Is park life for us?

Hi all, hope life is treating you well!

Myself and the wife were recently told about park homes by a relative who has recently moved into one and has given glowing reports about how she's enjoying it, and that has started us wondering about whether or not it would be good for us as well. I'm knocking on the door of 50, and Barbara is 20 years my senior (Yeah, I'm a Toyboy!).

We've been busy for the last decade running a village shop & P.O, and after that closed (when the local school was killed off, (thank you local council :( ) ran a framing business for a couple of years until the banks decided we were enjoying life too much and crippled the economy. Thanks you bankers!

I'm not worried about Barbara fitting in with the lifestyle, she is a very sociable person and the sort that could make friends in the middle of a riot. I'm less social, preferring to be absorbed by my hobbies, but no less friendly, and always try to be considerate to those around me.. However it's the hobbies that could be a problem as to us fitting in...

One of the things I love to do is paint... but I like a fair bit of space to do this in, as some of the canvases I work on are quite large. Because I wouldn't want to use a 2nd bedroom (would like to keep that for guests) I would like to find a place already with or having enough garden space to build a summerhouse for use as a studio. Most of the park homes I've seen so far (internet and a couple of magazines) have little or no garden, so I'm not sure if that's possible.

The other main hobby is a bigger worry... I like motorbikes. Old classic Triumphs, to be precise. Now I'm no boy racer nor in any group or 'gang' so wouldn't be screaming up and down with it at all hours, I wouldn't even be using it more than a couple of days a week, but I do like to just potter around on it and do my own maintenance/restoring.... So I would need somewhere that would allow garages as well. Wouldn't want it getting rusty outside!

One last spanner in the works is that we have cats. Both are currently indoor cats, but one would go out happily if we let her (we lost another cat a few years on the road, so became wary of letting these two young'uns  out). So we would also need a place that allowed cats.

Did I say one last spanner? Room for one more?  We'd be looking for a part-ex deal on our current home. 

Are there any parks that would tick all those boxes?

Would love to hear your opinions.

Steve 

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.

It's a big place the UK!  Any preferences on area and we'll put our thinking cap on?

It would also help if you could give me some idea of budget. Please Private Message me with that info if you would prefer.

Ed.

We're fairly easy on the exact location, but with a preference for the midlands, maybe as far north as lincolnshire, but not any further up than that, nor anywhere near London. Rural/semi-rural location is a preference as well. We have been looking online at a couple of places in Rutland that seem interesting, and another one in Meriden, which would be handy for seeing the kids who are in Coventry. 

Budget is a bit tricky - we have our house for sale at £245k, but we've got to pay off the mortgage/loans so the low end is likely to be around 175k (if a part ex deal will pay out somewhere near the asking price). We also have a plot for sale and if that goes maybe we could go as high as 220k.

That's not too bad a budget at all!

I have done a search in amongst our clients for either new plots and new or secondhand homes in West Midlands, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Bedfordshire and Bucks and have come up with a list of around 70. Many are well below your budget, but I thought I would leave them in just so that you can get a feel of what is available and at what price in that area.  Plots of course won't have a price until the park owner knows which home you might be interested in. You can click through to the search results here.

I'm afraid you will have to contact the park direct with regards to part exchange, cats and motorbikes!

Hope that helps.

Ed.

Some gooduns there, but can you do partex on older homes? Haven't looked into it much yet but I would imagine it would only be possible on new ones.

Yes, it would only be new homes, but your budget brings you into the realms of a new home.

Ed.

Just been looking at Tingdene's site and seen the actual house style we'd like (Afleck). They have a 3rd party p/ex scheme which may be of interest. If that is £150k all in, what are the other costs likely to be (such as delivery, initial park fees, etc)? Do parks let you choose & buy your own house or do they insist on being bought through them for a premium? If so what, approximately, would that be?

Just had a thought about our budget, because we need to have an excess left over from the sale of our place to pay off all the debts we may be liable for capital gains tax, so will have to talk to the accountant on what that is likely to be. It may reduce the budget a little.