RV Lot Ownership - Pro / Con

[rickdesilva]

Wendy and I have owned at Pelican since '98. We have watched the prices skyrocket and tank. I guess you can say we bought at the right time. My thoughts are that you should buy for the same reasons that you would purchase a vacation home. The desire has to be there to want to spend time in the park and the area that surrounds it. For us the incentive was to escape the NJ winters and have a place that was ours that we can arrive anytime we want without a reservation. When we get there all our "stuff" is there. Our grill, patio furniture, bikes, golf cart etc. My biggest dilema each year is what toys to bring and how do I get them there. Our options are many, We can head to the Keys, Sanibel, Marco with or without the coach. We bring her down November/December and bring her home March/April. Since I am still working to help redistribute the wealth and Granny needs a grandkid fix we still travel back to NJ. We travel back to NJ either by air or car. For us Naples was the draw the area is beautiful and Pelican is phenominal. The park is kept beautiful and the association is financially strong. The people are great. We have never regretted the purchase. But if you find a place and an area you love and want to spend a lot of time..... Buy. If you don't like the thought to being anchored then don't. However don't try to make it pencil because just like Prevost ownership it just won't.

[Sid Tuls]

What a nice lot you have there Rick ! Enjoy!!

[pwf252]

Like Jerry I have wondered about ownership in one of these parks also. I have been confused about the economics of ownership. In reading this thread it has not become a whole lot clearer to me, excepting Ricks comment that if you put a pencil to it much like Prevost ownership it won't compute. For me thats the pertinent question. In todays economic climate is the general consenses that the value is in the satisfaction of ownership and not necessarily in the economics of ownership?

[phorner]

Actually, our lot purchase has certainly worked out better as an "investment" than any motorhome. It at least has the possibility of appreciation, but we figured that if we eventually got out of it our purchase price, we would be happy.

At the time we purchased ours, the thought spending nearly 50K, for what is essentially a glorified driveway, might be a risky investment. We were lucky enough to buy in at what has proven over the past decade to still be the bottom price at our resort. Highly unusual for most of my purchases, by the way....

I would look at it as any other vacation real estate.

[rickdesilva]

Patrick
You hit the nail on the head. The satisfaction is in the ownership. Put aside the purchase price, Association Dues and taxes for us come to over 6k a year. That buys alot of different rental sites for the year. It just doesn't pencil and we bought our lot when it was a drawing on a map in an office. But we want to own so this plan works for us. By the way you been keepin' that Jeep out of ditches?

[Jerry Winchester]

Rick,

That is a nice lot. It seems way bigger than most of the ones you see for sale.

JDUB

[BUSTER]

After renting in Outdoor Resorts Indio for 5 years, we bought a lot last March. ...in fact Ray Davis closes on his lot on March 31.

There is no economic justification....it is like a vacation home....it is a quality of life issue. We bring our coach down around mid October and leave early May....we use it as a weekend place when I have work to do...it is 120 miles from home to Indio...we travel in the coach in the summer. If work is light we just stay there.

I just love the place...

Prices have come down quite a bit....we kept all the sales listings from all our visits.....HOWEVER THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT OWNING A LOT IS: the people and the activities.....this was the reason we finally bought....we just love adult camp !!!!

[edsaylor]

I own lots in three different Resorts: Outdoor Resorts on Hilton Head Island, Outdoor Resorts at Port St. Lucie, FL, and an RV lot and cabin at River Vista Mountain Village in Dillard, GA. The lot on Hilton Head Isl. actually produces a profit each year as it stays rented most of the time since it is on the corner of the lake and is a pull in lot. The lot in Port St. Lucie is where I spend part of the winter each year since 2002. I love having it fixed up like I want and having my Golf cart and grille and outdoor furniture ready whenever I want to go there. Even more important, I have really great neighbors on our street plus all over the park. We are constantly doing fun things and get togethers. I did just buy 4 lakefront lots in our new section at bargain prices. I have been around long enough to realize that our economy goes up for awhile and then down for awhile. Sometime in the next few years, after our economy is booming again and prices are way up (they will be way up again), people who buy good lots now will be very glad they did. My lot and cabin in Dillard, GA are in the Smoky Mountains and it is much cooler there in the summer than in FL or the Mississippi Coast, where our home is. Also, again we have a good number of great neighbors. I highly recommend RV lot ownership where you can spend some time and have your own stuff and friends.

[Reagan Sirmons]

One of the things I was wondering as I reviewed this discussion was what type of deed do you get when you purchase the lot? Is it an actual purchase with a General Warranty deed establishing fee simple ownership of the described space (lot) or is it a Special Warrenty Deed which of course among other things allows debt to exist or be placed on the property by the underlying property owner? Any thoughts?
Pres

[BUSTER]

I have a deed for my lot...fee simple....this is at Outdoor Resorts Indio