Buying a RV park

[GRIZZLY2025]

Hello everyone,
I am looking at buying a very small RV park and looking for opinions about yearly leasing.
my main question is is there a market for yearly leasing and what price range are people comfortable with.
I have looked at the local market and it seems most price it monthly at 500 a month for water, sewer, internet, but not electricity. This is high in my opinion for the winter months. I am more in line with 400 a month water, internet, trash, sewer, included, but not electric. this park is located on a beautiful river and close to many of the biggest recreation areas. There are state parks, a lake, white water rafting , ATV. and a ski resort all in 30 min or less. 8 miles from small town of around 3k with medical, grocery, schools churches. my question is are there campers looking for yearly leasing?

 

[rvlifer]

I have seen monthly but never yearly. But then i never asked about it either. I assume pricing is like most other products where location plays a huge part. Probably best to get as much info on the area it is in and see what others are charging. $500/mo doesnt seem bad in general though. Seems like a lot of places are charging a lot more than that.

expenses play a huge part. Those dont drop to nothing in the winter.

 

[Vanbrat]

I guess my answer would be more questions. What does it cost to run yearly? and What do you need for your salary and how much do you need to salary anyone else and how much do you need yearly to start to recoup your purchase price? How many site do you realistically think you WILL be able to charge that is competitive.

 

[rvlifer]

Make sure the price also includes long term future improvements and maintenance/replacement of services. You dont want to have to replace or upgrade things and not have the funds. Otherwise the place will decline over time

 

[darsben]

Can you supply water and sewer year around? Some areas of the country do not have year around for a reason

 

[GRIZZLY2025]

I have seen monthly but never yearly. But then i never asked about it either. I assume pricing is like most other products where location plays a huge part. Probably best to get as much info on the area it is in and see what others are charging. $500/mo doesn't seem bad in general though. Seems like a lot of places are charging a lot more than that.

expenses play a huge part. Those don't drop to nothing in the winter.

Hey thank you so much for replying. I'm not currently living the rv life but Im looking at this being my home base once I am. Then hitting the road whenever I wanted. That's the long lease idea so I wont have to check in and out campers all. It has 11 sites all 50 amp and length is not a issue. so it be 4,800 a year and come and go as you please
Location is in southern WV in a highly recreational area near the new river gorge and Hatfield McCoy trail system. I have checked the competitors but they stick with the weekend, week, and month rates. of course its more profit but it really ties you down. i have family that could check on it while I'm on the road,

 

[GRIZZLY2025]

Can you supply water and sewer year around? Some areas of the country do not have year around for a reason

Yes, and there are 11, 50 amp sites, with water, sewer, trash and internet. all for $4,800 a year.. length is not a problem. Very beautiful, 7 with water frontage. Like I said I want to travel to so I don't want to have to be there all the time checking people in and out. Of course will have the grounds maintained

 

[Lou Schneider]

It depends on how slow your off season is, and how much you'll have to spend to keep your park open during that time versus shutting down. For example, in snowbird areas in Arizona their demand peaks as people flock there for their mild winters but relatively few people stay during the hot summer months. It costs little to keep a park open there over the summer compared to keeping a park open in colder areas, no winterizing pipes, plowing snow, etc.

In another thread I posted a link to a park in Yuma, AZ that offered typical year round rates, Rocking K Grande RV Park. It's one I picked at random from a Google search but they're typical for that area. They charge $50 a day and, $250 a week (29% discount), electricity included. Monthly and yearly rates are plus electricity at $550 a month or $3950 a year (41% discount).

 

[GRIZZLY2025]

I guess my answer would be more questions. What does it cost to run yearly? and What do you need for your salary and how much do you need to salary anyone else and how much do you need yearly to start to recoup your purchase price? How many site do you realistically think you WILL be able to charge that is competitive.

Thanks for your reply, 4,800 per year average on 11 sites. 7 are on the water. this fits into my business plan.

 

[GRIZZLY2025]

It depends on how slow your off season is, and how much you'll have to spend to keep your park open during that time versus shutting down. For example, in snowbird areas in Arizona their demand peaks as people flock there for their mild winters but relatively few people stay during the hot summer months. It costs little to keep a park open there over the summer compared to keeping a park open in colder areas, no winterizing pipes, plowing snow, etc.

makes sense. I will live on site. The winter in WV is about 4 months but there is a ski resort close. I plane to keep it open 12 months a year

 

[GRIZZLY2025]

It depends on how slow your off season is, and how much you'll have to spend to keep your park open during that time versus shutting down. For example, in snowbird areas in Arizona their demand peaks as people flock there for their mild winters but relatively few people stay during the hot summer months. It costs little to keep a park open there over the summer compared to keeping a park open in colder areas, no winterizing pipes, plowing snow, etc.

In another thread I posted a link to a park in Yuma, AZ that offered typical year round rates, Rocking J Grande RV Park. It's one I picked at random but they're typical for that area. They charge $50 a day and, $250 a week (29% discount), electricity included. Monthly and yearly rates are plus electricity at $550 a month or $3950 a year (41% discount).

Nice, Thank you! This really helps. I like the percentage discounts. I would prefer to find 11 campers that would be willing to pay the yearly and come and go as they please. 7 sites are river front so I guess it be paying to hold to site if you were not there

 

[ferfer]

With only 11 sites you likely can attract long term RV's without activities and games.

Here is one example of Long Term Rates pricing in Arizona:

Total rent is due upon arrival: (ELECTRICITY NOT INCLUDED*)

Regular Sites​

Annual = $4,700.00​

6 + 6 = $3,800.00​

Premium Sites Perhaps the water front sites​

Annual = $4,900.00​

6 + 6 = $4,100.00​

​

Information

*Electric is individually metered and billed monthly@ XX cents/ KWH All Rates are based on a maximum of 1 RV and 2 persons per site

Reservations require a $XX.XX, non-refundable, Deposit. (Deposit will be applied to rent, upon arrival)

6 + 6 rate includes 6 months of occupancy plus 6 months of storage on same site. While in storage, RV must be disconnected from all utilities and all slides must be pulled in. Additionally, to reserve the same site for the following year, a $200.00 deposit must be paid, Prior to departing for 6 months.

 

[GRIZZLY2025]

Wow great info! Thank you! the 6+6 concept is food for thought. But with a ski resort close? Probably makes it easy if i just went 4,200 for water front and then 3,800 for regular. this is really about as low as I could go per year and really keeping it looking great. That's less than $11.50 a day for water front. It be hard to beat for a nice place even if you wanted to go someplace else and come back.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Nice, Thank you! This really helps. I like the percentage discounts. I would prefer to find 11 campers that would be willing to pay the yearly and come and go as they please. 7 sites are river front so I guess it be paying to hold to site if you were not there

Check with your local government first. Some places assess higher taxes on short term accommodations like hotel rooms versus long term rentals like apartments and these often include RV parks. How long someone's in your park may affect if they trigger a short term tax.

California also makes it harder to evict a troublemaker depending on how long they've been in the park, including for not paying rent. It ranges from immediately for an overnight guest to having to go through a full court eviction similar to getting someone removed from a house or an apartment if they've been there longer than 9 months. Because of this most parks in the state limit stays to 30 days at a time or 6 months per year.

 

[workinonit]

Can you keep the gates open and services on for $4800 a year?

 

[RayIN]

This is only what I've thought of, others will add to the list of expenses.

Expenses:
property taxes
annual business license
internal road upkeep
site maintenance or complete rebuild
building maintenance and repair
monthly electricity bill
monthly water bill monthly sewer bill
ground maintenance and equipment
occasional tree trimming and brush removal
full/part-time employees
trash removal
and the biggie_ insurance

 

[rvlifer]

This is only what I've thought of, others will add to the list of expenses.

Expenses:
property taxes
annual business license
internal road upkeep
site maintenance or complete rebuild
building maintenance and repair
monthly electricity bill
monthly water bill monthly sewer bill
ground maintenance and equipment
occasional tree trimming and brush removal
full/part-time employees
trash removal
and the biggie_ insurance

Good list. A quick search for expenses for rv park owners includes a lot of info. Here is one. In adiition to ray-ins list they include emergency expenses

https://www.roverpass.com/blog/rv-park-income-and-expenses/

 

[Lou Schneider]

Good list. A quick search for expenses for rv park owners includes a lot of info. Here is one. In adiition to ray-ins list they include emergency expenses

https://www.roverpass.com/blog/rv-park-income-and-expenses/

And you wonder why a parking space with utility hookups costs so much.

 

[rvlifer]

And you wonder why a parking space with utility hookups costs so much.

?

 

[Arch Hoagland]

GRIZZLY2025....I'm curious if you've ever owned a business?