June & July 2007 Newsletter

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!

• 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.

7-19-07

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!

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.

Contact Information:

Russell Baehre 830-896-5050

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.

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-

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

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.

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
2. Flood Plain
3. 100 year and 500 year Flood Plains
4. Noise Problems
5. Required Licenses
6. Other Profit Center Licenses
7. Long Term Issues
8. Grandfathered Zoning
9. Review Reports
10. Directory Rating
11. Management Expectations
12. Interview the Customers
13. Talk to RV Dealers
14. Visit the Park
15. Chamber of Commerce
16. Real Estate Brokers
17. Tax Assessors
18. Get the Numbers and Verify
19. For Insurance Purposes
20. Water Lines
21. Sewer Lines
22. Electric Service
23. Gas Service
24. Fire Hydrants
25. Trees
26. Roads
27. Drainage Problems
28. Sewer Plants
29. Lift Stations
30. Investigating the Property
31. Water Wells
32. Who is Responsible
33. History of Rate Increases
34. Count the Lots
35. Late Fees
36. Security and Reservation Deposits
37. Check the Leases
38. Hazardous Materials
39. Other Items
40. Recent Survey
41. Current Zoning
42. Lot Sizes
43. Other Site Issues
44. Combination Parks
45. Street Lights
46. Plat Maps
47. Park Equipment
48. Market Survey
49. Building and Zoning
50. Long-term Resident Issues

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

Written by Dave Reynolds, RVParkStore.com

Available for Instant Download!

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

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