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Park trailers enable you to have an inexpensive weekend getaway

(Press release from RPTIA)

Retirement is still a few years away for Wayne and Linda Keeling.

But the Sanford, Fla. couple has already purchased their retirement getaway cottage in the Ocala National Forest in a 70-acre RV resort roughly 75 miles north of Orlando – and they got it for less than $100,000.

Their secret? They bought a $45,000 recreational park trailer manufactured by Ocala-based Chariot Eagle and placed on a $35,000 campsite, which they purchased from Elite Resorts of Salt Springs.

“We can see Little Lake Kerr from our unit,” Linda Keeling says with a smile, adding that she and her husband are already using their park trailer at Salt Springs as a weekend getaway, which they’ve enhanced with a porch and other improvements.

Unlike manufactured homes, which are a form of low-cost, permanent housing, recreational park trailers are 400-square foot movable resort cottages that are designed exclusively for part-time recreational use.

Typically upscale in appearance, they often include hardwood floors, bay windows and lofts as well as walnut, oak or maple cabinetry.

Most park trailers are placed on campsites, which can be leased for $1,500 to $7,000 per year, depending on location. However, some consumers also place their units on campsites they’ve purchased, as the Keelings have done. And while condos and site-built homes in resort areas typically cost $200,000 or $300,000 or more, park trailers generally cost under $50,000.

“People are realizing that park trailers enable them to have a weekend getaway or seasonal retreat cottage for a lot less than a condo or site-built home, particularly if they want to place their unit in a resort setting,” said William Garpow, executive director of the Newnan, Ga.-based Recreational Park Trailer Industry Association (RPTIA).

But if you’re interested in following in the Keelings’ footsteps, you’re too late. Elite Resorts sold the last of its 465 campsites at its Salts Springs resort last year, though a few sites are being resold for $50,000 or more.

However, if you’re interested in exploring the park trailer concept in other scenic locations in Florida, you’re in luck. Elite Resorts is developing three other resorts in Florida for RV and park trailer enthusiasts, each of which will offer campsites in the $60,000 to $100,000 range, depending on location. These include:

  • Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley, a 305-site resort in Clermont that is slated to open by fall of this year.
  • Elite Resorts at Little Orange Lake, a 600-site resort in Hawthorne, which is roughly 15 miles southeast of Gainesville. The resort is scheduled to be under construction later this year with the first sites becoming available for occupancy during the first quarter of 2008.
  • Elite Resorts at Tarpon Springs, a 340-site resort, located less than one-quarter mile from the Gulf of Mexico in the city of Holiday, which is expected to open in early 2008.

Eduard Mayer, CEO of Salt Springs-based Elite Resorts of America Inc., said the idea of selling campsites to both RV and park trailer enthusiasts is catching on in Florida because of the rising cost of real estate, which has prompted many traditional RV resorts to sell their property to condominium and hotel developers. “People want the security of owning their own campsite,” he said.

Mayer added that RV resorts that sell their sites generate a higher return on their investment than traditional parks, which rent out their campsites on a nightly, weekly or monthly basis.

Park trailer owners at Salt Springs, for their part, are happy to own their own sites, including Hank and Theresa Molesky of Tampa, both of whom use their Chariot Eagle park trailer at Salt Springs as a weekend retreat.

“We could not be happier with our unit or this park,” Hank Molesky said. “My wife likes the social life here, and I love kayaking in the spring runs and the lakes and stargazing. I can literally see the Milky Way from the doorway of my park model.”

For more information about Elite Resorts properties in Florida, please contact Jim Ross at (800) 356-2460 or visit the company’s website at www.eliteresorts.com.

For photos, state-specific shipment statistics, dealer contacts and other information involving recreational park trailers, please visit www.RPTIA.com or contact William Garpow at (770) 251-2672.

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Readers comments:
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Jan Hagel :   We are looking to rent for the month of February 2010, if you know of any park models to rent in the Yuma area.

helene :   We are looking for renting a park trailer for the month of january, february, march,,if possible around yuma az we are over 55+ no smoking no pets .very clean. ahmercier41@hotmail.com

JIM :   Have park model in Casa Grande AZ resort for sale 40 K 520 560 1105 JIM.

Jean :   Looking to buy a park model for the North Georgia area

Rose :   My husband and I are seniors looking to rent a park model within 50 miles or so of Blythe, CA for a month from the latter part of November to the middle of December 2008. We want to try renting before we decide to buy one. We have a well behaved dog.

J & M :   we are looking for a park model in the Yuma area for the month of feb 2009.fully furnished..reply with price. there are 2 of us, no pets.we want to try it next winter and then decide if we should buy.

Doug m. :   I agree with so many sides of the rv story so for the last two years I have been working on a project of my own in central Oregon ,we are putting together a % ownership of six small 10 space parks that everone owns a equal 10% of affordable with amenity,s such as golf ,tennis ,pool and abundit fishing ,hiking and all the other excelent reacreation that comes with central Oregon and we are making it affordable 55k-75k depending on placement park models are alowed but we are catering to the actual rvere,s there will be 10x20 storage buildings pads large 3-4thousand sqft lots and views of mountains cheap year around golf on beautiful 18hole course

Karen :   As park owners, we've considered park models as additions to our RV park. They are lovely & spacious, but often do not come furnished, and are expensive to have delivered & moved around (esp. in our more remote location). We've opted for on-site rental trailers, all modern, some with slide-outs, all furnished & self-contained, and can be relocated with a pick-up truck! Plus less than half the cost!

Jim H. :   After full timing for several years, we bought our park model in Casa Grande, AZ. for winter use, but now living there year round. I'm now selling park models (Cavco & Laurel Creek) here at Sundance 1 RV Resort. They are a great investment.

Daniel P. :   We bought two also! - one is up in New Hampshire, One is down in Ocala, FL. Both are heavily customized (I'm disabled), we went through a company called Park Models Plus. We bought both from them, they deliver anywhere in the country. They were very nice people customizing is their specialty so they didn't give a second thought to widening doors and putting in handicapped showers and bedroom and redesigning the kitchen so that I can cook. I love our park models.

terry Regennitter :   Full timed for 15 years and did the eight year waiting list for Escapee SKP Resort in Wauchula, Fl. Now travel the summer and spend the winter in the SKP Resort in a Park Model. Would like to put one on my land at the 3000 ft. level for the summer. Still looking.

Tony Challenger :   I think the input by Jim B just shows how sensible it is to have ownership of your own campsite if you consider a park trailer. I think this is a great way to buy a weekend getaway and I would very much like to do this before I retire.

Jim B :   Our campground that we have been going to for years, and that has several park models, which are home to several older folks full time, just sold. The new owners announced a increase of almost $300 per month, Of course you can purchase your lot for between $54,000 and $59,000, plus $1,200 per year maintance fees.(subject to change. Many of these older folks could not afford to buy or pay such high lot rent. They are now faced with moving to other campgrounds at moving costs of up to $10,000. The rest of us were lucky enough to be able to find a few lower costing campgrounds. This has shown me that park models may be nice but not a wise investment, at least not in my humble opinion. Think about paying more than you paid for the park model for a 30'x60' lot. Then you must pay an ever increasing fee for the rest of your life or it reverts back to the sellers. This has ocurred in several other campgrounds in the central Florida area this winter. If this trend continues it will soon be to the point that if a regular campground can be found, the average camper will not be able to afford to stay. I know some will say I am just crying "wolf", but I have just seen it happen first hand to several hundered campers this winter. Think long and hard before you invest in any RV you cannot get in and drive/pull off in.

ruth43 :   We have 2 park models, one in Illinois and one in Florida. We had a home in Arcona Illinois and then bought an RV. Eventually we became fulltimers and then decided we liked the south gulf coast of Florida very much and were spending more and more time there. So we decided to buy a park model and sell the RV. We liked living in the park model so much we then decided that we wanted to spend time in Illinois (we like the summer there and we have family) but we didn't need our house. So we sold the house and bought a second park model. Now we're snowbirds in 2 places and very happy.

Rosalind :   There's another thing about park models. We went fulltiming in 02 don't think we could get back into housing market now. We're thinking of a park model as a permanent home now.

Jill P :   I can understand why park models are becoming more popular, they're much cheaper than other vacation homes. We bought ours for $30,000 after looking at vacation homes at ten times that price. Good deal.

 

Recent RoTi news items about park trailers:

Park trailers - inexpensive weekend getaway
Costs a lot less than a condo or site-built home - plus, "people want the security of owning their own campsite"
Park models - surge in popularity
Americans are finding out about park models that can be placed in an RV resort and used as a low-cost vacation cottage
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