Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: In the hall to raise your prices through the holidays and when you want to come down, it's all prepackaged in the software and then knowing what, exactly what's coming in and out. I think having software like that is crucial this day and age.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: I love it.
So you working on any, any big products right now? Any cool projects or passion projects or anything? What do you have in the works right now?
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Yeah, so we're, we're, we've got some offers out on multiple parks, but two of them in particular we're in negotiations on. So one is a three park portfolio on a lake in Flo, Florida. And I cannot pronounce the name, it's some crazy sounding name, but you know, they're.
Yeah, but they want their cake and they want to eat it too, you know, unfortunately. So we're, we're trying to negotiate. We're like, look, I'm not going to give you your purchase price and meet your terms that you're asking for, right? So you got to be some flex here, right? We can do the terms, but you got to come down on the purchase price or we can give you the purchase price, but we, it's got to be on our terms, you know, and so.
But there's another one here.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what's fun about real estate is find that balance, find those needs and then figure it out. Because like, not everybody's gonna get everything they want. There's a ton of parks on the market, you know, it's like, yeah, you're gonna have to give a little bit, baby. Come on, let's make a deal.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly, you know, exactly. And so we do have one we're about to get under contract this, I think this weekend or by the end of the week. This weekend it's this cool old boy, 80 year old man. I got, I have bird dogs searching for deals for me, right. So I have a couple of guys, basically bird dogs, if you're not aware or familiar with that is to the viewers anyway, are people who go and search, you know, maybe they don't have the experience, they don't have the skill set yet to own their own park, but they want to learn and so they're going to go find leads for you. And I've got a handful of people, one in particular, this old guy, Bob. He's retired and he just loves it, man. He's been finding us the best leads and found this park just like 15, 20 minutes from me. And we've been Talking to the old guy, everything's on paper. His spreadsheets all on paper.
And, and I'm like, can you send me the numbers? And he goes, well, why don't you come out next week again? And, and we can look at the numbers. And I go, hey, you know what? But those are some of the best opportunities I think, when you can really sit down with a, a seller, you know, especially one that's off market, you know, he's not marketing this at all.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: He owns like, you don't have other agents and other people just kind of muddying things up.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Exactly. Yeah. And he's ready to retire. His wife is basically kicking his ass. Like, hey, you know, you, you spend. The guy owns like 3 or 400 ac.
Mountain, Little Mountain here in East Texas, which people go, mountain? What do you mean? I go, yeah, there's one hill. And this guy owns the whole thing. And his RV park is on top of this hill, dude. And it's got this 30 mile view. It's incredible.
A little smaller than what I want, but. But he's gonna cut 20 acres out of it for us to grow and expand for tiny homes and things like that. So he let us know, hey, I'd love to. He messaged us after we met him last week, our second meeting in person, meeting with the guy. And he goes, look, I really like you guys that, to, you know, have this park. Let's work out the details, you know, And I'm like, it's freaking awesome, man. So, you know, we worked out a creative deal with him. He's willing to carry, he needs, he wants to pay off his debt. He took out a second on it, I think, right? Or the bank offered him some money and he took it. So we're just gonna. It's like a 1.6 purchase price, 35 pads, but 20 acres, man, to grow and expand. And it goes down, it goes down like 20, 30ft and then you got a flat and then another maybe more, 40, 50ft. But then he goes down again and there's another flat for 20 or 30 more spots. And I'm thinking, man, there's a lot of potential.
What's that?
[00:03:55] Speaker B: When it's tiered like that, you think the drainage is pretty solid. Are you gonna have to do a lot of crazy earthwork too?
[00:03:59] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, he has already done some killer infrastructure. That's the cool thing about this guy. He's. He's got water shutoffs on all four corners of the park. Like just in case he's got infrastructure and septic already for another 20 plus pads, you know, he's thought he was thinking ahead.
And I asked him, I said, hey, you know, yeah, why didn't you do anything? Why didn't you grow this and expand on this? And he goes, well, I'm just. I'm getting too old, man. I don't have the energy for it. But he's got miles and miles of trail, you know, he took us for miles and Miles, around 100 acres of his property on his side by side. And we just hung out and got to know him, you know, and he was just. Knew every. Every aspect of the park. He'd been.
I think he owned it, excuse me, for about 15 years, something like that.
And he just spends all his time out there. Right. So, yeah, this is legacy. Yeah. And so for me, like, as a buyer, and I think a lot of buyers miss this, it's all about relationships, right? Number one, always about relationships first, man. For me, it's. It's not about the money, it's not about the asset as much. Of course, those are important in the numbers, but always building relationships first. And so we got to hang out with this guy and get to know him and. And really got to share with him, like, my ideas and thoughts, especially on that second trip, of how we would expand and grow and. And open it up to thousands of people from all over the country, potentially, because nobody. East Texas, let's be honest, not a destination, you know, location. So I would. I would make this into a destination. Look at. No marketing at all. Zero marketing, you know.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: So, yeah, it's exciting, man. I'm excited about that one. It just was really cool because, like, like I said, there's no agent involved, there's no wholesaler involved. You know what I mean? Direct to the seller. And he's ready to retire, man, and he wants to make something work and he's. He said he'd be open to, you know, financing, you know, doing a seller carryback. So.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: That's awesome. Yeah, that's a good point too, because, like, the relationship for sure, but it's.
To carry on with that is that a lot of times this is like their passion project. This is their. Their life's work, if you will. Like their retirement plan. They're one big deal. So I think it's. What I've seen a lot is that some of the deciding factors is that they believe in your vision, even though once they sell, they don't care, you know, so it's not like an investment rental that they don't have any ties to. There's a lot of emotion tied into it because there was a Blood, sweat and tears off often times.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: Yep.
Yeah, 100%. Well, that's why, you know, my background plays really a, a big role in, you know, investing in RV parks because it's twofold, right? It's, it's, it's real estate and it's a business. Right. So. And we've got experience in both assets. Right. Or we've been business owners. We've owned multiple businesses throughout the years and we've also owned real estate, you know, flipped houses early on and then we transitioned to buy and hold just not even three years ago, you know, so. Yeah, but we've bought a lot of real estate in that time. I'm, I'm an action taker, man. I just, when I put my foot on the gas pedal, it's go, baby. You know, my wife gets dragged behind me kicking and screaming. She's like, slow down. You know, but, but that's just how I am. And, and it's got me into some trouble, you know, but, but it's gotten me into some really awesome deals too, you know, along the way.
So that's awesome.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: So this, so this one. What's the plan to.
Is it like a monthly park now and you're trying to turn it to destination or.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Yes, yeah, yeah, it's. He's got it on a month to month. He's got long term tenants. It's nuts, man. He's got these long term leases. You got the million dollar view, bro. Yeah, that's what. It's killing me. He's got some nice rigs in there, nice fifth wheels, you know, some really solid people. And he's very particular in who he rents to. Right. So, you know, I'm just sharing my vision with them. I'm like, yeah, I love, you know, how much you love the park and how, how much you put into it. Right. Because you need to, you need to be really listening to those key, you know, words and things that they're saying. What. And finding the pain point. Right. Pain point is always really crucial for me. I'm always looking for the pain so I can help alleviate the pain. Right. If you're a good listener and you're really listening to what they want, you're gonna, you know, be able to have a way higher chance than a lot of other investors, I think, on getting a deal done, you know, not always
[00:08:17] Speaker B: exactly what they're saying, but what's behind that, the pain, like you're saying. Yeah, what's the driving thing and why they're putting those words together. Yeah.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: Yeah. When he. He kept saying, oh, my wife, you know, I'm out here all the time. She wants me home. And. And I, you know, I was picking up on it pretty quickly. He said that multiple times. And, you know, when I asked him why he's an expanded. Well, I'm getting older. My wife, you know, she's getting sick of me out here all the time. Because he just loves driving around the property, man. He's got trails all throughout.
Yes.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: He wants him to hang out with the grandkids and going on some trips and, you know.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Yeah. And he knows it. Right. He's hip to it. He's like, look, she's right. You know, I need to get. I need to get. Get this gone and. And move on with my life and visit. Hang out with the great grands and the grands and. And things like that. So, yeah, it's pretty. It's a pretty special park, though. I blew my mind when my wife was telling me and I sent some photos. And the first time we met was two hours. Right. I didn't expect to be there for two hours. Hanging out, driving all over the place. And I had to move one of my appointments at a zoom scheduled to talk to, I think, a potential prospect for my coaching. And I said, look, man, I'm really sorry, but I got to move this out. I sent him a photo. Here's where I'm at. I'm talking to a seller right now, and I show him a photo of the view. He goes, wow, are you in hill country? Right? Hill country here is Austin, San Antonio, you know, New Braunfels area.
I go, no, you would think that I was. But this is in east Texas. It's the only foothill here that I've seen.
So.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Right. I've been down that way a ton, and I don't remember ever seeing anything like that. So that's awesome.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: And the funny thing is, we've driven by it. It's on the way to Jacksonville. We've driven by it a hundred times. We had a property in Jacksonville, a wraparound mortgage that we did on a single family home. And anyways, it was on. We drove by. There's no signage or anything. And that was one of the first things I told him, man, we need signage, man. We need to let people know this place exists. Nobody knows.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Nobody will ever know.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Yeah, get one of those guys out there. It's like, hey, but yeah, I mean, it's. These are the prime parks, you know, the mom and pop. Literally, the guy's like showing me his, all his notes and he's got rants and, and he's actually doing pretty good. The, the spots with the views, he's renting them for like 850, 750. 8.50amonth already. Yeah, it is, man. And I told him though, I was like, look, we can do a lot better if we're getting transient people in here, you know, who just want to stay for three, four, five nights, you know, for those premier spots, we can go like 60, 70 bucks a night, you know what I mean? And just make a killing on it. But.
And then I would move the long term tenants more towards the front or the other side of the park, you know, because why? It doesn't make sense to me to have those guys taking up that whole view for months and months and months, you know?
[00:11:05] Speaker B: But yeah, that's an interesting project. I like it.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah, man.
Yeah.
I gotta tell you though. Oh, sorry, Go ahead, man.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Well, I was gonna segue into another piece of. What were you saying?
[00:11:19] Speaker A: I was just gonna tell you I have a hell of a story on how I got to East Texas. I've only been here for a few years, so.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Okay, so what, what drug you drove you over there?
[00:11:30] Speaker A: I just want to touch on it.
[00:11:31] Speaker B: Yeah, It's a place, you know.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah. It's so funny. The very thing that brought me here that I was excited about is the same thing that's probably going to push me out funny enough. So. And I'll try not to get too political here, but I lived in Eugene, Oregon for, you know, 25 years. We had business there, and my wife and I, 20 years. We had our granite and tile business, construction company in 2020. After about 20 years of being together, my wife decided it was time for a break. And she said, hey, see ya, I'm out. And so that whole thing is the reason why we ended up going all in on real estate. She left me and she goes, look, I need some time away. Well, it turns out she was just sick of my. And was like done and had been done for years. And she just got the courage to muster up the courage, you know, to bail. And so I went on this crazy journey to just save my marriage and do whatever I could to be the best version of myself. I didn't want to. I wasn't just going to let it go. Like I said, man, I'm a fighter and I'm an action taker. And so I start reading Books reaching out to friends who I'd gone to church with for a lot of years, who had given me some really sound advice. I knew they'd gone through stuff like that.
So I basically battled and read some really good books, listen to some really good audio books on how to listen with intention and, and like the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Really, really good books. That started helping me change the way I was thinking. And so I was able to save my marriage. Man, it took me six months of my wife being away, but she basically separated from me. But that's the reason why I ended up selling everything and going all in.
We had, we sold a flip that we had on the coast in Oregon, in Florence. I was like a triple digit flip, you know, 100. And like we made like 165 grand on that thing.
And then we listed our business, sold it, and then we listed our primary and moved to East Texas to follow my daughter and our grandson, who's now 6.
And so that was really it. I was like, okay, I wanted to move and I was ready to go all in. I said, babe, we just got to go in all in on real estate. We've been flipping houses. Now it's time to start buying. And we joined a, you know, a paid community, got some mentorship, got some coaching, got some like tons of videos to just keep growing our educational port. You know, I'm a avid reader and education is a huge part of the game for me, is always being, growing. I want to be sharp, you know, I want to be one of the best in my, whatever I'm doing. So I want to have an edge on other investors, you know, So I constantly reading and growing, but we went all in, man. And we've been, we have real estate from San Diego to Louisiana right now and from, from sober living homes to duplexes to yeah. And I decided, you know, we bought our first park about almost three years ago, did really well with it. And I said, babe, why are we doing all this other stupid crap, right? We need to just. Because we tried co living as well. We did wraparound mortgages, we did a lot of creative stuff, but the, the, the mobile home RV park space is where we made the most money in the shortest amount of time. And I was like, let's just do that and get rid of everything else. So I've been saying, no, no, no, no. You know, I've been kind of an influencer right on Facebook for a while, growing my following. And, and, and I get lead flow coming in Constantly, because I market and brand myself heavily, you know, and so. And I said, man, let's look at who's doing the best at what they do and what they specialize in. And I start looking at like some big names. And I go, well, that's all they're doing with this one asset class in this one area.
Why don't we just do that? Right? Let's say no to all this other crap. Yeah, I love saving people from foreclosures and things like that, but, but it's just a distraction, you know, all these shiny objects, man.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: So I said, hey, let's do it. Late last year, we just started, you know, going all in on, on. Let's just scale and grow this business and pick up more parks and, and teach other people how to do it along the way. Right. Because we've got all this real estate experience. We know how to structure and negotiate close deals really well.
Let's just do it in this space, you know, and, and that's it. And here we are. We've underwritten like over 200 parks since then. And you know, we've got deals in the pipeline, got lead flow coming in. I got people finding deals for me, you know, so we're like really dead set on, on picking up four parks this year. I had one, I had one in East Tennessee that just fell apart, man, at the last minute. It was a heartbreaker as a 3 million dollar park, 77 pads, it had a fishing pond, had 38 acres on it. Dude, it was sick.
But it just, I, I needed an extension three weeks to get the funding and I just kept, Couldn't quite get the funding with everything going on in Iran, you know, did a lot of the lenders who land with this particular lender, I was, you know, referred to, are all in that area and none of them were lending on anything.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:31] Speaker A: So I had to pivot, you know, and try and get other options. But, but did this kind of. They didn't want to extend.
Yeah, I mean, that's what it is, right? People think, oh, hey, you get a deal under contract, awesome. We got a park. No, you don't, you don't have it yet. Right? Deals don't make it.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: So.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Yeah, they don't all make it. Yeah.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Having the right relationships and all that is key.
[00:16:54] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Because it's, it's always something. It's like.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:59] Speaker A: No, well, that was what it is, is we, we got it. We ended up finding a key kp, a key partner, you know, liquidity was something you Know, we didn't have a ton to show. And then net worth also, they wanted to see, you know, two times the net worth, a net worth in of the amount of money loaned, right. From the institutional banking guys.
And I go, well, we got about half a million in net worth, but that's not gonna get it done. So now what? So the game is all about pivoting and growing and solving problems, right? I mean, that's really.
Yeah, dude. So we found this KP who has 14 million in net worth.
You know, she wants a nice chunk of the deal, but still, that opens up a lot more doors for us now. And then we've got several lenders that we can work with now. So we're ready if that situation comes up again, you know, for that creative deal. It was a really creative deal as well, but yeah, putting the band together,
[00:17:55] Speaker B: putting the team together. Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: And. Well, exactly. Yeah. And that's it. Now we got a rock solid team. I've got an operator who, who operates 30 parks, who will run the whole thing for us. You know, we'll get on weekly calls with her. She's got people ready to, you drive out and go out to other locations to manage and host parks and stuff. And, and she's really well versed with the systems because I'm not a systems guy. I'm not a, I'm not a great operator. I'll just be honest, right.
I learned that on our last park in Midland, Texas, man. I didn't enjoy it. It was a lot of work, you know.
[00:18:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: I just want to own the asset, right. And write checks. I mean, at the end of the day, I learned that throughout this last, you know, 12 years of investing, I'm like, look, I'm just not, like you said, really detailed guy. And though it takes a really detailed person to manage and to operate those parks and any asset, you know, to do really well and so, and to stabilize and increase rents and keep track of all the numbers and the taxes and everything else.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:54] Speaker A: A lot, you know, so I, I, I, I try and focus on my strengths, man. Marketing, networking things, doing stuff like this. Just the face of the company, branding myself, you know, getting deals, negotiating and closing. Those are my strengths, you know, Play
[00:19:10] Speaker B: your strengths and partner with the rest. That's what I say.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Exactly, bro. That's it. My wife's a great acquisition, so we make a really great team, you know, Know, she's, you know, more empathetic, you know, and more understanding. You know, most women are, you know what I mean? And so she's really good at seeing things from their point of view and, and getting that relationship started, you know.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
Wonderful. Well, man, it's been a great conversation. I think that's a good turning point. If somebody wanted to reach out to you for some deals or for some coaching or something, what's the best way for them to find you?
[00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah, man, I appreciate that. So at Lance Riggin on Instagram, I'm, I, I have, I also have a YouTube channel. I think you'll post that. I don't know the link here. Actually it's.
Hang on, let me look. But Lance Riggin on Facebook. My name's right there. R, I G G E N. It's not ins. For whatever reason, my entire life people think it's an in or ins, but, but it's not. Right. So I think it's at. Let me just see my page real quick here.
Yeah, Facebook. I'm very active on Facebook because that's where the old timers are and that's where a lot of the money, private money is going to be. Right. So it's at Lance Riggin Money Mindset. It's kind of weird at Lance Riggin money mindset on YouTube and I have a weekly zoom as well. Every Thursday at 7pm we bring on guests and we, we, we, we do what you're doing, educate and try and empower and equip others.
And if you want to get on a, a call, if you're new and you don't have a lot of real estate experience, maybe you have a little bit. That's kind of one of the requirements is you gotta have some business ownership experience or a little bit of real estate investor experience. Because I want everyone to succeed that I work with. Right. And if you're brand new, coming from a W2, it's a large asset and a lot of moving parts to get into. So I'm very selective on who we work with. I take small groups, like six, seven, eight people at a time. Right. And then we do an eight week course and so we go through the whole gauntlet, right. From marketing, branding yourself, getting deals coming to you to acquisitions, negotiating, closing deals and then systems, process, operations and everything like that. So.
But yeah.
Yes sir.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: Awesome, man. Well, I enjoyed the conversation and I'm sure we'll see down that old social media highway and keep in touch and yeah, I'd like to bring my fifth wheel to that park on the mountain once you buy it too.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, bro, we'll have a spot for you, man. And I'd love to have you come out and be a guest speaker at our. At our event, too, here in Thailand.
Our meetup.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: Yeah. I can. I can talk all day about parks, construction, management. It's like Bubba Gump with shrimp. That's how. That's how we do it. Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: And that's the thing I don't touch on a lot is the development part. I'd love to learn more about that because I do one of the big things. For me, the criteria is extra acreage or room to grow. Right. That's almost a must have. It's the meat on the bones, plus. Yeah. So. And I do have some developer friends who want to work with me. I just, you know, I'm not quite there yet, you know, but.
Yeah, man.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, I enjoyed it. Thanks again. Thanks for your time being on the show, and I look forward to staying in touch.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: Yeah, thanks, Jason. I appreciate you having me on, man.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: Yes, sir.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: See ya later, man.
