Park home...

Luckygirl, surely the authorities won't make you sell your home while you are still living there.
I understood that funds could be recovered, after the surviving spouse had died.
Please come back and advise me if I am wrong in this.

Nearly 50 yrs ago we had a mobile home and our 1st child was born, it was damp and cold and we survived. Since then insulation and heating has become much better and retired couples seem to love the controlled access community that most seem to be.
The main concern that you should be aware of it that unlike a house that is going to gain in value, a park home will loose value and may be worth very little after 20 yrs. That aside you have ground rent and a service charge to pay and if you want to sell the site owner will want to approve who you sell to, so do your homework carefully.

My parents have lived in one for 20 years. It is a lovely place, very warm. They do depreciate in money, but if you are happy living there that should be okay. Often if you want to sell it has to be to the site owners. There are annual maintenance fees too which will vary from site to site.

My aunt lived in a park home, on a site, for several years. Later my cousin got a unit there, too. They seemed quite content and the site owners were sometimes helpful. My cousin now lives in another park home somewhere else having lived in a house in between.

I'm sure there are things that aren't so good, like the insulation, but I can see lots of advantages, too. Nice if you have a bit of garden that's easy to cope with, the home will be 'compact' (!!) so will be easy to keep clean. If it's on its own freehold plot it's better than on a park.

It might be a better way to release capital than an equity release scheme - at least it will be all yours!

I believe there are 2 issues at least to think about: they can be cold due to poor insulation; and they lose their value (I stand to be corrected!)

When we did an early completion on our family home we stayed in a mobile home for 3 weeks before we moved abroad,I enjoyed the experience and obviously the storage was at a premium but we managed fine and would never be put off from doing it again.

Not quite a park home, but I lived first in a caravan, and then sort of upgraded to what could have been called a mobile home, (though that would be a generous description) years ago.

I have to say, I loved it.

Luckygirl There are quite a few discussions on GN about Park Homes giving the pro's and con's I just don't know how to direct you to the comments sorry x

Yes - have to sell to pay NH fees; or take equity release/lifetime mortgage etc.

In fact this "park home" is not on a park. It is on a freehold plot; but it is of course cheap and would release more capital for the fees.

Is this for you lucky?