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View comments from our customers
 
 
This issue of the RVParkStore.com Newsletter includes:

  1. A Great Sign for your RV Park and Campground is an Investment and Not a Cost
     

  2. RV Parks and Campgrounds For Sale
     

  3. Featured Listing
     

  4. RV Park and Campground Memberships For Sale
     

  5. RV Park Employment
     

  6. RV Park Due Diligence
     

  7. The Best Kept Secret in Arkansas
     

  8. Tell us what you think and send us your articles!

A Great Sign for your RV Park and Campground is an Investment, Not a Cost

Many RV Parks and Campgrounds that I have purchased and driven through have older signs that may be leaning over or have faded lettering and other problems.

You need to understand that your well designed and attractive RV Park Sign is extremely important to making money.  Your sign is a pretty busy employee:

  • It offers a current and potential guest tenant the initial positive impression of you property.
  • It gives the phone number of the park to anyone interested in staying there.
  • It impresses city inspectors and officials
  • It impresses bankers and appraisers
  • It works for you 24/7, takes no vacation, and lives on nothing but sunshine.

I would propose that one of your substantial investments in fixing up your RV Park up be to buying and installing a professional quality sign.

I would empathetically recommend against signs of wooden construction.  Exposed to outdoor conditions, wood just doesn’t work well.  It fades cracks and eventually rots.  Even sandblasted signs don’t seem to be built for longevity.

I prefer signs of metal or plastic construction with vinyl or molded letters – nothing painted.  Paint fades and flakes off over time.

I always put the name of the park and the address on the sign, and then attach the phone number with two hooks to hang under the sign.  I do this so that if you change the phone number you can just change out this panel and not the entire sign.  Also, when you sell a park, if needed, you can just detach the phone number and the new owner can attach his phone number.

I choose a sign design that works well with white vinyl fencing, which I also always use at the entrance.  It would be a great touch if you came up with a standard entry design that helped accentuate you attractive sign.

Sure, a professional quality sign is expensive – but look at all the benefits.  When you go to sell the park, that nice sign and the great first impression it gives the buyer, may make you 100 times what the sign cost.  And that doesn’t count all the income that the park derived from impressed drive-thru residents. 

Remember, a sign is not a cost – it’s an investment!

Dave Reynolds and Frank Rolfe
 
RV Parks and Campgrounds For Sale

We currently have over 375 RV Parks for sale and the list is growing daily.  So far this year RVParkStore.com has helped many campground investors find their property and there are several more in the works. 

At last count, there have been over 80 confirmed sales so far this year!

In the past 60 days, there have been over 100 new RV Parks and Campgrounds listed for sale on RVParkStore.com.

If you are looking to sell your RV Park or Campground, now is a great time to start marketing it before summer.  We are still currently offering a FREE 15 day trial period to test the market.  Find out more about Selling your RV Park. 
 
7-19-07

Diane,

Enclosed is payment for our listing in Ripley, OH. We had well over 100 inquiries! We closed June 29th! Your site was a blessing. We are still amazed at the number of calls. The ad only ran 15 days!

Thanks,

James & Jamie

7-8-07

We sold the subject park for the full listed price of $1.7 million! Thank you RV park store!

Thank You!

Jim & Judith
Featured Listing

RV Park For Sale in Texas Hill Country #300   

Beautiful 83 RV site and 75 mobile home site park with two distinct areas with separate entrances.  The park is approximately 23 plus acres with lots of frontage on a main highway with a new Super Wal-Mart across the street.  City water and sewer, paved roads throughout, 200 amp electric in the mobile home park which is 93% full and 20/30/50 electric in the RV park.  Super nice metal and textured block buildings, with one being approximately 6000 square ft. which houses the office, rec. hall, restrooms, etc.  If you are looking for a really nice park and especially one with the stable income of a mobile home park, request the info on this one.  80 plus year old owner wants to simplify his estate.

Asking   $2,200,000.00

 For More Info

Contact Information:

Russell Baehre
830-896-5050
 
RV Park and Campground Memberships For Sale:

This section of RVParkStore.com is picking up speed.  Memberships are being listed and sold quickly.  With about 130 memberships currently for sale, this continues to be the prime outlet to buy and sell campground memberships. 

Best of all, when you are selling your membership, we do not charge you up front to do so.  You only pay us if you are successful in finding a buyer from RVParkStore.com. 

Find out more about Selling your Campground or RV Park Membership

7-24-07

Enclosed my check for $50.00 a great website was sold the very next day after posting. Received dozen of calls and emails on it.

Sincerely,  Gilbert

7-24-07

Thanks for your service. Sold within a week. Please remove from website.

Thank You,  William

7-23-07

Dear Diane

The membership sold within 2 hours from the time of listing. I will be happy to send you your $50.00 as soon as the transaction closes. I presume I send it to the RVPark Store, P.O. Box 457, Cedaredge, Co 81413. Thanks for the help-

Sincerely,  Alan

 
RV Park Employment Listings:

Are you searching for good quality employees or looking for a position with an RV Park?  Then be sure to visit our ever growing employment listing sections.

All listings in these sections are FREE!

Check out the Help Wanted Section

Check out the Work Wanted Section

Post your FREE Listing Here

 

Due Diligence:

Excerpt from How to Buy, Sell, and Operate RV Parks and Campgrounds Ebook

When you put an RV Park under contract you will definitely want to have a stipulation in the contract that will allow you confirm what the seller has said so far as well as evaluate the overall feasibility of the purchase.  Due Diligence will look at the physical, economic, demographic and market feasibility of the project.  This time period is usually between 30 and 60 days. 

In conducting your due diligence you are looking to identify anything that poses a potential issue and that you are able to change or fix.  These usually deal with the cleanliness of the park (junk & trash piled up), mismanagement, lack of rule enforcement, collections, expenses that can be reduced. 

But more importantly you are looking for those problems that you may not be able to fix or that will be very expensive to fix.  These types of issues usually deal with the size of the lots, reputation, problems with location, flood plains, drainage problems, bad configuration of lots, water, sewer, electric, and gas line problems.

In conducting your due diligence you may call on experts in surveying, accounting, marketing, financing, plumbing, electrical, and legal. 

Ask the Seller to provide you with the following (if applicable):

  1. City, County and State Permits and Licenses
  2. Sewer Plant Records and Readings
  3. Water Well Tests and Compliance Records
  4. Existing Surveys or Environmental Reports
  5. Water and other Utility Meter Reading Records and Formulas
  6. Property tax bills for the last 2-3 years
  7. List of all Personal Property (Equipment) that is to be transferred at closing
  8. Copy of current insurance policy and binder showing premiums and coverage’s
  9. Current staffing list including position, wages, job descriptions
  10. Any drawings and maps of the park and infrastructure and size of lots
  11. Any Contracts that will be transferred to buyer at closing (laundry, trash, phone)
  12. Affiliations with Camping & RV clubs and Franchise Agreements.
  13. Current advertising agreements with National RV directories (Woodall’s, Good Sam’s, etc)
  14. Bank Statements
  15. 2-3 years Tax Returns
  16. 2-3 years Profit and Loss
  17. List of Capital Expenditures for the last 3 years
  18. Listing of any current park infrastructure problems (water, sewer, gas, electric)
  19. Any prior or potential future jumps in occupancy due to major construction projects
  20. List of all reservations for upcoming year
  21. For parks with permanent occupants: Rent Roll with specific homesite number, name of resident, move-in date, monthly rent, current balance, additional charges, number of occupants, and a brief history of the resident (good resident / bad resident, special circumstances, etc)
  22. Names and phone numbers of all of all contractors used in the last few years – plumbers, electricians, propane, gas, roto rooters

As you are receiving this information from the Seller you will want to evaluate it with the other information you receive from outside sources. 

If you do not take anything else from this book make sure you read this section very carefully. 

Here is a quote I that I have slowly learned to live by and is the driving force behind my due diligence process.

“Your Instincts STINK…Do Proper Due Diligence”

Doing proper due diligence will save you from making potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes.  In addition, it will allow you to learn about the park you are looking to purchase and if you find something that is needing attention, you will have the facts and figures to either scrap the deal or renegotiate to make the deal work.

I have heard the saying many times that “you make your money when you buy the property”.  I would like to add something to this and that is “you will potentially lose more money by not doing your due diligence than you will ever make”.  Many times properties that are priced so well that they are too good to be true are exactly that… too good to be true.

Here is a list of the items you should consider in doing your Due Diligence. 

These are not necessarily in any order:

  1. Park Location Issues
  1. Flood Plain
  1. 100 year and 500 year Flood Plains
  1. Noise Problems
  1. Required Licenses
  1. Other Profit Center Licenses
  1. Long Term Issues
  1. Grandfathered Zoning
  1. Review Reports
  1. Directory Rating
  1. Management Expectations
  1. Interview the Customers
  1. Talk to RV Dealers
  1. Visit the Park
  1. Chamber of Commerce
  1. Real Estate Brokers
  1. Tax Assessors
  1. Get the Numbers and Verify
  1. For Insurance Purposes
  1. Water Lines
  1. Sewer Lines
  1. Electric Service
  1. Gas Service
  2. Fire Hydrants
  1. Trees
  1. Roads
  1. Drainage Problems
  1. Sewer Plants
  1. Lift Stations
  1. Investigating the Property
  1. Water Wells
  1. Who is Responsible
  1. History of Rate Increases
  1. Count the Lots
  1. Late Fees
  1. Security and Reservation Deposits
  1. Check the Leases
  1. Hazardous Materials
  1. Other Items
  1. Recent Survey
  1. Current Zoning
  1. Lot Sizes
  1. Other Site Issues
  1. Combination Parks
  1. Street Lights
  1. Plat Maps
  1. Park Equipment
  1. Market Survey
  1. Building and Zoning
  1. Long-term Resident Issues

 When doing your due diligence, there are some things that you just cannot change and the risk will just be too high to proceed.  Other things may just be too costly.  Other areas of the due diligence may discover smaller problems that you should be able to change with proper management and operations and can lead to quick equity and profit increases. 

The preceding was an excerpt from: 

How to Buy, Sell, and Operate RV Parks and Campgrounds

Written by Dave Reynolds, RVParkStore.com

Available for Instant Download!

Find out more about the Book 
 
 

Best Kept Secret: Motor Home Parks in Arkansas

Arkansas is a great state to drive though, and has a distinctive “laid back” attitude that might fit you, especially after experiencing the full power of neighboring states like Texas and Louisiana.  First, Arkansas offers plenty in the way of tourist attractions.  There are wilderness grounds, mining for diamond, hiking and camping activities and cavern tours.  

When it comes to finding a nice place to stay, Arkansas is the Rv'ers best kept secret.  There are over two hundred public facilities and RV parks scattered all over the state, while the Arkansas State Parks system offers 28 campgrounds.  If you have plans to explore the wilderness or enjoy some deep woods camping, then the Natural State is one of the best states in the nation.

The Ozarks, which is a plateau that covers four states, and is sometimes referred to as The Ozark Mountains, is a great place to explore and many RV facilities are offered deep in the Ozarks terrain.  The Bull Shoals – White River State Park in Lakeview boasts 107 RV sites, with many additional amenities.  Near the lake, you can also rent boats, kayaks and canoes for water sporting activities. 

Even in the southern part of the state, there are plenty of things to do and more than enough RV parks and facilities to keep the full timers happy.  Lake Chicot is a state park right on the Mississippi delta and accommodates RVers with prices as low as $13 dollars a night.  Even at higher prices for the lake view, instead of the woods view, that's still a great deal.

Other regions include River Valley, Central, Ouachitas and Timberlance, each with campgrounds set up in different cities.  Arkansas has affordable prices for extended stays and many attractions to keep the whole family happy.  That's a secret worth spreading around.

 Article By Adam O’Connor, www.RVTravelPro.com
 
Tell us what you think!
 
We'd love to hear what you think of this issue!

We need your articles - send your articles to dave@rvparkstore.com to be included in upcoming newsletters (this is a great place to promote your company for FREE!).

 
Please send your comments, questions, articles, and ideas for upcoming issues to us at:

dave@rvparkstore.com
 
Your feedback matters to us!

 
Until Next Time,

Dave Reynolds
RVParkStore.com
18923 Highway 65
Cedaredge, CO 81413
PH: 800-950-1364
FX: 970-856-4883
 
 

 

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Diane,

I would like to thank all of RV Park Store for all of their help with selling our campground.  I am happy to say that it has been sold and I would like to have the listing removed from the website.  It is amazing all of the responses that we have received.  Fortunately, it was sold to the second person that looked at it, and only 9 days after it was posted on the website.  All services that you have provided have been excellent and will recommend your services to everyone.

 
Thanks again,
 
Heather
 

 
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