Would you consider a park home as an affordable long-term option?

[Anothernamechanging]

What do you think of park homes?

I need to buy somewhere to live, but my job is in a very expensive area unfortunately.

I need a two bedroom place for me and my DS.

Park homes in the area are affordable, but I can't shake the feeling of being a bit of loser, living in a trailer.

I work full-time in a stressful job, but don't earn a high salary.

My aunt and uncle are loaded they choose to live on a park home site as they don't want loads of space and love the sense of community there.
It's their main residence.
But yes I get the feeling they're set up for housing older people not families there's at least is a no kids site

I think some people are confusing holiday park homes with residential park homes.

Holiday park homes usually do come with restrictions on occupation, regular renewal of the home, higher fees etc whereas many of these do not apply to residential park homes (replacement is usually less frequent and as they are usually not in such desirable "holiday" locations, fees are more reasonable).

I wouldn’t.

Most parks have age limits on the units and at some point you are required to remove and replace it - quite often with one of theirs!

You also can’t generally get post delivered and there are occupational rules.

I've never understood that "10 months only" requirement?

Why on earth does that exist? I mean what is the point of it, who does it benefit?

Thanks for pointing out 45+. I can't believe I missed that. Well, that's ruled out.

It's to do with licensing I believe.

Unlike a house or flat it is a depreciating asset. You are bound by the rules of the landowner who can make them up as and when it suits them. They can also allow the woodlands which are the main attraction, to be developed for a thousand more chalets which is happening to our local one that I briefly thought of buying into. The residents association has no power at all in the way the place is run.
You have so little autonomy with those places.

Because you don’t pay council tax. Holiday parks are not intended to be permanent homes (we own a static caravan on one of these sites - we can only use it 11 months of the year). We pay a site fee that covers all the basic amenities.

Curious. The link posted says freehold so why would there be fees?

It’s such a terrible idea in so many different ways. It’s not at all like buying a normal home - it’s essentially buying a large caravan on land owned by someone else - all you have is a contractual right (not a property right) to have your caravan there as long as the land owner is happy and subject to whatever rules and costs the land owner wants to impose.

The prices of these “park homes” are also really inflated and you may not be able to sell.

So this can be disastrous.

The link posted says freehold so why would there be fees?

Maintenance of the surrounding 'park'? All the amenities such as lighting, paving and access roads, cleaning etc that would be covered by council tax if you lived in a house on a street?

you'd need another address for 2 weeks
they lose value
generally over 50s

Thank you - I knew there was something legal about it.

I have two parks near me with permanent residents. They are all very smart and I wouldn’t judge anyone for living there. But there is lots to think about, e.g. with these ones you are not allowed to sell them on, you can only sell them back to the company who owns the site. The company decides what it will pay you

I think you can ignore that misleading statement - it’s actually the park owner that owns the freehold.

I’m assuming you’re paying cash - could you not put a large deposit down on a normal home and then get a mortgage for the rest?

They still have to pay council tax, I have friends live in one and lovely as it is in a rural setting that's one of the things that put me off, high service charge on top of council tax every month 😮
There's a lot of misinformation on here, theirs is a residential park home and open 12 months of the year, people are getting mixed up with holiday parks.

Not in a million years, even if it was free. Look up Alfie Best and Wyldecrest Parks.

Yes I looked into it too and was shocked by the monthly fees.

I know holiday park caravans are much higher but the residential ones are still high too.

Perhaps I was looking in the wrong areas but I found it was cheaper to rent privately than buy one of these and pay the monthly fees (even though I really like them and would live in one).

I would not touch with a barge pole. Some site owners are dangerously dodgy.

Would you consider shared ownership of bricks and mortar property?
e.g. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88453395#/?channel=RES_BUY

You are confusing residential park homes with caravan sites.We boughta lovely park home 5 years ago in a beautiful part of the country,we have a big garden which is very private and overlooks a field with cattle in.We are very lucky in that we have the owner living on site who keeps the site in immaculate condition,Its warm in winter and cool in summer and our utility bills are much lower than our house was,Ours was 30yrs old when we bought it and will pobably last longer than new dodgy brick built houses.Years ago they didnt keep their value but they are very sought after now by retirers who want to downsize and have money to enjoy.My neighbour recently sold her 35y old home for double what she paid for it.

I rented one for 4 years, but not on a residential park or holiday park so didn't have the issues mentioned. However, there is zero insulation and the costs of heating are high. However with plug in solar I would now be less worried about this, provided I was allowed to have it.

I loved it at the time, but did get to a point where I wanted to have bricks and mortar round me. It didn't cross my mind that anyone would think I was a "loser" because of it and I was only renting one. I was housing myself. I got to live in a place I wanted to and really enjoyed it.

This is wrong the government bough in legislation just before we bought and owners have more rights now,the landowner cannot make the rules up as and when he pleases,they also cant build more units over and above the amount they originally applied for.My house has doubled in value in 5 years.You are talking about chalets that sounds more like a holiday park..

Or this one? https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/169647053#/?channel=RES_NEW
Its 4 bed, so you could offset costs with a lodger if you wanted.