I have a larger park with almost 50 empty mobile home spaces.
The park is located in a area that gets a lot of RV traffic.
We don’t have any amenities for RVs, and the lots aren’t pull through as they’re designed for mobile homes, so our park is less attractive for RVs compared to the dedicated RV parks.
RV parks are charging $300-$450 monthly in the area. Right now our lot rents are $190, and are going to get bumped up to $250 per month over the next few years.
As our lot rents rise, I’m considering having offering a reduced rate for RVs. Let’s say our lot rents get to $230, I would still leave RV rates at $190.
The reason for this is RVs are really valuable to the park as it doesn’t use any resources for us to get them move in, and since the park isn’t designed for RVs I’d imagine we’d need to be a fair amount cheaper to be attractive.
Has anyone with RVs done anything like this before and encountered any push back from residents or elsewhere?
I think it makes sound business sense, but I’ll admit it could be perceived as unfair to have an RV paying $190, and the identical lot next door is paying $230.
I am basically doing the same thing here… We don’t have amenities here either. we had to install temporary electric pedestals… ours have 20, 35, and 50 amp service. This seems to accommodate even the biggest RV units. Interestingly enough, our lot rents are $195, plus all utilities. Our mobile home lot rents will going up in March.
For the rv’s we have here now (about 8) we charge $350 and bill back electricity. Their water and septic are included. I got my pricing from comparing to local RV parks. While some have laundry, etc, and mine does not, mine has treed lots, oversize lots since they were originally set up for mobile homes. I haven’t had anybody balk at the price. The guys that are in here really like it. they are here working in the area on a wind farm project, a construction electric company job, and an expansion to a plant that does carbon processing. They know our park is older, but has zero trailer trash. They come in with huge newer RV’s, their trailer with a Harley, a boat, jet ski etc. as there are lakes in the area. one guy was transferred out and when he came back to the area called me immediately, and brought a buddy with his home. We had to rework the way our water hookups were because they are now more exposed. We bill back the electric, minor nuisance. The guys are extremely good about paying, may have a grill etc… no drama.
Bottom line, they are paying at or better than other rv parks, love the quiet, trees, large lots etc. check pictures here www.timberlineacres.com
$195-$350 is a pretty large discrepancy, good to hear you haven’t gotten any pushback on it.
You bring up a good point - converted mobile home lots won’t have typical amentities, but the yard/lot will be a lot bigger than a typical RV lot which is an amenity in itself.
Go with your market. we started out charging less, but I became friends with a local rv park owner. when he got full, he would call and ask if I had anything available. because he was such a nice guy, and advertised the lowest lot price in town, I decided I would use his pricing so that I wasn’t cheaper than him. This way neither one cut out the other… that’s the truth. that was my reasoning. It’s all in what the market will bear. if you see it’s slow going, reduce your price a bit.
create a plan though… do you want people living in their rv’s indefinitely? I have a couple, long term here and they are quiet middle are or older. I’ve had younger ones come in that didn’t quite fit, noisy, not neat, nuisance people. You can sometimes get a feel for them right up front. These guys in town working are extremely quiet and that’s one thing they love about the park. brakes172@outlook.comtimberlineacres.com stay in touch.
@Noel_S - this is what I do at one of my parks. We charge $170 more per RV lot but don’t charge back water or sewer. The electricity is in our name. Overall, we net out around the same. Check the market but I wouldn’t be ashamed of charging more for a RV lot than a MHP lot especially since they can drive off. Either way it’s a win to get more people in the park and increase revenue as long as you can operational handle the workload as RV tenants are higher maintenance but usually good payers.
It is important to have the “right” RVs with newer units
that are neat and follow rules or you get complaints from your MH tenants. Stay with monthly vs weekly or nightly