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Living the Dream
Horspitality RV Park
Horspitality RV Park is located in Wickenburg, Arizona
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Living the Dream
Horspitality RV Park
Horspitality RV Park is located in Wickenburg, Arizona
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Living the Dream
Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park
Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park
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Living the Dream
Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park
Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park
5 of 6
Living the Dream
Horspitality RV Park
Horspitality RV Park is located in Wickenburg, Arizona
6 of 6
Living the Dream
Horspitality RV Park
Horspitality RV Park is located in Wickenburg, Arizona
by John M. Sheedy IV
As a real estate broker who specializes in RV communities just about every day I receive a call from a retired couple interested in buying one of my listings. Almost all of them say something to the effect of “we just figure since we spend every winter in an RV park anyways, we might as well buy one that we love and get paid while we enjoy retirement.” It sounds outstanding on paper. Instead of paying someone else for your winter lifestyle, others pay you, and you enjoy the same great weather, fun people, and activities as before.
Jan and Paul Sullivan are the owner-operators of Horspitality RV Park in Wickenburg, Arizona. This beautiful park, set next to a nature preserve, offers guests a beautiful desert setting along with horse stables to enjoy the outdoors, hiking trails, and a beautiful clubhouse for barbecues and activities. Jan and Paul left their jobs as an executive at IBM and a paralegal after spending several months at an RV resort in Loveland, Colorado on a job assignment. Jan and Paul “love the lifestyle. It’s like constantly being on vacation.”
“We found a park in an area we could spend the rest of our lives and with great infrastructure. It was a lot of work but we enjoy the outdoors and have developed a family and a community at our park”
Would I Be a Good RV Park/Campground Owner?
If you have spent time on the road and have business experience in your former life odds are you would make a terrific park owner-operator. Like any other business you have to track your income and expenses to stay profitable, however as a person who has traveled you likely have a great idea what type of parks you enjoyed and which you did not. That first-hand experience comes in handy when operating your own park. Say you went to a park in New Mexico and didn’t like how that owner-manager gave you a space for a week in between two construction worker rigs that were at the park temporarily. You would know not to do that in your park. Let’s pretend you went to a park near Tucson that had a wonderful dog park that your beagle enjoyed thoroughly and you have been back to that park every year since. Perhaps you would buy a park with that amenity or add one to an existing park. You have likely endured both great and poor park and campground experiences on the road; use that knowledge to guide your decisions to make your park mirror those great experiences.
That knowledge also comes in handy when choosing the right park or campground. Did you enjoy parks that were remote or those within close proximity to restaurants and shopping? Did you enjoy smaller more intimate parks, or larger parks with countless activities and larger social events? John Augsburger with Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park in Gila Bend, Arizona took his experiences on the road when he acquired land and developed his own snowbird park. Augie’s Quail Trail is a 132 space RV park with a huge clubhouse, ATV/hiking trails, and large, big rig friendly spaces just outside of Phoenix. Augsburger is a Navy veteran from Ohio who after spending several years with his RV traveling the country and world, decided to find a park where he and his residents could enjoy the outdoors and natural settings away from the traffic of the bustling Phoenix metro area. Augsburger “chose Gila Bend because of the peace and quiet after years of traveling in my RV. The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful and my guests can ride their horses or ATV’s all the way to Phoenix (around 80 km away) without ever crossing a road or highway. We have nature, wildlife, great people, and views galore. I also was able to build the park in a way I wanted with infrastructure I learned from my time in the Navy. This park is what I always wanted in my retirement.”
But I Can’t Afford It…
According to a recent report, the average price of a new RV is $122,715. This of course does not include fuel costs, insurance, maintenance, etc. As a specialized RV/campground real estate broker I can say for that same cost one can purchase an RV park that makes an owner around $65,000 annually for seasonal work. I have even seen small RV parks trade with as little as $20,000 as a down payment. This is for an asset, which unlike recreational vehicles, generally appreciates in value and has tremendous tax benefits such as depreciation and interest expense deductions. If you are spending six figures on a rig, it is likely you can afford to purchase a park somewhere in an area you can make your winter home, and enjoy the sun and fun while making a return on your investment.
An average park sells for a 10% capitalization rate, which is a real estate term for rate of return. Taking only into consideration your down payment, parks generally average 15-20% cash on cash return, which is your annual return based on the amount of your down payment. Those returns are almost impossible to find in any other real estate or investment asset. Do not be afraid of costs, a qualified real estate or business broker can help you find a park, in an area you like, for a price you can afford. And most importantly even if you are not a United States citizen, there is a high ratio of parks and campgrounds that transfer with seller financing, allowing for relatively painless transactions and paperwork.
Living The Dream
“I have to admit, it was hard at first starting a new life” says Sullivan of Horspitality. “But overall it’s been a fairy tale and we wish we had done it sooner!”
“I did not get into this business to make a bunch of money, although admittedly I have had some great years that helped me along. I built my own RV park to mimic the people and fun times I had with my own RV,” says Augsburger of Augie’s Quail Trail. “Sure there has been some bumps in the road, but overall it’s a life experience I would not trade for anything.”
“Everyone can do this, it’s a matter of working hard and following your dreams.”
John Sheedy is an associate broker with Park Brokerage Inc. a real estate firm based out of Scottsdale, Arizona that assists buyers and sellers of RV parks and campgrounds throughout Arizona, California, and Nevada. He can be reached at 602.821.4666 or at jsheedy@parkbrokerage.com. His company website is www.parkbrokerage.com
Augie’s Quail Trail RV Park is a snowbird RV park located in Gila Bend, Arizona and can be found online at www.aqtrvaz.com or via phone at 928.683.2850
Horspitality RV Park is located in Wickenburg, Arizona and can be found online at www.horspitality.com or via phone at 928-684-2519