Living in a Mobile Home

Archeron

Does anyone know anything about living permanently in a mobile home? I dont mean the vehicles with accomodation, but the large rectangular things that people use as holiday homes in places like Cortown that are moved on the trailers of 40 foot trucks. (the ones that have about 2/3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room etc) Is it feasible for a person to consider living in one of these full time? Is there anywhere around the east coast, Dublin, Meath, Kildare where this can be done? Can you buy a site with a mobile so as not to have to pay rent every month for the site? Any indications on costs and perhaps where you can actually buy the mobiles? I tried google, but there doesnt seem to be much information out there on the web at the minute, so any advice would be very welcome. A friend of mine once lived in one for a while and said unbearably cold in winter and unbearably warm in summer, as well as ppor build quality and generally very uncomfortable. Are they all like this or are some of them like houses? Sorry for the millions of questions. thanks.

Shelli

Myself and my partner have considered this option, buy a site and place a mobile on it until we have enough saved to build a house and while it is being built, so this question is very interesting to me. I too have looked on the net but I cant find any info which would relate to Ireland.

Archeron

Hi Shelli,
I used altavista and found www.amahercaravans.ie they;re based in Meath, near Dunboyne. Some of the models listed look really nice inside, so I'm going out over the weekend to take a look. They;re open all day saturday, and hopefully they might have advise on sites and things. Good luck with your investigation, if you find out any relevant info, will you post it here? I'll do the same myself.

rooferPete

Hi,

Try the Golden Pages, there is another dealer in the Newcastle / Rathcoole area Farrell and Sons.

Make sure your planning permission is in place before putting a mobile on a site, the planners do not like people trying to force them to grant planning permission.

Oral Slang

rooferPete wrote:

Hi,
Try the Golden Pages, there is another dealer in the Newcastle / Rathcoole area Farrell and Sons.

Yeah, they're supposed to be very good, I'm from the area & their business seems to be booming! http://www.harryfarrell-sons.com/

Years ago I used to babysit for a family who lived in a mobile home, well for about 2/3 years til they got planning.. They had a wood burning stove in it, so it used to be sweltering in the winter when it was lit. That said, when it went out it got cold very quickly.. Don't really remember what the summer was like!

MorningStar

My sister in law lives in one at the moment with her husband and daughter (2 bed one en suite). Surprisingly comfortable to be in. They are building their house so it is only a temporary thing (2 years so far). THey are happy enough with it but living in one full time is another story. How long they last would be a a concern. There are few things that cause problems. For examnple the carpet got destroyed so they went to replace it but there were problems due to the way the original carpet was fastened down. Hanging things on walls becomes an issue.

If you would be comfortable doing this why not think about living on a boat or barge. The price could be very similar

Archeron

Cheers for advice all. One of the big problems seems to be finding somewhere to put the things without planning permission issues.
Morningstar, is your Sis in law on her own site where she will build her house, or in a designated area for mobiles? Thanks.

Peace

My family has a holiday mobile home in waterford. Its fine. Like you say has a couple of bedrooms & batroom etc. But I wouldn't want to live in it permanently. It would be small, very cold in winter and more than likely damp.

cormie

I had a similar thread here. I was interested in portable accommodation and I don't have a faimily either. I was also thinking, that if I had the money to buy a house, I'd buy a mobile home for the back garden, I'd live in that and there would be an extra room in the house bringing in an extra €400 or so a month. I'm broke though:o

MorningStar

Archeron wrote:

Cheers for advice all. One of the big problems seems to be finding somewhere to put the things without planning permission issues.
Morningstar, is your Sis in law on her own site where she will build her house, or in a designated area for mobiles? Thanks.

THey are on their own site but there was a house there before so I don't know if that makes a difference. I know you are meant to get planning permission for mobile homes if they are there semi-permenant. No idea of time scale though. It would be unlikely any council would react quick enough if you were building your house. If you were apply for planning though that is different as they might not be impressed and be tougher

Culchie

Great thread.

I'm about to commence building and was thinking along these lines as well.

I know 'it depends' on what you go for....but what is a ball park figure for say a two bed mobile home?

Regards

C.

Archeron

Culchie wrote:

Great thread.

I'm about to commence building and was thinking along these lines as well.

I know 'it depends' on what you go for....but what is a ball park figure for say a two bed mobile home?

Regards

C.

Hi Culchie,
I visited the place in meath last weekend. They had something really for every pocket. There were some (good 10 years old) that only cost about 5k, but TBH, they were horrible. Really bare, poor design, poorly maintained, and not something I'd like to live in. They also had brand new stock, and some of these were unbelievable, nicer than most houses that I've been in. The two bedroom one I looked at for ages (made by Willerby, willerby.com) had 2 beds, good kitchen, sitting room, en suite, full bathroom, storage and a dining area and cost €54,000 (yep fifty four grand!!!) There are cheaper new ones, but from looking at their range, whatever your budget, there'll be one to suit. It really looks like you get what you pay for though and the cheap ones look quite nasty. The new ones come fully furnished with appliances and everything. Now to find somewhere to put one of them!!!

MorningStar

My sister-inlaw paid about 90k but it is very high spec. It is not cold as it has central heating. You can buy second hand and/or sell on afterwards. THere are a few dealers around Dublin anyway.

Culchie

MorningStar wrote:

My sister-inlaw paid about 90k but it is very high spec. It is not cold as it has central heating. You can buy second hand and/or sell on afterwards. THere are a few dealers around Dublin anyway.

Any idea on depreciation costs?
Is it as heavy as the cars .... 50% in 3 years?

MorningStar

Culchie wrote:

Any idea on depreciation costs?
Is it as heavy as the cars .... 50% in 3 years?

Really don't know I can't imagine it being the same as a car. I wouldn't live in any of them for 3 years with another person. Living on a building site is bad enough. It may actually cost a relationship and I don't mean that as a joke.

Archeron

Culchie wrote:

Any idea on depreciation costs?
Is it as heavy as the cars .... 50% in 3 years?

the guy i spoke to looked all sad and looked at the ground when he said "you WILL lose money on this" so as he was selling them, I reckon that means you will lose a mountain of money on this. I reckon, considering he had some about 5 years old there for like 6k, the depreciation is probably much worse than a car. Just guessing though.

Victor

Make sure it has a winter specification. Most in Ireland are suitable for summer use only.

bennyc

I looked into this a few years back
Second Hand Mobile home 3000 Punts
Had a site in mind but would have needed to service the site for water , electricty, road and septic tank. By the time we worked it out unless you have access to all above it was very expensive.
A mate did have a site with easy access to everything he went ahead and saved a fortune, Also saved on the cost of building he went self build as he was able to meet builders first thing in the morning ansd evening. A lot easier to keep an eye on the house.