650: Glamping, Campsites, and The Insane RV Park Revenue No One is Talking About
BiggerPockets Real Estate Podcast
BiggerPockets
4.8 • 16.5K Ratings
🗓️ 18 August 2022
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
RV park investments are probably not the first thing you think of when somebody says “real estate investing.” You’re probably used to single-family homes, duplexes, apartments, or something that has to do with long-term, residential real estate. What if we told you there was a hidden niche in the real estate investing arena, one with less competition, sky-high revenues, and almost unlimited ways to cash flow.
Heather Blankenship has been in the short-term rental investing niche for more than a decade. It was much different back when she got started. On a coast-to-coast road trip, Heather had the idea to buy an RV park. She had no experience, no money, and knew nothing about hospitality operations. She was, quite surprisingly, able to find and buy a $3.2M RV park, which she’s now upgraded into a $15M property.
Don’t get her story wrong, this is not a “fake it till you make it” type scenario. Heather put in years' worth of long days, longer nights, and enormous effort to make properties just like this one, finally profit. Now, with three kids and a portfolio worth over $30M, Heather has become one of the leading figures in creative short-term rental investing. If you’ve never thought about glamping, camping, or RV park investing, this episode will seriously pique your interest.
In This Episode We Cover
The massive cash flow you can earn from RV parks, campsites, and glamping
How the short-term rental space is softening and what hosts can do to stand out
Ditching the traditional travel sites and why building a direct booking site may be the best move for investors
The dozens of ways you can make money owning an RV park or campsite
Commercial financing, permitting, and everything else you must know before buying a large short-term rental property
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
Get Your Ticket for BPCon 2022
Listen to All Your Favorite BiggerPockets Podcasts in One Place
Learn About Real Estate, The Housing Market, and Money Management with The BiggerPockets Podcasts
Get More Deals Done with The BiggerPockets Investing Tools
Find a BiggerPockets Real Estate Meetup in Your Area
Hear Heather’s Interview on The “Real Estate Rookie” Podcast
Fanboy with Rob over Matthew McConaughey’s Interview
Campgrounds—The Investment You’ve (Probably) Never Thought About
Use the BiggerPockets Tools on Your Next Deal
Books Mentioned in the Show:
The Gap and the Gain by Dan Sullivan
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
Connect with Heather:
Heather's BiggerPockets Profile
Click here to check the full show notes: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/real-estate-650
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the Bigger Pockets Podcast. |
| 0:02.0 | Show 650. |
| 0:04.0 | When you're first starting out and you bought a couple houses on, |
| 0:08.0 | you put them on Airbnb or you've done something on a small residential scale, |
| 0:12.0 | you don't totally grasp what commercial real estate means |
| 0:16.0 | when it comes to zoning and permitting and regulations and just how serious they are |
| 0:20.0 | about all that stuff. You've got this mindset of like, move forward |
| 0:24.0 | and instead of asking for permission, ask for forgiveness and it really |
| 0:28.0 | doesn't work that way. So when you're looking into these properties, |
| 0:31.2 | zoning and permitting is so freaking important. |
| 0:34.0 | Like, during your due diligence, you have to have an answer to that. |
| 0:38.0 | Because oftentimes the answer is no. |
| 0:40.0 | Even though it's a great location and seems like a great property, |
| 0:42.8 | you've got to get that zoning and permitting figured out. |
| 0:45.0 | Same with utilities. Those are the top two things that are going to make it |
| 0:48.0 | or break it for your glamping business. |
| 0:50.0 | And if you can't figure out utilities and permitting and zoning and due diligence, |
| 0:54.0 | that is not the property for you. |
| 0:56.0 | So if everyone, this is David Green, your host of the bigger pocket drill, |
| 0:58.8 | stay podcast here today with my co-host Rob Abasolo bringing you a |
| 1:03.2 | fire episode with Heather Blankenship who returns to talk about RV parks, |
| 1:08.8 | glamping, short-term rentals and making millions of dollars running a real estate |
... |
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