Mobile Home Purchase in Brittany

I

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My family and I have enjoyed a number of nice holidays in campsites in Brittany. I see that for between 20k and 30k one can purchase a nice mobile home in a campsite with annual management fees from 2k PA.

This seems to me to be good value, especially as I have three kids under 5yrs. If we are to have holidays for the next 15 years thsi might be our only option.

Does anybody have this experience? Are there any major pitfalls? Is this a good idea. I cannot afford to waste 25K as it will be from the CU.
 
Doing a few sums, if you plan to use for 15 years and assuming it is 25k (half-way between your prices). I am presuming a rate of 8% for a CU loan:

Cost of credit per year (8% of 25k) = 2,000
Cost of fees per year = 2,000
So that's 4,000 per year just for the use of the mobile home. That buys a fair amount of accommodation in Northern France, Spain or Portugal. Given that you will be restricted to holidays that works out at 1,333 per month (assuming three months available in the year for school age children).

Note, the above calculations also exclude any utility or maintenance costs over the fifteen years.

To me, the figures don't make sense.
 
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You'd need to plan for what happens if/when the management fees increase, or the property owner decides to sell out and build holiday homes instead, leaving you with a mobile home and nowhere to put it.
 
Presumably this is a second hand mobile which unlike a house will deteriorate and age much quicker and from experience many of the popular campsites expect the mobile owners to update their mobiles when they start to age, a mobile will look old and worn after about eight to ten years.

We paid much more than 2000 but then we were in the South of France where prices were higher.

Personally if you have to borrow that kind of money I don't think its worth it for something that will lose money very quickly. You would be better to wait and try to buy an apartment further down the line.
 

How many good holidays can you get for the money you would have to shell out on this. Lots.

I'll never understand why people buy holiday homes. You pay a lot more (and dont forget to add the cost of getting there too every time you want to get away) than you would every year for a normal holiday and have to go to the same place all the time.
 
I used to be all for having the freedom to holiday in a different place every time but after years of everything that goes with that.....booking, sore thumb from clicking endlessly on websites to compare costs, finding out good places to stay, finding that the pictures and reviews online did not reflect reality......I bought a holiday home 18month ago on the West Coast of France. Its primarily for personal use - though once I have it kitted out fully it could be rented.
The advantage for me are:
  • easy to get to
  • can travel with small bag and no toiletries cos everything is on site
  • my own great comfortable bed - no more back breakers
  • knowing the best local beaches
  • knowing the best local restaurants
  • can invite friends and family to come and stay or use it on their own
It doesn't mean I'll never take an adventure holiday again or a short break somewhere else but its great to have especially for the short breaks where I sometimes find that it takes 2 or 3 days out of maybe just 4 days to orientate myself and find the best places to go. There is also the fact that you meet other people who are regulars and locals too.

But I can see that when I was younger it wouldn't have suited me at all. Horses for courses.
 

I take your point. But couldnt you just rent in the same place every time you wanted to go there. I reckon you would still have money to spare after paying for your mates room etc. The thing about holiday homes is that it always seems to be friends and relatives of the people who own them who get the most benefit from them.
 
Why don't you buy a campervan?

I know someone who goes to Germany every year to buy one from www.mobil.de and he sells it on after using it for a holiday and then makes a tidy sum in the process.
 
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