Most RV Park owners lock the doors on their house and turn the alarm on, but unfortunately don’t put anywhere near as much effort into securing their RV Park. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to review the many ways you can better secure your property and financial future from the ills of the real world.
Episode 157: Securing Your Property Transcript
Many RV park owners live in nice houses and they would never think of leaving that house with any of their doors unlocked. And they probably won't leave the house unless they engage their security system to make sure that that property remains safe. Yet they don't think nearly as much about securing their RV park. This is Frank Rolfe with the RV Park Mastery podcast. We're gonna talk about securing your RV park from harm. Now, many people, I'm sure, would admit that their RV park is worth a whole lot more than their house. Even someone who has a million dollar plus house in the RV park business probably owns an RV park that's worth two, three, four million dollars. So it can't be a question of, well, the RV park's not as valuable, I don't give it as much scrutiny when it comes to security. I think instead people either don't know how to secure them or they kind of get lazy about it.
So let's go over some of the things you would need to do with an RV park to properly secure it. Number one, don't keep any original files in the RV park office. When you buy the RV park, take all of the original records, engineering plans, everything, and put those in your trunk and get them the heck away from the RV park. Take them back to your nice house or put them in a climate controlled storage unit. But get all of those early records and plans and items off site. Because if you have a manager problem, they might just disappear. If your office burns, they'll probably disappear. So we gotta get those original files in a more secure location and the worst location for them is to remain there at the RV park office. You also need to lock all electrical boxes and make sure that you've got a front plate on every electrical box in the RV park because you typically have lots of kids in RV parks and others who may just be roaming around and see and wonder to themselves, "Gee, I wonder how RV lots are wired," and stick their hands in those box or stick a screwdriver in there and now you have a horrific liability issue. There's no reason in the world for those electrical boxes not to be properly secured. Also, if you've got any lots that are vacant for extended periods of time, you need to secure any utility connections. They make locking covers for every possible utility access point and you need to lock all of those down. If you don't do that, people may come in and do vandalism. They may put things down your sewer lines, who knows what. So you've got to get all of those utility access points secured.
Also, you have to change all the locks and keys on every park office or storage building every time you change managers. And that includes when you first buy the property. Because who knows how many people mom and pop gave the key to the office, gave the key to the storage unit. And that means all of your tools and your mower and everything in the world is susceptible to suddenly someone with the key going in and grabbing it. So, go ahead and spend the money, get a locksmith out and secure it all. And then every time you replace the manager, don't take any risk. Don't think, "Well, they were a lousy manager, but I bet they're probably pretty trustworthy." That's a terrible concept. You've got to change all the locks. Also, you've got to write down in a very visible place when your loan comes due and if you have any operating permits, when those come due. I cannot live without that safeguard. I keep in a very visible location a list of all those key dates, and you want to be checking that list at least once a month to make sure it's not coming up. It drives me crazy when people find my number on the internet and call me with their RV park to let me know, "Hey, do you know where I can get a loan on an RV park?" And I always say, "Well, your best source is whoever's doing it now." And they say, "Well, they say they won't redo it." "Oh, well then when does it come due?" "Tomorrow, next week." You need to go to your lender probably a year ahead of renewal to make sure that they are still on board to renew it. You can't just go and call a month before because maybe your loan officer isn't even still at the bank. How is that gonna work out for you?
So you've gotta stay totally proactively on top of all of those type of dates. If you've got some kind of state-mandated permit renewal, health inspection due, whether it's from the state or your county or your city, you don't want that to lapse. You don't want that to expire. Once again, you need to be checking that to make sure, and you need to apply well, well ahead of when it is due. There's nothing more terrifying than when your permit is about to expire and you don't have the renewal in hand. What will happen to your business if it expires? And in most cases, the reason you do not have that in hand is simple, you waited way too long before you applied. You also have to make sure you have ample insurance on your RV park. You need to use an agent who actually understands the RV park business. Mobile Insurance out of The Woodlands in Houston is well known to be one of the top specialists in RV park insurance. But if you don't go with them, at least go with someone who understands RV parks and what the potential risks are and how to properly insure them. And even if you feel like you got that insurance and you have a good agent, when's the last time you really read your policy? Are your amounts up to date? Do you have things like cyber insurance? Do you even have SAM insurance? SAM is sexual assault and molestation coverage. Many policies quietly dropped them off in the last few years because of the potential liability from them. Do you have it? If the answer is, "Uh-oh, I don't," well, you need to go out and get it. But you have to stay on top of insurance to make sure you have all the correct forms and enough of it.
Also, proactively go in and replace or remove all of your slip and fall hazards. That is the number one insurance claim in any RV park, people who are walking down the path and there, lo and behold, was a two-foot hole in the path that was not marked. They fall in it or trip on it and they break their leg and they sue the RV park. And the problem is when you have one of those claims, if the insurance company thinks you're a bad operator, they may just uninsure you. It's not just a matter of paying that claim; it's their opinion of you. And if you had many claims like that, then they probably for sure would uninsure you. And once you've been uninsured, it's hard to get insured because all the insurance companies talk to each other. Also, you got to pay all of your people on time and well. Any electrician you use, any plumber you use, you've gotta immediately upon receiving their invoice get it paid. Because there's nothing worse, there's no greater risk than having an issue with some utility system in the RV park and you can't get it fixed because no one will work with you. Everyone has learned you don't pay your bills on time and you can't be trusted, and when you call with that emergency order, they won't show up at the property. There's not that many vendors in the areas where some RV parks exist, and as a result, you may find yourself impossible to deliver utilities to your customers.
Also, have some kind of 911 plan in the event of a problem. In the event of a fire, in the event of flooding, you need to have a playbook already for the manager of exactly what they do. People can become very upset and very irrational in emergencies, and you have to let them know what happened. As you remember, down in Austin, they had that terrible, terrible flood. Remember the one that hit Camp Mystic down there in Texas? People were killed, lives were lost, property was destroyed. You have to be ready for those kinds of issues because when they do occur, it's too late. You should have already trained everyone exactly on what to do. The bottom line is put some effort into securing your RV park. Most all of the risks in the RV park business can be eliminated if you will only proactively follow these steps. This is Frank Rolfe with the RV Park Mastery podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.