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RV Park under 50k updates! (It's a disaster)

elialane7
Explorer
Explorer
Ok so a year or two ago I posted about opening an RV park with two friends but was deeply concerned bc they had no real funding and no real plan of action. I omitted myself from the project because I was going abroad on a grant and lots of other reasons but I was still emotionally invested.

To summarize it, land is out in Southeast Texas, 9 Acres my friend wanted to build into an RV park with very little funding. With an influx of cash from his step father he was able to build a roadway and plot out some spaces. The money was given to him on the condition he include his half sister in some rights to the land.

Well as soon as he spent that money he made his sister sign some agreement saying he would START paying her back in three years in monthly payments (with some absurdly low interest rate) and that she no longer held any stake in the property. He also did this with my other friend who was helping to pay the mortgage for years. He arrogantly told them both "I am buying you out" and gave them no other choice.

So they left and he got with a new "business" partner, and she signed him up with some guy who was boasting that he was going to be building tiny homes out there and theyd parcel out the land and sell it, and with the money he got he would keep some of the land and build on it finally.

Well shocker, this guy was full of it and backed out of the deal after my "friend" spent like 10k making lots (just throwing a ton of rocks on squares he mapped out).

They THEN tried to coerce people to live on the land and pay them a monthly subscription fee. You had to bring your own RV, no plumbing mind you, they had portopotties they rented, and the rent was 450-700 a month depending lmao. The kicker was that in addition to getting to live in the middle of nowhere with no resources, you got to be "mentored" by these two in "business" of all things lmfao.

Yeah so that idea went nowhere and no one rented from them. Friend got desperate and sold his huge bus, like the kind bands use when they travel, to pay the mortgage.

Now the road he purchased is more just rocks thrown down, and now its being washed away by the rain and he cant afford to replace it.

He also got a few used storage containers, RAW, no flooring or ventilation or windows, and started living in one and trying to rent out the others! To "Artists" who want to use it as a studio. I cant imagine what its like in the texas heat and cold living in a storage container that is raw with no windows. He offered that for initially like 250 a month, then went down to 100, and still got a few takers but it seems they left after just a month or so.

Now he offers the place to campers too who want to pitch a tent during their travels. He is mostly getting a lot of drifters and nearly homeless people who come for a week or two and then move on.


So there ya have it. He is living in a storage container on raw land with a portopotty and a road that is washing away. He is also trying to sell his blog post stories about the land to subscribers who I guess pay him a few bucks for the privilege of hearing about what a mess this is. And you know, putting the money toward building it? I dont even know at this point. I am starting to think he might secretly have a drug problem that is making him lose touch with reality or something.

I honestly couldnt make this up if i tried. And no i still wont say where it is exactly bc I think someone from this forum would try to go reach out to them and reason with them. There is just no reasoning with crazy. Also he is 29 and still says he will be a millionaire by 30. I am so waiting for him to turn 30.
27 REPLIES 27

shelbyfv
Explorer
Explorer
Cool story!

jfkmk
Explorer
Explorer
Sounds like a nice guy considering how he treats his family and friends. Good thing you stayed away from that one!

time2roll
Nomad
Nomad

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
Can I still invest?
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

gbopp
Explorer
Explorer
BarabooBob wrote:
Spending money that you don't have on a project without any real plans,

It's the American Way. ๐Ÿ™‚

BarabooBob
Explorer III
Explorer III
Spending money that you don't have on a project without any real plans, what can go wrong?
Bob & Dawn Married 34 years
2017 Viking 17RD
2011 Ford F150 3.5L Ecoboost 420 lb/ft
Retired

BB_TX
Nomad
Nomad
Friends like that are best to discretely distant yourself from. Just be thankful you were not so emotionally invested as to get financially invested.

HadEnough
Explorer
Explorer
Other than his shady dealings, he did a great thing.

He gave it a shot in his 20's

This is what being an entrepreneur is all about. Not everything you do succeeds, but you learn an awful lot along the way and can apply it to your next business.

My first business failed because having 2 partners made it like driving a Class A on a small, twisting dirt path.

Once I reopened solo, I was doing great until 9/11 destroyed that business.

He'll do fine if he learns from these experiences.

westernrvparkow
Explorer
Explorer
Apparently no one got taken for their life savings
And the only one still entangled in the mess is the guy who created the mess in the first place. Could have been much worse.

TxGearhead
Explorer II
Explorer II
I occasionally wondered whatever happened.
Southeast Texas? Me too.
2018 Ram 3500 CC LB DRW 4X4 Cummins Aisin Laramie Pearl White
2018 Landmark Oshkosh
2008 Bigfoot 25C9.4
2014 NauticStar 21 ShallowBay 150HP Yamaha
2016 GoDevil 18X44 35HP Surface Drive

DutchmenSport
Explorer
Explorer
He might be better off if he advertised "overnight boondocking, $5.00 a night" and just let people put their $5 in a box on the side of his storage container. Let them come and go and keep it simple.

gbopp
Explorer
Explorer
That was a wise business decision, for you.

azrving
Explorer
Explorer
What we commonly refer to as a "goofball". Good that you stayed out of that mess.