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According to Bruce Savage, spokesman for the Manufactured
Housing Institute... the industry has had to adapt to an increasingly demanding consumer -
"Today's manufactured homes offer a unique combination of quality construction, modern
amenities and the creature comforts people are seeking," he says. "The industry has evolved
from being primarily focused on production to concentrating on building the homes consumers
want."
Such advances have not gone unnoticed. According to a spokesperson of
mobile home specialist Hotspotz (www.hotspotz.co.uk), the arrival of these new luxury homes on European parks has
attracted a more cosmopolitan tenant: "The mobile home used to be considered a second-class
option, but all that has changed," he says. "The modern mobile home is more akin to the
park homes
of recent years than the caravan it was originally based on, it's difficult to see the line
today". Across our sites, we've got wealthy high flyers and Joe Bloggs... "On one site we've
got a police commissioner living next to a clown, the lifestyle appeals to a very broad
demographic".
With a wide spectrum of
mobile home parks across Spain, France, Portugal and
Tenerife, the Hotspotz spokesperson argues that Continental sites should not be confused with the
one-dimensional caravan parks that are dotted around the UK.
"Unlike Britain, southern Europe has a huge variety of sites to choose from", he says.
"These range from green field parks close to local facilities, to those with everything on
site. On some of our parks in Europe, we have supermarkets, indoor and outdoor pools, bars
and restaurants, in some locations there are residents who never leave the site(s)".
With many locations having no restrictions on how long owners can live on the sites, the
spokesperson for Hotspotz
argues that more and more people are looking at mobile homes in terms of permanent bases.
"There is a huge amount of responsibility that comes with owning a villa abroad," he
explains, "especially when you might only spend a couple of months a year there. A mobile
home requires very little maintenance, security is a standard feature for many sites and
neighbours look out for each other, a growing number of people are beginning to appreciate
these benefits."
"On some of our European parks a good percentage of mobile home owners are permanent
residents, some of them having lived on the sites for 10 or even 15 years. It's all a matter
of perception, is a mobile home a good home? Thousands of existing and vast numbers of new
owners every year think so"
Channel 4's "A Place In The Sun" weekly TV program is known and enjoyed by millions,
"A Place In The Sun" magazine is the programme's sister monthly publication, the
magazine provides a useful resource for all those researching
European property etc.
All copyrights, trademarks, product names and logos cited herein are the property of
their respective owners.
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