Steve’s book mentioned alternative/creative +ve cashflow ventures such as caravan parks.
Can anyone share with me their experiences or opinions regarding these types of investment properties.I guess similar properties would be *NON B&B* short-medium stay periods, a few days to a few weeks.
I’m interested in specialty properties that can be rented short term for fisherpeople, skiers, holidaymakers/families.
It seems the great cash-on-cash returns that can come from such investments would be offset an amount by higher maintenence fees/repairs, on-site management fees, plus of course year-round advertising.
What are the pros and cons of such investments, any help would be greatly apprectiated.
cheers
abundance
Abundance,
I visited the Gold Coast last year for the first time, and whilst there, I was looking at short-stay/holiday properties.
After looking at the figures behind a few of these investments, they were marginally better than your normal rental situation. However, I believe you are investing not only in the location but also in the skills of the management of the facility. Adds another variable.Ask about how they market themselves, maintain business, see how they run the premises by just being there. Ask the existing clientele what they think.
James
Hi,
I asked a similar question to this a few weeks ago.
I was looking a permanent van that was is in a coastal area caravan village with a permanent tenant, the figures weren’t bad but the BIG NO NO for me was pointed out to me by other members on this forum, that being in a park, the owners of the park could sell the land and if the home was not able to be moved, I would lose out[
]I think also Actually buying the cvan park can be rather expensive. There were a couple for sale in Bowen and ranged in price from about 1 to 4 mil.. They do rent well though I believe
Josh
Thanks guys, I’ve just stepped in from going to the movies and excited to see your responses. I’m a newbie to forums so it’s even better, very thankful for your input, it’s such a great thing to be able to share info this way.
abundance
I have friends with investment units, rent out on the gold coast. Their return is far greater, but they are concerned for on investment that the property managers who are elected by the body corporate, and who get free rent, are paid and guess what, are now purchasing untis for sale.
Now I mention this because the managers have bought about 5 units. I thought this to be a conflict. As managers they allocated properties for rent. They now can rent their own units before other unit owners. They also charge about $100 for cleaning a unit once let, or even if you stay there, you still pay the cleaning fee.
The building supports owner occupiers as well as investors. I think the managers have a nice little deal going. I would be out of there. The Indy weekend brings the most business and rents are peak at that time, this is offset by the downs, but overall until now they have been doing very nicely.
As far as caravan parks go, they are becoming fewer. There are reasons for this and I consider the following:
price of vans has increased
traffic problems with vans or campers- mobility issues
onsite vans are a pain, there are costs associated eg plumbing and sewer
you dont have ownership of your plot if you are a permanent
many councils stopped permanent living in parksthere are lots of other issues involved with parks I wont go into, but suggest you take a look at one, see how many permanent residents, if this is permitted, see what conditions are placed on them, check out facilities, check out vacancy rates, costs and other fees.
parks are large, costs can be considerable. Your time is never your own if you own one.
Elves
Hey Elves, if I was your friends, I would be changing the rules of how everybody is paid.
They could be paid on the basis that if their unit is rented, they get the money. But it could also be done on a gross income basis. If the managers own units, this is what I would be opting for.
It does then make it a little unfair for those who spend the money to maintain their units vs those who don’t, but there are ways around that to.
Cheers
Mel
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