AIBU to buy a park home?

[PianoExam]

I am in my mid 50s and we are wondering about downsizing to release capital to travel. Husband will carry on working but works from home anyway.

We have looked online at park homes and possibly retirement villages. Both look tempting.

Are there any pitfalls to look out for?

get a bungalow in a cheaper area - a nice 2 bed one with a garden & garage
just check that there is: reasonable shops nearby or decent public transport - & a hospital & a local doctor & dental surgery - you may not always be able to drive so this is future proofing. Look at neighbourhood, obviously safe but what social facilities & groups you can join (U3A library pubs etc)? Is the house big enough for visitors

Check you can live year round as others have said, and also what local facilities are if you could not drive or indeed walk far, say if you had an injury. Many I have seen are remote from such facilities.

Just research. We often go to an amazing, privately owned site on the East Coast because we lucked out and found an owner who rents out at £25 a night. The static we stay in has a full bathroom and dressing room and is just so cosy. The site has garden plots, no minimum age for homes and a lovely club house with pool, wellness and state of the art gym. I think annual fees are about £4000 a year. It is not a residential site so closes for 3 weeks from mid January. Lots of youngish retired people base themselves there, but it is a lifestyle choice not an investment. It is a lovely place and I would happily retire there because the community and the facilities would provide a lifestyle I would enjoy. I would not sell my main home though- rent it out maybe?

@speakout, my neighbours bought a flat in a normal (non-retirement) block in their mid 60s when they were fit and well. They did equity release which meant when their health went downhill and the flat was no longer suitable (close to town but at the bottom of a steep hill; gated so once they lost mobility / couldn’t hear the bell their carers couldn’t gain access), they were trapped.

It was a nightmare for them and for the people in the surrounding flats (they flooded my flat 3 times in 2 1/2 years, the husband lost all sense of day and night and since he was stone deaf I’d regularly get woken by a blaring TV at 03:00 in the morning).

Having seen what they went through, I’d never recommend equity release to anyone. It’s not just a matter of not having anything to leave, it’s also removing options if a person’s circumstances change.

Bungalow all the way. Wouldn't touch a retirement village with a barge pole, too restrictive. Would only have a park home for a holiday home.

Yes avoid equity release like the plague. Best plan is just to downsize to a tiny house or bungalow

@Sylvia1491

I think people are confusing Park Homes with Static caravans. Park Homes are designed to live in all year round, the sites are fully residential and do not close at all throughout the year. They are also built to last a lot longer than 25 years. As long as they are maintained they are still going strong after 40+ years.

Park homes are still a depreciating asset. You don't own the pitch and you are at the mercy of the site owner when it comes to things like facilities and service charges etc. I regularly have to advise on them and would advise people to steer clear. They are nothing like owning a house.

They did equity release which meant when their health went downhill and the flat was no longer suitable (close to town but at the bottom of a steep hill; gated so once they lost mobility / couldn’t hear the bell their carers couldn’t gain access), they were trapped

Slightly o/t - but did equity release mean the no longer qualified for residential care?

If they were so unable to look after themselves why didn’t social services find them a care home place?

I am 68, DH 73, we are way too young for a retirement village.

The traveller community live in park homes the length and breadth of the country, and do for most of their lives, not just retirement.
So if It frees up cash for a less stressful life with more travel, then go for it.
But financially its not good for investment purposes, maybe a smallest/less expensive house?

@bluebluezoo

They did equity release which meant when their health went downhill and the flat was no longer suitable (close to town but at the bottom of a steep hill; gated so once they lost mobility / couldn’t hear the bell their carers couldn’t gain access), they were trapped

Slightly o/t - but did equity release mean the no longer qualified for residential care?

If they were so unable to look after themselves why didn’t social services find them a care home place?

I don’t know all the details but I know the husband flatly refused to live anywhere but his own home. It may well have been a care home could have been arranged - the issue was the 5 or 6 years where they weren’t badly enough off for that but they couldn’t move to a retirement village / location that suited them better because they didn’t have enough equity in the flat.

They had carers in 3 times a day - I think social services will always do things on the cheap if they can and for whatever reason, a care home wasn’t arranged.

Private Eye regularly covers the park home market. I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

@KeflavikAirport

Private Eye regularly covers the park home market. I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole.

Yep! My folks looked into it. Decided to go for a bungalow instead. They didn't do equity release, either. Sold up and put the money into tax-free investment vehicles. But they also did not do it to free up capital but because the house was getting too much for them and they were older than mid-50s. Really restrictive covenants including how long you can have guests including your grandchildren stay. Also usually much harder to sell on than a bungalow.

Look to the future, too. My father's gone now, but they both have/had good mobility. Still, now he's gone, my mother doesn't need to move, she just has someone in to do the gardens. House is a perfect size for her and she can have guests at any time.