Oct 20, 2023
In this episode of The MHP Broker’s Tips and Tricks podcast, Maxwell Baker, president of The Mobile Home Park Broker, interviewed Ed Bridgman, president of EOB Consulting and a go-to expert in the field of RV communities.
This and every Tips and Tricks podcast episode is brought to you by The MHP Broker’s’ proprietary Community Price Maximizer. Use this four-step system to get the highest price possible for your mobile home park or RV community when you sell it through The MHP Broker. Guaranteed. Ask Max for details.
Here Are the Show Highlights:
- Max’s podcast guest, Ed Bridgman, is an industry expert who Max and his wife, Kathryn, met at SECO 2022. Ed makes feasibility studies and works with client who want to build RV communities. (Max, 0:22)
- Ed has a degree in electrical engineering and an MBA. In working at Motorola, he was one of five co-authors of Six Sigma, which developed processes for businesses to utilize to gain greater efficiency and generate less waste while pleasing customers and turning a profit. That won his and his team the first Malcolm Baldridge Award, which was granted by President Ronald Reagan. Ed spent the next thirty years as a consultant. (Ed, 1:52)
- He owned a tiny home community in 2010 and learned more about Gulf Coast tourism when he read about BP Oil starting to invest $24 billion to support tourism, in part to pay for an oil spill. This is how he began to research the RV community industry and the opportunities to be found. He discovered, for instance, that 247,300 new RVs were sold in 2010, but by 2022, that annual figure had jumped to 614,100. (Ed, 3:28)
- However, the number of places for putting RVs during the season and off-season were not keeping up with the RV manufacturing numbers and customer demand. There were about six or seven more new RVs being manufactured than hosting and storage locations. (Ed, 5:00)
- So many people with million-dollar RVs are restricted by zoning codes from keeping them in their driveway or on the street in front of their homes. So where do they store their beast? (Max, 5:59)
- For about the last decade, EOB Consulting has been in the business of designing and building RV and boat storage facilities. (Ed, 6:58)
- There are five different kinds of RV destinations, each serving a very different need. First, there are the short-term parking places where RV owners can pull in to take a nap or break from driving while getting from one destination to another. The second destination type is a campground. (Ed, 7:49)
- The campground has few, if any, amenities because it’s located in close proximity to a recreational destination such as Epcot Center, Disney World, Mt. Rushmore, etc. The entertainment comes from that venue. RVers will stay at such campground typically for several days or a couple of weeks at most. (Ed, 10:00)
- The third type of RV destination is the resort. That’s where RVers might stay for a long weekend or take a vacation. The resort must provide entertainment options since this sort of destination isn’t in close proximity to larger entertainment districts, and the RVers don’t expect to go elsewhere. So resorts have pools, fitness centers, party rooms and other similar amenities for vacationers. (Ed, 11:21)
- The fourth type of destination is for RVers who wish to live in their vehicles for extended periods, such as snowbirds who come from cold environments to stay in the Sun Belt all winter. These destinations are communities, where RVers get to know their neighbors and, if they’re still working, continue to work remotely from wifi-enabled RVs that can be used as offices. (Ed, 12:44)
- The fifth type of RV destination is a hybrid, in which RVers might more permanently settle in to a campground or resort type of destination. (Ed, 15:00)
- The challenge RV destination developers have is in fully understanding the different needs associated with the different types of destinations. RVers who wish to live long-term in a community will need more of a neighborhood feel than those in a resort or campground environment, who must be provided different levels of entertainment options. (Ed, 16:28)
- Manufacturers are becoming more diversified now, from creating RVs with slideouts for those who’ll park their vehicles and stay longer, to simple “tube” vehicles for RVers who will “boondock” with their vehicle, which is parking it somewhere primitive without even electrical or water/sewer hookups and roughing it. (Ed, 18:16)
- Another industry trend regards homeowners who used to have second brick-and-mortar homes for seasonal use, but the high cost of homes has made this less of an option.Now that second home is an RV. Those people might buy a luxury RV and permanently install it in warmer locations to serve as their winter home. (Ed, 21:10)
- One big challenge in designing RV destinations is accessing city water and sewer. So an estimated 90 percent of Ed’s storage locations include septic systems. (Ed, 23:02)
- Today, Ed’s designing climate-controlled boat and RV facilities for vehicles that can cost millions of dollars.Many people are living permanently in such sites, and don’t even own vehicles that can pull their RV away. (Ed, 25:30)
- As a site design consultant, Ed will spend several days with the entrepreneur at the designated site to gain a full understanding of the client’s vision. He’ll get a thorough understanding of the local market, the intended audience and challenges and variables. The goal is to maximize the value of the property before starting the design layout. (Ed, 28:41)
- For those who wish to discuss such a site design, Ed can be reached at www.eob-consulting.com or (512( 785-1379.
Want to learn more about investment opportunities in RV parks and mobile home communities with a leading brokerage for manufactured home environments? Just drop Max Baker a line at info@themhpbroker.com or give him a call at (678) 932-0200.
Power Quotes in This Episode:
“I discovered that the RV industry is a 100-year-old industry, but it's ramping up at a pace that would put any biotech company to shame. …the RV industry is just blowing up.” (Ed, 3:28)
“(An RV) community is less money to develop (than a resort RV community) because you don't have to have two swimming pools, you don't necessarily have to have a fitness center. These people are working adults, who want to come home and have a beer and go to bed and get up the next morning and go to work…” (Ed, 12:44)
“So, if you can anticipate where the next Disney World is going, by all means, buy all the land you can around the next Disney World.” (Ed, 16:00)
“So, do you want to babysit a resort-type guest? They paid more, but they demand more.” (Ed, 16:28) (A friend who owns an RV community) told me that…these RV campers, they're really only made to move around 40 times, and then they just start falling apart. And he said, you know, once they get into my community, they don't ever leave.” (Max, 16:58)
“You can also have a concierge service where you put their RV in storage, and then they call you and they'll say ‘we're going to be down the first of the next month,’ and you get it out of storage and set it up on the site for them.” (Ed, 27:25)