Buying holiday static caravan or lodge

We have just had to reluctantly give up our static caravan due to health problems. It was in mid wales about 2hours from where we live. We used it so much summer and winter and absolutely loved it. The site had a clubhouse and a pool but most of the owners were like us retired and in the 5 years we owned it we made some very good friends. It cost us just over £3000 per year for site fees and insurance and we did not loose as much as we thought when we sold it back to the site. We think it was one of the best things we ever bought it suited us well

I'm with the motorhome idea. We bought a VW campervan 12 years ago and we have loved the flexibility. It's under 5 metres long so will fit into most normal car-park slots. We have just sold it for 60% of what we paid and have bought a new(er) version - but had to pay a lot more this time as they have become very popular in the pandemic. If you want to be able to take it into many cities both here and on the continent, you do have to get a post-2017 version with "blue" diesel aditive. Good luck!

Treat yourselves to short hotel breaks - no fuss, no cooking, no housework or maintenance. There’s fun to be had in seeing what deals are on offer especially if you are flexible about when you go. Good luck and happy holidays where ever you go!

I would never advise anyone to buy at static home on a leisure unless you get a long lease of a plot. Site licences are rarely assignable except by paying a large fee to the site owner. There are usually rules about the maximum age of the park home. Check the service charge costs as these will not be under your control and usually increase each year. The site owners energy costs will have escalated this year as well. I would try renting at the same site for a full year, as you will not usually pay too much more than the licence fee and service charge if you choose weeks outside school holidays to get a real feel for the place .

My DB has a lodge on GlanGwna at Caernarfon. He’s had it at least 10 years now . It’s a lovely place with a small river running through the site . It has a kids playground. An entertainment centre with acts on in the warmer months and an outside swimming pool.
He pays ground rent and council tax. He can live there 10 months a year if he wants to . He also rents it out which covers his overheads .
It has 2 bedrooms, living area , bathroom and a kitchen . It also has a large veranda overlooking the lake .
You should be able to get one for £30,000 to £40,000 .

I wouldn’t buy anything static, for the reasons already given, that you will eventually feel that you have to go there ‘to get your money’s worth’.
A motor home sounds good - except that in our area (Greater Manchester) there is soon going to be a charge for older models within the new Clean Air Zone.
We have a different holiday problem - timeshare. Now that’s another story… ?

Sadly this is something fraught with pitfalls. I knew a couple who got badly stung when, for certain reasons they had to sell their van. The ground fees were expensive. Why not just book a caravan holiday in a park you like? No worry about ground fees,etc. One thing to remember these holiday homes/caravans depreciate over the years. If you ever need to sell you will get nowhere near what you paid for it. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Other thing to remember is fuel prices are about to go sky high. Bottled gas will not be cheap and there is no price cap on bottled oil, so oil will be even more expensive.

Just an update. I saw a lovely modern apartment with sea views from the living room and balcony on sale on the coast in north Wales and went up for a viewing. It was lovely but expensive and would have used up three quarters of my savings and investments to buy. Plus there would be the council tax, and having to pay a second set of bills. I wouldn’t want to rent it out as I’d want it free for me to use every weekend, but not really sure I’d really want to do the hour and. A half / two hour car journey every Friday evening. And then as it’s a leasehold apartment block there is the possibility unpleasant expenses emerging in the future. Also it did have its own parking space, but I get the impression people living there with two cars sometimes use other people’s spaces if they don’t think they are being used, so I might get their on a Friday night to find my space occupied which could be a source of tension.
So I’ve gone back to my original idea of looking for some kind of holiday lodge. In the meantime I’ve treated myself to some nice new garden furniture so that I can enjoy sitting out in my own back garden more at weekends nice the weather is nice.

It's good to get your update ShropshireLass and I'm glad that you've been looking around and are taking your time. It's a big decision, one that we made about 8 years ago when we bought a static caravan before upgrading to a lodge 3 years ago and never regretted it.

In fact we're here now, came for 2 weeks and decided to stay for 3!!

We used to have a static caravan on a site a few yards from the beach.

PRO
Relaxing, Therapeutic (Kept me sane when work was heavily pressurised and totally boring)
Relatively low cost holidays.
You choose when to arrive or to go home, which can be convenient.
Available whenever you feel like, and can have, a break
Little or no extra furniture / equipment to buy.
Just open the door, climb in and relax! makes for fantastic times together.
Easier to access attractions than from home.

CONS
Vans can be expensive to buy!
Not your own boss
Cannot use all year.
Site rent, at the whim of the owner
Electricity prices ditto.
Power consumption limited (Ours was the equivalent of a single 13 Amp socket) Blow the trip and you inconvenienced a lot of others and made yourself unpopular with the site owner / warden
Gas bottle prices can be high, on site.
Some sites stipulate a ten year life for a van
Vans can only be sold or bought through the site in some cases.

What did we do?
When the costs began to match those of a local residence, we sold, with difficulty). Lost a lot of money, 90% of the purchase price.
Happened to find someone selling a very small bungalow, by avoiding agents fees, we got a good deal
We are our own masters, can use whenever we like, and lend to family or friends. gas and electricity prices are the normal commercial rates, not inflated.
Second home owners, whether caravanners or owners tend to be denigrated, but they do bring income to the locality.
IF you can afford it, bricks and mortar represent a far better investment,

If I was buying a property, rather than a caravan or lodge, then I think it would have to be a very small bungalow rather than a leasehold apartment, because viewing the leasehold apartment, even though it was a really nice one one a 999 year lease, and seriously thinking of all the possible implications put me off an apartment.
It would have to be somewhere with a totally maintenance free garden with just slabs or gravel and a wall or fences, because I’m struggling to keep my own small garden tidy, so having a second garden to maintain on weekends visits would be a no no.

Maybe consider buying a dormobile sized tourer. Often called auto sleepers. Much easier to drive around and park than caravans or Motorhomes. Can keep it packed up ready to go. Easy for day trips or longer & can vary destinations.
You would need to consider all of the expenses of running as a second vehicle, unless you use it as your only vehicle. They hold their price well. They have all mod cons- if you can afford them! Or can get s basic model.
Could try hiring one to see if you like it before committing completely.

I have friends who bought a lodge on the Welsh coast eight years ago and are starting to realise how much money it's actually going to end up costing them. With the money they had they could have bought a one-bedroom flat with a sea view, but the lodge looked very fancy and had a second bedroom and they went for that instead. They stunned me recently by saying that it's costing them £800 a month just to keep it. They pay council tax, site fees, fixed maintenance fees that they are contracted to pay and gas and electricity bills. They have to buy their bottled gas from the site owner at inflated prices and they have to pay a share of the cost of having the septic tank(s) emptied regularly. They are on a site that shuts down for 8 weeks a year, so they really only get 10 months' use of the place.

After only 8 years it's obvious that the lodge is going to require a lot of maintenance. Most winters there are storms that cause minor damage and leaks. The lodges look lovely in the summer, but really they're just glorified sheds.

They are thinking of selling up, but it's been valued at around 70% of what they paid for it and if they do sell, a percentage of the value will have to be paid to the park owner.

When they had a falling-out with the site owner he threatened to throw them off the pitch. It would have meant that they would have had to pay to have the lodge removed to somewhere else, leaving him to put a fancy new lodge on their pitch and sell it at a nice profit.

They bitterly regret not buying the smaller flat, which would be worth about 50% more now. Other friends bought a second hand camper van for £18,000 at around the same time the others bought the lodge. They've been all over the UK and Europe in it and have recently sold it for £12,500. They can't believe how it's held so much of its value while giving them years of low-cost holidays.

We did change to a small freehold bungalow!
It has central vacuum cleaning. The lead plugged into the hall allows everywhere to be vacuumed!
The annual running costs were and are, less than a static caravan, and we are masters of our own destiny!
And, best of all, instead of depreciating, it will be worth more when we come to sell.
We think that we made a good choice, as an alternative to a static van, (Much as we had enjoyed it, a good investment it was not)

Strangely enough, I have been thinking about exactly the same thing, in exactly the same area. What is puzzling me is that nowhere seems to actually list the prices of their caravans/lodges, they all say "Get in touch". I would like some idea of prices before I get in touch!

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