Park Homes

Nanaplenty I am sure you will soon get replies to this thread. It is a subject that comes up quite frequently so if you look down the list of old threads under House and Home and associated subjects, you may well find information of use to you on earlier threads on this subject.

From what I've read about them Nana they are a money pit.
The property loses value every year and there are site fees which increase every year.
I have read that you are wanting to move nearer to your Daughter in another county to release equity from your bungalow so that you can travel.
I don't know which county you want to move to but you can sometimes buy a two bedroom terrace for the price of a Park Home.
Obviously it won't be in such a nice area as a Park Home but at least you can keep it warm and it won't lose value.
Just a thought!

Interesting Buffy. A friend recently moved to a small park home and says he cannot seem to keep his new place warm. His heating bills are higher now than when he lived in a larger house. It's not that old so I would have expected it to have decent insulation. His old place was a semi and this is detached so that will be a factor.

As well as being a depreciating asset, I also undertand that when you sell a park home you have to pay 10% of the sale proceeds to the site management company. That could be a large sum if you decide early on that you've made a mistake.

It also sounds like residents can end up at the mercy of unscrupulous site owners. The comments to this Guardian feature Is selling up and buying residential park home in retirement a good idea? are mostly negative.

A poster called Skydata there also mentions issues with heating.

www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2011/sep/16/retirement-house-sell-residential-park-home

My friend lives in one. Very nice in the Summer but hard to keep warm in the Winter. A bit of a money pit in other ways too. She likes the location and I believe it suits her.

Personally, I'd rather buy a small house or a flat but we are all different. Park homes are not always as economical as you might first imagine. Various hidden costs as other posters have detailed.

I have lived in one and the biggest problem is the weather. They lose heat quickly, so are difficult to keep warm, and are vulnerable in strong winds. I never felt quite safe and was glad when we moved into a more solid proper house.

Thanks everyone - one of my daughters is not at all keen on the idea of a park home and from your comments it sounds like she is probably right, I think I will look at small houses/apartments instead.

I've read that on some sites once the park home is a certain number of years old the owner of the site can force you to scrap your old park home and to buy a new one instead. Don't know how widespread this is though.

What about a small 2 bedroom bungalow?

IreneAdler You are so right in your comments we had friends in Spain who lived in one and they where asked to replace the home after 15yrs and they had to either buy new from the Park Home Company or pay them a % when it was sold and removed then pay another % when a new on was put in position,they have you always really not a smart move in my opinion.

Well these park homes are just glorified caravans aren't they, so I am not surprised they are difficult to heat. The potential for increases in the site fees would also concern me, as well as the depreciation in value.

As others have said, a flat or ideally a small bungalow would be a much better bet.