We have 3 mobile home parks (100 units) and are considering a 145 site RV park. It seems compelling as 30 are permanent sites with covered parking and a storage building. About 35% of the “overnight” sites are longterm stays and basically perm but lack the perm site amenities. While different than a mobile home park there are similarities and we’d greatly appreciate the forum’s thoughts. Asking price is 2.25MM, we are 2 hrs away, there is existing management/staff that is overseen by the existing owner who lives in the park and they operate ancillary business. Our goal is to keep the part-time staff in place to handle the day to day. The ancillary business include coin laundry (leased equipment with rev sharing) propane filling (significant sales to non RV clients) and “general store” with snack and basic RV supplies.
The park is well located in a nice TX community and close to a major interstate. During the slow travel season (Dec and Jan) the overnight portion of the park appeared to be 60% full and the owner asserts that it is nearly 90% + full much of the year with many travel clubs staying a week or more at time.
On the surface it appears that the operating costs would be marginally higher than a mobile home park but the numbers seem compelling given the high occupancy and ancillary businesses. We believe an RV park is a more active business than a MHC and our biggest concerns are the ability to keep quality management in place with proper risk control (i.e. no theft) and the ability to maintain a strong overnight/travel club appeal. If the forum as thought on best practices to limit pocketing cash from overnight guest that would be very helpful.
Thank you for your insights.
Best
JKD