Static Caravan Selling

seashore22

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Plenty of tourers, large and small on offer at less than £4K

Maybe, but I wouldn't expect great condition or a long life at that price. We've owned caravans for 20 years or more.

In any case I was referring to the £1,200 that the op says they will get for this home. I know that's probably less than you would get on the open market, but even so that's cheap.

lincroft1710

seashore22 wrote: »

In any case I was referring to the £1,200 that the op says they will get for this home. I know that's probably less than you would get on the open market, but even so that's cheap.

As £5,600 was the figure mentioned in posts previous to yours, that is the figure I thought you were referring to.

C_Mababejive

I do hope the OP manages to get the best outcome from this scenario.

In the mean time ,let this be a warning to others who might read this thread.

Static homes/ so called "lodges" etc,,any structure that is parasitic upon someone elses land is subject to charges/rents/leases.

When it comes to mobile homes,,well they are often described as lodges/bungalows etc,,,and sold for a small fortunes but really, you are then at the mercy of the land owner who shears you annually for pitch fees,water,gas,electric,refuse etc. Just dont do it.

Nigel-YZ1

Thanks for the replies.
We'll certainly take a look at the document links.
The site owner and original supplier are the best of friends. The site owner has said he can only pay us what the original supplier would give.

The van was in pristine condition and 13 years old when we bought it. Hardly any wear and tear. We have spent a lot of time making sure it stayed that way, with new curtains, beds, plumbing etc.

It has been wonderful to own. We viewed it as a long term investment towards our retirement, but we just couldn't justify the ground rent (which is increased this year) set against free time with one of us working monday to friday and the other on shifts.

The price we were quoted was sight unseen, so just market value.

The big shock to us on learning the valuation was the sudden verbal requirement by the site owner that he get an additional £1000 on top of his 10%. It's this that prompted this thread. If he sells at a low enough price we get nothing.

gardner1

Nigel-YZ1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
We'll certainly take a look at the document links.
The site owner and original supplier are the best of friends. The site owner has said he can only pay us what the original supplier would give.

The van was in pristine condition and 13 years old when we bought it. Hardly any wear and tear. We have spent a lot of time making sure it stayed that way, with new curtains, beds, plumbing etc.

It has been wonderful to own. We viewed it as a long term investment towards our retirement, but we just couldn't justify the ground rent (which is increased this year) set against free time with one of us working monday to friday and the other on shifts.

The price we were quoted was sight unseen, so just market value.

The big shock to us on learning the valuation was the sudden verbal requirement by the site owner that he get an additional £1000 on top of his 10%. It's this that prompted this thread. If he sells at a low enough price we get nothing.

unfortunately its 13 years old which most site owners would consider to old

[Deleted User]

I am afraid a number of wrong assumptions are being made.

1) As has already been said, caravans are NEVER an investment, you never get more than you paid. Its not a house. It doesn't matter what you spent on it, once a caravan is more than 5 years old it is 'older' i.e. old fashioned and not worth much compared to what you paid. A new van will cost 16k (really cheap one). Did it not occur to you why you were only paying 5.6k? Once a caravan reaches a certain age, its virtually worthless and I'm afraid you bought it in that state, that is why it was so cheap.
2) You are selling it to a caravan seller, who will (like a car sales person) offer you a really low price. It won't be anything like a fair price or anything like you would get on the open market. Your caravan, however you feel about it will be difficult to sell.
3) I am afraid as has been said on here, site owners will often demand money to allow you to sell the caravan, and more money to allow you to take it off site. Its just the way it goes.
4) Presumably you had some wonderful holidays either whenever you wanted or some more limited holidays and rented the caravan out, but had some income to pay the site fees. BUT you were paying for holidays. I know I spent 900 pounds last year for a week on a really quiet yukky site. Just a week! I am sure you have had more than that for less money (when averaged out on days away). You haven't lost out in the way you think. I realise you have only had the caravan for 2 years, but if you had kept it longer, it would have been more worthwhile if you purchased it just for private holidays. Bearing in mind the cost of a week's hire of a caravan (and that was a cheap site but in the summer holidays), perhaps site fees don't seem so bad.

I nearly bought a caravan some years ago. It was second hand and rather more expensive than yours, but a slightly older van that the site would refuse to rent out within a couple of years (so we would have to rent privately to get any income). But on reading the contract and researching the difficulties renting an older caravan out, hard though it was, we walked away.

The only thing I can suggest is having it taken off site, put into storage (there are some cheaper places around) and then trying to sell it to a private buyer. You will get a lot more money.

C_Mababejive

There is a conspiracy between site owners and static home manufacturers so that they can all make money. Try and buy a static home or so called "lodge" directly from manufacturers? Sorry,no can do. They almost always only sell via site owners so that they can all get a nice big rake off.

lincroft1710

gardner1 wrote: »

unfortunately its 13 years old which most site owners would consider to old

It is now 15 yrs old, it was 13 yrs old when the OP bought it.

lincroft1710

deannatrois wrote: »

The only thing I can suggest is having it taken off site, put into storage (there are some cheaper places around) and then trying to sell it to a private buyer. You will get a lot more money.

But as I said in an earlier post

"If you try to sell it off site, you will have pay transportation charges (expensive) plus £300 disconnection fee plus find somewhere to store and then try finding a buyer!"

This only has a chance of working if OP has opportunity of very cheap storage. There are plenty of 15 yr old statics on sites which site owners are selling off site cheaply, so plenty of competition. Without a site to offer, the only people who would be interested would be self builders or construction workers looking for cheap temporary accom and would have somewhere to site it. Or people with large garden who want extra bedroom/studio/playroom etc

MataNui

Cheapest thing to do is just hand it over and walk away. At least then you wont have to pay site fees. At 15 years old its worthless. It wouldnt be sold on to go onto a site. It could only be sold for use by someone wanting to site it on their own land (while they are building a house for example).