Finally Getting Rented
It has been a wild couple of months since my last update, and if there is one thing I am learning quickly about the investing world, it is this: your circumstances will change, and so you had better learn how to pivot.
When I last wrote, the RV was staged, photographed, and sitting on its pad at Waco Creekside. I was getting ready to build out my listings on Airbnb and Furnished Finder. But almost immediately, I ran into a massive roadblock.
The Two-Month Tech Lockout
Right as I went to launch, Furnished Finder’s system completely locked me out. For nearly two months, due to a massive glitch on their end, I couldn't access my account or get the listing live. When you are paying for an RV pad every month, sitting around waiting on tech support for eight weeks is a quick way to burn through your capital.
I realized I couldn’t afford to just sit there and hope the platform fixed itself. I needed to find a tenant, and fast. So, I started looking into putting up a local ad. A few people were interested, but one guy had an interesting idea of putting the RV on his own land and renting it from me. He would cover utilities and pad rent, and only rent the RV from me.
After doing the math, going this route revealed a massive list of benefits that make it way more cost-effective than keeping it at a traditional park:
Zero Utility Costs: Because the unit is hooked up on the tenant's own property, they handle the electricity and water. I don't have to manage fluctuating utility bills.
No Pad Rent: I no longer have to pay the monthly lot fee to the RV park, which instantly dramatically increases my profit margins.
Long-Term Stability: People moving an RV onto their own property are typically looking for something much more stable and long-term than a rotating door of travel nurses or weekend tourists.
It turns out to be an incredible win-win. They get a fully furnished, beautiful space exactly where they need it, and I get a highly predictable, lower-overhead stream of income.
The Market
3 days after I had moved the RV to his property, Furnished Finder was fixed and I immediately got 11 people interested in the RV. Which solved the real reason why I got the RV. To find out if there really is a market for RV rentals out there. And it turns out there is.
The next step for me is figuring out how to put RV pads on one of our properties. I’m hoping to put 6 - 8 pads on it, but the first step is running water and electricity to the land.
— Hunter Hafiz