Hoping someone can give me a little advice. For context, I'm a 36-year-old man and have recently split up with my girlfriend of three years. I've been looking at buying a house, but as the housing market has gone insane (as with the cost of everything), I'm trying to find some way of waiting out the crash without throwing my money away into the rented acommodation pit.
Thus I have the seed of a very under-researched plan: buy a camper with a loan and live in it part-time while splitting my time between the Peaks and other national parks, friends' driveways and residential areas (naughty, I know) and my Mum's house. This is all while holiding down a full-time job in the centre of Sheffield. Then, when I've paid off the loan, sell on and put the money towards a deposit for a house when the market has hopefully settled down a bit. Is this a viable plan?
* I'm looking at a budget of around 25k (loan of 20k with 5k deposit) with the aim of getting back around 15–20k when selling on. I'd only be looking at getting a 4-berth as it's part-time living. Does this sound reasonable?
* Any advice on which van to buy in terms of lowest depreciation? I've heared VW vans hold their value very well.
* I've seen that insurance for a 4-berth can be anywhere from 400–1000 a year, does that sound right?
* I have no idea what annual diesel spend will be and that's probably going to be very costly. Any informed guesses around this? I'd be looking at maybe taking maybe a weekend trip to a national park once or twice a month and maybe a larger trip to Europe, Scotland or Ireland twice a year, as well as using it as a car to get me from AtoB. The calcualor on Which? was giving me an estimation of £13000 a year, which I would certainly not be able to afford!
* How much should I budget for maintenance?
* Should I look at newer van with higher mileage or older with lower?
* Any other advice you can give me!
You are not going to get a particularly new van for £25000, just like houses motorhomes have gone up a lot in value over the pandemic. On the plus side an older van in good condition will loose a lot less in depreciation. Insurance I would budget £400/500, the only issue there would be if you don't have a permanent address. Don't forget that if you are going to "wild camp" to be respectful to your surroundings and any residents and also work on the principle of "Leave no Trace" so no irresponsible dumping of any sort of waste including water. There are lots of people who Van Life and there are many videos on YouTube that might provide useful information.
If you need a site to stay on near Sheffield, you could maybe try Wyming Brook Farm, to the west of the city, with a bus stop about 15 minutes walk away. I think it's a Camping and Caravanning Club (C&CC) Certified Location (CS), so you may have to join which will cost you, but may be worth it? Can't help with anything else.
Just a thought. You’ll need to go on a site or stay with someone you know every 4 days or so, to fill up the fresh water, empty your grey water & (most important) empty the chemical toilet responsibly. Maybe also charge up the leisure battery & power banks etc for the laptop & phone etc that you’ll need for work, if your van doesn’t have solar panels (they’re less likely for that budget). Your running budget therefore needs a night a week at a (relatively cheap) Certificated Site or Location assuming a friend’s or your Mum’s drive for the other night; they’ve mostly gone up in price recently with the energy prices. £25?
Do not, do not, park up overnight in a residential street. People find it very irritating when they can’t park their car outside their house. It’s asking for trouble, at the very least someone banging on the door at 10pm.
As you’re going to be using the vehicle like a car, you’d be better with a Panel Van Conversion aka campervan, rather than a wider & taller Motorhome. (Others may disagree.) A PVC can go under a gantry. But a 4 berth will be less easy to find, if you need 4 beds for you on your own.
Thanks for all your help on this, folks. Much appreciated.
I'll plan on staying at my Mum's/a friend's at lest once a week. And I'd be looking at a campervan, rather than a motorhome, probably something like a VW Transporter. And absolutely nothing new, something second hand. There are a few on at around 25k with 2014 plates.
There are loads of people living full time in vans. I imagine there are social media groups they go on. You would be better searching for info there than a forum that has mostly recreational & holiday campervan/motorhome users.
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Part-time living and selling on
via mobile 25/7/2022 at 8:06pm
