What does the future hold for 55+ park model communities?

[Thunder_Mountai]

The wife and I were talking the other day about how changing demographics will affect the park model retirement communities. We are currently in the Apache Junction/Mesa area. Have no clue how many thousand park models are in the area, but it is significant. Where we are, most of the park model owners are well into their seventies and eighties. They are early baby boomers and parents of boomers. Numerous units are vacant and for sale as the residents are aging out. We're not seeing younger boomers in park models.

All that said, we see high end mixed RV/park model communities such as The Palms in Yuma and Canyon Vistas in Gold Canyon going like gang busters. To us, they appear to be niche markets for the wealthy. They have a $300,000 to $500,000 motor home sitting beside a $200,000+ casita. Many of the residents do appear to be a bit younger than the AJ/Mesa crowd.

We visited friends in one of the older park model communities where the units are from the 1970s and '80s. Units needing upgrading are available in the $10,000 range and even cheaper. The units are small and crammed in together.

We know that 10,000 boomers are turning 65 every day. What are they doing? We know the market for class C and smaller units is booming. We saw one they other day with four slides! Most of these people seem to want to see the USA moving from place to place rather than buying a park model in Arizona and other snowbirding states.

Appreciate your comments and observations.

[BarbaraOK]

joebedford wrote:

BarbaraOK wrote:
Most are 45 deep and 30-40 feet wide

That's one of my biggest complaints about all the parks I've seen in Mesa / Apache Junction - the sites are just too small.

We have a 42' 5er, 3500HD dually and two motorcycles. The sites are just too small. We make it work, but it's a pain.

And there are even larger rigs in the park. Lots of 45' motorhomes and several areas with pull-throughs that are 70' long. I said MOST not that 45' deep was the limit. But then, if one is determined to find reasons why they don't want to stay some place, they will find them.

[almcc]

joebedford wrote:

BarbaraOK wrote:
Most are 45 deep and 30-40 feet wide

That's one of my biggest complaints about all the parks I've seen in Mesa / Apache Junction - the sites are just too small.

We have a 42' 5er, 3500HD dually and two motorcycles. The sites are just too small. We make it work, but it's a pain.

Agree with Joe. The place in Yuma that we won't stay at again is exactly like that, the nose of the RV is at the curb and you look into your neighbour's back window. They have more than 100 sites like that, most of them are empty. They need to take alternate sites out and make it a 21st century park. The park amenities don't make it a great park for us.

[joebedford]

BarbaraOK wrote:
Most are 45 deep and 30-40 feet wide

That's one of my biggest complaints about all the parks I've seen in Mesa / Apache Junction - the sites are just too small.

We have a 42' 5er, 3500HD dually and two motorcycles. The sites are just too small. We make it work, but it's a pain.

[BarbaraOK]

John&Joey wrote:
That sounds lovely Barb. A few posts back you talked about all the cultural things you have in that area. Starting to sound like you really do have the best of all worlds. Guess those years of FT'ing really paid off in the end.

We really do feel like we have a pretty good set up going. Now if only these bodies didn't age - it takes longer each year to do our 'pokes and prods' and I swear our medicine cabinet looks like my grandparents when they were "OLD". :B

[John_Joey]

That sounds lovely Barb. A few posts back you talked about all the cultural things you have in that area. Starting to sound like you really do have the best of all worlds. Guess those years of FT'ing really paid off in the end.

[BarbaraOK]

doxiemom11 wrote:
We are in AZ this winter for the first time. While looking for parks, we eliminated any park with over 200 sites, any park that had more than 50% park models. We want a campground atmosphere, not trailer city. We cannot imagine anyone wanting to stay in a field, surrounded by a fence with barely enough room for an awning between you and your neighbor. There is more to life than that.

You should look at the amenities of some of the large parks. I walk over to the salon to get my hair cut, others are having mannies and paddies, or a complete spa day. The sites are wide enough for rig, patio, and THEN, the car. Most are 45 deep and 30-40 feet wide. Huge fabric arts center with quilters in there from 6 am until 10 pm. Pottery building with kiln. Woodworking shop beyond belief, lapidary, stain glass, batting cage, tennis and pickle ball courts, bocce court, shuffle board, miniature golf, CURLING, 4 pools and hydro pools, all heated, a grill on site for burgers, etc., you name it there is probably a group doing it, including fitness center with every kind of apparatus you could think of, and on and on. And there’s is a mix of RVs and Park Models, really something for everyone.

[valhalla360]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
Doubt there is one size fits all answer. Some will continue to slowly spiral down, eventually becoming essentially low income, trashy, trailer parks. Some parks will become pro-active about appearances and enforce rules to force the owners to either update and upgrade their units or move them out. Others will reinvent themselves into something else.

I bet a lot of it is as an individual, you only see the small segment of the market that you are in. An older park with older units and older population tends not to draw in the younger retirees.

All the talk about experiences vs activities sounds like marketing to me. Reality is when considering the larger market, a new retiree not wedded to a particular park will select a park with younger retirees.

They are still retiring in mass numbers and a large enough percentage have the money. There is no sign of the Arizona winter population collapsing.

[John_Joey]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
... Selling the sizzle, not the steak, will become very important to the survival of those communities.

FWIW, for me activities vs experiences were the bones, you just put the skin on those bones. That's a business model that will keep a persons investment moving forward. Add a destination location to the above, and you might actually make some money.

[doxiemom11]

We are in AZ this winter for the first time. While looking for parks, we eliminated any park with over 200 sites, any park that had more than 50% park models. We want a campground atmosphere, not trailer city. We cannot imagine anyone wanting to stay in a field, surrounded by a fence with barely enough room for an awning between you and your neighbor. There is more to life than that.

[BarbaraOK]

wildtoad wrote:
I spent a lot of years in a trailer park as a child and just starting out on my own, have worked all my life to retire they way I want. The last thing I want to do is live out my life in another trailer (aka park model) park.

There is a difference between RV Resort areas in places like Arizona, Southern California (especially Palm Springs area) and Florida and "trailer parks" that you knew as a child. We enjoy the winter in our Park Model and love the summer traveling. When it comes time to hang up the keys, being in a manufactured home (say a double wide) will be just fine if it is in a park like the one we are currently in with plenty to do. We don't feel the need to spend a lot of money on a house again. Never want to take care of a yard. Might go with a condo, but definitely don't want to spend a lot on it. Would rather use that money for other things like travel, or just set aside so the if assisted living is needed, we have the funds for that.

[Merrykalia]

I realize that we are not typical, but both DH and I are retired - I went out of law enforcement after 25 years on disability and DH retired after 33 years as a school teacher. I have been retired for 7 years, he for 5. We still have kids - two daughters that are 11 and 14. We stay at home during the school year, but we do camphost at a local state park for the months of May and August and then we travel June and July.

Next year, we plan to camp host April and May, then head west for June, July, August and September. If we haven't covered what we want, we'll stay for October, also.

[Thunder_Mountai]

Thanks for your responses. Seems like most of us are on the same page, but we just wanted to get a reading from the community. For the first time we discussed the question of where would we buy a park model. Our mutual answer was, "We like too many places to put down any roots." Sooner or later age will probably force us to make a decision.

[Lwiddis]

“thinking about for down the road when our annual transit across the US each winter becomes a hassle.” I’ll be in a pine box when the “hassle” of seeing this beautiful country becomes too much.

[almcc]

Interesting topic!

I tend to agree with DutchmenSport, there will become a time when you have to hang up the RV keys and graduate to something more permanent.

Here in California we are seeing exactly that issue. We are in an RV park (no park models, no age restrictions) that is adjacent to a 55+ mobile home park, both facilities are owned by the same company that just bought from the original family owners. Both parks have good facilities, each has it's own golf course as well.

We see RV folks graduating to the mobile home park and giving up their RVs, or are parking them over the winter and just transiting from their regular homes. It's something we are thinking about for down the road when our annual transit across the US each winter becomes a hassle.

The new owners floated the idea of removing the 55+ restriction and the folks at the park said a definite NO, I expect that would be the case in other parks as well.

There are homes for sale in the mobile home park (older double wide units selling for half of what a good 5th wheel would cost) so there is some slack, not sure why that is.

[wildtoad]

I spent a lot of years in a trailer park as a child and just starting out on my own, have worked all my life to retire they way I want. The last thing I want to do is live out my life in another trailer (aka park model) park.