Park homes

SouthCoast

............and ask owners how much their heating costs are in the winter.

symikins

can i just add that park homes now keep in line in relation to the house prices of bricks+ mortar . the home i am now selling is £125.000 which l paid £65.000 for nearly three yrs ago before i moved here my brick+mortar home which i paid £80.000 went down to £45.000 in the slump in the 80,s and i moved here buying my first park home for £12.000 , so i have gained all the way and you have to weigh up the money you will be making availible to you to use as you wish

symikins

SouthCoast wrote: »

............and ask owners how much their heating costs are in the winter.

like any home if you make sure your home is insulated well , your costs will not be excessive .
l also have a CARAVAN as a holiday home by the sea and trust me thats COLD!!
Lots of people still see park homes as caravans.....they are not !!
ok if you get down to the nuts and bolts heating may? be a bit more but i find the quality of life makes up for that ie:
detatched property
all owners vetted by the park managers [ no noisy anti--social people] and if that happens they can be evicted from the park
the parks are usually in a quiet but convienient locaton
and a friendly community, can you know + trust all your neighbours your road?>?? l can and never have before moving here

Lavendyr

Park Home Living, your post has been reported for breaking forum rules: " Don't post links for personal gain. Except in the referrers section and always declare any interest." Perhaps you could remove your link and your post would hold a bit more credibility; as it is, it looks like self-promotion.

Park_Home_Living wrote: »

For example, I sold a gentleman a park home in 1987 for £47,000. He placed it on the market last year for £167,000.

And how much did he sell for? I could put a turnip on the market for £167,000 but I highly doubt anyone would buy it (except perhaps Baldrick). What he marketed it for is irrelevant; what he sold it for is what counts.

CYBERCIDERSAVER

If you do get yourself one, don't forget clause 53a of the housing act 1976

"whomsoever enters into a contract to purchase must ensure

a)the land is legally owned by park operator
b)that the entrance to the property shall display a sticker saying "if the van's a'rocking, don't come a'knocking"

Hope that helps!:D

lawrie28

The in laws had one, and they were unable to stay in it all year round. They had a period of 2-3months over winter when they couldn't sleep there. This is probably a holiday site, rather than residential, from what I can gather from other posts. They nicknamed it "the shed", and hated being so close to the neighbours, without being able to put up fences etc. Do think they made money on it though, this was a log cabin style one.

PasturesNew

I bought one of these in the late 1980s and because of my experiences (which weren't all bad), I'd not advise anybody to ever get one. I will list the reasons I would give to my best friend:

1) You can't get a mortgage on them. There are a limited number of lenders that will lend on them and you get a personal loan. You used to have to have a 20-25% deposit even then.
2) As it is a personal loan, if you are laid off your payments aren't covered by housing benefit, so make sure you've got a policy in place. The rent part will be covered under HB
3) The ground rent goes up every year. In my case, late 1980s, I was paying nearly £25/week for ground rent.
4) There are often special site rules that catch you out. Things like only being able to buy the gas from the site owner. Only being able to get your papers or milk delivered from one supplier
5) Find out how much the gas bottles are. I had a single unit (30'x10') and it had a gas fire that I would keep on low 24/7 in the winter to stop it freezing up. Kept on low one gas bottle lasted about 2 weeks. At the time I was paying £32/bottle.
6) You might have to pay a fee to move onto the site. In the late 1980s I was charged about £400 for the privilege of buying/moving.
7) When you sell, the site owner will have to interview and approve your buyer. Once approved the site owner will also claim 10% of your sales price.
8) Each site will come with its own set of odd rules, set by the site owner. The site I was on I was threatened with eviction when I had a small water leak. I was also threatened with eviction when my bf stayed over too many nights.

The site I was living on has now been cleared and it's a really posh site for retired people, complete with new layout design and all new vans. I wonder what would have happened to me if I'd still been there.

When I bought my mobile home, it was because locally, studio bedsits hit about £70k, it was the peak of the last housing boom. I thought I'd never get a place of my own, it was the only option. Having my first place was great, but on the balance of things you really feel "watched and judged" on a park home, with the omnipresent site owner making and keeping the rules.

sillyvixen

my grandparents lived in a park home for many years and were very happy they had one and eventually move to a larger one as the first single unit to a larger double unit as it had 3 bedrooms instead of one, and they could accomadate visitors better. the second even had a coal fire originally which they had changed for a gas one as they got older to make their lives easier. they were on a serviced park and paid ground rent every month, the park owners changed hands many times while they were their (not always for the better) and they had their fair share of good and bad landlords. the big downside of owning this type of property is the selling issue. when my grandfather died the property took 18 months to sell, in all this time we still had to pay rent. any offers we recieved the buyers had to be vetted by the park owners before any progress could be made. the first sensible offer we had the park owners turned down the couple as the site was for over 55's and while the man was 58 his wife was 5 years younger and they wanted the property in joint names!!

on the whole this type of home can be very nice and cosy - better that the holiday homes - as they have to be built to different standards for permenant residencies - but it is somthing you would need to look into very carefully before proceeding!

phead

If you look at 3 August 97 here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/facethefacts/

You can hear the old show, or read the transcript about the horror stories of various owners.

sunnyd47

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Your friends are correct in what they say, these properties depreciate in price in pretty much the same way as cars do.

Also many sites will not allow you to have an 'old' (aka- five years old) home and you have to buy a new one. However some do not insist on this so it is worth a look round.

How untrue.

Park homes are currently holding their value very well, better than bricks and mortar but, like any type of property, it depends where they are and the site they are on.

There are many, many sites in the UK that have very happy long established residents, the trouble is as always, you only hear about the bad apple.

A park home is a residential property 365 days a year, you pay council tax as its your permamnent residence as for any property. The land is normally leasehold and that is what the rental charges cover. You DO NOT have to vacate the property at any time of the year. New park homes are totally insulated and meet very strict safety regulations.
If you decide to sell, you do have to pay the park owner a %, average is 10%.

Holiday homes are not residential, normally there is at least a month or 6 weeks that you must vacate the site, it is not classed as your main residence and normally you will have to own another property to buy one (to prove it is not going to be used as a main residence). The land rental cost is normally higher than that of residential parkhomes. These are not normally suitable for over winter occupation, although brand new models no doubt will be.

For buyers protection there is the parkhomes act 1983 (amended 2006) in place to protect residents and all reputable parkhome sites should offer any potential buyer a copy to sign after purchase.

Always do your research as with any property purchase.