Some RV Park sellers simply put a price on their listings. And others attach words to that price – or offer no price at all. In this RV Park Mastery podcast we’re going to explore the hidden meanings of these unusual seller price disclaimers.
Episode 113: The Hidden Message Sellers Send With Pricing Disclaimers Transcript
When you look at most RV Parks for sale, what you typically see on the listing, a short description of the location, number of spaces, and then there's a price. So we're all used to typically looking at listings that have prices attached to them, but sometimes those prices come with additional words or sometimes no price at all. This is Frank Rolfe with the RV Park Mastery Podcast. We're gonna talk about the hidden meanings sometimes when the seller lists that RV Park and put some little disclaimers on that listing, what those might mean. Now, one common disclaimer you can see on some RV Park listings is when it says call for price. So instead of a price being there, there's simply the words call for price. So what does that mean when it says call for price? To me, what it typically means is the seller is afraid to tell you the price without talking to you. 'Cause he's afraid you're gonna laugh at him.
So he wants to have the ability to talk you through the price because he knows it's probably outlandish and he's afraid if he puts it in the list, no one will ever call. No one will ever say, "Hey, I'm interested in that RV Park." So instead he says, call for price to at least get you on the phone. And then trying to counter when you make comments like, "Well, that's crazy. You must be nuts." So he can say, "Oh, no, no, I'm not nuts. You just don't understand the market. You just don't understand how valuable these RV parks will one day be."
So call for price is typically not a good sign. It means there's more to the movie than you know and more they want to care to share with you in the listing. It can also mean there's some other kind of problem with the property. For example, you've got a permit issue, an access issue, a utility construction issue, something they wanna tell you, "Well, yeah, we're asking a million dollars for the RV Park, but you'll also have to budget another $400,000 to replace all the electrical." Call for price, to me is never a good sign. When somebody says, call for price, that's normally a downer. I've never heard a situation where that turned out to be a plus. And then you have other listings which have the words, a price that's good, but then OBO. OBO stands for Or best offer. So why in the world would someone attach the price on the RV Park the words OBO?
Well, typically this one means they're getting desperate. They really, really want to sell. So they want to convey to you the fact they're flexible. This price is not firm. Let's get into a discussion. We're willing to drop it down a lot. So unlike call for price this time, those words are a positive. It also means that that seller is probably a very good candidate to negotiate a price much lower than the asking price. If I saw an RV Park and it said a million dollars OBO, well then that sends me the signal that maybe I can buy that park for half a million, 600 grand, 700 grand, something along those lines, because here's someone who really wants to sell bad. Now, why would they wanna sell so bad? Is it 'cause there's some defect in the property? Well, sometimes it's possible that maybe why it hasn't sold historically.
But it's also possible they simply wanna sell 'cause they're in a short timeframe, they've got a health issue, they wanna move somewhere. Or maybe it's a property that's having trouble paying the mortgage and the bank wants to sell it quickly. But unlike call for price, which is typically a negative, OBO is typically a positive. And then you have those situations where there's no price at all. The listing has all the important data, but when it comes down to price, it's a blank. Nothing there. Not a number, not a word. Zero. What does that mean? That means that they want you to come to them. Now, why would you do that as a seller? Why not give people at least some rough idea? Why not urge them to contact you? Typically, that's because they're hoping you will throw out a number higher than they would dare to ask.
So when I see no number at all, no request for you to call, what that typically tells me is we're dealing with the seller in this case who doesn't have any confidence because they don't know what they're doing. And rather than embarrass themselves by throwing out a price that's wildly low or wildly high, they're basically wanting you to educate them. It's not for like the call for price seller, where they're gonna try and give you this lengthy narrative of why the park's really a good buy. Even though it doesn't look like it on the front end when there's nothing on there at all, they're kind of begging you to call and educate them on what the price should be. And in those deals, it can go either direction, it can be a good sign that you're gonna get a great deal on the RV Park 'cause the person has no clue.
But I've also had cases where they ask ridiculous prices. So when you call to try and educate them on what it is, and they say, "Well, I don't know what would you give me?" Then their retort is terrifying. You say, "Well, I think that RV Park is worth a million dollars," "A million dollars. Are you crazy? I thought it was worth five." At the same time, you might say, "Oh, I think it's worth a million dollars." And they say, "Oh, that's a fantastic price," even though you think it's really worth two or three. The bottom line is to that in buying an RV Park, it's often like plain poker. You have to get into the mind of the seller. You have to try and listen to what they're saying. Are they bluffing? What do they really mean?
Will they stand their ground or will they cave? And understanding those certain little clues and those fundamental messages, those subliminal thoughts and those listings, when they add additional words to the price or no price at all, can often aid you in being a better negotiator. Remember that they want a seller. They wouldn't put the listing out there in the first place. I've never seen a seller who just for fun, would a property out there that he had no desire to sell. But it's very important from the moment you start contemplating that listing, if it interests you, that you start trying to think through, okay, what's the plan? Because successful negotiation is really a strategy.
It's like playing chess. There's an art form to it. And what are the initial building blocks of the art form is to know how low an initial price you can throw out that will be countered. And if you think about those three options as far as the call for price, the OBO, or the no price at all, if you think through what those meanings can be, that will typically help make you a better negotiator and a better buyer of those style of RV parks. This is Frank Rolfe, the RV Park Mastery Podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.