Sick of renting - Caravan?

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 9:46pm #1

Hi all, we are a young couple (24&25) we have a 2 year old daughter.

We are toying with the idea of buying a modern caravan & travelling throughout Ireland and the Uk for the next two years before mortgaging a home when our little one starts school.

Our current landlord wants the house back for legitimate reasons & it’s so hard & expensive to get another house lately.

I work in IT remotely for several clients & companies so I can work on the road it’s not a problem.

The caravans we are looking at are well equipped with showers , gas cookers , gas heating , dishwashers etc. For approx 10k.

The only problem we can see is washing clothing & bedding etc.

We plan to move from campsite to campsite & everything in between.

My question is, can anyone see any problems which might arouse while we are on the road? Especially having such a young child? We would come home for Christmas for 2 weeks.

And by the way we are not [snip]travellers just two regular joes. But we would love some input from any and all walks of life.

We don’t want to pay upwards of €25k in rent in the next two years, instead we want to have a 2 year free spirited holiday.

Thanks guys!

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 10:25pm

Surely someone has lived the tramping/travelling lifestyle for even a couple weeks during summer?

What problems did you run into?

StupidLikeAFox · 08-04-2021 10:27pm

Well you say you aren't travellers, bit you will be leading a travellers lifestyle. If you pull in on the side of the road somewhere you will attract attention and ultimately hassle.

If you want to stay in campsites you will be paying 15 or 20 quid a night anyway, which is going to eat in to a lot of the savings you plan to make.

You will be doing this while living in very cramped conditions. It won't be fun trying to entertain a toddler and get some work done in the confines of a caravan, especially if its pissing down rain.

Personally if I were in your position I'd look at taking in a few short term lets in spots along the wild Atlantic way etc. Or in parts of France or Italy that are off the beaten track. You may be able to get a few bargains, but still maintain a level of comfort

HeidiHeidi · 08-04-2021 10:31pm

I have never lived the camping/caravaning life, or anything remotely near it.

But I can't imagine doing it during the winter, especially with a toddler. Are campsites even open during the winter for casual visitors? Would a caravan be a comfortable place to live and work during the short, damp, dark winter days for 3 people?

I don't mean to knock your idea from the start, but I just can't help thinking that if it was a viable alternative to renting, plenty more would be doing it - and I've never heard of anyone doing it (but I lead a very "conventional" life, so.....)

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 10:40pm

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Well you say you aren't travellers, bit you will be leading a travellers lifestyle. If you pull in on the side of the road somewhere you will attract attention and ultimately hassle.

If you want to stay in campsites you will be paying 15 or 20 quid a night anyway, which is going to eat in to a lot of the savings you plan to make.

You will be doing this while living in very cramped conditions. It won't be fun trying to entertain a toddler and get some work done in the confines of a caravan, especially if its pissing down rain.

Personally if I were in your position I'd look at taking in a few short term lets in spots along the wild Atlantic way etc. Or in parts of France or Italy that are off the beaten track. You may be able to get a few bargains, but still maintain a level of comfort

Highly appreciate your input, we could possibly go to southern France for the latter part of the year. Even campsites charging 30euro/night plus 5/10 for electric hook up beats our current rental priced. Hey I’m not a traveler but may end up being one in a couple years lol. But in all seriousness, maybe asking actual travelers may be the best thing to do? (Not the kn4ckers that live on estates, the die hard travelling community)

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 10:45pm

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I have never lived the camping/caravaning life, or anything remotely near it.

But I can't imagine doing it during the winter, especially with a toddler. Are campsites even open during the winter for casual visitors? Would a caravan be a comfortable place to live and work during the short, damp, dark winter days for 3 people?

I don't mean to knock your idea from the start, but I just can't help thinking that if it was a viable alternative to renting, plenty more would be doing it - and I've never heard of anyone doing it (but I lead a very "conventional" life, so.....)

Hey, thanks for your input! Truly appreciated. I agree cold windy winter nights are scaring us with a toddler. A good few campsites are open all year round. And like I said before we might even travel to France / Italy for the coldest of months only coming home for Christmas.

It’s not so much that we want to Avoid renting it’s just with the current climate it may be more feasible to effectively holiday around for the same type of money? Instead of handing it over to some greedy landlord to live in a dive place where we are renting for almost double the cost it would cost to mortgage a similar property.

Creamy Goodness · 08-04-2021 10:48pm

Bare in mind there are tax implications for both you and your employer if you plan to work from another country. Your employer may have to be set up to do this and are not obligated to.

Double check this before looking into any further.

Also bear in mind most banks will take rental outgoings as showing an ability to repay a mortgage. So whilst you’ll still need the deposit you may not need to show regular savings per month of the mortgage amount + stressed test.

Car99 · 08-04-2021 10:49pm

Is it difficult to get insurance with no fixed abode while travelling to different countries inside and outside the EU ?

SEPT 23 1989 · 08-04-2021 10:50pm

The winter in a caravan isn’t pretty

listermint · 08-04-2021 10:54pm

Legitimately no chance this thread is on the level.

StupidLikeAFox · 08-04-2021 10:55pm

Eirehead96 wrote: »

Highly appreciate your input, we could possibly go to southern France for the latter part of the year. Even campsites charging 30euro/night plus 5/10 for electric hook up beats our current rental priced. Hey I’m not a traveler but may end up being one in a couple years lol. But in all seriousness, maybe asking actual travelers may be the best thing to do? (Not the kn4ckers that live on estates, the die hard travelling community)

Does it though? 40 quid a night is 1200 per month, or for 11 months of the year that is around 13k

CarPark2 · 08-04-2021 10:56pm

At the moment, this feels like a great idea to you, so i guess you need to try to objectively identify the possible pitfalls.

1. I don't know of any campsites/caravan parks will be open in the winter.
2. Caravans are generally not well insulated, so it is likely to be miserable in winter. Even the south of france would be cold in December, especially at night.
3. As one of the other posters said, it will be really difficult to entertain a toddler and for you to work from home, all in essentially one room.
4. Will you have to go to bed at the same time as your toddler? If she is in the same room as you, you can hardly stay up watching TV?

If you want to find some real world experience, a lot of people have lived in a caravan while they build their house. Do you know of anybody in your locality or extended family that did that? They might give you an idea of what it is like. Or post over on the construction and planning board.

To me, it sounds like a bad idea. I think that it would be very stressful in the middle of winter, when you are freezing, tired of living in a tiny cramped space and all you want is a nice hot shower in a decent sized bathroom.

I endorse the advice above. If you can work from anywhere, look up houses to rent in Leitrim or Croatia or somewhere with low rent costs.

BTW, kn4ckers is an offensive term, even when you substitute a 4 for the a.

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 10:59pm

Car99 wrote: »

Is it difficult to get insurance with no fixed abode while travelling to different countries inside and outside the EU ?

Do you mean commercial motor insurance?
I have a 4x4 pickup truck at the moment & herself has a car but we would sell the car.

Everything postal wise I would send to my parents (home place)

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 11:01pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

The winter in a caravan isn’t pretty

I’ve been there before as a kid, spent a couple winters in a 40ft mobile with 2 siblings while my parents were self-building. It wasn’t spacious guaranteed but hey we still had a great upbringing during those couple years.

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 11:02pm

listermint wrote: »

Legitimately no chance this thread is on the level.

Don’t get what you mean by that comment?

Eirehead96 · 08-04-2021 11:09pm

CarPark2 wrote: »

At the moment, this feels like a great idea to you, so i guess you need to try to objectively identify the possible pitfalls.

1. I don't know of any campsites/caravan parks will be open in the winter.
2. Caravans are generally not well insulated, so it is likely to be miserable in winter. Even the south of france would be cold in December, especially at night.
3. As one of the other posters said, it will be really difficult to entertain a toddler and for you to work from home, all in essentially one room.
4. Will you have to go to bed at the same time as your toddler? If she is in the same room as you, you can hardly stay up watching TV?

If you want to find some real world experience, a lot of people have lived in a caravan while they build their house. Do you know of anybody in your locality or extended family that did that? They might give you an idea of what it is like. Or post over on the construction and planning board.

To me, it sounds like a bad idea. I think that it would be very stressful in the middle of winter, when you are freezing, tired of living in a tiny cramped space and all you want is a nice hot shower in a decent sized bathroom.

I endorse the advice above. If you can work from anywhere, look up houses to rent in Leitrim or Croatia or somewhere with low rent costs.

BTW, kn4ckers is an offensive term, even when you substitute a 4 for the a.

We have toyed with the idea of moving to Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo due to the attractive rent prices. To be honest I may be swayed , some brand new houses in these areas are being rented at 1/3 of the cost of rent we are paying now.

I have first hand experience of living out of a mobile home when I was younger. 2 adults , 3kids living from a basic 40ft mobile. It was like an 18month holiday but that was because dad was building our family home at the time a self build.

I appreciate your input so much. Hey I don’t mean to offend annoying with the kn4k thing.

TheW1zard · 08-04-2021 11:13pm

Any milk for the babay

CarPark2 · 08-04-2021 11:14pm

Eirehead96 wrote: »

We have toyed with the idea of moving to Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo due to the attractive rent prices. To be honest I may be swayed , some brand new houses in these areas are being rented at 1/3 of the cost of rent we are paying now.

I have first hand experience of living out of a mobile home when I was younger. 2 adults , 3kids living from a basic 40ft mobile. It was like an 18month holiday but that was because dad was building our family home at the time a self build.

I appreciate your input so much. Hey I don’t mean to offend annoying with the kn4k thing.

Have you talked to your parents about that time? How was it for them? Sometimes young kids can think that it was a great time, but the adults may have been stressed up to their eyeballs.
Also, people have different expectations now, in terms of comfort etc.
When comparing costs, consider all of the options, including a two bed semi in Leitrim. You may find, when all is costed in, this isn't even the best option financially (not to mention the discomfort).

Alkers · 08-04-2021 11:18pm

You will find that a caravan is a complete non runner unless you're staying in service campsites all year around and most of them won't be open in the off season.

With a campervan you can at least wild camp and with a diesel heater you can be warm but you're going to be looking at remote areas where you'll struggle for WiFi for working.

I think it could be a runner if it wasn't for the toddler - your head will be absolutely melted. Why not just rent s house in s cheaper county if you're happy to work remotely and be a bit isolated from society?

ED E · 08-04-2021 11:19pm

listermint wrote: »

Legitimately no chance this thread is on the level.

.

BorneTobyWilde · 08-04-2021 11:23pm

You could buy a boat and live on
regents canal in London

Would would cost 25k, use for two year, sell again for probably more.

BorneTobyWilde · 08-04-2021 11:24pm

Nicola Thorp couldn't afford a home in london, so bought a boat on ebay and lives in it ever since.

image0-6a7c.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all

Lesalare · 08-04-2021 11:32pm

Only way I can see this working is if you buy a customised moving home - aka a Sprinter or such. Dragging a caravan around is another matter.

There are loads of vids on you tube - mainly insta, hippy types in US or Aus, who travel around in a customised van in incredibly cramped conditions and video it and make out it's not half as hard as it actually is. I can't even imagine doing with with a young kid, but there are a few who do.

Benefits are you are mobile and can travel anywhere but around Ireland? You'll get bored pretty quickly.

Check out: Kara and Nate (no kids)
and
Flying the nest (they have a young kid)

Goggle them both on You tube.

These situs are nothing like Ireland though.

08-04-2021 11:49pm

OP, it sounds like it could be challenging with just two adults. Adding a child in makes it much more difficult. If you can work remotely, surely there are cheap rental options available to you? I'm confident you could get something in a more rural area, or even just a county away from the cities, for reasonable rent?

If you paid €35 to hook up per night, in a caravan park, assuming you even did that just 3 out of every 7 nights, that's €420 per month before you include the cost of the caravan itself. Add to it that you'd likely be spending over the odds on getting clothes washed at laundrettes, etc and it becomes a lot less of a saving than you'd anticipate.

I'm not saying it can't be done, now, just to be clear, but I really don't think the saving you'd make from doing it, would be sufficient to be able to stand back and say "it was worth it" in two years time.

There are lots of places to rent on Daft between 500-600ish a month. Assuming you bought a caravan for 10k, and spent, for argument sake, €300 a month on wiring it up here and there, over two years that about 17k. Which gives you a monthly cost of in and around €700. If you can work from anywhere, you've lots of options for the same money that you'd spend living in a caravan.

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Bare in mind there are tax implications for both you and your employer if you plan to work from another country.

Is that not only if you spend most of the year in another country? I won't pretend to know the ins and outs, though.

08-04-2021 11:51pm

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

You could buy a boat and live on
regents canal in London
Would would cost 25k, use for two year, sell again for probably more.

+ Presumably a fee to have it docked, and maintenance etc. that would put you back to square one?

Creamy Goodness · 08-04-2021 11:58pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Is that not only if you spend most of the year in another country? I won't pretend to know the ins and outs, though.

For the employee yes, the employer may run afoul of permanent establishment.

Google et al were forcing Irish workers that fled to the sun to work from “home” back to Ireland last October over this.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/why-multinationals-are-calling-employees-back-to-ireland-1.4379472

beauf · 09-04-2021 12:14am

Like leasare I follow a good few on YouTube who do this but none in Ireland. There was a couple travelling around Ireland but they weren't Irish, and it wasn't that informative.

I've often wondered if you were young could you do this in Ireland. I think the only way to find out is to try.

10pennymixup · 09-04-2021 12:14am

Deleted User wrote: »

+ Presumably a fee to have it docked, and maintenance etc. that would put you back to square one?

Any boat that is London for 25k will need that again in maintenance within the next two years. Boats in London are notoriously overpriced it's known as the london effect.

Boats up North are half the price. Most of boats for sale in the city have been brought down through the system from further north, receives the "London whiteout" (all the worn waterstained internal woodwork gets painted in a pastel trendy colour scheme like grey and white) and sold on for a premium.

If you can't pay a massive premium for home moorings you have to get what is known as a continuous cruising license. It requires you to move a prescribed considerable distance (and not return for a month) on a 14 nightly basis. Failure to do so means fines and boat impounded.

Along with the search for fresh water, sewage, competition for temporary mooring with other continuous moorers, busy towpaths anti social behaviour etc etc, it's a fools dream that can be achieved better elsewhere.

Social instramgrammers vloggers influencers etc add to the pipe dreams.

To the OP...... go for it, you're only young once.

But one word....Coronavirus. AFAIK no campsites are open, not to mention travelling 20km from your parents address.

Del2005 · 09-04-2021 11:55am

Eirehead96 wrote: »

Do you mean commercial motor insurance?
I have a 4x4 pickup truck at the moment & herself has a car but we would sell the car.

Everything postal wise I would send to my parents (home place)

You need an address in Ireland where you live to get insurance. In most other countries you'll need a postal address to get insurance. Most policies have 90 days EU cover, which will then drop to the basic legal level required in the country after the 90 day, but that's on the basis that you are resident in Ireland and are only on holidays. You'll be permanently living abroad so even if you have an Irish policy it'll be null and void when you need.

Eirehead96 wrote: »

We have toyed with the idea of moving to Roscommon, Leitrim and Sligo due to the attractive rent prices. To be honest I may be swayed , some brand new houses in these areas are being rented at 1/3 of the cost of rent we are paying now.

I have first hand experience of living out of a mobile home when I was younger. 2 adults , 3kids living from a basic 40ft mobile. It was like an 18month holiday but that was because dad was building our family home at the time a self build.

I appreciate your input so much. Hey I don’t mean to offend annoying with the kn4k thing.

Big difference in size between a static 40' mobile and a caravan you can tow. If it was so much fun in the mobile why did your parents build a proper house?

JimmyVik · 09-04-2021 1:15pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUD8jJyK5-U

beauf · 09-04-2021 3:09pm

Irish Van life...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bOM7RnI3FY&ab_channel=TREADtheglobe

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=irish+Van+Life

Sick of renting - Caravan?

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