They Said What???

All the residents of Bentsen Palm Village RV Park were summoned to a meeting this afternoon. We were told we must attend to find out about the "new reservation process" and, by the way, they're taking some sites out of the rental pool and we need to attend the meeting to find out which sites will be available. All current residents of the park were invited, plus anyone else who has ever been here or expressed an interest in renting here. Much speculation swirled around the park.

The meeting was held at Meadow Creek Golf Clubhouse. It's nearby, and the meeting room is actually large enough to hold quite a crowd (BPV's clubhouse is way too small to hold everyone). We were promised door prizes and refreshments--and a grand prize of an iPad Mini. We arrived early to get a good seat. When the meeting began, Mike Rhodes himself opened by talking about his vision for Bentsen Palm Development. We've heard it all before. But then the tone began to change, and he introduced someone new, Richard Parker. No, not the tiger in the Life of Pi--but a tiger of sorts anyway.

It soon became clear that the purpose of the meeting was actually to try to sell us a lot at Bentsen Palm! That's right, the RV resort is undergoing a condo conversion. The process will take a while, and meantime people can still rent, but purchasers obviously have priority. We are not at all pleased. This is our second year on site #608, and we had hoped to be here every year for at least the next several years. Now we have a lot of uncertainty, and the resort has announced plans to raise the rent by 10% every year for the next five years at least.

So when we returned from the meeting (where we did not win the iPad Mini, by the way), we decided to go look around Green Gate Grove again. The problem is first, that the list of rentals is way out of date, and second, that we would still have uncertainty about being able to return to the same site year after year. Now we have to decide what to do.


Lot 608 is listed now at $46,900, which seems outrageous to us. There's nothing on it except the slab and hookups and bushes around the patio, and there's certainly not room to "personalize" as suggested by Parker by adding a pergola or outdoor kitchen. Maybe we should look at prices elsewhere.