Well the endless searching for suitable land for an RV park continues.

Today, I found what was described as a mobile home park for sale.  No pads, it says, you'll have to install your own.  

Well ok, let's go take a look!

There is a small mobile home park on one side and a junky thing on the other - completely obscured by trees on both sides of the property.  

Quiet, a bit of interstate noise but nothing that I think would cause RV'ers to think this is a bad place.  I walked most of the property, tho I didn't venture into the thickets because I didn't feel like it.  There was much more property beyond those thickets, but save that for another day.

There is water on the property yes, areas where RV pads are unsuitable. But, considering we just had the worst snow and sleet storm in decades here and that fact that this property would have been covered with snow, there were plenty of areas available, especially in the back, where plenty of spots could be placed.  

The front of the property as well.  Some trees would have to be cut down, yes, but to make a nicely treed in pad? Many people would love this.  

There are a few things that are definite probably nots that I will have to look into.  For I was talking to a person that was out on the street - but next to his mobile home. He had some information. He claims the pond is where all the septic systems drain into.  If that were true, those lines would be tied off and they would have to figure something else out.  My property, I'd have to sink some money into my own septic system, they'll have to deal with it.  They are mobile home parks, albeit very small, the owners would have to come up with their own system.  

There is a septic system at the back of the property.  Whether it's still usable I have no idea, but if they had one there, then that answers the question of whether or not the land is suitable to install one.  There is overhead power lines running all the way to the back of the property - the place I'd want to have the RV pads.  It's really nice back there, I think so any way.  There are ample places that weren't wet an RV could park and ample room for a turnaround for them to get out of there. 

There is city water coming from a nearby small town. Not my town. Apparently the property is between towns, which is also nice. Only have to deal with the county.  The meter was right there in front of the mobile home park, the line, according to this guy, runs over to the property.

There is a drive going through the mobile home park that goes all the way back and into this property. But, it's a private drive, it's privately owned property.  The man said they'd probably let me use it if I were to rent a space.  Maybe. The spaces are cheap - $250 per month.  

My plans would be to clear out the entire property. Get the underbrush completely out of there. A large undertaking on 28 acres, yes, but there really isn't that much of it.  A dozer would clear it out quickly.  Yes I'd have to learn how to use a dozer, but I've operate lots of earth moving equipment in the past and learned quickly.  I don't think that would be an issue and much cheaper than paying far more money for a contractor to come out and do it.  

My plans for an rv park is to do as much of the grunt work as possible myself or get locals that need work to do it for an hourly wage.  Create a huge fire pit in the middle of the open space and burn everything, no hauling necessary.  Grade a road in there from the street.  I don't think I'd want to have RV's attempting to drive through a mobile home park, that would likely be a huge turn off to anyone wanting peace and quiet and thinking it must be a dump if you have to drive through there to get to it.

I found an ATV trail or perhaps what used to be a driveway into the property from the street.  I don't foresee a huge problem just plowing a fresh road in there.  Some drainage pipe would have to be installed, but again, that is all stuff I could do and I have connections over in Louisiana for that pipe, get it at a much cheaper rate.  I walked that entire trail, it's a no brainer to me that a 15 foot wide drive could be easily plowed up through there, dump rock on it and call it good.  

The property has been for sale over 200 days.  The neighbor said it's worthless because it's a flood plain.  Perhaps part of it, yes, but definitely not all of it.  There is more research needs to be done before I would sign on the dotted line and hand over the down money.  I can also lay my own water line from the street.  I have operated backhoes, digging a trench is easy work.  2 inch PVC pipe would suffice to start with.  

See the large portion in the back is not all wet. A bit of water in some places but nothing that would stop me from putting in sufficient pads to made it a revenue churning affair.  Since the property has been up for sale for so long, I'd like to hope they might come down on the price since some of the land is unusuable for pads.  Not unusable for walking/hiking.  I love the front of the property because of all the tall pine trees. Just cool spots where some trees could be cleared and install pads.  I am sure a certain sect of RV'ers would agree.  

No, I'm not jumping into this but this is the first property so far that really had appeal to it with the trees and the layout.  The one I saw yesterday I wasn't impressed because there were mostly very small trees, much of which would have to be taken down and burned.  It would leave just a huge open space. I have read enough posts in various RV groups where people really want trees and hiking trails. I understand 28 acres isn't a huge property but there are definitely areas of it where hiking trails could be installed. That just a matter of clearing brush and having a dirt walking trail, nothing fancy. 

Since I now have the opportunity to have more down money, I expanded my search greatly.  A larger property is much more appealing.  Just so much more you can do with it.  I could see a installing a large concrete pad, covering it like a gondola style thing, putting in picnic tables and having a large BBQ to the side of it. A gathering place for people to socialize.  That wouldn't take place at first, but it would definitely be a part of the long term plan.  These are all things people say they want. The surrounding area is mobile home on private land beyond the small parks on either side.  

It is not the perfect property, I can say that to be honest.  It does have great potential.  There may be other properties. I will go to the county courthouse tomorrow and look up any info on this property that is available.  Whether there is a flood plain on it will be acknowledged by the county either way.  But the back of the property is up on a hill.  That should eliminate flood plain issues up there and that is where I thought pads could be set up.  With electricity right there, literally, installing the power line would be a minimal expense.  Simply have them run it to a pole and into an outlet and the rest is up to me to run.  Power and water are a must, septic is something I have resolved would have to be paid for by me.  

This particular venture would require me having a note on the property and the rest done with my own money, meaning requiring me to cash out the 401k.  It's a risk.  Yes.  But with so many people living out there, I think I could lure in long-termers/semi-permanent residents.  Set them off in a different area than the overnighters and the week long stays.  

I'm still going to look around, but this one is definitely near the top of the list of anything I've seen yet.  The neighbor said he'd thought about buying the property.  Yup, he's living in a small mobile home in a park.  I doubt he has the financing for that and why bother?  He can go on that property any time he wants.  He was astounded to hear me tell him there is deer on the property.  He must not be the hunter he claims he is, for it was glaringly obvious the trails they have made and the droppings.  I don't need another deer hunting property, but it's interesting that they run through there.  Perhaps people staying there could get sight of them as some sort of a further attraction.  I wouldn't want hunting on the property, too much risk, but some people like nature and seeing such things.

He stated he was afraid of snakes and that's why he wouldn't go over there. Well, I walked a large portion of it and didn't see any snakes.  I'm not saying there aren't any - this entire regions has Copperheads, water bellies and other snakes, both venemous and non-venemous.  

I'll need to go back when it's raining and ascertain for sure what is getting flooded. 

Meanwhile, the contractors are back, fixing portions of the new vinyl flooring that were not done right.  They had to go allthe way down to the 2X4's at the bottom and start back up. Why they didn't do this in the first place is unknown, but it isn't adding anything to the cost of the project. 

But, it's in the kitchen.  So, we are going out to eat yet again.  Where I have no idea. Taylor asking me where we are going to eat, I'm like, I dunno, lol.  

I do not have a load going out tomorrow. That will make day ten of not having work. Another driver said there were 2 loads going out tomorrow.  The plant is only able to produce a small amount of product - who knows why.  Probably storm related, just guessing.  If I didn't have money saved up I would be sweating it right now. Even so, I don't want to be spending savings on living expenses.  I'm not talking about finding another job, but this week's check is going to be small and I will likely not get a paycheck next week.  

Well that's it. Tomorrow I'm going to also check out properties at the court house.  For the tax lien sale. I'm afraid I won't have enough money to buy any of the good properties, but I will go anyway.  I won't, however, buy any more in town properties and I was trying to get info from the city about what I can place on the ones I bought.  They were, of course, closed for lunch when I went.  Try again tomorrow.  The same was true of the court house. I did go there today to look, same thing. It's lunch time, we close for an hour! lol that's when I found this property and went looking at that instead. I could go now, it's not too late at 3:30 pm, but since I have tomorrow off, I'll just keep it for tomorrow to have something to do.