Glamping or Cabins?

[Keith Mueller]

I'm new here, thank you for the opportunity to learn from experienced STR investors!

I recently purchased 12.5 acres in Bartow County, Georgia. It's about halfway between Chattanooga and Atlanta, 15 min from I-75 in a gorgeous, serene setting. There is an old farmhouse built in 1929 sitting on about 2.5 acres at the front of the property, I'm in the process of securing a loan to renovate it for use as a STR. The remaining 10 acres is gently sloped and wooded- initially I wanted to build 4-5 log cabins to use as STRs but after looking in to the costs and requirements it seems like a bad idea. The only access I have is from the road at the front, as the property is bounded by private property on the other 3 sides. Local regulations require a minimum of 200' of road frontage and 2 acres for each dwelling, so if I wanted to subdivide the property I'd have to build a county approved road, pull utilities, deal with the local authorities on storm water drainage etc. By the time I got through all of that I'd probably have $1M or more invested, which I'm not ready to do at this point. I'm open to ideas that don't involve all of that, but I don't want to build without permits or do anything I could get busted for later. Next time I'll buy property with long road frontage so I can subdivide it and build driveways in to each dwelling without building my own road.

I'm considering cutting my own driveway in (I have the equipment to do it) and preparing 4-5 glamping sites. I have no experience with this and don't know how to deal with things like insurance, nor do I know what AirBnB requires for things like this. I'm thinking about 1-2 Airstreams, a yurt or two, maybe a treehouse or airplane fuselage. I could permit and build a clubhouse with some amenities, still thinking about the best low cost way to get utilities to the back of the property. 

I'd like advice from someone with experience in this space, hopefully in Georgia and ideally in Bartow County. It's a rural place which makes me hopeful that the regulations aren't ridiculous. I just have no idea where to start and have been unsuccessful finding information through web searches. Thanks for the help, I'm excited to begin my real estate investment journey!