which require the occupants to move off site for a specified period each year. Most residential park homes are on a large regulated site with rules and regulations. You only ever own the actual home and NOT the land on which the home is situated. Other things to consider are insurance and there are only a few companies that will insure a park home, ground rent which is usually reviewed every year, Council Tax for a park home is the same as a houseboat which is Band A. Before I make you totally depressed if you read everything you can, have a look at a few park home sites, etc. Quite a few enlighted companies are now making park homes to die for so there is no reason to be sucked into the rather mundane "little boxes" with no character style. I have also lived on a houseboat and whilst they are gorgeous in the summer, lounging on deck with a drink and your friends, winter can be entirely different and it can get damp, fine if you like all your clothes to have a delicate tinge of mould. Boats can be very expensive to maintain. Good luck and I hope you will be very happy with whatever you choose.

[Deleted User]

out of interest husard, what are average management charges for a park home?

rickety

I pay just over £119 a month for ground rent and (unlimited) water. Gas and electricity
are separate. Council Tax is Band A - even if 3 bedrooms. Latest Park homes are fantastic but mine is over 20 years old so can be very hot and very cold in season plus the rain is noticeable on the roof! The only real drawback is if you want to sell. The Site Owner takes 10% (yes ten per-cent) of the sale value. So you need to sell for at least that amount more than you bought to 'break even' Otherwise, I'd recommend it for singles or couples. I have a driveway, lovely garden, it is very relaxed and peaceful and, best of all, crime is virtually non-existent (because it is an enclosed cul-de-sac site.) . The attached Social Club has just installed Sky HD which is a bonus for a football fanatic like me. It's an over 50's site but useless for dog owners as they aren' t allowed - but they are on other sites. Plenty of info if you type 'Park Homes' in Google.

septemberblues

You also need to be careful if they have age restrictions, as they do here. I was going to buy a gorgeous park home on a good site, I spoke to the manager to ask about stuff, he said anybody living on the site had to be 50+, my daughter was 19 at the time and he said there was no chance getting on the site with a 19 year old and that was it, he would not let me move onto his site. The funny thing was the 19 year old moved out when I moved into my new house anyway!

Also a lot of sites won't allow pets.

tori.k

yes that was a concern of our's as if we did this SAY when youngest turned 18 i would still be in my 40's and hubby just shy of 50. (the place we are thinking about is 50+) we were hoping greed might come into play when the time comes with the land owner. It all need's looking into, EG: can we sublet if we wanted to move back to our house, or would we have to sell etc etc.

As for the idea of moving the kids rather then us, we have no attachment to property its just somewhere to eat&kip and store crap, i dont see the sense of hanging on to a family home once its served its purpose just for it to be sold to maybe pay for care home fee's in the future (but thats a subject for DT)