Buying/building an rv park.

[Twilightzone]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Now if you have never read my "Mondays at the tire store" thread I have on these forums. . you need to ask yourself "are you a people person?".

What is your tolerance level for dealing with Karens/Kens, drunks, beligerants, rude, mentally unstable, as well as people who don't follow rules. If you are an owner of a business, you are the crisis manager. You have to know or be able to handle such...and deal with people.

How far away is the police for when things get perhaps physical or so? How far away is medical services for when a medical situation arises?

I'm not trying to rain on your parade but just alert you to things you may not have yet considered. Yes, other people do this but they also have to deal with everything I've pointed out so far.

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I have to deal with customer relations every day, and I'm admittedly pretty poor at it. I have a fairly serious demeanor, that makes people think I'm unfriendly. Which is very odd to me since I'm fairly light hearted, and was always the "class clown" type. I blame it on being pretty heavily German. It's definitely something that worries me. Police response time out here in the sticks is always long. And the "sporting" crowd will definitely bring some rowdys. I'd hoped that the separate "party" areas would at least contain this a bit. Maybe with direct road access to them for police entry..? All questions that I'm afraid can't be answered beforehand.. I'm not a big guy, but my serious demeanor is definitely a plus with most aggressive people. I plan to establish a no nonsense policy. Calm down or get out, if you won't leave, speak to the police, probably followed by banning. The rv park local to me has said that once they know you will enforce the rules, most don't test it..

[wmtire]

One more thing as I am not familiar with your state outside they are home to my favorite baseball team.

You may can easily find this out. When Covid19 hit, were private campgrounds in your state considered essential or did they have to close?

Would be a punch in the gut to have to close for any possible future virus.

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[Twilightzone]

Yes it would. They were considered essential iirc. But I'll definitely be checking.

[Twilightzone]

I don't want to seem at all like I'm dedicated to doing this. Criticisms and suggestions are what I want. If the deal isn't right (by right I mean RIGHT) I'm out. I've made no commitments.
I have noticed no comments on the idea of full timing. It makes me think that most of you see buying the land as lower risk.. maybe I'm reading something in.
We've decided that staying here isn't really an option, so at the moment it's one or the other.

[stephndudb]

Why not full-time for a while, travel the country visiting lots of campgrounds and talking to the owners, before investing in the property? A little more hands-on research before you commit. Or is your land purchase very time-sensitive?

[DougW]

Originally Posted by Twilightzone

I don't want to seem at all like I'm dedicated to doing this. Criticisms and suggestions are what I want. If the deal isn't right (by right I mean RIGHT) I'm out. I've made no commitments.
I have noticed no comments on the idea of full timing. It makes me think that most of you see buying the land as lower risk.. maybe I'm reading something in.
We've decided that staying here isn't really an option, so at the moment it's one or the other.

Your mention of Full Time was followed by the wife not liking the idea. If you both are not committed to it, it won’t work. You could try it for a while and see if it works, but the opportunity for the campground might not be there if you decide to go that route in a year or two. It sounds like a tough decision.

We tried Full Timing for a while, I was good with it. We have a lot in an RV resort in FL where we winter. Every time there was a park model home for sale my wife would point it out and ponder on our buying it. We finally bought one and we are happy with it. The motor Home is for sale and we will be getting a travel trailer for taking trips.

[Twilightzone]

The owners have been researching selling prices. I just happened to call the guy that they did they're research with a few days later. So I'd say its about to hit the market. Maybe it will be here next year, but I doubt it.

[Twilightzone]

Originally Posted by DougW

Your mention of Full Time was followed by the wife not liking the idea. If you both are not committed to it, it won’t work. You could try it for a while and see if it works, but the opportunity for the campground might not be there if you decide to go that route in a year or two. It sounds like a tough decision.

We tried Full Timing for a while, I was good with it. We have a lot in an RV resort in FL where we winter. Every time there was a park model home for sale my wife would point it out and ponder on our buying it. We finally bought one and we are happy with it. The motor Home is for sale and we will be getting a travel trailer for taking trips.

It's complicated. She runs hot and cold. If you ask her, she's in and wants to go. But I get signals that she may not be as in as she thinks she is. Strange for a female, huh?

The plan was to full time for one year. Enjoy the relative cool of wy, then a mild winter in tx. With a stint out through the southwest in between. With short enough stay times not to burn out any good will from family. My boy is on one end. And he swears he has enough projects to keep me busy for months at his new house. Going as far as to offer to pay me, which is ridiculous of course. My sister is on the other end, and has a decent sized ranch that isn't their primary residence. They added rv hookups expressly for us to come stay.

So this isn't exactly me forcing myself onto anyone. As that is definitely a concern.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by Twilightzone

We were getting ready to list the house when my wife balked. She's having trouble leaving "home". ..

I think you need to find out why your wife is having "trouble leaving 'home'". Is it the house she's attached to, the neighbors and the area, her church? It's not uncommon for someone to discover at the last minute that moving is not an option.
Usually when we see a couple who owns an rv park, the husband does the repairs while the wife handles the office tasks which can be extensive. If she doesn't like 'customer service', you're going to have to be prepared to hire someone. If the husband gets sick or injured, the wife struggles.
If you're going to do this, you're going to need not only lawyers and accountant, but computer professionals to set up websites and reservation systems. Most of all, you're going to need someone who actually owns an rv park to advise you on layout and management.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by wmtire

One more thing as I am not familiar with your state outside they are home to my favorite baseball team.

You may can easily find this out. When Covid19 hit, were private campgrounds in your state considered essential or did they have to close?

Would be a punch in the gut to have to close for any possible future virus.

Sent from my LM-X320 using Forest River Forums mobile app

I think it depended on the county but most CGs near me were all closed.

[Iwritecode]

Also FWIW, I've heard the best way to have a million dollars while owning a CG is to start with 2 million...

[Twilightzone]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

I think you need to find out why your wife is having "trouble leaving 'home'". Is it the house she's attached to, the neighbors and the area, her church? It's not uncommon for someone to discover at the last minute that moving is not an option.
Usually when we see a couple who owns an rv park, the husband does the repairs while the wife handles the office tasks which can be extensive. If she doesn't like 'customer service', you're going to have to be prepared to hire someone. If the husband gets sick or injured, the wife struggles.
If you're going to do this, you're going to need not only lawyers and accountant, but computer professionals to set up websites and reservation systems. Most of all, you're going to need someone who actually owns an rv park to advise you on layout and management.

She's very conservative in all her thinking. Very slow to change, scared of the unknown. She loves our home, as such. But its fairly new and completely replaceable There's nothing else here locally that keeps us. We moved here 5 years ago, and really have no friends or social network. It's a very rural area that isn't terribly fond of outsiders. Her mom is an hour away, that's about it. The rv park would be a bit farther, but not alot. We have no ties to my local family. She does have a group of friends, but that seems fleeting lately. They would all actually be closer if we moved to the park.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by cboss

Get a Lawyer!

Get an office manager, too. You can't be in the office and outside doing maintenance. You need someone with experience who can handle bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, and such, not just someone who can book guests in and out.

[Twilightzone]

My wife is an office manager.

[NJBreeze]

Insurance prices will be based on your gross receipts. It isn't necessarily fair or not that unfair but that is how it goes.

I'm a sales and marketing guy but degrees are in Engineering.

Is Illinois actually a RV state meaning do you have plenty of possible campers? If you can check out RV ownership in your state versus other states.

Personally I'm concerned for the RV market. The prices for the units are rising and the quality is declining drastically at best. That doesn't lead to happy customers in the long term. Then there is fuel prices and they are not always attached to a President but for sure they have been their highest ever under Obama and we just put $1.25/gallon on with Biden. Both of those regimes would be tickled if there is no such thing as Pickup trucks and RV's and they sure as crap don't care about the people who own them.

I wouldn't necessarily section off the any of the areas. You want to be able to market every site to everybody all of the time!!! Sure you have some special interests that you are targeting to but you can make some of the park more geared to them but always every site is for sale all of the time so to speak.

IF you want to talk about how to market the place and how to put together a business plan then you can PM me. Before you proceed you MUST HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN. Unless the property is so cheap and you know you can turn it for break even then don't even buy it without a business plan.

I believe the question to your wife and you may already know this is; can you live there? Working there could be considered optional yet this is identified of course in the buisiness plan.

I might be able to help you out early in the season and then again later in the season as far as working there although I fully realize those times are not as busy.

[Rover Podder]

You say that codes are "non existent" but be sure to check out any possible land use regulations, zoning, setbacks, etc. that might govern such a use.


Depending the size of the park you end up building, you likely will want/need at least a few employees. A camp host is a great idea and you can also possibly open up to people who might want to work/camp for a few weeks where you allow them to stay for free in exchange for performing certain tasks on the property.


But no matter what, there will be daily maintenance tasks (cleaning bathrooms, cleaning fire pits, repairing fixtures, etc.) as well as monthly and yearly maintenance that you may or may not want to have to tackle all by yourself. And there will be daily customer service tasks such as taking reservations, answering phones, checking in customers, answering on-site questions, etc.)


Good luck with your project. Sounds like it could be a great adventure.

[Chuck_S]

Following out of curiosity. I have enough to do maintaining my house, lawn, and occasionally my camper.

I also have no clue who "sporting event people" might be or how that applies to a campground you expect to feed your family with. Nor with a campground that's only open part of the year while paying taxes all year.

Someone obviously owns all these campgrounds so it works for them. I have a buddy who owns a couple of grocery stores -- a 24/7 job. Another owns a dairy farm -- yep the cows need milking twice a day. Neither could run without trusted employees.

-- Chuck

[Twilightzone]

Originally Posted by Rover Podder

You say that codes are "non existent" but be sure to check out any possible land use regulations, zoning, setbacks, etc. that might govern such a use.


Depending the size of the park you end up building, you likely will want/need at least a few employees. A camp host is a great idea and you can also possibly open up to people who might want to work/camp for a few weeks where you allow them to stay for free in exchange for performing certain tasks on the property.


But no matter what, there will be daily maintenance tasks (cleaning bathrooms, cleaning fire pits, repairing fixtures, etc.) as well as monthly and yearly maintenance that you may or may not want to have to tackle all by yourself. And there will be daily customer service tasks such as taking reservations, answering phones, checking in customers, answering on-site questions, etc.)


Good luck with your project. Sounds like it could be a great adventure.

It's pretty much the wild west out here. If you satisfy the powerc company, you get power. There are no code inspectors outside of the larger towns. The state has plumbing inspectors for big enough jobs, which I have to look into. And the health dept inspects sewage projects like septic systems, which will probably be what I have to have. And kitchens if you serve food, which I don't plan to.

Water can be had from a shallow sand point well. Easy to install, cheap, low maintenance. But will probably need a health inspection that consists mainly of measuring to the nearest septic system.

[Twilightzone]

"Sporting event people" There is a sporting venue just around the corner that holds events every weekend all summer. They have very limited on site camping, and even sparse parking. I believe the owner said 2400 spectators last weekend. They need somewhere to stay, as alot travel from far enough away to stay the weekend to watch/participate in the event.

[Was]

As a business owner in IL, I would find another state to open a business in. IL is horrible to its businesses. Commercial Property taxes alone are reason enough to get out. I'm stuck till I sell my business and retire. Go to business friendly state where you can make a profit and keep some of it!