Hi Ironsides

Thank you. No offense taken. Haven't been to Saddlebags, but do have a friend who lived there. It is supposed to be a real nice little park. I was thinking of another park right on 27 north of 60.
I am from Chicago, and the best part is when you call home at xmas, with your windows open, shorts on, drinking a tall glass of ice tea, and the weather up there is 20 below, you can say come on down. Right then you don't care what the price is, what the taxes are, or restrictions or anything else, You are warm.
I have a sister and brother still up there and you better believe I call. My first words are " how is the weather up there in the land of ice and snow". Then I say " Lordy, I have the windows open and shorts on and it's sure nice.

So come on down and give me a hollar and we can check out our shopping places and maybe share a glass of ice tea.

Sorry I didn't want to cause any contoversey about posting about what I thought was a good value at Saddlebag Lake resort for fellow Rv'rs. I have no personal gain other then getting the older proprieties fixed up thus increasing the propriety values for all that own there. There are some items that I didn't post that make this a better value then other gated parks (again my personal thoughts) (1) you don't have to hire the parks contractors to do your improvements this saves a lot of money your not locked into management fees. (2)You have a vote as a propriety owner so nothing get put in or built unless 51% of the owners agree, this isn't just a management deccission.I have looked at other parks and I feel sure they were a good value but I feel I have better control over my lot in Saddlabag.(3)If you deceide to leave you have a value you can sell as this propriety is going to go up in value as the park rebuilds. I have a friend that has a park model in the Lady Lakes area, doesn't own the land and his lot rent just went up to $321 a month and he has to pay propriety taxes on his Florida room. He has no option other then, like it or try to sell or move his unit. Again just my thoghts

Are you allowed to rent your site when you aren't on it? If so, will the park manage it or is it strictly on your own?
Some parks in Florida, even deeded ones, don't allow you to rent your site when you arent' on it, while others automatically require you to place it in the rental pool when you aren't there. One place wouldn't even allow you to let friends and family use the site when you weren't there.

Hi Judy,
Yes you can rent it when you are not there. Remember at least one has to be 55.
Renting is on your own. (no rental pool)
friends and family ARE allowed to use for up to 60 days at a time and you do not have to be there. (you are responsible for their actions!)
They MUST be 21 and over and obey all park rules. ANYONE in the park who is 18 or under MUST be supervised by an adult at all times.
These rules are as I understand reading them which means I could be in error somewhere but I don't think so.
When we were there buying I noticed a dozen +/- for rent.

I have recently visited both Saddlebag RV Resort in Lake Wales FL and Wilderness RV Estates in Ocala FL. Spent a week at Lake Wales with friends/owners and 3 days on promotional sales tour at the Ocala location. In my opinion, Lake Wales is established, amenities terrific, and grounds immaculate. Its storm damage from 2005 resulted from a failure of downstream drainage and so far, this problem has not been resolved. However, financial exposure with an RV pad is minimal. Lot prices low for Florida and I admit to being smitten by it's homey feeling. Wilderness RV Estates is a different animal, requiring an expensive "Resort Membership" when you buy an RV lot. A converted (old) RV park (Colby Woods) with inexperienced owner/manager, high liability exposure with water-oriented activities and quite limited owner control. READ THE DOCUMENTS! Some "Village" lots pretty but overpriced, IMHO. "Town" lots on open, grassy field and kinda boring. "Preserve" (Class A's only) under construction, expensive and promise to be special. May be of interest IF you want to join a "resort" (unheated pool, a few pieces of gym equipment, small Ma & Pa restaurant and possible possible tennis court, general store, river fishing/boating concession). This would be of dubious value to most RV'ers I know and I was not impressed.

quote:

requiring an expensive "Resort Membership" when you buy an RV lot.

==============

Please elaborate Sue, I seem to have missed paying for that membership when we closed on our lot at Wilderness last year.

Yes, please elaborate. We also purchased a year ago in the as you quoted, boring grassy area in Town Center. Although everyone in town center has a concrete pad...

OVER PRICED
WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT
BOBCAT AND BIGTOW
IF SHE ONLY KNEW WHAT WE PAID FOR OUR LOTS AND WHAT THEY ARE WORTH NOW
HWY BY THE WAY WE HAVE CLOSING TUESDAY IN OUR OLD VILLAGE LOT
TAKE CARE AND WILL SEE YOU IN ABOUT THREE MONTHS

Wilderness lot owners-if you bought a Village lot, you will pay about $30/mo for the lot condo AND you will pay a $53/mo Resort fee for a total monthly fee of around $86. This is all described in your Condo Documents, which I read in their entirety during my visit there and discussed with the onsite Sales staff. In my opinion, the "value" is not there and I was seriously looking for it (as I am a potential RV lot buyer). I stand by "boring" for Town Center. Village has some lovely "nature" sites and the Preserve is probably going to be stunning when completed. I expect Town will improve its appearance after the young, newly-planted trees mature but for now, it's just one big grassy field of cookie cutter lots. Let's remember the name of this thread ie "Good Value deeded lots in Central Fl" and that opinions are like bellybuttons in that everybody has one!

So, your expensive "resort membership" is nothing more than our HOA monthly dues. "IF" you read carefully, you would see that maintains my lawn & pays for the upkeep on HOA owned property and facilities.

Town Park is also where I have my corner landscaped lot that overlooks the Marjorie Carr Greenway. Grassy & boring? hardly with all the wildlife that is there. Cookier cutters too? Well, we each have landscaped our property using a professional landscaper. If what you are looking for is large trees & firepits, with an area that looks like a state park campground, I suggest you take a look at Salt Springs....

As for the "good value" on lot prices, I'd put living in the middle of the Ocala Natl. Forest at a reasonable price in that category. None of us paid $100K or more.

Everyone does have an opinion, and mine is that I'm very glad you didn't buy the lot next to mine. Or, in other words, you kept "Movin On"

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bobcatkitty,

I don't see any need to get personal bobkatkitty! I am a really nice person (RN) and would make a wonderful neighbor! This is a forum for different experiences, impressions and discussion of the thread subject! Your HOA at Wilderness is your Town Condo which is the only aspect of your ownership that you have any control over. The Master HOA is the Resort Owner/Manager who owns the recreational buildings/grounds and utilities etc. The Resort is named separately in the documents and owners of condo lots have no equity interest in these facilities, only use privileges as determined by the Owner. When you purchase a lot, membership is clearly stated as "mandatory" in the Resort. Owners have only limited advisory input into resort operations but they must completely fund it. Personally, I did not find enough value in the development concept to pay the Owner for the cost of operating a potential for-profit business (utilities, storm/waste water management, pools, fish concession, pool table, gym equipment, private RV rentals, onsite storage rental) in my backyard with my Association fees. In exchange for the Resort Fee, the Lot Owner is permitted to use the limited facilities along with 500+ other members, including up to 100 memberships which the Owner can sell to the public. The Lot Owner shares in no profits of the resort /utilities/ storage business. If that is valuable to you, that is all that matters. But, others come here to find many points of view and thoughtful, responsible input. Sorry you took my comments so personally.

WELL, AS FOR BEING FULLTIMERS FOR 6 YEARS
INSTEAD FO PAYING 400 TO 500 A MONTH FOR RENT
NOW I WILL BE PAYING 86 A MONTH AND VERY HAPPY TO DO SO.MY VILLAGE OLD LOT IS MINE AND I AM VERY HAPPY TO BE THERE AND I AGREE WITH BOBCAT JUST KEEP MOVIN ON

quote:

I am a really nice person (RN)...

I never knew that I could equate a profession with a personal trait so I'm glad I read this and learned something. Or did I? Perhaps it's just this particular profession that equates to nice! Egads, guess I won't put down my former profession or retired cause I'm not sure I want to know what that equates to! (all in good fun)

It is unfortunate indeed when a public forum of like-minded people cannot a tolerate dissenting opinion. My post was appropriate, factual...on the subject. It purpose, and the purpose of the forum, is to communicate information to RV'ers with similar interests. My information was timely and accurate to the two communities that had already been discussed in the thread. It appears that I have inadvertantly stepped on some territorial toes who interpreted the content as threatening and a personal criticism of choice. So, anyone who is looking to buy an RV lot in either of these two communities and would like to tap me as a resource is welcome to send me a private message.

Time to be careful here Sue, your personal agenda is beginning to show.

As a property owner at Wilderness, I heartily suggest that anyone interested contact management themselves, set up a time to visit and make your own decisions based on your own due diligence. The same suggestion is made regarding Saddlebags.