I may have found my Florida property

[Ira]

A friend of mine owns here. Looks interesting--especially considering it's about two hours from me.

Brick, PapaJoe...ever been here? My guess is yes.

http://www.mjlands.com/listings.htm

[wolfix]

Go for it!!!!!!!!!

[Ira]

The guy I know who owns there has a large parcel.

The deal is, you buy 1/3 acre for $1299 but you don't OWN that area. You just get to use their general camping area.

If you buy a 1 1/2 acre deeded parcel ($3999), you're assigned a 1/2 permanent acre to call your own--but it's not where your 1 1/2 acres are actually located. I guess that's to still keep it wildernesss.

It's confusing, but the way my Irish Friend tells me, it's actually RESTRICTED. Like if they know I'm Jewish, no way. I believe this guy, but he didn't go into detail. Maybe he was just goofing on me, but I don't think so.

[Sierrajack]

Ira,
Only Jewish Immigrants from New York are restricted - read the fine print! I'd certainly do some checking with the BBB and get the history and see if any complaints have been filed. Land scams abound - boy just ask me!! The idea of being in an "association" leaves me totally cold - but, you are of the age where you should know better.

[Podunkfla]

What... No 2 wheeled motorcycles??? Ya mean me and my rowdy friends can't ride our hogs down there for a little party time?
Naaa... I don't think so. Not me. Too durn far south anyway.

[Ira]

Ira,
Only Jewish Immigrants from New York are restricted - read the fine print!

HAH!!!

But that's true--we ARE the most obnoxious of the tribe.

[asianflava]

Polk County, that should be close to Dale (Cracker).

[Ira]

Polk County, that should be close to Dale (Cracker).

Yep.

But he's into RC airplanes now though, and might sell The Squidget.

As always, it's always a wife thing.

[Arne]

Sounds good.. can I fly MY r/c airplanes there if I buy....

What about getting 4 people together to buy the 2.5 acres,?

with rights of survivorship? assuming Ira won't bump off the other 3, that could work out real well...

Can you post a map of FL with the location?.... yes, I did not read all the notes, just got back home and am catching up.

[surveytech]

Hey this place is about 40 minutes from the house.
Theres not a damn thing out that way. Its part of the Kissimmee River basin, hence the "no build" for the area. 250 bucks for a well is pretty cheap, probably dont have to drill far at all.

Lots of cows out there. The general area is all ranches.
Closest town is Lake Wales , just to the west and you will find all that you need there as far as restaurants, ice, food, banks....blah blah blah.

Do a search for
18550 County Road 630 lake wales, florida in google maps and use the hybrid feature.

Lots of sand road thru the pastures. Looking at the aerial there seems to be some campsites there all ready. Looks like a great area to ride an ATV.

Lets see.........A Jewish person from New York and a Polk county redneck.
This is a combo that will make for interesting interaction. Can I watch?

Walter

[PapaJ]

A friend of mine owns here. Looks interesting--especially considering it's about two hours from me.

Brick, PapaJoe...ever been here? My guess is yes.

http://www.mjlands.com/listings.htm

That's "Papa J" but you can call me Tom.

Anyway, I'm not familiar with that area. I've got 3 acres north of Okeechobee, at the south end of the Kissimmee Prairie State Park.

Seriously though, after all the crap I've been through with houses and land down here in the last 25 years, I wouldn't buy anything without a real estate lawyer. I spent 3 years in litigation with a guy who was forging releases of liens, he didn't have a real estate license or contractors license and just kept moving north from Miami up the Treasure Coast.

(I'll tell you the story sometime over a pitcher of Mararitas.)


That's just me though.

[Ira]

Arne, they have all of these restrictions in place about sharing sites. Plus, you can have GUESTS, but you have to be there with them and a maximum amount per site.

Walter, right next to it is their WESTERN development, which another friend of mine told me about. It's more developed, and they have a rodeo and a BAR. (Now THAT was attractive to me--the bar, not the rodeo.) Much more expensive, I believe.

I guess it's only $250 for a well because these guys probably have a drill on-site, or they have an arrangement with a local guy. They probably only have to go down a few feet, and you would have to install your own drop-pipe, which is no big deal:

I actually did it MYSELF on my old property. (I was so proud!)

And Walter--I didn't google that address you mentioned. What's that for?

Tom, you may be right about the lawyer thing, but I may be able to make this happen and get the property for nothing. My friend who owns there is a builder--spec houses, commercial developments, etc. For 10 years he's been hocking me on and off to develop marketing materials for him, as well as making him a REAL website. (My web development skills are old, but I guess I can pick it all up in a few days.)

Anyway, I hate doing work for friends, because if they're really friends, I don't ever want to charge them. (That's just me.) And if they're NOT really friends, the freelance work isn't usually worth the aggravation…I generally don't have the time…plus I would scare them off with how much I would charge.

This might be a matter of, "Ken, take $4,000, stick it in a brown paper bag, and leave it outside the River Ranch office."

We'll see.

[surveytech]

Ira,

I think its "Westin" not western.........big time share company.
The original River Ranch has been there many many years. It right on the Kissimmee River itself. Westin has recently purchased the property. But this place is not part of that resort. But you can still go over there for stuff to do.

if you google that address you could get an aerial photo of the area. Thought you might want to see it is all.



good luck.

[Steve_Cox]

Ira,

As far as the wells go out there, I hear you can drive a "sand point" with a sledge hammer and get lots of water at 20 feet, not safe to drink and smells like sulfer. Drilled to 120 feet or so, the water is safe and tastes OK. You can find water at all depths inbetween too with varying quality. Watch out for anyone offering to "drill a well" really cheap. For a camping site I would probably drive a shallow well get a filter and use the water for everything but cooking and drinking.

[asianflava]

What is funny to me is that whenever I go home, the water smells to me. Growing up in FL, my wife and I never noticed it until we moved away. It smells funny even at my sister-in-law's and she is in Winter Park (Orlando). It's especially bad at my parent's house because they use well water.

When they had the well dug, they had the option of digging till they hit water or paying by the foot. They had to drill down to just over 200ft to get good water, good thing they took the first option.