[larryholter]

My wife and I live in Washington state. We both are close to retirement from our current jobs and would like to find a small to mid size campground in Florida to purchase and live at. We would move there immediatly and run it. We would love to be on either a river,lake or gulf side of Florida. We would need a home to live in on the site.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Larry Holter
***MOD CUT***

[jambo101]

I'd say you would have to be looking at a Campsite mostly dedicated to Rv's and have full electrical hookups as for most of the year (April-November)its going to be temperatures in the mid 90's with high humidity, not very conducive to tent camping..

[City Guy997S]

One question........WHY?

If the campground is waterfront then the land is going to be valuable to developers so it will be expensive. With you overhead (high purchase price, high tax rate, carrying costs) you will be hard pressed to make a profit. Why risk your nest egg, early into retirement on a campground that could barely support itself nevermind two retirees and a modest ROI (for the acquisition costs).

Camping is "out" as a viable option for many. High fuel prices, loss of retirement income/assets have absolutely crushed the RV industry with many of the titans erased from the landscape (manufacturers bankrupt, closed up). In turn that is going to roar downhill (not trickle) for the operators of campgrounds.

I have an aquaintance that bought a lakefront campground w/marina in NH for summer income/longtime property appreciation. He has always been self employed and is upper middle class, plenty of disposable income and a very "hands on" guy. Bought in 2003, fuel dock, marina, C-store all were bustling. Campground was open May 1st-Oct 1st. Not a bad setup but no where near the money he envisioned. Factor in the slowdown in 2007-08-09, ski boats are gone from the lake, C-store is relies on fuel/marina activity so when the boats disappear the other two take a beating also. Property is worth less than he paid combined with revenue about 1/3 of what it was in the boom. Needless to say he wants out, it has been a 9 year waste of time and not worth the money invested/earned. The catch is he is reluctant to lose money on the transaction, so he has a wait and hold plan despite the risk of the land depreciating even lower.

His joke is, "I would have made more money working here for 9 years at minimum wage instead of owning the place."

You and the wife should consider moving here and working at a campground for a season. You will get a really good feel for the industry and if you want to actually put your hard earned money into it while getting paid to learn!

[City Guy997S]

BTW lots of 'mom and pop' marinas/campgrounds could operate with modest income but once they get sold and the investor/operator now has a big mortgage in the equation they quickly realize 'mom and pop' made all the money when they sold the place!

KOA is also a heavyweight in the industry, looking to acquire or simply crush smaller campgrounds, similar to Home Depot and 'mom and pop' corner hardware stores.

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by jambo101

I'd say you would have to be looking at a Campsite mostly dedicated to Rv's and have full electrical hookups as for most of the year (April-November)its going to be temperatures in the mid 90's with high humidity, not very conducive to tent camping..

As an after thought during Floridas long summers most people and anyone interested in camping are leaving Florida and heading north...

Think your best bet would be to save your money and work summers as a National Park Service campground attendant.Usually you get a free campsite for doing some work around the parks campsite.