NC / SC Vintage Trailer Co-Op Campground?

[NJtoNC]

taking the temperature of vintage Airstreamers. Would anyone be interested in being a co-op member of a campground (ie, partial ownership) with just 32 spots over 62 acres, on a lake with 3500 ft of water frontage, near the border of NC / SC? 1.5 hr from charlotte, 1 hr to asheville, 45 min to greenville SC.

The idea would be that you buy a spot - about $19k, up to 75% can be financed. it would work like a hotel co-op, where the management can rent it out for you for 10 - 15% of the rental fee, or you can rent it yourself if you'd like - or don't!

there can be very secluded spots further from the lake, or spots near the lake which would be spaced closer, but not as tight as a typical campground.

estimated monthly payment with 75% financed over 10 years is $150, which would be covered by renting out your lot just 5 or 6 nights per month.

if $150/mo is still too much, you could share a membership; 2 families split a membership and split the cost. timesharing arrangements would be up to you, but you'd still have just 1 vote in the co-op.

this would be a great opportunity for a home base for full-timers, future / present retirement, weekend campers, and snowbirds.

This would be a real estate transaction, and the financing would be private, secured by your property, not through a bank.

Myself and a few friends have been dreaming of something like this for a few years, and we always think how cool it would be - there must be others who would be interested too! Are you?+

[DanielB]

Definately interesting. Seems like you maybe have a location in mind.

[montanablue]

I might be interested in it. We have been searching for property in and around Brevard,NC for about a year now.
Rick

[NJtoNC]

Yes. We have a location in mind. If there is enough interest, we would move forward with getting some preliminary estimates , site inspections etc.

[carl2591]

just asking a question.. is this an existing RV park area. infrastructure cost can be a bit more than you expect if you can get permits and such especially that close to a lake.

I am interested in this but need more info.

[KristinS]

Interested too, but would need more info on location. We're soon-to-be-full-timers who have family and friends in Knoxville, TN and would love a site close enough to do day trips to see them when we aren't exploring other parts of the country. Being near East Tennessee would certainly help you book sites when owners aren't using them thanks to all the vacationers in the Smokies/Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge areas.

[tschreib]

Yes, I would be very interested in this. My wife and I are retiring in 2 years and we are looking for something like this. Please feel free to PM me.

Originally Posted by NJtoNC

taking the temperature of vintage Airstreamers. Would anyone be interested in being a co-op member of a campground (ie, partial ownership) with just 32 spots over 62 acres, on a lake with 3500 ft of water frontage, near the border of NC / SC? 1.5 hr from charlotte, 1 hr to asheville, 45 min to greenville SC.

The idea would be that you buy a spot - about $19k, up to 75% can be financed. it would work like a hotel co-op, where the management can rent it out for you for 10 - 15% of the rental fee, or you can rent it yourself if you'd like - or don't!

there can be very secluded spots further from the lake, or spots near the lake which would be spaced closer, but not as tight as a typical campground.

estimated monthly payment with 75% financed over 10 years is $150, which would be covered by renting out your lot just 5 or 6 nights per month.

if $150/mo is still too much, you could share a membership; 2 families split a membership and split the cost. timesharing arrangements would be up to you, but you'd still have just 1 vote in the co-op.

this would be a great opportunity for a home base for full-timers, future / present retirement, weekend campers, and snowbirds.

This would be a real estate transaction, and the financing would be private, secured by your property, not through a bank.

Myself and a few friends have been dreaming of something like this for a few years, and we always think how cool it would be - there must be others who would be interested too! Are you?+

[SteveSueMac]

Does a 2012 Flying Cloud count as "vintage"? It's some sort of vintage, right?

If so, I'm interested!

If not - I understand and wish you good luck. I really love that idea!

[eubank]

If this is an existing campground with full hook-ups in place, that's good. If not, you're looking at a great deal of expense to run utilities over that many acres for so few sites. Electricity is probably the least expensive, but running water and sewer can be way high, especially if the place is to be used during the wintertime. (Of course, I have no idea how deep the freeze line is at the location.)


Lynn

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by eubank

If this is an existing campground with full hook-ups in place, that's good. If not, you're looking at a great deal of expense to run utilities over that many acres for so few sites. Electricity is probably the least expensive, but running water and sewer can be way high, especially if the place is to be used during the wintertime. (Of course, I have no idea how deep the freeze line is at the location.)


Lynn

You should PM Mr. Eubank and then talk at length with him. Just in case you haven't connected the dots he's currently put his campground up for sale.
The voice of experience has spoken. BTW Mr. E. - How many Barbie Doll heads have you had to snake out of the sewer lines?

Paula

[DanB]

Plus, what would the anticipate additional costs be such as utilities, insurance, and common area expenses?

Who is mowing my lawn when I'm camping in Hawaii?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by eubank

If this is an existing campground with full hook-ups in place, that's good. If not, you're looking at a great deal of expense to run utilities over that many acres for so few sites. Electricity is probably the least expensive, but running water and sewer can be way high, especially if the place is to be used during the wintertime. (Of course, I have no idea how deep the freeze line is at the location.)


Lynn

Frost line is less than a foot in the general area, probably should go 2'-3' to avoid service disruption. Local codes may come into play also.

Aaron

[eubank]

Pretty good example!

A campground down the road in Eagle Nest did have a similar problem one time. Evidently, somebody had put some article of clothing down the sewer, and it did get stuck. They had to dig up a good chunk of campground in order to locate it!

Having the benefit of hindsight when we hooked up to the village system, we opted -- against the advice of practically everybody, I should add -- to go with 6" pipe rather than 4". In addition, more recent codes required doubled cleanouts for every 100' of line. So far, we haven't had any issues with it, knock on wood!

But it was very expensive to install. The new install consisted of a conversion from septic to village system and involved only a long line leading from the three old septics to the street; no connections to the existing sites were necessary. And that came to a cool $80K, an amount that does not include the monthly charges from the village for use of the system.

Of course, there are lots of taxes and the like. Some will depend on your legal status vis-a-vis the local authority and the particular means by which the locals and the state fund infrastructure and services. Keep in mind in any event that "business" rates for utilities and services like garbage removal are often a whole bunch higher than standard residential rates. Currently, for instance, we're closed for the winter, and the village allowed us to switch our garbage from business to residential for the period. That has meant paying over $200 per month to less than $20 per month for the winter period.


Lynn

Originally Posted by Foiled Again

You should PM Mr. Eubank and then talk at length with him. Just in case you haven't connected the dots he's currently put his campground up for sale.
The voice of experience has spoken. BTW Mr. E. - How many Barbie Doll heads have you had to snake out of the sewer lines?

Paula

[eubank]

Oh, my gosh! That should be fairly reasonable digging!

Our frost line is four feet, and codes require all water-carrying pipes to be at least at six feet.

Of course, much also depends a great deal on terrain as well as on the depth of whatever it is you are connecting to.

Terrain is vital, for poo does not flow uphill. Note that "uphill" is defined in terms of the relationship between the furthest point at code depth and the exact below-grade elevation of the connection point. A good digging company can use modern GPS equipment to sight the area and tell you what it'll take to install the sewer system.

We were lucky with ours as we were able to rely on gravity alone; no intermediate pumps or holding tanks were needed. On the other hand, it also involved digging to 12' down at the front of the park and somewhat over 6' deep at the back.

A couple of anecdotes from the experience are always fun, too!

1. Guidelines required that the old septics be pumped out, the tops broken through, and the void filled with dirt or rock. No major problem, except that the top didn't break through entirely on the one septic, and so the void didn't fill properly with dirt. There was still a large void down there. And as I drove right over it with the riding lawnmower some months later, the top gave way, and the mower and I headed downward, below grade.

2. I wasn't too happy with the company in one respect. They did have to dig through one of the sites in order to reach one of the old septics. When they covered the deep hole through the site back over, they didn't do the best job, and most certainly didn't believe that some RVs weigh as much as they do. As a result, that site was too soft for anything other than really light-weight and small rigs. I used the tractor to remove the thin covering and started from scratch with an underlay of large rock (3") and a covering of regular gravel (1"). It's still not perfect, but we're getting very close with it.


Lynn

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Frost line is less than a foot in the general area, probably should go 2'-3' to avoid service disruption. Local codes may come into play also.

Aaron