RV Park Investing Newsletter

The holiday season is a mixed blessing in the RV park business. On the one hand, you have the colder temperatures and even snow to contend with. RV traffic gets reduced (unless you have a park that caters to “snowbird”). It’s not that much fun to be outside. But at the same time, you have the holiday spirit, great food, good music, fun decorations, and a chance to reconnect with family and friends. On that note, we’d like to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to our extended “RV park” family. We hope you have a great holiday season!

This is a photo of a 1938 Curtiss Aerocar, one of the earliest motorhomes. Curtiss built, in addition to RVs, custom aircraft. This model – years ahead of its time – featured a bathroom, kitchen, an observation deck, and sleeping accommodations for eight. It was used by the owners of Forest Lawn Memorial Parks continuously from 1938 to 1991 – for 53 straight years. Today it resides in the Peterson Automotive Museum in downtown Los Angeles. It has become a work of art.

At least two U.S. museums feature RVs

The Peterson Automobile Museum is not the only place you can find antique RVs. You can find one of the largest collections of them in the U.S. at the RV Hall of Fame and Museum in Elkhart, Indiana. Indeed, the RV is a recognized art form, with a combination of graceful lines and utilitarian simplicity. You can additionally find RVs in various other museums – I found one in the Pontiac Museum, and another in the William Howard Taft Presidential Museum in Cincinnati.

Upscale clientele creates upscale designs

What makes the RV worthy of art status is the remarkably great designs that have been produced since inception. RVs have always been the plaything of the affluent, and great money was spent on making designs that were appealing and efficient. Early RV designs feature elements only found on expensive yachts of that era, including mahogany built-ins and brass fittings. If you go to the RV Museum in Elkhart, you will note that there is not one ugly design to be found. Everything appears futuristically ahead of its time – because it was. These were discriminating customers who demanded the best.

Mobility generates interest

RVs have always had the ability to generate interest because of their mobility – people see the designs throughout the U.S. as the RVs go from location to location. This has created interest among the public in the same way that people take note of new automotive designs as they see cars driving around. In fact, the RV is the close cousin to the car, and their advancement in design is intertwined. The earliest motorhomes were built from Model T’s, and the respect for great design mirrors that of automobiles.

Collectability and prices to match

Airstream trailers, for example, are hugely collectible and valuable today, in keeping with a work of art. They have been featured in everything from Architectural Digest to the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog, in which their custom Airstream was priced at $195,000. A basic 1960’s Airstream today will cost $30,000 to $70,000 before renovation. But Airstream is not the only collectable RV. From Volkswagen to Tear Drop trailers, there are a huge number of RVs that cost more today than when they were new – valued for their art form more than their durability.

Conclusion

RVs are a terrific way to invest in art. They look great and are a ton of fun. Would you rather have a painting to hang on a wall, or a trailer to take with you wherever you want to go? Look for more price hikes ahead in select models as more and more Americans come to appreciate the RV as art form.

Hi-Ho RV park in Glenn Heights, Texas has been an icon since as long as we’ve been in the business. This is a real working RV park that makes big dollars and shows how much money you can squeeze out of a piece of land. But, as you can see from the photos, the magic of Hi-Ho can be summed up in one simple word: “location”. It’s not the amenities that do it. It’s not spectacular entrance and common areas. What makes many successful RV parks happen is where they are located at.

The magic of big populations

The Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex has a population of around 6,700,000. That’s a lot of people. When you have a population that large, you always have people driving through, going on vacation, looking for work, building a project, retiring into the RV lifestyle, etc. This is terrific for RV park occupancy! There is no question that being a part of a metro location in the millions is terrific. When it comes to population and RV success, bigger is always better.

The scarcity factor

Although Dallas has a metro population of around 6,700,000, it only has around ten major RV parks. The economic rule of supply and demand shows that a short supply coupled with a large demand equals high occupancy and rents. The worst location for an RV park is the reverse: small population and huge supply of RV parks. That’s why Hi-Ho stays so full – there’s really nowhere else to go. That’s not to say that they don’t do a great job with what they have, but they don’t have the most modern, expensive facilities. And, in the world of real estate, it’s all about location, location, location.

“Destination” is the key sector to be in

There are two types of RV parks: 1) destination and 2) overnighter. A “destination” park has a ton of things to do nearby, and is the ultimate goal of the RV expedition by the consumer. The “overnighter”, on the other hand, caters to those RV users who are on the road to their destination park, but have to stop somewhere along the way. The superiority of “destination” is obvious – they clock all the nights, while the overnighter park only gets one. Hi-Ho is a destination RV park. That’s why it’s so full.

Goodwill is important

Airstream trailers, for example, are hugely collectible and valuable today, in keeping with a work of art. They have been featured in everything from Architectural Digest to the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog, in which their custom Airstream was priced at $195,000. A basic 1960’s Airstream today will cost $30,000 to $70,000 before renovation. But Airstream is not the only collectable RV. From Volkswagen to Tear Drop trailers, there are a huge number of RVs that cost more today than when they were new – valued for their art form more than their durability.

Conclusion

Hi-Ho succeeds due to a number of factors, of which the most dominant is location. It enjoys a huge metro population, destination status, and scarcity of supply of RV parks. This is a winning combination for any RV park, and one that you should be looking for in the type you buy.

Our Home Study Course is not like anything you have ever listened to or read before. We do not fill it with a bunch of fluff on how your are going to make a million bucks with no money down. We tell you the whole story... the good, the bad, and the sometimes ugly.

Click Here for more information.