All Forum Posts by: Mark Lawson

I am sure vision hospitality has a lot to do with it. 

I highly recommend http://www.thefuquagroup.com/ but do keep in mind Chattanooga has banned new STR license at least for a while. There are some great areas outside of the city but inside the city they were limited to downtown only and now you can not apply for any new license.

I have multiple RV parks and campgrounds so feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions 

 We have some other larger parks but of course they are no where near that price range. 

 I have owned a lot of them and the first thing you need to determine is what type of park you are buying. As one of the other guys pointed out if it is a recreational park it operates a lot like a hotel and weather, time of year, ect need to be factored in but if it is long term park it is a lot like a MHP. I have some that are a mix but I like the long term parks better. 

There are around 1m people living in an RV full time and only about 600k long term pads in the US. Many of your recreational campgrounds are owned by the government (either state or local) and almost all of them do not allow you to stay more than 21 days so if you are running a long term park there is a very high demand in many states. 

Below is a sample P&L (it is a real P&L from one of our parks) that will give you an idea of overhead. Some parks bill for actual power use and have a separate power meter for each pad. Some just have one meter and they pay the power and if you go that route the utility cost is very high.  

 Sent you a message

 There is some land around it but there is about 6 acres that is not being used now to expand. As a general rule you can get about 10 pads per acre. 

Make sure you find an agent who knows what they are doing. There are more complaints filed with the TN real estate commission out of that county than the rest of the state combined so there are some not so great agents there. One thing to look out for is some zoning is not grandfathered in on STR's and once deed transfer you can no longer have a STR in that home.

We have a 10 acre RV park in the mountains of East TN if a very popular golfing area. The park generated close to $150k in gross rent last year with around $80k in net but has had a mostly absentee owner so the park is under preforming.  The park is currently 41 pads but has lots of room to expand or add amenities. There is lots of value add to the park. 

Willing to either sell the park (or assign it) or if someone is looking for a passive investment we are willing to set up a syndicate and our company will operate it. We do have experience and our office is about an hour from the property. Priced in the high $500k range (depending on if it is assigned or we close).  

 I understand you point of view as a licensed agent (used to own a remax franchise myself) but there are as many disadvantages to being licensed as there are advantages. I do not like wholesaling myself but I have assigned some contracts and recently had one where the end buyer was given a price and when he was sent the contract he backed out because I was making a $55k profit. 

When you have a license it is illegal to have net listings so you can not charge more than a standard commission rate. Most commissions are from 6% to 10% and then the brokerage often takes up to 40% (yes I know some flat rate ones are out there) so it is often much more profitable to not have a license. There is also all the disclosures that basically tell the person you are trying to buy from that "I am a real estate professional and prob trying to buy this property for far less than it is worth and I am going to make a big profit". I have been on both sides and the side without a license if much more profitable.