New chapter. Advice please

misspickle_2

thorsoak wrote: »

Apologies if you've already gone down this route - but thought you might like to look here :- http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E988&maxBedrooms=2&displayPropertyType=flats&oldDisplayPropertyType=flats&primaryDisplayPropertyType=flats&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=flats&letFurnishType=unfurnished&googleAnalyticsChannel=renting

From the experience of a friend, who went down the route that you are proposing, she found it very expensive, traumatic, and at the end of the day not nearly as exciting as she first thought! Firstly, she bought a touring caravan for herself and her two dogs, and set off to see as much of the UK as she could - lovely for the first two months in early summer, nice sites, not too expensive, with facilities for washing machine, etc etc. As the summer went on, she found it more difficult to find sites that weren't full, or restricted where she could or could not park up as she had dogs. Autumn was better, but as sites closed, she decided that she ought to find somewhere she could settle for the winter...and eventually found somewhere - at a rent of something in the region of £50 a week - but no electricity/sewage hitchup. She managed to survive that, but at the end of the winter when she wanted to get going again, problems with her car
caused no end of problems ...so she decided to sell caravan/car and buy mobile home on a site ......she thought that everything was wonderful - but had failed to realise that there was a restriction of 40 weeks residence :-( She had to find alternative accommodation for three months - which she did, but at a cost.

So the following year she decided to sell the mobile home - which had cost her £35,000 - after only 1 year the site offered her £13,500 - and she found another restriction which meant she could only sell through the site management company (and of course pay service charge of £1,500). She stayed that summer and eventually managed to sell the lovely mobile home for around £12,000. Now she rents the flat that she rented that winter - and wishes she had done that in the first place.

Oh god your poor friend! What a lot of expense for trying to live so simply!

No way could I afford a mobile home. Even the £12,000 for a used one!
I'm on a very low budget to start off with. I will have enough week to week to live on from wages but I won't have a big lump sum for an initial outlay.
Whatever I end up with will be second hand and cheap to start off with and I need it to be mobile really for my work. I will be house sitting sometimes so it would be pointless paying a fortune for a base.
As I work with horses I might get lucky along the way as most of the people I work for have land so I could pay to stay temporarily maybe if that is allowed?
I will be moving around a lot eventually due to the nature of the job. I'm freelance but occasionally end up on PAYE if people are off on long leave for maternity etc but I rarely stay in one place long. I get itchy feet
I might settle a bit more when I eventually have grandkids.
Long way off I hope :eek:

carefullycautious

This guy had the right idea




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2906517/White-van-man-goes-worldwide-Adventurer-quits-job-turns-2-500-vehicle-studio-apartment-travel-10-000-miles-world.html

misspickle_2

I'm going to read his blog! Clever lad.
He did a great job of his van.

lincroft1710

Forget Tumbleweed Tiny Homes, their prices ex-works USA start at the equivalent of £35,000. Dread to think of the shipping cost to UK.

misspickle_2

Oh lordy Lin a bit out of my price range then!
I could buy a large shed and put wheels on it
Would that be allowed?
You could easily convert a very large shed :think:
A large beach hut
It would take up no more room than the huge motorhomes you see!
Could I plonk one of those somewhere? And rent it out when I'm house sitting for long periods?
And just get a little old camper for myself when I'm doing overnighters and weekends away?
:j

misspickle_2

Ooooohh I like my converted shed idea! :T

I'd enjoy doing it up as well. I could do most of it myself probably.

Or is this a silly idea :rotfl:

lincroft1710

You cannot just put wheels on an old shed. If you're going to tow it, it would need a proper chassis with brakes, lights and suspension.

You would need planning permission to site it, which in a rural area could be difficult to obtain.

If you buy a touring caravan, you can park and live in it on private land for up to 28 days in any one year without needing a caravan site licence. You can do the same on licensed touring sites, but from memory, Newmarket and the surrounding area doesn't have that many touring sites.

One advantage of a camper or motorhome is that people think they are parked rather than sited.

misspickle_2

lincroft1710 wrote: »

You cannot just put wheels on an old shed. If you're going to tow it, it would need a proper chassis with brakes, lights and suspension.


You would need planning permission to site it, which in a rural area could be difficult to obtain.

If you buy a touring caravan, you can park and live in it on private land for up to 28 days in any one year without needing a caravan site licence. You can do the same on licensed touring sites, but from memory, Newmarket and the surrounding area doesn't have that many touring sites.

One advantage of a camper or motorhome is that people think they are parked rather than sited.

No shed then

I think I'm going to have to go with a camper van. This is looking the most sensible idea. With a leisure battery. I will have to look into those as it won't always be possible for me to have electric hook ups on sites.

Richard53

As others have said, damp is the killer of caravans (and of course camper vans with caravan-type construction). It's not hard to check if you have the right equipment. A proper damp meter is quite expensive, but any caravan dealer should be able to do a check for you at a reasonable cost. We get ours checked every year as part of the service, and they insist that all lockers and cupboards are empty when we bring it in. They go into every corner, nook and cranny, and around all the windows and door with a little probe, and this can detect damp which is not visible or even evident to the touch or smell. With ours, they found damp starting next to the door, and fixed the door seal before any damage occurred. Still no sign of damp 4 years later, but if we hadn't known, it could easily have led to some serious repair work. Once the damp has started to delaminate the wooden structure, it becomes a massive job to take out and replace the affected parts, and possibly not economic to do.


If you get a camper van, it will probably already have a leisure battery. But this doesn't mean you don't need a mains supply at some point - the battery will need to be charged (assuming you are not driving every few days to charge it up). A decent size of battery (90-110 Ah) can last us a week if we are careful about lights etc, but we don't run a TV with it. Lighting and water pump only, for the most part. If you like your telly and can get a 12V one, it will run the battery down pretty quickly. Likewise a laptop if you want one for internet. For normal living, you will need a mains hook-up at least some of the time. A cable made up that can pass through an open window and into a house will do, of course, if you are sited next to a house or building with power.

carefullycautious

http://www.tinyhouseuk.co.uk/show-home-for-sale.html




A bit cheaper at 18,000