A three-bedroom home, in Whitstable, within a few yards of the beach, for less than £46,000? Yes, it does exist.

But it's not quite your conventional bricks and mortar building.

However, for the equivalent of about a tenth of the value of many properties in the town, more and more people are considering snapping up a park home. And often for more than just a holiday.

If you have a few quid short of £46,000 burning a hole in your back pocket then it would secure you a six-year-old 35ft, double-glazed, centrally-heated mobile home on the Seaview Holiday Park, operated by Park Holidays UK, slap-bang on the coast and about midway between Whitstable and Herne Bay.

There are, frankly, worse places to have a second home.

Tony Clish, Park Holidays' group director, says: "During the pandemic, many people took a UK holiday – perhaps in the first time for a long time – and clearly enjoyed the experience. This has led a lot of families to consider the benefits of owning their own holiday caravan or lodge, and being able to take breaks and longer holidays throughout the four seasons."

Park Holidays also operates sites in Birchington, on Sheppey and in Romney Marsh.

There's certainly lots to like about the concept.

Your own little escape from the rat run set within a maintained holiday park with all the trappings that come with it. Think swimming pools, bars and play areas for the kids or grandchildren.

And those prices are certainly worth pondering (there is, by the way, a brand new two-bedroom mobile home for a smidge under £63,000 also available at the time of writing).

But for all the pros, there are cons too.

And the first is that while it would be tempting to think "I'll sell my home, make a small fortune, and then buy a park home outright and live off the rest", it's not quite that simple.

Firstly, many of the major holiday parks in the county - if we take Kent as an example - are not open all year round.

If you snapped up a swanky mobile home at Seaview, say, then the park is closed to owners throughout the month of February.

If the Allhallows park on Hoo, run by holiday giant Haven, held more attraction, then you wouldn't be able to access it from the start of November to the beginning of March.

But while the price for the mobile home itself can be enticing, there are plenty of additional costs it can be easy to overlook. Not to mention some obstacles.

For starters, if you think you could take a mortgage out for your cut-price property, think again.

Banks won't lend you money for such a home as you won't own the land on which it is built - that, obviously, remains with the site owner. Which suddenly makes finding £46k slightly more challenging for the majority of us.

If you haven't got the cash, then you'll need to secure a loan on the property. Park Holidays quote an example of a property costing £35,000. By the time you've paid a 10% deposit (£3,500) then its partner lenders would require monthly payments (at a fixed interest rate of 4.75%) of £505. For seven years. Which can test many a budget.

Then there's site fees. And these can be steep.

Depending on your park of choice (those with more facilities will be at the higher end), where your mobile home is situated and how big it is, Haven charge anywhere between £4,360 to in excess of £10,000. Paid annually.

This fee covers the right to have your home in the park, use of the park facilities and goes towards the park's general upkeep and maintenance as well as off-setting the costs it, as a business, incurs.

Then on top of that there will be all the normal utilities you expect, plus insurance for your home. The one bill you won't receive - assuming you have a permanent home elsewhere - is a council tax bill.

Haven - which, in keeping with other reputable firms, is up front with the costs involved - estimates the annual bill for all additional running and rental costs will set you back anywhere between £5,505 and in excess of £11,477.

But why, you may ask yourself, would you want a holiday home in Kent when you could go further afield?

The answer, of course, is convenience.

Tony Clish adds: "In order to make the most of your leisure home, we’d suggest buying on a park no more than a couple of hours’ drive away. That means you can just take off whenever you choose, for instance if the weather forecast is suddenly looking good for the weekend.

“Having narrowed down your choice of parks, it can be an idea to get a fuller picture of its character by staying there for a few nights in a rented holiday home. That will give the opportunity to experience its facilities and features in more depth before you make a final decision."

But remember that, unlike a bricks and mortar investment, a holiday mobile home will not be creating a nice future nest egg. Rather than the ever-escalating prices we see in the housing market, your mobile home will, like your car, start to depreciate from the minute you get your head down for your first night's sleep.

In addition, when it comes to selling your holiday home, you're also going to be hit with a commission - typically 10% of the sale price - to the park owners. Which will further erode your investment.

KentOnline journalist Nicola Jordan took the plunge herself - and snapped up a mobile home at Seaview last year.

She said: "When I was looking, prices ranged from £32,995 for a 'holiday home' to £149,995 for a 'luxury lodge'.

"It's a bit like buying a boat as unlike a house, value depreciates over the years.

"But weighing up the pros and cons, my overall view is that it's fun and that's surely what matters.

"Who'd have thought a year ago I would be wandering around site comparing caravans, admiring gardens and commenting to myself: 'Mmm, nice decking?'."

And, of course, there's always the option to let your holiday home out when you're not using it - frequently through a management arrangement with park bosses. Be aware, however, they will expect at least some of the rental availability to be during the peak summer months. Time when, of course, you may be thinking you'd want to be in it yourself.

Tony Clish adds: "We’ve a highly-experienced lettings team who can advise on the best likely solution in each owner’s case based on the earnings they want to achieve and when they want personal use of the holiday home. Plus, of course, they take care of every aspect from managing bookings to cleaning and linen changes, and welcoming the customers onto the park."

But, of course, for many, the temptation to enjoy holiday park life as a permanent resident is too much to resist.

Often they claim to be living with relatives - and thus providing them with an address for post and official documentation purposes - while staying on the park for as long as the opening hours permit.

Have a holiday house at Park Holiday's New Beach Holiday Park in Dymchurch, for example, and you can stay there for all but two weeks in February. During which time you may need to stay with friends or, indeed, jet off to sunnier climes.

But it is frowned upon and, when we enquired of its sales team, were told the park "needed proof of paying council tax and bills" every "six to eight months". Which will, inevitably, complicate issues.

Not to mention the fact, of course, that holiday homes are not designed to be year-round homes.

There are other options, however. Wyldecrest Parks, for example, is making a name for itself with its residential park homes - purpose-built for a cheaper alternative to bricks and mortar living.

Rather than the holiday home style, its properties are rather more robust - and come at a price point which reflects it.

You may not be on a holiday park with all the trappings that come with it, but you do have a property that will last - albeit still depreciate rather than grow in value. But they will retain more value than their more fragile holiday brethren.

With sites currently in Rainham, Woodchurch and Sevenoaks, entry prices tend to be north of £200,000 - but there are cheaper options.

The man behind the company, Alfie Best, has long said park homes could help ease the housing crisis.

He said: "What we tend to find is people who think they are like holiday caravans. But park homes are built to a British residential standard now.

"They are built to the same specifications to what you'd build a normal house, albeit, it's built of timber with stucco cladding. It's no different to how the Americans build their houses.

"A park home doesn't start life as affordable housing and end up in the mainstream of housing. It starts affordable, continues as affordable and ends its life as affordable housing.

"It not only could be, it is the answer to affordable housing."

He estimates the annual costs - for ground rents, utility bills and council tax (as you will need to pay it if it's your permanent residence) to be in the region of £4,000.