Buying a mobile home on site

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elainem

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My sister has a mobile home in a park near Brittas Bay. She is encouraging me to buy one. I feel they are a bad investment even for holidays, though I admit the setting is absolutely lovely, and my kids adore the beach there.

Just wondered what everyone others' opinions would be. The cost of one of the mobiles is e20000 - it is ten years old. The cost of the othe mobile is e30,000 and it is 4 years old. The site costs for the year are e2,300 p.a. The park is open from 1st March to 31st October.

My view is that we could have several different holidays in different places for e20,000 over the next good few years. Further, even for the e2,300 p.a. park charge, we could have a reasonable holdiay (me and 2 kids).

My sister thinks mobile represents great value for young kids. She goes down almost every weekend, but I think I would get bored going down every weekend.

Comments and advice from other moible home owners would be really welcome.
 
We have a holiday home in a picturesque place by the beach with lots to do.
We have holidayed there twice in the last three years I'd say. This is due to the fact that the last decent summer was in 2006.

I think that you have answered your own question really. 20,000 would get you a lot of sun holidays if you budgeted carefully. My friend bought one in Clogherhead a few years back and used it v little. She has tried to sell it with no success.
 
elainem said:
.... but I think I would get bored going down every weekend.
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There's your answer! A total waste of YOUR money!

You make a great case for using the €20k towards other holidays ....

€2,300 per annum would cover a great holiday for you and your family .... bank the €20k!

And ....you only have access from March til end of October .... what if you wanted to have Christmas there? .... you can't ... yet you've paid over €2,300 per annum which actually works out at €287.50 per month 'cos you can't go there in November, December, January or February!

Like Emiso's says .... people are finding it harder to sell mobile homes ...

have a look: [broken link removed]

Run elainem ............... run! (and quickly at that) :)
 
Some families will spend the entire summer down there, sometimes leaving Dad working in Dublin and commuting at weekends. If that is your thing, you might get value.

Be wary of the lack of control you have over the site. Can the site owner double your fee? Can he decide to get out of the rental business? Can he force you to buy a replacement mobile home off his 'preferred supplier' only?
 
Complainer said:
Be wary of the lack of control you have over the site. Can the site owner double your fee? Can he decide to get out of the rental business? Can he force you to buy a replacement mobile home off his 'preferred supplier' only?
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My late 'parents in law' ran a mobile home park. The 'vans'. as they referred to them, had to be replaced after 10 years and the replacement ones had to be bought through them, i..e they took a slice off that business too.

The arrangements for annual fees may differ from site to site. There was a story recently about difficulties in one of the sites in Brittas Bay - landlord wants to increase fees, the tenants don't want to pay and, in some cases, can no longer pay the existing rate due to changed financial circumstances. Some are in negative equity on their caravan sites.
 
elainem said:
My sister thinks mobile represents great value for young kids. She goes down almost every weekend, but I think I would get bored going down every weekend.

Comments and advice from other moible home owners would be really welcome.
Click to expand...

Sounds likes your sister is already a bit bored and needs some company. I have friends who have a mobile and like that rarely use it, the odd sunny weekend and that's it. Personally I would prefer to invest in a good second hand camper van, at least you can move around.
 
My sister has a caravan in Clogherhead she bought it 2 years ago and spends the entire summer there. She has two young kids and they get great use out of it, kids spend all the time on the beach.

We also used to holiday there when we were kids and loved it. I can't recall off the top of my head what the van cost but it definitely wasn't as much as €20k and I know the site fee is around €1,500 so a good bit less than Brittas.
 
I agree with a previous poster, it's really down to the kind of person you are. If you're quite outdoorsy and a 'joiner' you'd probably be fine and enjoy taking part in some of the communal stuff that goes on in caravan parks. If you're a bit more reserved or enjoy your comforts then I think you would be wasting your money as you'd probably end up finding all kinds of excuses not to go down, or to come back home early.
 
€20,000 seems an awful lot for a 10 year old mobile home. I would suspect that if the mobile home is 10 years old then from now on you will be experiencing problems that require fixes.

The park owners that run the site also get a cut of the sale price and that keeps the prices inflated.

My mother had one in Cork years ago and loved it. I hated it. Each winter she would have the park owner "tie it down" so that it would not be damaged in high winds. For that there was an extra fee and not everyone paid it. One christmas there was a very bad storm and one that wasn't tied down landed on my mothers one :-(

Also, insurance was exceptionally high. About 3 times more than the average house.

If you have reservations and have to ask a forum for guidance then you have answered the question yourself.
 
Thanks everyone for your comments and advice. I have definitely decided not to go ahead with buying the mobile home. Firstly, because I don't think I would use it enough and would get bored going to the same place all the time. Secondly, I think it's a very bad investment.

Ney001 - you are right. My sister is bored down at the mobile home site. Her husband told me out of her earshot that he finds it too quite, and we are all having to keep her company there when he is not around. Madness really for them to pay e40,000 for the mobile.

Thanks again to all of you.
 
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