Park homes

mumbot22

Hi All,

First post/thread so I apologies if this has been covered before (a quick forum search didn't show anything).

Me and my partner are looking to re-locate for work. We have been offered jobs in Amersham and central London respectivly. We currently live in the north of England in a niceish end terrece however on a visit to Amersham we quickly relaised that there is no way on earth we can afforse to buy a place down there!

There are some fairly nice park homes for sale on a number of different park home sites which are more affordable so we are considering this option. The prices still seem high (for me) for what is a large caravan cemented to the floor but at least we will be able to afford to eat!

Is there anything we should be looking for with these homes, any warning signs, things to avoid etc. What about the costs of oil for heating etc. Do any moneysavers live in a Park home and would they reccomend it??

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ta x

PasturesNew

THe list of problems with these is huge.

Firstly, most are unmortgageable. You'd need a personal loan. It used to be that you needed a 20-25% deposit to get that loan.
You are paying ground rent, but your home can't stay there forever and there will be a future date when you'll have to remove it. So you'd need to establish how long the park home was likely to be able to stay there, how that stacks up against your loan costs and how that might prevent you from selling it on. Do the "lifetime of the home" maths, not the "works out cheaper today" maths.
You must ensure that it's a residential site and not a holiday restricted site. You can only live on a residential site.
You're at the whim of the site owner's rules.
The gas, for heating, can be very expensive.
When you sell it, the site owner gets 10% of the sale price - for doing nothing.
There might be a charge to move onto the site, I think I paid £300 or so 20 years ago.

angrypirate

As you are moving to an area for the first time, why dont you rent for 6 months first. Scope the areas out and then make a decision on where you want to buy / what you want to buy. You'll take all the time pressure off buying somewhere and you'll get to know the areas

mumbot22

Thanks for the responses. A park home might not bethe quick fix I thought it was going to be then. Still considering it, but need to do a bunch of research first I think!

Re renting - that is sooo expensive as well. We looked at one place that was so small it had a shower in the kitchen (not joking) and that was more to rent than our current mortgage is. Plus we have a dog and getting a rental place that allows pets is difficult.

sk240

I live in a park home in Didcot.
Its the best thing i ever did, to get the same amount of room in a house would cost me 4x as much.
Also your detached, i have my own driveway and a couple of sheds.
My site is council run, they only make you remove the home when it gets really manky (some over 40 years old)
Rent is about £100 a month and theres no other payments.
heating costs a little more than a similar sized house (heating on 24-7 costa me about £500 per year)
The 10% is a rip off when you sell though.

lincroft1710

The majority of parks are now for "over 55s", so you could be too young for this lifestyle.

irishjohn

You may find housing prices there more attractive and there is a train link to central london - amersham is about a 10 min drive

Caroline73_2

I used to live in chinnor which is just over into the oxfordshire border which made it considerably cheaper. You can drive to amersham in 20 minutes or so. Try looking out that way for something more affordable.