buying a static caravan

[juliex]

i would like to inform people about the pitfalls of buying a static caravan,
we bought one back in sept 2005 we paid £38.000 for it, it was top of the range, i kept it in pristine condition even having the plastic covering on the dining chairs kept it really clean, never let anybody use it except my familly, we had to sell it due to my husband relocating to the south with his job, also the site fees went up £900 and still going up so we thought we would just have to cut our losses, you were also not allowed to rent it out, we knew this anyway, we had problems selling it private they made it awkward anyway, never got back to us for 3 months after we informed them of our intentions to sell. we got back £12.000 and that was supposed to be the book value, so i would like to tell people that you will loose a lot of money buying a caravan and would like to inform people of this BEWARE THEY ARE RUTHLESS

[5layer]

Hello Juliex,

Thats a big loss in just a few years. Could you live in one permanently?
If yes than it may be affordable living.

Why would'nt they allow you to rent it out?

[ncf355]

Amazes me the cost of these things

Worse is the residential units where I have seen second hand "double" units on sale as high as £120,000, absolutely insane (especially as you have to pay ground rent on top)

[Meldrew2]

How long did you have the caravan?

As you say you bought in 2005 and posted in 2008, it is fair to assume that the caravan was 3 years old when sold.

As caravans depreciate like cars - it is to be expected that the caravan will sell for less than half the purchase price - the remainder of the shortfall may be partly due to the economic slowdown.

Too many people think that buying a caravan is an investment - it is not. It is a way of ensuring comfortable, clean family holiday accommodation (and look on the travel forum for enough horror stories about apartments abroad) for 10 years or more.

You can't really compare the ownership costs with caravan rental - as the rental units almost always have had much more wear and tear.

[annice]

hello every one i too am a static caravan owner and i would advise anyone interested in buying a static caravan to talk to other owners before buying

[sharkie]

Originally Posted by 5layer

Hello Juliex,

Thats a big loss in just a few years. Could you live in one permanently?
If yes than it may be affordable living.

Why would'nt they allow you to rent it out?

Usually these sites are licensed, I believe the residential ones allow you to live on site for 46 out of 52 weeks without having to incur normal council tax.

If it is a residential site you are not permitted to rent it out, although many do, as this would in breach of the site owners license.

Originally Posted by ncf355

Amazes me the cost of these things

Worse is the residential units where I have seen second hand "double" units on sale as high as £120,000, absolutely insane (especially as you have to pay ground rent on top)

The vans near us can vary massively in value, dependant on the location, for example, near us a single small van will cost £105,000, however around 12miles away, on a very nice site they are selling 5 bedroom doubles (in the style of a log cabin) for £135,000.

The main problem is you cannot get a mortgage only HP/Lease finance, and sites around here require you to upgrade in a minimum of 10 years earlier if it looks shabby.
You have to purchase the new van off of the site, and usually sell the old one back, with which you will be offered nothing.

Seriously big business up here now, with sites changing hands for enormous amounts of money.

[Surfer01]

I bet they then resold it for over £30000. Sounds like it was a Vogue model.