Renting out lots on private land

[FloridaFlyer86]

I am hopefully going back to school as an adult student at UF and looking at buying land near Gainesville since paying for a rental lot for 4 - 6 years doesn't sound too appealing. I've looked at a few different ways of making money off the land I buy and having a half dozen or so RV lots seems pretty high on the list, I really don't want to own and maintain a rental house or duplex. Does anyone have experience doing this? I'm wondering how many lots I can have without attracting the attention of the authorities, where I can advertise, etc. I'm assuming I could have a handful of lots and just advertise on craigslist and I could probably just get away with having the proper permits for the electric, water and sewer installations. I haven't made any organized calculations on economies of scale for putting those utilities in and may find it makes more sense to put more than 6 lots in if I have the room. Would I have to be concerned with how the land is zoned at some point? I would like to make this a legit business with a dedicated website and more advertising than just craigslist. Maybe have laundry facilities, etc, at some point.
Thoughts?

[Bumpyroad]

FloridaFlyer86 wrote:
Does anyone have experience doing this? I'm wondering how many lots I can have without attracting the attention of the authorities, where I can advertise, etc. I'm assuming I could have a handful of lots and just advertise on craigslist and I could probably just get away with having the proper permits for the electric, water and sewer installations.
Thoughts?

my thoughts are you are trying to do something probably illegal and the end result won't be to your liking.
bumpy

[FloridaFlyer86]

Skip the school part? Owning some rental lots isnt going to be very interesting for very long haha.
Ivylog, hopefully north fl will be more helpful. Northern ga is nice 3 seasons but still too cold for me in the winter!
I definately appreciate the benefits of a rental lot, problem is i will have a clearspan workshop /garage in addition to the trailer so i need a bit of elbow room. Wish I could just boondock on public land for 6 years like I did for a year in northern pa 😃

[FloridaFlyer86]

Well... what I meant to say was id like to start small and expand / elaborate later, after gaining experience. I started this post at 5 in the morning which is a bad idea but my current work schedule doesnt leave many options!
and as far as this project being a "campground", I want to stress that I dont intend on running it like a KOA, much more low key. Although a worry of mine is the problems that accompany some long term occupants.. accumulating junk, deteriorating campers, and illegal activity. Ive only been to one "long stay" park in Charleston, sc and it definately wasnt the garden of eden.

[abc40kids]

The tax people use helicopters and google earth to check on you now, no way to escape! Maybe an older cg for sale?? Skip the school part if you have the knowledge to run a business and be a cg owner. Sounds like a huge undertaking but could be a profitable business.

[Ivylog]

There is no way to sneak this in... SOONER or later someone will be knocking on your door and then you'll be in BIG trouble. None of the multiple departments are there to help you so doing it legally will take over a year before you can even break ground and cost big bucks ASSUMING the property you bought can be rezoned for a CG. Welcome to Florida and why I no longer live and work there.
PS I left Fla almost 30 years ago and I built a CG in GA 20 years ago. NO WAY would I try and build one in Fla. I should thank South Florida Water Mismanagement and Palm Beach County Building/Zoning for making me see the light... GA where they still ask "May I help you" and they actually mean it.
SORRY, but renting will be cheaper than what you want to do.

[gbopp]

FloridaFlyer86 wrote:
I am hopefully going back to school as an adult student at UF and looking at buying land near Gainesville since paying for a rental lot for 4 - 6 years doesn't sound too appealing. I've looked at a few different ways of making money off the land I buy and having a half dozen or so RV lots seems pretty high on the list, I really don't want to own and maintain a rental house or duplex. Does anyone have experience doing this? I'm wondering how many lots I can have without attracting the attention of the authorities, where I can advertise, etc. I'm assuming I could have a handful of lots and just advertise on craigslist and I could probably just get away with having the proper permits for the electric, water and sewer installations. I haven't made any organized calculations on economies of scale for putting those utilities in and may find it makes more sense to put more than 6 lots in if I have the room. Would I have to be concerned with how the land is zoned at some point? I would like to make this a legit business with a dedicated website and more advertising than just craigslist. Maybe have laundry facilities, etc, at some point.
Thoughts?

You don't want to attract the attention of the authorities but, you want a legit business?
You're probably going to attract attention quickly.

You're building a campground for RV's.

[FloridaFlyer86]

Wow that's a lot of feedback right quick! Seems like a great community over here, I was at Good Sam's Open Roads forum but my membership expired and since I'm not currently on the road I couldn't justify re-upping right now.
That NFPA section is definitely something I'll DL and read ASAP and I've been turning up some other interesting articles, I never seems to find anything the first few google searches. http://www.aplaceinthesun.com/news/feature/tabid/131/EntryId/811/Default.aspx This article deals only with single unit homes but still interesting reading.
http://www.evergreenusa.com/ is an insurance company catering to RV parks.
Since I'm not doing high volume, I'm really hoping I can avoid falling under the same regulations as a KOA for example. I'd really be gearing this more towards having a few long term tenants and keeping costs low. (Remember if I buy vacant land I'm going to have to install utilities for myself anyway. From what I have experienced, the costs to install more amps for electric, bigger capacity septic etc won't be insignificant, but nothing like installing separate systems.)
My budget so far for all this is around 50-75k. I'm currently an overseas contractor so funding this myself is not out of reach. If I were to rent a lot for 250-500/month for 6 years that's 18k -36k down the drain so I'd much rather invest 50k and see a return (obviously nothing is guaranteed). That being said I'm definately going to take my time with all this and probably not purchase land until I see how UF is working out for me.
And Jim Shoe, that's some good advice. Zoning is one of my primary concerns and something I don't know a whole lot about, so I'll definately do some investigation at the local government level.

[Jim_Shoe]

Having spent 15 years on our local zoning commission in a semi-rural township, I can promise you that they have the power to shut it down until you dot the I's and cross the T's. In our township, it could take months or even years to get zoning changed from Agricultural to Multi-family or Single family or, in this case, Commercial. And it still may not be approved. And if you start to make changes before approval and don't get approval, you can be forced to put it back the way you found it.
Zoning meetings are open to the public and adjoining property owners are invited to the meeting and are invited to speak. And you can't apply for a zoning change unless you already own the property.
If your potential property is in an area where zoning exists, a preliminary meeting with the zoning commissioner is wise before buying anything.

[SDcampowneroper]

Get a copy of NFPA 1194, $30. Contact the states dep't of health, natural resources, water quality board, assessors , , county , city zoning , The list is long.
Good luck

[Executive45]

FloridaFlyer86 wrote:
I'm wondering how many lots I can have without attracting the attention of the authorities, where I can advertise, etc. I'm assuming I could have a handful of lots and just advertise on craigslist and I could probably just get away with having the proper permits for the electric, water and sewer installations.

:S:S..just TROLLING....:B:B....Dennis

[Old-Biscuit]

Quick way to tie up several hundred grand before even having 1 'visitor'

Utilities installation costs are very high.....after the initial cost of the land.

While you are in school.....who is going to oversee the installations? Who is going to oversee the 'visitors'? Who is going to handle maintenance, keep check on the visitors?

Then you will need to cover insurance costs....$$$$

Good luck!

[rexlion]

This does not sound like an inexpensive undertaking, although I could be wrong. You'd need land that is zoned for commercial use. You may need permits. Installation of hookups could run some big bucks. Location is important if you're going to attract clientele, and usually the spots with good location are expen$ive.

Doing something informal and under the radar could result in the local code enforcement people coming down on you at any time, meaning a trip before the judge and an end to your enterprise.

[tennesseegirl]

Your first priority should be zoning, cost of installing electric, sewer, pads, etc. Oh yeah, don't forget the taxes, insurance and I'm sure others can think of things I missed.

[Jack_Diane_Free]

Make sure you have lots of liability insurance.