Buying a static caravan

tanith

Hubby and I have toyed with this idea for several years but we just wonder if anyone that actually has done this would recommend it or not.. situation is that I will soon be having to take early retirement and we have a lot of equity in our house, and we wonder wether it would make sense for us to buy a static caravan and use some of the money tied up in the house to do this . We have lots of grandkids and the idea from my point of view would be for me to spend a lot of summer time there as hubby will still be working and he could join me for weekends and any other time off he gets...

Hubby won't fly so unless I continue to go alone or with friends we are going to be limited to holidays in the UK anyway . I prefer for us to spend more time together. Also would need to be a quietish place near the sea and without all the usual razamatazz of a popular site..

My questions are for people who have done this , was it successful ? I have spoken to people who say its worked out well and others who end up selling at a loss because they just didn't make full use of the caravan....

I wouldn't want to let it out to anyone other than close family and yes I do have my own car and could drive myself back and forth.....

Anyones experiences on this subject ? The does and don'ts ?

thanks

black-saturn

I bought one about 3 years ago on a quiet site about 20 minutes away from here. The idea was that as we don't have a garden as such I would take the children there in the school holidays and at weekends so that they could ride their bikes and have a run around. It also served well when relatives came to visit.

But I found that it wasn't the initial cost of buying the caravan you had to think about but the rent they charged to keep it on the site. The site I had mine on was really basic with no running water (had to go to a shower block and there was a tap outside the caravan) and no mains gas (gas bottle had to be changed roughly once a month in the summer) and no mains electric (battery had to be charged every week). Even though the site had none of these facilities the ground rent was £950 per year and then the gas bottles were £18 a time and charging the battery was another £5. Sites with these facilities charge around £1,600 per year and big sites with entertainment can charge anything up to £5,000 per year.

So I decided that for a few weeks of the year I would rent it out as a budget holiday. I put holidays up for sale on ebay starting at £45 for a week and managed to sell about 7 weeks worth of holiday. I did all the paperwork and key deposits etc myself plus arranging for a place for them to pick the keys up. That was when the nightmare started. The people I had in there were pigs and would leave it in a state. Then I would have about 2 hours to clean it, change gas bottle and recharge battery before the next family came in. The crunch came when one family blew up the TV and put their foot through the floor and I had to get it fixed, buy a new TV and clean etc in 2 hours. I never let it out again after that.

If you can afford the costs of the ground rent, upkeep, insurance and other things I would go for it but letting it out is a headache.

mikeassured

Hi

We bought a static with my in laws about four years ago on a quiet site in Wales and it has more than paid for itself as far as I am concerned. You do though have to look at annual costs that the site will charge you though. Extras we pay are site fees £890, service charge £100, rates,water rates, electric, insurance, gas is £18 per bottle. They also expect the van to be cleaned each year which is £25 or you do it yourself. Do you intend it to be for your sole use, because our site does not allow us to rent it out to strangers. I have four kids and husband is self employed so we get plenty of use out of it, saying that my in laws who are retired only use it a couple of times a year, I dont think it really was my mil's cup of tea. We have made some very good friends on the site which is great.

I would definitely recommend it.

Sue

tanith

Thanks for all that helpful info , the charges are obviously a big consideration which we will have to take into account... also wonder about how far is a feasible distance to regularly travel to and fro? We live on the West of London and knowing how the traffic gets a holiday time this is another consideration.. there are lots of ifs and buts to this dilemma... how expensive is insurance? and do you pay council taxes ?

mikeassured

We travel for 3 and a half hours to West Wales and time it during the quieter times of the day. We will spend a minimum of three days there, but can spend up to 10 days at holiday times. There are a lot of "retired" couples on our site and we have got to the point where we have exchanged phone numbers to coincide visits so their grand kids have someone to play with. No doubt you will become a very popular grandma if you are by the sea! The only other thing is that once it becomes known that you have a static, your relatives will be queuing up to use it, that is why we bought with in laws so we would not have to wait our turn!

Sue

black-saturn

I found that. Suddenly everyone expects a free holiday. If your going to be usuing it on a very regular basis I would choose a site up to an hours drive away. Brighton or the surrounding areas maybe?

SUZYJ_2

I'm a northerner so don't know what sites are like "down South" but we've had static for approx 10 years - don't think of it as a cheap holiday though! It costs us about £40 per week and look at it as a long term return! We started off 2 1/2 hours from home but found the journey tiring and didn't use it (Wales) moved to Cumbria (1 1/2 hours) just about right. Watch out for "deals" with free site fees this year - you pay for it later (we did). Look for smaller sites - have a drive round your chosen area (most have sign advertisement boards out). I'd recommend ours "Willow Tree Caravan Site Flookburgh Cumbria" if you were nearer. Like a little community. I say look on it in long term as there will be years you use it and years you don't.
But, we love it!!!

Generali

Not sure if this is still the case, but one way that campsites used to make some extra profit was by making you sell the mobile home back to them.

Some family friends got quite badly stung in that way. If you want to sell and there's only 1 buyer you're not going to get the best price!

spiro

I know 2 people who have done this and you need to be very clear on the rules around age and location of the van on the site. Some limit the age van whilst others insist that the older vans go to the more obsure parts of the site so the most attactrive parts have the newest vans. You also need to check what weeks to site is closed as if it is open 52 week a year for to you the van I understand there are council tax implications as it can be classifed as a second home.

jos22

My suggestions:-
Look for a site about 1 to 1.5hours away. Any further & after the initial "newness" the travelling gets to be an excuse not to go.
To find a site log onto one of the main dealer (Willerby, Atlas) web sites & find a dealer close to where you want to go. Visit the daler & they will probably be able to give you a list of sites & even an indication of rent.
Visit several sites to get the feel of the place, see when they are closed, what facilities they have, what restrictions they have (nochildren, no subletting, no pets etc.)
If you are buying a new van, get the list price from the dealer. This usually excludes delivery & siting. You will be buying from the park operator and it is not unknown for some of them to charge cost plus 50% or more.
When you have decided on a site you like find out from the operator, annual rent, rates (business rates not council tax), water rates, insurance (do you have to insure through the site), gas cost (again do you have to buy through the site) and electricity cost.
Also ask if there is any age restriction on caravans on the site (some sites refuse to let you keep a caravan over (say) 10 years old on the site.
If you want to "pretty up" your plot with a few flowers or need outside storage check if this is OK.
Try & have a word with existing owners.
Check for local facilities as well as site facilities.
I would avoid the large Park Operators
Find out what happens if you want to sell up. Do you have to sell it back to the park or can you sell it to anyone. Parks tend to offer peanuts when you want to leave.
Costs - small site with few facilities approx £2000 per year (plus buying van), large site all facilities (club, swimming pool ets) £3000 plus.
If financing through HP/personal loan shop around for best deal, don't accept site deal without checking.

Finally, I look on it this way - the cost of buying my van is money I shall never recover (it won't appreciate like your house, it will depreciate like your car). For me it is money woth spent, but not for everyone.

Just thought, some sites with hire vans will pay back a weeks hire if you hire one & then decide to buy one. You could try asking for a few days use of a van to see if you like the site - they might say yes.