Saturday 17 October 2009

A Momentus Decision...

It's time for a break so Friday the 9th October ended with us finishing work at lunchtime and packing up the car with all of our cases and store cupboard foods.

As we head off to our BAH for a few days holiday, we know that this may possibly be the last time.

For the past 4 or 5 weeks we have been discussing the pro's and con's of selling our beautiful 2 bed static caravan, and swapping it for and RV....... Needless to say Paul is very much in favour and has wanted one for many years - I am not so convinced and, just know that my usage of diazapam, just to make a journey, will increase 10 fold. Not a happy thought!

We decided to drive up to Somerset via Exeter, as there is a large Motorhome dealership just off of the M5/A30 changeover junction. Their website revealed many lovely, albeit very old RV's, that would fall into our limited price range.

Upsettingly, once we arrived, it became apparent that the website had not been updated in the last FOREVER as there was nothing on their lot below £23k - more than double the price we are looking at.

We headed on up country towards Somerset with a dark cloud over us as we thought that maybe this would be a very swift change of heart, and we would stay put until we are no longer wanted in our current sited location......

Dilemma: Static caravans are allowed on site for 10 years, then they are considered too old and unattractive and you are asked to either part exchange them for a brand new version costing anything from £23k - £50k, or, alternatively, the site will remove the van and dispose of it for you..... Our van is 7 years old, but we extended out site contract to allow us to stay on site for 15 years......

At present, it is a very attractive holiday home, with inside porch, 2 bedrooms, reasonable sized kitchen, lounge room with TV, DVD, Video (yes I do still live in the dark ages), and Hi-Fi, and a dining area.

Having had a quote on what it would be worth to sell, we were very happy that it was exactly what we expected, meaning we would not lose too much on our initial investment, and that holidays have only cost a minimum for our time on site.

Horror: They will charge us 15% of the sale price to sell it for us!

WHY? we only paid 1.5% when we moved house!

I am now digging my heels in and want to stay put and get the total amount of years out of my BAH, but my friends and hubby suggest that doing this will mean the van depreciates more and will be worth less when we do sell it at a later date.

Yes this makes perfect sense,but I'm a stubborn bird and need to come to a decision myself, and then let them all say "We told you so" later - at the end of the day, I know they are all right, and that the van has to go now, so that we still have money in it to invest in the next holiday option..... It would just be nice, not to be taken advantage of by the holiday park - the money they will take off us, could be a chunk off of our mortgage, instead it means all monies received will have to be reinvested in a holiday home and nothing off of the mortgage..... GGGRRRRR!

We are now home and no further forward - Suggestions please.....

5 comments:

  1. how complicated ....you need to speak to Miss M..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, Joanne, what a dilemma, it's a big decision to make and like you I wouldn't be pushed into making a decision, I would want to come to it myself in my own time - even if they were right and say we told you so in the end!!! Sounds like we're both stubborn. I can see both your point of view and your husband's to be honest. The holiday park seem to be ripping people off taking 15%!!!!

    Wow RV's are very expensive. There is a really fabulous one parked on the drive of the house at the end of our street, I think it belongs to the person's son - I hate to think how much it cost - it is extremely long - I wouldn't like to drive it. On the other hand our next door neighbours traded in their touring caravan a couple of years ago and bought an old RV, just an M reg I think and they go away in it about 5 or 6 times a year, they are both retired now. I think these vehicles have become very popular recently, it's a cheap holiday and saves towing a caravan.

    Thanks for your comments on my post and for wishing Cliff a happy birthday. Yes, you should admit to having seen him strut his stuff many times - why not? He has a huge following of fans and it is great to see younger fans there too. Last year Mn who was 17 in May came with me to his 50th Anniversary concert and he enjoyed it - he knows a lot of Cliff's songs - besides loads of modern stuff and hits from just about every decade!!!! He can tell you the song and the group after a couple of notes most of them time. Anyway, I digress.

    I get fed up with people knocking Cliff, especially the ones who harp on about whether he is gay or not - I really don't care whether he is or he isn't - I still like him and his music. After all there are many artistes who have 'come out' and it does not put people off their music.

    I have a friend who is supposed to be a Cliff fan but she went off him a bit when he became religious and didn't like his religious music - so, you don't have to listen to it. She also asked me recently if I thought he was gay and I said I really don't know, but does it matter anyway? In my book he is still a good looking guy, can still sing, and dance around the stage (I use 'dance' loosely - because he admits he is not a trained dancer) and also capture and audience.

    He seems a really down to earth sort of person, not at all big-headed, just very ordinary and with a good sense of humour too. I'd marry him any day if I wasn't already married.

    I enjoyed watching him talking to Piers Morgan. In fact my 32 year old niece said she watched it because she wanted to see what he was like as a lot of people think he is a bit straitlaced, and she was very impressed with what she saw.

    Hope you sort out the caravan situation soon.

    Best wishes,
    Jordiegirl

    ReplyDelete
  3. Poor you, but look at it this way and RV will allow you to stay at more locations and still have that home from home feel... shame about the holiday park, but that is what they do best...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm sorry, I wish the best for you on this decision. Thanks for the sweet bday comment.

    http://inbugsdrawers.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. No advice from me. I hate any sort of camping even in a motor home.
    Change is always hard isnt' it?

    ReplyDelete