Mobile home market

Coz

My family are considering buying a holiday mobile home on a site in Wexford but we have absolutely no idea what the going market rate would be.

Would anyone know ballpark bracket so that we can decide as to whether it's worth pursuing or if it's just a pipedream?

dory

I've heard of one for €80k recently in Kerry, another €35k in Kerry and some in Wicklow go for €500k! Not sure about Wexford. You might get better responses in the caravan forum.

artanevilla

A lot of factors to consider, what park are you going to? New or second hand? Will you own or rent the pitch? Will you be buying into the park itself? (some parks you become a shareholder)

DubCount

A mobile home purchase is really 2 purchases. There is the value of the physical mobile home itself, and the value of the site. The physical mobile is going to have a value related to its age and quality. They only last so long and will eventually be worth nothing. Access to a particular site (especially some of the popular ones) with good facilities and access to the sea etc. will also have a value. Some sites have restrictions on how old a mobile home on their site is allowed to be, so check that out.

Gregor Samsa

There's no straight answer to your question. You need to contact the mobile home park and find out the story from them.

First up, there will very likely be a waiting list.

Secondly, different parks work in different ways. Some are a co-op, where you actually own the site you'll put your mobile on, and can sub-let or sell it in the future. You also then pay a fee each year for the use of the facilities, and obviously you have to buy the mobile itself too.

Other places, you're just renting the site you put the mobile on, but you often have to pay "hello money" to get set up in the first place.

Some places, you have to buy the mobile from a particular dealer (and there can be kickbacks to the owner of the mobile park on that).

Sometimes, the park will already have a mobile there on the site to sell you direct.

As mentioned above, some places have age limits on the mobile. So not only will you have to buy one that is less than X years old, but you'll have to replace it when it comes to a certain age too (even if it's well maintained).

Some places are run very much above board as business, some places are shady farmers with a very desirable site and you have no choice but to play by their rules (if you want to have a mobile there). I've direct experience of the latter.

SharkMX

I dont know about Ireland but I was in Wales last year and stayed in a friends familys mobile on a big site there. The mobile was lovely. The park was great with all sorts of activities or kids and a bar etc on it.

We got caught by one of the reps who started showing us around these amazing mobiles. Some were brand new and other were older but looked brand new to be fair. The cheapest one of them was £55k.

Then he brought us into an office and gave us sandwiches and tea and biscuits and said he would be back in a minute. Of course it was the "closer" who came over and sweet talked us for about an hour. We were never going to buy because - money - but we were interested in it all the same so stayed and asked questions.

You had to buy the mobile from them. If it was 10 years old you had to trade it in with them for a newer one. You were not allowed to put a mobile bought anywhere else on the site.

The site fees were £3500 per year. You got a few minor perks and discounts and if you signed up today you got €7k off the price of the mobile and your first years fees free. We made our excuses and left.

I was talking to my friend about the experience after and he told me that they were paying £8k per year site fees. They had gone up 40% the year before and nearly as much the previous few years too.

They get you in first and then start raising the fees. And they raise them by a lot. They had to rent out their mobile to make the fees back before, but they werent making them anymore so they will probably be selling it this year. He thinks they will end up with a big loss when its all done.

That said though, if you can afford it and will make use of it, especially if you have children, I think they are a great little base for a few breaks during the year. Not sure of the Irish sites would have the facilities the uk ones seem to have though.

ted1

Lots of different factors.

ones in our park go for about 300k. But for that you become a share holder in the park, own the site outright, have 12 months access and minimal service charge , and no rule regarding the age of the mobile home, you have tennis courts, football field, showers, access to what is effectively a private beach

other parks are cheaper but you rent the site yearly , have access for only 6-8 months and mobile homes need to be over younger than 15 years. Now you might get one for

50k but in the long run it’ll cost you more in annual charges , rent, replacing vans. etc

where as the more expensive one you can sell for around the same purchase price

Coz

Sounds familiar. That's not Tara Cove by any chance?

Coz

Ideally a shareholder one

JCN12

Completely ignorant to this spectrum of the property market. Can you live in it all year round or is there a restriction on the number of days per annum you can stay etc? 🤔

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121338269#Comment_121338269

yep