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Buying a Parkhome


dakota

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dakota - 2009-03-01 7:12 PM im told that when the park is established the park home will go up in value , is this true ?

Hhhhhmmmmmmm I would check that, I've looked at a few 'Park Homes' and none were more than the new price. Was it the developer who told you that the value would go up ?

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It certainly was , and after reading the PHRAAs website ,describing sales tacticts , rules and regs , and my rights etc, ive just gone off the idea , ill buy a small flat instead . Phew i reckon i did well to look at this forum first .
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dakota - 2009-03-01 11:55 PM It certainly was , and after reading the PHRAAs website ,describing sales tacticts , rules and regs , and my rights etc, ive just gone off the idea , ill buy a small flat instead . Phew i reckon i did well to look at this forum first .

Dakota, we sold up and moved to Czechland four years ago but it was a mistake to have no base in UK - I've been looking at all sorts this past year but have also decided that a small flat (With 'off road' parking for the MH) is the way to go and I am now concentrating my search on those.

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I looked at these as a possibility when I was at the NEC. The salesman did a really good job on selling their plus points, but my biggest worry is that after what appears to be a maximum of 20 years you have to remove them from the park and put a newer one on. Surely this would make their value virtually nothing, and not increased, at that time. I didn't go into this any further then.

 

The residential apartments, with adequate parking space, seems something I might be interested in now as I am struggling with my garden.

 

\looks like we all seem to have a similar wave length pattern..Joy

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ROON - 2009-03-02 10:25 PM but my biggest worry is that after what appears to be a maximum of 20 years you have to remove them from the park and put a newer one on. Surely this would make their value virtually nothing, and not increased, at that time.

Yes, I was discussing this at a site in Stratford on Avon and when the sales lady told me that I asked her if she thought I would live that long !!! Got a bit of a laugh, but you are right, the value can hardly go up if you have to scrap it after 20 years!!

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Roon, not only will you have to move it, you will probably have to pay the site owner to move it to outside the site gate too.

Don't forget the commision you have to pay to the site owner if you want to sell it on site and also site fee increases.

Make sure you study the contract carefully or you may find you are giving the owners a free hand to increase fees (site and services) as they wish (our site rent increased by nearly 50% over 4 years).

Even a modern Parkhome is difftcult to sell without a site and you only get a fraction of it's true value.. Just look on e-bay

 

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You don't HAVE to remove after 20 years - it depends on how well the park home is maintained and looked after. My in law lives in one, and although not the oldest, is at least 35 years old. But it is kept well and looks modern.

Alot depends on the park site owner, as they will want to sell you a park home - they make money on it. Buy it yourself and you are looking a 25-60k (60 for a two storey 4 bed with balconies top and bottom) Once sited, it would be worth around 150k

 

So in that respect yes it will make money. A ready sited one will be charged at this sited rate, which is where the site owners cashes in 100k - he also is permitted to take 10% in commission each time it changes hands, and can charge extra for fuel and other services.

 

Check that you have your own gas meter, water meter etc. If so then you have the right to buy direct from the suppliers just like a house. If not, you have to buy off the site owner, who will give you lots of 'we get a bulk discount' but in reality he gets the discount and chrages 2p extra per unit, as a reseller on the going rate. This can make it more expensive fuel wise than a house, depending on how tight the site owner is!

 

Look into things cvarefully and weigh it up - wouldn't be an option as a safe haven if you live abroad though, as you have to be the main resident - you cannot rent without permission, and if you are not resident the site owner can take possession and you lose the lot!

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  • 1 month later...

O dear, O dear! So much confusion on one thread!

 

Firstly in reply to the original question from Dakota – park homes will go up and down in value in line with the property market. Those who purchased a park home say two years ago and now want to sell, will undoubtedly have a problem in realising the price they paid for it. However, this is no different to the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ property market.

 

From a long term point of view, I sold a park home in a new development I built in 1987 for £47,000 and two years ago it sold for in excess of £160,000.

 

With regards to the PHRAA’s website – yes, I agree, there are some cowboys out there, but do you know of any other industry that doesn’t have them? Maybe you missed the programme ‘Homes from Hell’ on Sky.

 

I have been in this industry for 40 years and know of 1,712 park home estates in the UK and most of them are run by decent, caring park owners who very much regret being tarred by the same brush as those mentioned on this particular web site.

 

The point made by ROON on 2 March 2009, where it is mentioned that you have to leave the park after 20 years is totally and utterly incorrect on a licensed residential park home estate. Once you have purchased your park home and have signed your agreement under the Mobile Homes Act 1983 you have the right to live on that park in perpetuity for you and your successors.

 

ROON is confusing the situation with a licensed holiday park and you shouldn’t be contemplating living there in any case. It would be against the conditions of the park site license and the local council would be within their rights to issue you with an enforcement notice to remove your home from the park, or at the very least to sell it to someone who would use it as a holiday home. We know of at least twelve parks where this happened during 2008.

 

The government have now published their long awaited Park Home Fact Sheets in a very simple question and answer format and I would urge you to read these. You can find them by clicking on this link

 

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/qualifyingparkhomefactsheet

 

Please don’t judge all park home estate owners by the minority who have no morals. The majority of us work extremely hard to create a pleasant environment for you to live in.

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  • 9 months later...

Okay, the last post on this thread was from polyb who, with the link provided, explained away a lot of doubts regarding parkhome living. It's interesting to see that the ones who had doubts & warnings about parkhome living in this thread, couldn't be bothered to reply with a teeny-weeny bit of thanks.

We are considering selling up on our "bricks & mortar" as we no longer need a house that is not now used as a family home being just the two of us. Space no longer being a premium. We've looked at a number of sites etc. but only one ticks all our boxes.

Which are. There is secure on site storage for our Motorhome, garage, individually metered services, including water. (Some said that gas & electric were metered, but water usage was divided equally between residents. So a single house owner would pay the same as a family with 2 cars which get regularly washed, & generally using more water. I think not!) Pets allowed, (one site only allowed a pet until it died & couldn't be replaced. That to us was outrageous, as elderly & not so elderly people would be lost without their faithful pet.) Set in a nice sunny !!! location near woodland, public transport nearby. Friendly manager, who we have known for a couple of years.

The one down side is the cost. A brand spanking new from the factory parkhome

with all appliances, furniture carpets etc etc costs app 50 to 80K. To site it on the park which we are interested in, which would include, transporting it & siting it, all connections, gas, electric, water, etc. fencing, turfing, garage & block paving the drive to the garage, would push the price up to app. 130K. So that is the stumbling block. 50,60,70K extra for siting, to us is excessive. Also when an owner sells, the park owners take a 10% cut of the selling price.

But the people we have spoken to, some, who have been resident for a number of years, are all in praise of the running of the park.

So there you have it. Thanks again to polyb for the link.

BeeJay ;-)

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  • 7 months later...
Sorry for the lack of responce to my posting 18 months ago , my computer packed in and ive only just got sorted with a laptop , well due to the property market slowing down not much has happened but ive made up my mind , im going to go for a small flat and get a small motorhome , more or less like roon suggests . That i reckon will be the best move for me .Thanks all . ;-)
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  • 7 months later...
  • 2 years later...
To hear you and your wife have lived in your park home for 24 years is exciting to hear as my wife and I just purchased a park home in Cornwall. We bought from The Dream Lodge Group and they are really efficient and their homes are good value for money and have great investment incentives. In case you were thinking of selling up or moving down the road check them out: http://www.thedreamlodgegroup.co.uk/holiday-homes/cornwall/hilton-woods-cornwall/about-hilton-woods/
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  • 1 year later...

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