It may pay to have it your way

When the solenoid stuck last week on Sharon Martin's golf cart, an electrical fire started. She scooped dirt from the ground and that knocked down the flames, but the fire didn't go out, so she called for help.

Two neighbors at Lake Bonnet Village came. One disconnected the solenoid from the battery, and the fire went out. Then they helped get the cart repaired, and now it's fine.

Martin is one of 247 shareholders in the resident-owned park at 2900 E. Lake Bonnet Road, in the orange groves between Avon Park and Sebring. It's a warm-winter haven: residents can fish or canoe the lake, 13 golf courses dot the area, and restaurants and shopping areas are eight miles away.

Most RVers rent for the winter. That's what Martin and her husband, Denny, did six years ago. With diabetes and a heart condition, Denny needed a warmer climate than Chesterton, Ind., a Chicago suburb.

First, the Martins researched the Internet. "He didn't want to be near the Everglades," said Sharon, a retired food service director. Denny, who ran paint booths for Ford, didn't want to wrestle with alligators. Turned out, Lake Bonnet had gators too, but they learned it wasn't such a big deal.

After nine months of renting, the Martins decided to buy their lot.

New resorts

"It's not a new phenomenon," said Bill Harvey, developer of Silver Palms Village, an upscale resort a half-mile north of Lake Okeechobee. Eighteen months ago, he bought 90 acres and developed a park for Class A RVs, buses up to 44 feet long. When the living room and bedroom slides out, the 8.5 foot wide rig takes up 14 feet of space.

Older resorts often supply 30 amp electrical connections; newer, bigger rigs have more electronics and demand 50 amps, Harvey said.

Although the recession started about the same time Harvey was building, one-third of the 167 lots have sold. The rest are available to be rented, he said. But when 90 percent of the lots are sold, he'll bow out, and the residents will be in charge, just like at Lake Bonnet.

Own your own

There are more advantages to owning than renting, Martin said. "It only took a few years to recoup our money back." The Martins paid $11,000; similar lots are now selling for $30,000.

When RVers return from the north, they often want the same spot they had in previous years. But it might not be available.

"We're already turning away people for the winter," Harvey said.

More advantages: lot owners don't have to conform to the usual October-March park schedule, they can leave their RV for the summer, they can landscape their lot, and the lot rent never goes up.

Owners have more privileges too. Martin is on a nine-member board at Lake Bonnet. If renters have problems, they can ask, but they have no decision-making power. When prices go up, the renters pay more, not the owners.

It's home

Her double-wide is better than a house in town, Martin thinks, because in Sebring and Avon Park, people work all day and come home at night. At Lake Bonnet, almost everyone is retired. "They're here. And they're here all day."

Birds of a feather, residents entertain each other with shuffleboard, cards, bingo, dance lessons and pot-luck meals.

The final reason why Martin decided to buy at Lake Bonnet was that she and her husband found a sense of community. "The people were very nice, very helpful. When he was sick, people came."

Denny died two years ago.

"And now, being a widow, I feel very safe here," Martin said.

How much money do renters spend?

How much does it cost to winter in Florida?

"That depends on your lifestyle," said Paul Rollin, a semi-retired resident of Ontario, Canada who spends the winter at Silver Palms RV Village in Okeechobee.

Rollin and his wife, Louise, bought an RV site at Silver Palms last winter, where sites range from $55,900 to $77,900 - considerably cheaper than what RVers pay for similar sites at upscale parks near the coast.

The Rollins spent additional money landscaping their site, buying a storage shed, and installing an extra refrigerator. They spent about $5,000 last winter in living expenses. This winter, they expect to get by on less - about $4,000.

"I've seen people do this a lot cheaper," Paul Rollin said. "But I like to eat out often. That's part of the fun."

Louise Rollin, for her part, said groceries are about $150 a week in Florida, compared to $100 in Canada.

While purchasing a site requires a significant upfront investment, snowbirds say the money is well spent.

"It can cost $800 to $1,000 per month just to rent an RV site in Florida during the winter months," said Silver Palms RV site owner Emile LaChance of Ontario.

Prices tend to be lowest in northern Florida and highest in south, and lower inland but higher on both coasts.