do i panic ?

[susan]

ok guys as you all know we have been looking into buying a caravan for such a long time now
we are buying one on friday:)
but yet again my panic has set in :eek:
we have really looked into the pros and cons of having a static caravan
we could have had one on thorpe park a few yrs back but at the last min i got cold feet and pulled out
we had one fall throu
and now this one ?
the thing is althou we have looked at pros and cons and know this will be right for us i find myself becoming very sheepish now
all i keep thinking is what if this happens and that happens what will go wrong
so at the mo very scared and very excited at the same time
god i hate feeling like this:(

[Macarw]

We wanted one for ages, and took the plunge last year.

I think as long as you have gone into it with your eyes open and considered all eventualities you should be fine.

We bought ours after a lot of research, knowing that

We were happy with the size and layout of the van.

we intended to keep it for a good few years (Depreciation will be huge)

It's a second hand van, so if we don't like it and do lose money it won't be as much as we could lose if we bought new.

It's on a site suitable for all our family.

The site has good letting potential as we wanted to let it.

We have no finance on it (apart from a small percentage on a credit card on 0% interest) so we won't end up owing money if it all goes 'pear shaped'

We were aware that the running costs would be about £4000 per year and have made allowance for this.

We have a great pitch.

I had a few sleepless nights when we bought ours - it's such a lot of money to spend...what if we don't use it ? (we had friends who bought one and hardly used it selling at a loss after a year).

What if we let and it get's damaged?

What if we can't afford the running costs?

A year on, we have had some lovely hols in the van, as have some friends and relatives. We loved not having the hassle we had with the tourer. We love the extra space. We love being able to arrive when we like and not having to leave by 10am!

We are living abroad at the moment, and have had some success at renting the van whilst we have been away. The rental income has made a dent in our running costs.

Incidentally our van is on Thorpe Park, where are you buying yours?

Hope it all goes to plan for you - enjoy!

Good Luck!

[Goldixpcx]

I know exactly how you feel the Friday before we paid for ours we were panicking like mad! Is was all we could think about we were terrified we were doing the right thing!

We knew our site very well so that was one plus we knew we would get lots of use out of it as its only just over an hour away but only having had a tourer before we really didnt know about statics. We had 5 days to do our research and to be honest if I had done much more and read all the negatives on some sites about it I'm not sure we would have gone through with either! ever!

I know not everyone has had a good experience but I get the impression everyone on here enjoys it! It seems to me that you have to be in it for the long hall to get your moneys worth all the horror stories generally come from people losing money after selling it on quickly so I think that was the decider for us being prepared to enjoy it for years and hopefully we will!

Have to say though we are really loving it we pack up every friday and have not had a weekend at home since the beginning of July! we will rent it out for a few weeks next year purely to cover the fees and I know it will depreciate but we are having such a good time and sometimes you have to weigh up whats more important money or memories :D not sure my OH would agree with that though as hes now selling his precious car to replace the savings lol
He would never of spent such a lot of money on anything and I swear all day the day before we signed he was hoping I would change my mind but now he is as big a fan as me and has def no regrets (yet ;) )

I think generally if it feels right go for it, gut instincts count for a lot and if something doesn't quite feel right then don't go ahead but the nerves dont last they turn to complete panic then once its urs its you can just enjoy it!

I have to say though when I read that some sites have £5k a year site fees that really would terrify me we will rent for about 8 weeks to cover ours leaving it free for us which was the whole point of getting it. How on earth do people manage to recoup that kind of money!! :eek:

really good luck whatever you decide you've certainly done more homework than we did lol!! :D

[susan]

thanks for the replys they were great
but am still in a panic lol
we have been doing touring caravans for a number of yrs now with our sons:D
now we are a little older we stated to think about a static and the boys have always loved it in a static:)
we are hoping to go on The chase at ingoldmells
we are wanting to rent to family and friends so will get some of the ground rent paid
the reason why we decided on a static is to have more time together as a family relaxing
and we also have a very large family and i would dearly love them to enjoy the van too
2 of my sons have problems one is disabled and is 24 his name is marc he has his wife and daughter now so they will love it and my other son has autisum his name is coner and am sure this will benfit him most:)
all my other kids are ok i say that couse i have 7 but like said 3 of them are adults now )thank god) lol
so i really do think it is the right thing just carnt stop the panicing:mad:

[Goldixpcx]

thanks for the replys they were great
but am still in a panic lol
we have been doing touring caravans for a number of yrs now with our sons:D
now we are a little older we stated to think about a static and the boys have always loved it in a static
we are hoping to go on The chase at ingoldmells
we are wanting to rent to family and friends so will get some of the ground rent paid
the reason why we decided on a static is to have more time together as a family relaxing
and we also have a very large family and i would dearly love them to enjoy the van too
2 of my sons have problems one is disabled and is 24 his name is marc he has his wife and daughter now so they will love it and my other son has autisum his name is coner and am sure this will benfit him most:)
all my other kids are ok i say that couse i have 7 but like said 3 of them are adults now )thank god) lol
so i really do think it is the right thing just carnt stop the panicing:mad:

Sounds like you and your family will really enjoy it, just think you will be in it next week!! :D its so exciting we still get excited every weekend when we go we have grins like cheshire cats when we get there and open the door we are very sad lol

[Darren]

Hi Susan,

I'm glad that you have managed to find a van that is right for you, it has been a long road to get there which should mean that you have pretty much covered everything you can so maybe now is the time to relax and get excited about it?

Where always here for help if any problems crop up,

Darren

[susan]

aww thanks darren :D

[DORRIAN]

Hi Susan,
it is a big decision to make buying a caravan and we bought ours like others did , to spend more time together . unfortunatley we cant get over as often as we like due to family/work but we try and get over as often as we can, when we arnt in it we dont mind renting it out as its sat there doing nothing but again only to family and friends , i dont know if were ready to rent to the "public" yet , we had a similar problem to you we went to look at caravans and couldnt make our minds up we had chance of other caravans before but pulled out before we bought. This time the time must have been right as we bought one. It is a big financial commitment buying one but you will know if it feels right :)

Regards

Dorrian

[susan]

hi dorrian
rang the site office again about the tudor amassadeur that has been stood there since jan
and a couple viewed it on wednesday and bought it:mad:
so still no van
well looks like again i will be still looking for one
oh if it wasnt for bad luck we wouldnt have any luck at all:eek:

[DORRIAN]

Hi Susan,
Sorry to hear about that, is there no others you like ? have a look on blue anchor website there are all the sites there that they have along with all the vans for sale maybe there is something in that lot you could have a look at and you can still choose which site you want it on :(

Regards

Dorrian

[susan]

hi dorrian
we are going to the chase tomz as they have 2 other vans in our price range
so lets hope one of them is ok for us will be the about 11am
do you have the website link please dorrian
thank you

[DORRIAN]

Hi susan,
its www.blueanchor.biz , the web site for blue anchor hope this is of use to you and good luck with the others :D:D:D

Regards

Dorrian

[DORRIAN]

sorry susan , didn't read the post till today i have been working but the web address is still the same as above let me know how you got on with looking

Dorrian:D

[susan]

hi dorrian
just got back from ingoldmells
we went to see quite a few vans in our price range some good some:eek:
was just beat to a nice one cu19:( so that was that for that one
we then went onto the other park and there was a lovley tudor ambassedeur 28x10 ft like the one we lost out on during the week
we got it at a rock bottom price too:D
should have been 5000 and we got it to 3000
so we are now the owners of the said 6 berth van
and we took a look at your dorrian looks lovley from the outside:D we are on E12 just at the side of you were that empty plot is SO WE ARE DEFO NEIBOUGHS lol may be sited for next weekend will have to wait and see
susan

[DORRIAN]

you got a good deal there then susan they dont usually knock that much off , we are just infront of you to the right on e7 , like i said before its ok round there not too many problems just kids running round but hey thats what they are there for , glad you got sorted in the end :D

[susan]

i dont mind kids running about dorrian :D as its there holiday too it is just when you get the drunken people that decide they are going to row and wake all up that bothers me:( lets hope we dont get to many of them
must say getting very excited now about the van carnt wait to start enjoying it:D maybe i will see you down there one weekend dorrian :)

[DORRIAN]

Hi Susan,
Hoping to get over to the van in the next couple of weeks ill let you no for deffo wen im going :D