Community Forums

DebbieMH · 09-13-2015, 06:13 AM

All very true. When we left Spartan in July - thought we would wing it until mid day to start making calls to find a spot for the night. It was a Friday - it took me 5 parks to find one with an opening for a 45ft MH. And that one was an hour longer than we wanted to go.

montana4two · 09-13-2015, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

However, those are the months of hurricane season, high heat and humidity in FL and why we travel during those months. If I had to stay home those months, I'd sell the MH and go back to boating

We also found that we are not the only Sunbirds on the road now. The full timers from AZ, TX and NM are also escaping the heat of the SW in much larger numbers with fuel prices being lower.

Anyhow that was our experience from FL to the OR coast this year....others may vary.

Maybe consider coming up to Canada for a couple of months. With our low dollar (75c to the US $) it makes it very attractive, and we love tourists,

Moonrover · 09-13-2015, 07:46 AM

The number of transient workers also has increased. Reason ... they may be following the construction projects, or traveling to job hunt, or do temporary work. We've noticed many RV parks have long-term residents. Thus the short-stay sites are being reduced. One of our favorite RV parks at one time catered to the one or two night travelers. That's the way we used it. Now we have to phone ahead to ask if they have anything available for short stays. That's the park where we noticed a large 5th wheel being used as a home school classroom for children of the long-term residents.

DSL417 · 09-13-2015, 09:06 AM

Another Entegra OP ask the question "...why buy...". This thread kinda sums it up for us. We travel on the shoulder seasons...less crowded. Stay put in Summer and Winter in nice areas. That said, here inSanta Fe, the weekend after Labor Day, and the park is full.

Only going to get worse when Tiffin sells 100/wk, Newmar 40/wk, Entegra 20/wk, Fleetwood and American who knows how many per week, and that is just Class As. Trailers, Class Cs, and 5th wheels are hot as well.

hawgguy · 09-13-2015, 10:19 AM

We homeschool our kids so have lots of flexibility WRT travel schedule. Not only are the campgrounds easier to get in to, but the destinations are less crowded.

brobox · 09-13-2015, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSL417

Another Entegra OP ask the question "...why buy...". This thread kinda sums it up for us. We travel on the shoulder seasons...less crowded. Stay put in Summer and Winter in nice areas. That said, here inSanta Fe, the weekend after Labor Day, and the park is full.

Only going to get worse when Tiffin sells 100/wk, Newmar 40/wk, Entegra 20/wk, Fleetwood and American who knows how many per week, and that is just Class As. Trailers, Class Cs, and 5th wheels are hot as well.

Dave, you are right on. It is amazing how many "first" season or just went full time travelers I talked to this trip. More than any year we have been traveling.

It is also amazing how many new RV dealers have popped up in towns we have been through many times. In west Denver there seems to be an RV dealer on almost every major intersection.....Those were never there before. Someone is buying those units and going some place to park them. Colorado was one of the worst states we had finding RV parks and soon left the state. Talking with a few park owners, in CO. they now have Sunbirds from the SW states renting spaces for the entire summer months in advance.

smlranger · 09-13-2015, 11:45 AM

So, based on the increasing demand for RV sites, will supply increase to meet the demand? Developing a nice RV park would certainly be expensive. Also wonder if this new demand will add to the sale of ownership sites. We visited at least one 'luxury' RV resort in western NC last year. It was beautiful but the sites were really pricey.... and not a warm place to winter. Once we get the wanderlust out of our system, we've talked about buying a site somewhere, just not sure where. I've heard that Hilton Head RV Resort is nice.

Last year we stayed at a nice, out of the way, RV park near Caldwell, lD. The owner had really fixed the place up nice. He had just bought another RV park in Tombstone, AZ and was headed there to supervise a similar upgrade. He told me then that he had seen a trend of increasing demand for sites and wanted to take advantage of it.

brobox · 09-13-2015, 12:34 PM

This is just my speculation on the future of RV Parks. Many large parks were purchased by REIT's, Real Estate Investment Trusts, during the bad economy when owners did not have the holding power. It will take awhile for the building of new parks to meet the demand. There is still a lot of return on investment that needs to be met and that is finally starting.

I think we will see the development of ownership park grow as there is less risk for the developer when sales generate immediate cash on investment. However, those parks are going to be end user locations where demand is high.

There is a new RV Park being built in my area, that has taken over 3 years to get through zoning, planning, EPA and all of the other bureaucratic approvals. That is a long time before the first RV will be parked on it. Look at the date of the news article 11-5-2012 Cape Coral RV resort moves ahead - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

smlranger · 09-13-2015, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brobox

This is just my speculation on the future of RV Parks. Many large parks were purchased by REIT's, Real Estate Investment Trusts, during the bad economy when owners did not have the holding power. It will take awhile for the building of new parks to meet the demand. There is still a lot of return on investment that needs to be met and that is finally starting.

I think we will see the development of ownership park grow as there is less risk for the developer when sales generate immediate cash on investment. However, those parks are going to be end user locations where demand is high.

There is a new RV Park being built in my area, that has taken over 3 years to get through zoning, planning, EPA and all of the other bureaucratic approvals. That is a long time before the first RV will be parked on it. Look at the date of the news article 11-5-2012 Cape Coral RV resort moves ahead - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

I hear you on the long approval process, assuming the NIMBY folks don't get up in arms. We lived on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia (still have a home there) and when a developer planned a really nice, high end RV resort on the lake, the NIMBY folks rose up and defeated the effort. So, you have the most beautiful 20,000 acre lake in the region with only one state park with small RV sites and a couple of other dinky, half done campgrounds on the lake. So the locals complain if they don't get enough tourists/fishing tournaments, failing to acknowledge how much $$ could come to the area if they had a really nice RV resort.

jondrew55 · 09-13-2015, 01:22 PM

Here in Central Florida it's very hard to be spontaneous. Popular state campgrounds are full in the summer with tourists with kids, and in the winter with snowbirds.

No worries. We all know Obama has destroyed the economy and soon the heydays of $5/gallon diesel and repo'd MHs being sold for scrap by the pound will return.

rhusak · 09-13-2015, 01:23 PM

Hi All..
The other side effect of all this increase in demand will be higher prices for existing spots..
We Plan WAY out anymore.. Just the way it is..
Ron

GENECOP · 09-13-2015, 01:26 PM

Don't worry to much or make any changes.....Oil prices will move up again slamming the public with higher gas prices, just sit tight...

Marcosdad · 09-13-2015, 02:25 PM

If you're not averse to the great north woods, want a good golf course and a high end (class A, 32 foot minimum) park with pool, club house etc try Stoneridge in north Idaho. Not full this entire summer. Two week limit if rented from the resort. If rented from owners (like me) entire season is possible.

Moonrover · 09-13-2015, 04:43 PM

I posted on another thread about building the ideal RV park. Many opinions, as expected, but the reality of planning must be weighed against the reality of "will you be given approval to build?".

Wife and I have kicked around the idea of being investment backers for a very nice RV park design located in the lower Midwest. Honestly the design was not nearly as complex as the hurdles for approval. Also, as mentioned in this thread ... the everpresent NIMBYs. I've been through this in other businesses that I've started or attempted to start. Layers and layers of conflicting bureaucracy, stonewalling, and "code interpretation" delays. You get the picture. As the years roll by, the rules get more restrictive and more unrealistic.

After doing a deep study of the investment value versus simply putting the money in layered CDs, we decided on the CDs.

So my opinion is that the present RV parks will remain crowded, prices will rise (supply/demand thing), and the RVers who initially entered into the full-time lifestyle as a way to shed the costs of home ownership ... will dwindle. Those who are financially comfortable with the higher pricing of RV parks may also be chilled by the crowding and lack of a good parking site.

Prediction ... a sine wave cycle of high numbers of RVs being built and sold, then a flooded market with the subsequent shrinking of the RV industry. Things that could and likely will speed the decline will be fuel price increases, and even another recession. We are looking through rose colored glasses if we believe our economy is backed by anything other than promises and printing presses (greenback printing).