Starting a new RV campground...
What would be the best way to go, and what are the benefits and downfalls of starting a newly constructed campground in an underserved area? Franchise vs. Independent urban vs. rustic restriction...
Forum Discussion
Be careful not to buy a farm next to a smelly cow ranch, or so far from the freeway acess would be difficult.
One place I am thinking of is located at the bottom of a steep hill, 15 miles south of I10 in Banning. It's higher elevation is nice, and spring fed water supply, small man made lake. It has 800 sites, part of Coast to Coast.
Finacing a RV park is another thing. The closer the sights are to each other, the lower wiring and plumbing costs, less voltage loss to the sites. Lower internal pavement costs.
Do you want property near a river? How high above flood stage? The county might have regulaions about buildingd to low elevation near a river, and of course the septic draoin field must be at least 300' from the river, well above it, might require pumping sewage up to it, or to the local city run sewage district.
Being in a city, you probably can tie into city water and sewer, but check the cost in advance of looking for property. In Ramona, CA, a yogart shop wanted to add a triple sink to an existing shopping center. The sewer hookup fee was $54,900. Shocking! The store already had a bathroom. Ramona was expanding their sewer department, and calculated the store as producing 3.3 homes worth of sewage.
You will also need to plan the resort. How many sites? How much pavement? Pool or not? How much grass? Do you plan on buying a place with trees? Perhaps apple trees?
Where will the electric come from? Perhaps a 400 amp servive to the office, two laundry rooms and recreation building.
The Banning park has a 1000 amp 480 volt service, with transfomers around the park, and 50 amp service to each site. You can put 8 sites on a 125 amp 240 volt breaker, with #2 wire. A 200 amp panel can feed about 20 of the 30 amp sites.
If you go over 800 amps with a main panel, you. Musr have a GFI system on the main panel, that can get expensive. Also mosr rual areas do not have three phase power. With a 400 amp single phase panel, you will have 800 amps at 120 volts. With three phase, you would have 1,200 amps at 120 volts.
A 50 amp RV might consume a average of 20 amps at 240 volts, while 30 amp RV'S might average 25 amps at 120 volts on a hot summer day or cold winter night.
You might have a huge electric bill. Many campers say "that is why I paid $35 a night, to use unlimited electricity."
You might be better off buying a RV park. Check with owners of a few parks around the country. See how interested they are in running the park. Cleaning the restrooms, ect. If you see one for sale, lets say $2,000,000. Is it worth it? How much would it cost to build? How much to pay lawyers to get through the planning process? How much for electrical design? Buildings, plumbing, paving, pool, water fountain? Advertizing to find customers?
A apartment building value is about 100 times the monthly income after expences. So a 400 unit building with 3 employees, $1000 a month garbage bill, $2000 landscaping, $2000 bill for irigation water (that is what our 140 unit condo on 5 acres in Garden Grove CA paid in summer monthly) and other expences such as property tax. Say rent is 400,000 a month, tax and other costs are 25,000. So the buildings would be worth about 37,500,000. (The actual value is 92 - 96 times the net income, so would be less). Don't overpay, expecially if the resort has been on the market for a while.
You should enforse a 15 year old RV rule. Older RV'S sometimes are bought by drug abusers to live in. They are not as likely to take good care of a site.
One place I am thinking of is located at the bottom of a steep hill, 15 miles south of I10 in Banning. It's higher elevation is nice, and spring fed water supply, small man made lake. It has 800 sites, part of Coast to Coast.
Finacing a RV park is another thing. The closer the sights are to each other, the lower wiring and plumbing costs, less voltage loss to the sites. Lower internal pavement costs.
Do you want property near a river? How high above flood stage? The county might have regulaions about buildingd to low elevation near a river, and of course the septic draoin field must be at least 300' from the river, well above it, might require pumping sewage up to it, or to the local city run sewage district.
Being in a city, you probably can tie into city water and sewer, but check the cost in advance of looking for property. In Ramona, CA, a yogart shop wanted to add a triple sink to an existing shopping center. The sewer hookup fee was $54,900. Shocking! The store already had a bathroom. Ramona was expanding their sewer department, and calculated the store as producing 3.3 homes worth of sewage.
You will also need to plan the resort. How many sites? How much pavement? Pool or not? How much grass? Do you plan on buying a place with trees? Perhaps apple trees?
Where will the electric come from? Perhaps a 400 amp servive to the office, two laundry rooms and recreation building.
The Banning park has a 1000 amp 480 volt service, with transfomers around the park, and 50 amp service to each site. You can put 8 sites on a 125 amp 240 volt breaker, with #2 wire. A 200 amp panel can feed about 20 of the 30 amp sites.
If you go over 800 amps with a main panel, you. Musr have a GFI system on the main panel, that can get expensive. Also mosr rual areas do not have three phase power. With a 400 amp single phase panel, you will have 800 amps at 120 volts. With three phase, you would have 1,200 amps at 120 volts.
A 50 amp RV might consume a average of 20 amps at 240 volts, while 30 amp RV'S might average 25 amps at 120 volts on a hot summer day or cold winter night.
You might have a huge electric bill. Many campers say "that is why I paid $35 a night, to use unlimited electricity."
You might be better off buying a RV park. Check with owners of a few parks around the country. See how interested they are in running the park. Cleaning the restrooms, ect. If you see one for sale, lets say $2,000,000. Is it worth it? How much would it cost to build? How much to pay lawyers to get through the planning process? How much for electrical design? Buildings, plumbing, paving, pool, water fountain? Advertizing to find customers?
A apartment building value is about 100 times the monthly income after expences. So a 400 unit building with 3 employees, $1000 a month garbage bill, $2000 landscaping, $2000 bill for irigation water (that is what our 140 unit condo on 5 acres in Garden Grove CA paid in summer monthly) and other expences such as property tax. Say rent is 400,000 a month, tax and other costs are 25,000. So the buildings would be worth about 37,500,000. (The actual value is 92 - 96 times the net income, so would be less). Don't overpay, expecially if the resort has been on the market for a while.
You should enforse a 15 year old RV rule. Older RV'S sometimes are bought by drug abusers to live in. They are not as likely to take good care of a site.
