The RV Park Mastery Podcast

Some RV Park sellers have perfect, computerized financials that you can seamlessly give to lenders. But others have numbers written in crayon and still others are missing the financials altogether. Can you still buy those properties? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the various scenarios of incomplete financials and the message they send.

We have employed hundreds of managers over the past few decades, and some properties have suffered through two or three manager changes in one year. After you have owned and operated RV parks for a while you start to lose hope that you can make a single hire and that manager will last until you sell the property decades into the future. Yet it happens. In this podcast we try to identify the traits and methods required to attain a “lifetime” manager.

Sam Zell is the largest owner of RV parks in the United States with over 160,000 lots. And he has attained that stature through a heavy focus on risk. Zell sees risk as a tool and the healthy byproduct of taking chances in the pursuit of making money. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore Zell’s views on risk and how to use that concept in making better RV park acquisition decisions.

Every storm cloud has a silver lining, and higher U.S. interest rates can be used as an important lever to obtain desirable seller financing on RV Parks. How does that work? In this RV Park Mastery Podcast we’re going to break down the action steps to convince the seller to carry paper, as well as tips on how to get the job done.

Getting a loan to buy your RV park is an essential part of the business model, unless you are obtaining seller financing. So what really goes on in those bank loan committee meetings and how can you impact that discussion from outside the room? In this episode we’re going to discuss how banking works and what you can do to improve your odds of success.

Buying an RV park typically includes a due diligence period and financing contingency. But what do you do when you can’t meet the timetable spelled out in the contract? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review constructive steps to successfully obtaining an extension from the seller if that is necessary. In a perfect world everything would fall into place on the promised dates, but the world is not perfect.

Between Hurricane Ian and the Federal Reserve it’s easy to get paralyzed by fear when looking at any RV Park deal – or even simply going to the grocery store. But life must go on. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review decision-making techniques to help reduce your stress and to make better decisions possible on when deals should – or should not – be pursued.

We live in an era of virtual assistants and delegation in the search of the “4-hour work week”. While there are some things you can assign to others, much of what’s needed to make good decisions in RV park investing can only come from your own experiences and information derivation. So what can you outsource and what do you need to actively be involved in? That’s the topic of this RV Park Mastery podcast.

Typically the RV park seller asks more than the property is worth. That’s the American tradition of negotiation. But what do you do when the price is just fine – or even lower than it should be? That’s the focus of this RV Park Mastery podcast in which we’ll review the negotiation playbook when there’s nothing to negotiate.

Not all RV park brokers are good at their job. But sometimes a “bad” broker is actually great for an RV park buyer. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the many reasons why bad brokers may be worth the best thing in your effort to find a good deal to buy.

Before you can buy an RV park you must have a willing seller. But how can you make them sell to you? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss what motivates a mom and pop RV park owner to sell and what you can do to push that concept forward. Why you can’t control the whole process, there are definitely three actions you can take to improve your odds of success and that’s what we’re going to review.

There’s no purpose to making offers to buy RV parks unless they get countered by the seller. But many RV parks are only deserving of prices much lower than what the seller is demanding. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the art of making low offers without them appearing insulting, with the simple goal to get the seller to share in our vision, counter our offer, and ultimately end up with a signed purchase contract.

We all know the value of bonding with sellers to attain the best prices and terms on an RV park. But what about bonding with lenders? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss the benefit of building a relationship with your lender and some practical pointers to make that happen.

Many RV park buyers do themselves a disservice by reading books from the “self-help” section of Barnes & Noble related to “how to negotiate”. These books dwell on the negotiation style known as “win/lose”. But there’s a much more effective style that you should adopt that will allow you to forge great deals much easier and often with added benefits like seller financing and this model is called “win/win”. One is consultative in nature and the other adversarial.

Virtually every RV park sold in the U.S. revolves around a mortgage. And there is a certain playbook required to successfully get a loan and maintain a good relationship with your lender. In this RV Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to examine the protocol to obtain a loan, build your lender relationship, and retain the loan upon its renewal.

One of the big concerns of RV park buyers and owners is the lack of control over revenues as you never know who will be coming and going on any given day. However, extended stay customers offer you a steady cash flow that can really ease those concerns. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what extended stay customers are, how to attract them, and how they can give you greater peace of mind.

RV parks come in a wide variety of sizes to fit every budget and goal, but which is the right size for you? In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to examine how the size of the RV park impacts your investment and how to come up with the matrix of considerations to help you make that decision.

We all need friends, but it’s not appropriate to list your RV park manager as one of them. In this RV Park Mastery podcast, we’re going to review how to have a successful relationship with your manager, but only on a business level to maximize profitability and minimize complications.

Every business reaches a moment in which it is better served to seem “corporate” in nature. Is it that time for your RV park? That’s the focus of this RV Park Mastery podcast, in which we’ll explore the benefits and disadvantages of appearing “big” and how to get the most bang for your buck.

One of the hallmarks of great leaders is the ability to discern between what is significant and what is trivial. So what about RV parks is important and what is more minor? That’s the topic of this RV Park Mastery podcast. We’re going to not only go over these items but what the impact would be and how to figure these out in due diligence.

It’s a fact that the #1 fear of Americans is public speaking. It ranks one notch above death, which comes in at #2. With that type of fear permeating all levels of speaking before a strange audience, it only makes sense that cold-calling RV park owners to see if they want to sell would be far outside your comfort zone. But the fact is that cold-calling represents one of the best ways to find an RV park to buy at an attractive price, and without the inclusion of a broker.

All RV park deals begin with a signed contract. But before you can have that written agreement, a price must be decided. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to discuss how to come up with that initial offer and why so many people can’t get the ball rolling in this regard. Too much thought can lead to “paralysis by analysis” and too little can lead to an endless stream of contracts cancelled and time wasted.

The turn-around plan to maximize most RV parks is to increase occupancy and rents. But there’s another component that more and more RV park owners are considering. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to address the issue of physically expanding the number of lots in your RV park. These expansions can be very profitable, but also come with some pitfalls that must be considered.

RV park owners often have the wrong numbers in their payroll category – and it can be a big cost that can skew the numbers either more or less attractive than they actually should be. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review what should and shouldn’t be in the P&L regarding labor cost and why so many moms and pops get this number wrong.

An RV park seems like a simple business model, but maximizing its profitability is just as complicated as landing a spacecraft on the moon. Using scientific protocols to enhance your RV park is essential if you want to really optimize your profitability and efficiency. But how do you do it? In this RV Park Mastery Podcast, we’re going to discuss how you can bring science to any RV park to get a handle on making it the best income property it can be – as well as the most appreciated by your customers.