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Static caravan


foxnet22
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Her indoors is looking into the purchase of a static caravan.so thought I would ask the knowledge of pw members who have experienced statics what we should be looking out for before we take the plunge .she as narrowed the location down to the Tyne valley area northumberland.any recommendations up that way of decent sites ?is there any underlying costs we should look out for etc ?

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Just rent one for a bit. 
 

Grounf rent, management fees, maintenance costs etc etc etc. 
 

I was amazed when we took some kids from care to stay in a caravan and people were signing up for finance deals on caravans etc that cost in the very high tens of thousands. 
 

A woman in my work bought one, with all the site fees etc she said it was costing significantly more than expected. She had a lot of difficulty selling it then when she did had to have it removed from site and pay a specialist to come take it away. Her dream soon became a nightmare. 
 

Make sure you go over everything with a very fine tooth comb! 

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I have one near Ripon.

Check as some sites dont like caravans on over a certain age.

You could pick up a caravan on the site quite cheap but it might only have a few years left on there,then it's your responsibility to get it taken away...

 

 

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A Lot depends on where you decide to go different sites  got different rules most sites say you got to buy  off them and give them the first chance to buy if you want to sell

Some sites give you a certain amount of life on your caravan then you gotta upgrade or get off others don't you can stay as long your van is kept in good order .

On ours Parkdean Porthcawl our site fees include all ground maintenance and water but not electric or gas you have got to watch them they can be crafty they try to make up rules like you got to have electrical certificate and a gas certificate  we was all paying this every year and it turned out it only applies if you rent your caravan same as if you rent you a house 

 

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My farmer’s wife talked him into buying a brand new one on a new site which he did to shut her up. They had it just over a year used it 6 or 7 times and decided the drive was just to much to pop down for the weekends away (which he had already told her) so decided to sell it. When he eventually sold it he didn’t tell me the exact figures but he said he lost almost half his money on it and it was a lot. 
He had a lot of conditions on his like he wasn’t allowed to rent it out, when he comes to sell it he had to give the site first choice and the caravan would have to be replaced after a number of years as they only wanted new ones on the site. 

Edited by crossy 666
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I always view things like this as a business transaction - obviously not the ideal way but it does give some grounding.
Unless you are looking at a big names site such as the havens or the like take a look at how much they are to rent. 
One site had a nigh on 3k yearly fee if you included the certificates for gas and electric along with 1 gas bottle a year (the electric was included)

a 2 week peak rental period was 1k so the break even point was 6 peak weeks or 4 peak weeks and 10 - 15 weekends. That doesn’t include the £20k purchase. 
 
the season was 9 months 

how much will you actually use it vs renting one. If you have family who would use it it’s a different matter. 
 

someone in the village use theirs as home then come back during the holidays when the family go down to use it. 
another meets their wife on a Friday after work, they stay all weekend them make back to work on a Monday   

it all depends on how much you will use it and how quick the novelty wears off. 
 

everyone I have known who sells has said they were offered about half the paid value by the site. For a private sale there was a ‘transfer fee’ of a couple of grand. 
 

would I have one - too right if I had the spare capital and the house was paid off. 
 

as a side note I have seen people buy a decent large fixed bed tourer and site it permanently- not exactly the same but easier to jump ship and release capital if needed. 

Edited by ph5172
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We looked at a site in Swanage, and there was plenty of vans for sale. When we discussed the site fees they worked out at over £5000 a year. This would have been ok if we planned to rent it out but not just family use, add the cost of van and we can have several weeks in good hotels for less money

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This info may well be out of date but is taken from me working on these sites many years ago

everything has to be bought/sold through the site owners, including

the van itself

electric

water

gas bottles

siting

removal

repairs

site owner decided on the 'life, ' of the van

no sign written vehicles on site unless working there

no vans

no trailers

as I said , this was a few years ago

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We have one on a site in southwest Scotland near Newton Stewart. The site rates are a lot less than say somewhere on the east coast, it’s quiet, there aren’t any weird rules that I’m aware of and it’s just over 3 hours away so close enough for a long weekend. Been going up there since I was a kid and still try to go up as much as possible. 

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Another thing to consider is the site itself,  I stay in a tourer when I'm at work, and when I'm only there in the evening its lovely and quiet,  but during the day it can be non stop people going by because they sell a lot of caravans and motor homes. 

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A static is a money pit, you will lose all ways round. If you decide to buy one go in with your eyes wide open. Saying that, we have one on a fantastic site only 30 minutes away so we can go whenever we want and as soon as we drive through the gates we feel like we are on holiday. Our family love it and visit often and we have made great friends. We have had it 3 seasons so far and had not one moment of regret. You do hear some horror stories, especially from people on the big sites like Haven and Parkdean so do your research.

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