All Forum Posts by: Mack Fleming

I am in a partnership that is developing a residential subdivision. We had some things come up that I did not agree with, and I asked to step away. At this point, everything is documented regarding my departure. My total investment is to be paid back to me as a buy out. Problem is, some of the members are strapped for cash. I am trying to work with these guys and have extended the deadline a couple of times, and we just passed another deadline. I am getting concerned. Phase One of the development is about to be approved any day now, and sales contracts have already been signed for a number of these lots. The partners tell me that I will be paid once they get their hands on the proceeds. My buyout will be approx  one-fifth of the gross proceeds from Phase One. This makes me wonder if my buyout will be a priority. If not, we roll into Phase Two, a much larger part of the development and a perhaps a much longer wait for my cash. I think it would be a good idea to place some kind of lien on Phase One to make sure I get my money out of the these proceeds. Does anyone know what kind of lien that should be filed in a case like this?

I have a neighbor with an odd sized little piece of property that would work for me to build a shop for woodworking and general storage. I made him a good offer, and he is Okay with the price. However, he is concerned about what might happen to the property in the future once I am gone. This is a fairly quiet rural setting and he does not want any nuisances.

I mentioned deed restrictions, and right of first refusal. He warmed up, but is still on the fence. He didn't come around much on the right of first refusal because he said he wouldn't have any interest in buying a shop building, even if it meant to just resale it. Can anyone think of something else to incentivize this sale? I would really like to have this property for a shop. I talked to my lawyer and he didn't have any other ideas.

Bottom line, the neighbor does not want to relinquish control over the land. As a last resort, I would even be willing to lease the land, provided that I be compensated for the improvements when it sells.

TIA

Thanks, Roger. I will have a look. 

(Last post was to Roger, not Samuel. Sorry about that.)

Samuel, the site is 14 acres, high and dry, with thinned pines. Public water, septic systems. Nice spot. Not sure how many lots it will yield once it is designed. I prefer it not be super high density since I know some of the neighbors and want to keep them happy if possible. I can draw up a preliminary site plan and send it to you if you are interested.

Samuel, I reread your post and now see the point you were making. Totally agree, RV parks are doing very well. However, the long term parks can sometimes bring in an element that might not be good for the neighborhood. I would imagine RV parks are a lot more work than a MH Park, but the difference in $$ might be worth it.

Roger, I think the demand is there. But, I don't want to run a mobile home park. I only want to be the developer, and sell it after the infrastructure is completed.

There is a lot of interest in these older (filled) MH Parks. However, some are a nightmare when you take a closer look. A while back I had a client that was interested in a jalopy of a mobile home park. One of the worst in town. They wanted a land survey of the park, along with the location of the underground utilities. The place was a disaster. It was such a mess that they found a way to back out of the contract.

Patrick, you bring up some good points, particularly the potential hurdles the buyer might face with getting financing on an empty park. I suppose I could ask the folks at my bank for their opinion, and if it is positive include it in the marketing.

A few things to consider for my situation:
I own the land out right. The site has power and public water. I'm a licensed civil engineer and land surveyor with experience designing these parks. This part of the County has no zoning and zero regulations, with the exception of the health dept for the septic systems.

So, my question is not so much about does the numbers work, as it is regarding finding an investor that would be interested in purchasing a newly developed park. I really don't want to get into filling the park. Just build it and sell it.

I am considering developing a mobile home park and putting it straight on the market. All infrastructure in place. No mobile homes setup. Looking for opinions for this approach, particularly from those who have actually seen this done. TIA

Hello fellow BiggerPocket-ers!

I am in need of a Road Maintenance Agreement. If anyone out there has such an agreement they would like to share, it would be much appreciated.

If interested, here is a little more information on what this is about..

I do small residential developments in rural areas. The roads are private. Some are dirt and some are asphalt paving. As long as the lots are 3 acres or larger in size, the County does not regulate anything. However, if any of the lots are under 3 acres in size, the regulations state that there must be a 30' wide access/utility easement, and no more than 4 parcels may share an easement. (This makes things a little cumbersome.)

I would like to propose a variance to the County for this regulation. The reason for this particular regulation in the first place is that the County does not want to deal with folks complaining about road maintenance for what they think is a County Road. So, for smaller lots the County limits a private "road" to what is more like a private driveway. That way it doesn't appear to the public as something the County is responsible for maintaining.

My proposed variance would state, in effect, that if a private road is paved and has a Road Maintenance Agreement in place, an access/utility easement of 60' in width to a public road is required regardless of size or number of parcels.

I welcome any ideas on the best approach. I think I will first talk to the County Commissioner in my district, and then we meet with the County engineer. The County engineer is not easily swayed, by the way. According to how this goes, I will then set up a meeting with the County Commission.

Thank you!