The RV Park Mastery Podcast

It’s OK to be proud of being the owner of an RV Park, but you still want to build a firewall to protect your private time. In this RV Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to show you some real-world tricks to maintain your privacy and give you the freedom to be both an owner but also someone who has a happy home life.

Being a deal maker is much more than just looking at RV Parks for sale and making offers. The best purchases often require forging a winning construction through the use of creativity and inclusion. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review how to build better deals using your brain and people skills.

When you go to get a loan for an RV Park you can either do it yourself or use the services of a “loan broker”. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the positive attributes to having a real professional obtain your loans and discuss why we use them on all of our deals.

Cold calling RV Park owners is a great way to find deals. But it’s very uncomfortable for those who have not done it before. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some great ideas to reduce your fear of “smiling and dialing” and help you make this an important part of your sourcing of potential deals.

Most forms of commercial real estate are set in stone. You can’t easily convert a factory building into a hotel or an apartment complex into a retail strip center. However, RV parks hold the enviable ability to morph into a number of product lines based on market demand. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the chameleon - like nature of real estate’s most adaptable business model.

In the RV Park universe there are basically three successful types of partners. But what are they and how do they work? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review these three type of partnerships, discuss how you could benefit from them, and explore how to manage them successfully.

Most RV Park deals revolve around a down - payment and a first - lien mortgage. But some deals have one additional financing tool: a seller second. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how seller seconds work, the legitimate purposes they can play, one pitfall they can create.

Some RV Park sellers simply put a price on their listings. And others attach words to that price – or offer no price at all. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the hidden meanings of these unusual seller price disclaimers.

When you are buying or operating an RV Park you get no shortage of people giving you their input. But which ones should you listen to? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the methodology required to sort such "experts" into those who are worthy of listening to versus those that should be disregarded.

Warren Buffett is the most successful stock investor in American history. And, as an RV Park owner you can easily match and beat his performance metrics. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the legacy of the “Oracle of Omaha” and why it’s not that hard to beat his rate-of-return with this unique real estate sector.

One of the most important skills you can possess as an RV Park buyer is the art of negotiation. While most buyers understand the concept of starting low and triangulating the final price from the back-and-forth of price haggling but one element that often goes overlooked is the “Flinch”. In this RV Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review what the “Flinch” is and why it’s imperative that you adopt it immediately when negotiating on RV Parks.

Millennials have become a bigger demographic than Baby Boomers – and that’s fine because they seem to have the same love for RVs as their older predecessors. But the problem is that many RV Park owners are doing a poor job of welcoming in this younger segment of customers. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review some basic steps to increase your share of the “younger generation”.

Much has changed in America since the pandemic, and one of those net effects has been the inability to hit time targets. Thirty days of diligence has been the standard in the RV Park industry for decades, but is that really realistic today? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the diligence process and determine what the important deal points are regarding the selected time period.

There’s little to like in the national news today. Between a pending recession, the war in Ukraine, the war in Israel, inflation and the highest interest rates in 40 years, there’s plenty to be depressed about. But all that negative news is great news for RV Park buyers. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore why all of the bad things going on in America right now is an “opportunity creator” for buyers.

The typical mom and pop seller has owned the RV Park for decades. But sometimes a seller has been running the property for a much shorter period, even a matter of months. What are the implications when a seller has been only a short-term owner? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the risks involved in buying from one of these type of sellers, and how to mitigate them.

Every good RV Park buyer uses a contract that has a “due diligence contingency” and the purpose is to allow you to cancel the agreement if the deal does not meet your expectations. But the art form is to terminate the deal without burning any bridges. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review constructive steps to cancelling with the seller without causing hard feelings or being excluded by the broker to look at other deals.

We all know that a non-recourse loan is better than a recourse loan – but is recourse as bad as it sounds? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the real risks of recourse debt as well as concepts to mitigate it and actually embrace it.

How much research do you do on the property before you sign the agreement and put it in the title company? While you don’t want to waste your time, the truth is that too many RV Park buyers wait way too long before getting their deal locked up, and that’s a mistake. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the strategy behind why you need to tie the RV Park up first, and do the diligence later.

It would appear that interest rates are about to begin their descent after the fastest rise in 40 years. Beginning in 2022, Jerome Powell from the Fed decided to take the rates from 0.25% to 5.5%. However, that all appears about to turn and this will usher in some great advantages for RV Park investing. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what these benefits will be.

Brokers have been the source of more than half the deals we’ve purchased over the past 30 years. But one big mistake some buyers make is to look at the broker as more than just the source of the RV Parks they buy. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the reasons why you should keep all brokers as great resources for deal flow but not turn them into deal evaluators or sounding boards for your turn-around concepts.

There are many strategies to better serve your goal of forging a deal with the seller, but few are as effective as “inclusiveness”. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how to make “inclusive” deals and what the net effect can be.

Many RV Parks are sold utilizing seller financing. But on those deals your negotiation does not just revolve around the purchase price – the way you negotiate the seller’s note is just as important. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the key points of negotiation for seller notes.

Once you’ve owned your RV park for a while, invariably you will receive a call or letter from someone wanting to buy it from you for more than you paid. Should you take the money? Is there another option? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the reasons to sell versus hold on as well as the difference between selling and refinancing your RV park.

Equity Lifestyle (ELS) is a public REIT and the largest owner of RV Parks in the U.S. They recently announced their 2023 earnings and there are some interesting conclusions that can be drawn from them. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore what the ELS financial performance suggests about the future of the industry.

You can pay managers a flat rate or include a bonus. But never pay managers with equity in your RV Park. In this RV Park Mastery Podcast we’re going to focus on why giving managers part ownership in your property is never a winning strategy.