deeded rv property

IF, you buy a piece of property with the idea of living in your rv on I,t even though it may be out in the sticks be sure to check codes first. Some places do not allow you to live in an RV. Not fun finding out after you have bought the land.

kakampers wrote:
We own a lot with a coach house in Retama Village which is located in Mission, TX. It is a beautiful gated, 55+ community and our HOA dues take care of all the landscaping and grass cutting. The lot has underground irrigation....so it's lock and leave and it can be rented out if you choose. We love it!

This is a first class place worth checking out.

The thought of owning a campsite has the advantages listed above. However the decision to buy a campsite needs some special thoughts.

First of all find a place that you can be happy with for the long term. Some look great at first, but once you get in, you find things you don't like. So make sure to list your wants and needs. And do not compromise. Then if possible stay there for a few months before you buy. And be sure to talk to lots of owners and to other renters.

My advice is to ONLY buy in a well established and built out community. Many development campground communities start off small and as they sell off they grow into future "phases". In order to attract customers, they need to invest heavily into landscaping and facilities...clubhouse, laundry, activity center, pools, tennis courts, golf course, etc. Because of the high initial cost, the pressure to sell is very high. And many fail in the first year or so. If you bought one of those first lots, you might be in jeopardy of losing your investment, if the developer goes bankrupt. If he sells the development in time, you have hope. But it seems like most new developments change hands at least three times before they really start to catch hold.

If you can buy into a developer community that has a broad ownership base that is much better to guarantee that your investment is protected. Make sure there is a majority of sites that are owned. That helps ensure the developer is now operating in the black and that the upfront expenses are paid.

Special assessments and economies of scale...As the community matures there are needs for improvements and repairs. If these costs are expensive (road repairs, water, sewer systems, pools, fire hydrants, sidewalks, etc.), these costs must be shared by the lot owners. If there is a $50,000 assessment, it cost $5000 each to 10 owners. Or $500 each to 100 owners. Or $100 to 500 owners. So the more owners the less cost burden on the individual owner.

The HOA rules/restrictions. They can be very restrictive. Make sure you can live with them. But also make sure they meet you needs. Do they limit certain types of campers? No Popups? No travel trailers less than 25 feet? No RV's older than 10 years? Over 55 community? Your lot needs to be maintained within certain standards? If not then expect a professional landscape service to be called by the management, and you will be billed. These are all very restrictive. But they make for a very well maintained, pleasing and value investment. Are visitors limited? Is there an additional charge for visitors? Is there parking available for visitors?

What is the concentration of park models, Modulars homes, permanent RV's, and transient RV's. Does this meet your needs. For now...and in the future. For whatever you might want to do with your site.

The management...Is it owner management? Or is it developer management? Is there a full time paid park manager? Is there a Board of directors? Developer or ownership. Is there a financial manager? An architectural committee? A permit process for major improvements or alterations? How much money does the association have on hand? In a reserve fund? What are annual expenses, and revenues. Do they issue an annual report?

What about easements and rights of way. If you buy off the lake is there public lake access? Are the facilities large enough to handle the population at peak times?

Do they let you rent your property when you are not using it? Will they help you rent it? Where they take the rental headache on, for a fee?

In order to really find the answers to all these questions , this is why it is best to rent a spot in the place you think may have the potential for you to buy. And talk to as many renters and owners as you can. And if you can meet with the managers or members of the board, that would be good too. Some times a poolside chat can tell you a lot.

Hope this helps

We owned a Deeded RV lot at Brookville Lake Resort in Liberty, IN for 4 years. We just sold it because we moved to Arizona. We used it as our 'home base' for the trailer. Most of the 500 lots have park models. There are four or five deeded RV resorts in the area. Total cost was about 1K per year (cheaper than a seasonal site in a campground) and we made a profit on the sale. You mow your own grass, but can hire someone for a couple hundred per year. One advantage for a trailer is it stays there year around, where you can't do that in most seasonal campgrounds. There are several people that live there 7 months of the year and somewhere else the rest of the year.

As Bill.Satellite wrote seasonal rental is always and option. And does have the advantages he mentions. We also considered that. But we found some disadvantages to that too. So I guess the advice is...It all depends on what you want.

Here is why we steered away from the seasonal idea. First of all the campgrounds we researched were privately owned for profit campgrounds. And they varied quite a lot in their services, and style. But one thing we found was that for the most part the owners, were quite cost conscious. And would avoid spending money for landscaping, and maintenance. They were more interested in taking money out than putting money in. Basically they did the minimum they needed to. We didn't find any seasonal campgrounds that were nice enough that we really wanted to spend six months in.

Location...The private campgrounds were typically very close to major roadways. Don't know why, really. But I suspect it to be because the cost of land was much more reasonable. The ownership campgrounds are generally developed with sales opportunities as the primary strategy. So they are in more desirable locations. Away from heavy travel routes, trains, airports, etc.

And in the interest in building their revenues, private rental camps tend to squeeze campers in real tight. So the sites can be quite concentrated.

Because they are private campgrounds, you may have neighbors that are short term campers that are on vacation. Generally, not a problem. But sometimes you get what you get. And maybe not the best to your liking. This can happen in an owned site too. But the chances are much less.

The owned campsite has the advantage of increasing in value if you ever need to liquidate. With a private seasonal campground, you don't have the problem of selling it. But once you spend your money, it is gone.

There are more considerations too. You have to be careful if selecting an ownership site. I will add those in another post.

You would be better served by finding a campground with yearly rates. These are usually very reasonable and you don't really have to stay there for the year. The rate just keeps the lot yours even while you are gone. You could select 2 of these as a Winter / Summer location and should you change your mind about the location you simply do not renew and pick another option.
Taxes, HOA fees, and yearly maintenance will eat you up compared to anything you do where you remain a renter.

We don't full-time. But we do 6 month snow birding. Last year we found a place that really met our needs. First time we stayed there. Due to a late cancellation.

Well kept landscaping, gated community, great people, Golf course, two lakes, active community, lots of activities and scheduled community events. In a beautiful and growing resort area that is developing with new infrastructure within a mile.

The fees are very reasonable, (Taxes and fees about $3000/year takes care of all maintenance and mowing fertilizer, underground irrigation, etc.) and the ownership is enough that any future assessments will be spread across a wide base (560 sites) to be very affordable to each individual. And an executive council that has an excellent perspective on good management.

Very few available properties for sale. And rentals very difficult to get there. While renting there we found of a lot that came available due to a death in the family. We bought it.

Our lot is lake front, with a large screen lanai, a utility shed with washer/dryer, fridge, etc. And full hook ups on both sides for MH's or trailer parking.

Now we can come and go there any time we want to. A place we can call our own. And if we ever want to sell it, it should gain value, for positive capital gains. Or if we want to put a modular on it, we can do that too. Or our kids can do that if they want to.

We still maintain a home in NH. But when the time is right we'll downsize and head towards VA or Carolinas for a smaller house. We'll contract out the lawn care and home maintenance. No more of that for me. I'll pay privately, for the same service that I could get from a condo community.

We own a lot with a coach house in Retama Village which is located in Mission, TX. It is a beautiful gated, 55+ community and our HOA dues take care of all the landscaping and grass cutting. The lot has underground irrigation....so it's lock and leave and it can be rented out if you choose. We love it!

I had one in the Great Outdoors in Titusville, FL. One of the best days of my life was when we sold the unit. What you don't know "can" hurt you! If things go bad they are going to have you write a check to fix it. Like any other HOA, if the majority want to do something, everyone has to pay. We also did not like the East Coast of FL after being there for more than a few months like we had previously. We are now comfortably ensconced in the West Coast weather and life style and much, much happier than we ever could have been in FL.

We were spending winters in the southwest, trying out areas where we thought we would like to become more permanent during those months. Kept coming back to the Coachella Valley/Palm Springs area of California while traveling to and from. It just fit us the best and so we bought a lot there five years ago and now spend mid October to Mid April there and head to Oregon and Washington in the summer. Love the life style.