To My Texas Certified Appraisers

[Terrel L. Shields]

The appraiser model is reverting back to the pre-licensing era where you necessarily used appraising as either a part-time gig in your Real Estate Brokerage, or you have a specialist niche - like timber, minerals, agriculture, RV parks, etc.

BTW, with so many RV parks being built, there is a big demand and someone who gathered data from several states and advertised that specialty could probably keep busy.

 

[ucbruin]

"BTW, with so many RV parks being built, there is a big demand and someone who gathered data from several states and advertised that specialty could probably keep busy."

And how many years would that take to recup the cost and make money....
Would one have to travel to each site for every appraisal and/or to verify how each site compares to one another....

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Would one have to travel to each site for every appraisal and/or to verify how each site compares to one another....

No. Inspection once or even not inspect the comps at all. They usually have pictures of their parks. You can count the sites from Google Earth, etc. Secondly for the $5k type fees that RV parks can garner, I can drive a couple hundred miles or more just to take photos and research if necessary (Missouri, TX, & KS RV parks are a PITA because they are a non-disclosure state, but I can get good data in OK and AR - Colorado). You find comps often on LoopNet or other commercial sites as well as RV specific websites. RV Parks for Sale is also on Facebook. They are basically an income problem and there are a number of sources for info on the number of sites, what they charge etc. and generally interview is the best way to estimate the vacancy rate.

Locally we are seeing these parks fill up with long-term renters and vacancy rates are a fraction what they were 20 years ago.

 

[ucbruin]

No. Inspection once or even not inspect the comps at all. They usually have pictures of their parks. You can count the sites from Google Earth, etc. Secondly for the $5k type fees that RV parks can garner, I can drive a couple hundred miles or more just to take photos and research if necessary (Missouri, TX, & KS RV parks are a PITA because they are a non-disclosure state, but I can get good data in OK and AR - Colorado). You find comps often on LoopNet or other commercial sites as well as RV specific websites. RV Parks for Sale is also on Facebook. They are basically an income problem and there are a number of sources for info on the number of sites, what they charge etc. and generally interview is the best way to estimate the vacancy rate.

Locally we are seeing these parks fill up with long-term renters and vacancy rates are a fraction what they were 20 years ago.

Back in the day I did plenty of appraisals for individual mobile homes in parks (not the park itself) in Orange County....
Mobile home assignments were given to the newbies....
Values were so low bank wasn't going to lose too much if newbies screwed up....

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Values were so low bank wasn't going to lose too much if newbies screwed up..

Well...they can be fairly hard to value in a park and so was a sort of throw them in the creek and teach them to swim fast method. Made a pro out of you quick.