Saw one advertised for $25,000, plus $600 a month in fees. $600! You could have several good holidays a year, all in different places, and not have to clean up after yourself, for that sort of money. Instead, you get a dingy cabin/caravan and have to have your holidays in exactly the same place every year. And you're not even allowed to live there for cheap rent either. You'd have to be completely mad to throw away money like that, wouldn't you? What do you guys think? Do any of you own a holiday cabin?
Why Would Anyone Buy a Holiday Cabin?
Quantumcat on 06/04/2018 - 22:06
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I have a work mate who has one. He doesn’t pay that much, more like $400 I think.
He goes there once a month or so, plus shares it with his grown up kids.
Because he owns the cabin, it is worth making nice (although that also means he has chores/diy on holiday!).
It is right at the water, and he loves fishing and the ocean, so has no problem in going there often.
He also earns good money, so probably doesn’t factor the cost as much compared to the convenience of having a place ready with few hassles or planning required.
He has other holidays sometimes, but his preference is old skool Aussie beach holiday, so it suits him.
I'm probably going to guess its for the people that either go out there almost most weekends, and holidays. Or for people with enough money that "worth it" isn't an issue anymore.
To take a holiday?
You make a lot of assumptions which might not be true for everyone:
You could have several good holidays a year
Define a "good" holiday, some people may view an escape to a cabin somewhere "good". I can understand this - I live in Melbourne, which is a pretty big city already, so I don't always want to go to another big city just in a different place in the world for holidays.
all in different places
Again, not necessarily a good thing - some people like familiarity, a feeling of "coming back home" to a place which is more similar to where they grew up, or where they spent a lot of time as a kid.
If all you want to do is go to a cabin, you could do it a lot cheaper - $149 a night according to a random search on Big4 holiday parks: https://www.big4.com.au/caravan-parks/nsw/south-coast/ingeni…
When I say a "good" holiday I mean like in a proper hotel or serviced apartment. Even if you think going to a cabin is better than being in a hotel, why would you pay MORE for it, and be stuck in the same place as well? Just for the same cost of the fees you could stay 4 nights a month (i.e. every weekend) so 48 nights a year and get to visit different places each time. Not to mention the $10,000-$30,000 cost for the cabin in the first place. And if you can afford to keep it up you would need to be working in a good job - would you even have time to visit it enough? Say you worked only four days a week so were able to spend two nights a week there instead of the 1 that breaks even - that would save you $7,200 a year, so for the one I saw you would have to do this for three and a half years just to break even on the deal (to add up to the $25,000 purchase price). Three and a half years of spending 2 nights a week on 'holiday' in the exact same place. If you didn't like the place anymore and no longer wanted to holiday there, you'd be stuck spending $150 a week on nothing until you could trick someone else into buying it from you.
The only way I can see it makes sense is if someone is a very wealthy retiree who doesn't care too much about leaving an inheritance (retired so they can spend as much time away from home as they want) and who also owns several boats and things that they would rather leave in one place, tipping he balance in favour of owning, plus being old they are creatures of habit so don't mind going to the same place every time (or prefer it, like you said, having the feeling of going back home)
I don’t think the numbers stack up either, but I think you are missing a lot of elements.
Consider the worth of catching up with your local friends you see regularly.
Consider that you can give your grown up kids and grandkids a free place to stay whenever they want.
Consider you can throw some bunks in and accommodate 8 people without too much trouble.
Consider you can leave work on Friday and have dinner on holiday because you don’t have to pack bags etc.
Consider your pantry has the vegemite and sauce and weetbix and salt and coffee and oil and etc so you don’t have to waste time fussing over these things or going without or eating out.
Consider you never get a dud room or a destination you hate.
Consider, there are plenty of people for whom $5 or $6k per year is small change, less than they spend on depreciation on one of their cars, so it isn’t a big deal.
Consider there are people who would take twice as many holidays if they were no extra charge, even if it cost more in total, because the sunk cost motivates them to use it more.For me, I would also rather travel and see new things, but I can understand others are different.
Yeah that's all fair enough!
Try and book a cabin during peak period. Rates go up and sometimes you need to book 6 months in advance.
With your own cabin you don't have these issues
I don't know why there's so much scorn in what you're saying. Like, sure, you might not like the idea, but there's no reason to say things like: "Three and a half years of spending 2 nights a week on 'holiday' in the exact same place." It seems that you're just putting down anyone who doesn't have the same idea of a holiday as you.
At the end of the day, personal preference arguments aside, your question can be asked of anything - why would anyone buy a holiday cabin, why would anyone fly first class, why would anyone stay in a hotel vs. a cheaper motel, why would anyone go to the casino, why would anyone drive a Merc over a Toyota, why would anyone own a car instead of take PT, why would anyone buy designer clothes…etc. You get my drift.
There are many things that I would never even pretend to understand. You could go to anyone flying first class and say "for the price of your flight, I can fly around the world 10 times in economy", but people earn their money and like to spend it in different ways. That's why all these options exist, just because it's stupid to you doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't people who appreciate those things.
Why would anyone do anything ever?
ikr, smh.. kmn
Another way to look at it:
You want to live by the water in a simple, low stress place all the time, but you have to work in the city.
So you buy a cheap place where you want to live, plus an investment property in the city that you actually spend much more time in!That's a good way to look at it
Plus you can make money from the cabin while you are not using it?.
My partners parents own a holiday unit up the mid north coast of N.S.W and rent it out as holiday house. We all use it when its free usually have to make a booking our selves if its busy season. Plus they let other family members use the unit.
The unit basically pays for itself.I think many parks don't allow that (they want it to have a nice friendly feel where everyone knows each other)
Why the neg? It's true.
I think many parks don't allow that
Yes, I believe this to also be the case.
Such parks usually offer their own cabins for short term rental.
Allowing lease holders to effectively sublet short term would not make great business sense for the park, it is a business after all.
As the owner of an onsite van/cabin, you are simply a tenant.Owning a unit and leasing it for short or long term rental is a whole different scenario.
You are a unit owner in what is most likely a community tittle scheme.
To be honest I have no interest in overseas travel, I don't care about other countries and their culture/architecture etc. They all immigrate here anyway so I can check them out in our own habitat if I really feel the need. Ive done most of the east coast, after looking at everything I have a few places that I have prioritised that keep pulling me back. So my preferance of location is getting narrower and narrower. Maybe in 20 years it might narrow down to that one cabin in the woods.
So what do you get for $600 a month in 'fees'?
Generally you are essentially leasing the dirt your caravan/cabin sits on and have access to the parks facilites such as pool, playground & ammenities block.
Cheers. :)
So it's kind of like a caravan park dealy then?
We are lucky enough to have a family shared beach house and also have our own camper trailer caravan - we alternate holidays at the beach house and camping. Caravan parks (at least the ones we stay at) are quiet expensive - around $70 per night to provide your own tent/caravan. (This is in contrast with state forests which, in our experience, have often been full of noisy hoons with motorbikes behaving badly, or national parks where you can't take your dog).
At many caravan parks prime spots are taken by cabins - with the places we tend to go, they tend to be the spots literally on the river bank, so you could sit on your balcony and the kids could kayak, swim, swing off ropes into the river etc.
For your $600 or so in fees you would likely get utilities, plus whatever the park has on offer - jumping pillow, pool, seasonal activities, park maintenance etc. You may also be able to bring your dog year round (unlike the camping spots) and keep it in a fenced area.
Not that cheap, but compared to the cost of a holiday house, not totally insane if you want to use it regularly for activities like waterskiing, fishing, kayaking etc.
Quite often you get a number of included nights for a specific number of people, after that, you pay more for each night or person who stays..
Nope.
Parents owned one in Robe SA, it was super dingy.