This is not good news for fulltimers

CFerguson · March 24, 2021

On 3/18/2021 at 2:35 AM, Lou Schneider said:

Racoon Valley is an exception, it caters to short term visitors and unlike most Escapees parks doesn't offer long term sites. The waiting lists referred to above are for the Escapees Co-op parks which do offer long term sites using a different business model.

There are several types of "Escapees" parks. Escapees RV Parks (formerly Rainbow Parks) are owned by Escapees, Inc. and with a couple of exceptions offer short term campgrounds and deeded sites within the parks. The deeded sites are bought and sold as real estate and are only for the use of the site owner, short term guests stay in the seperate campground. Racoon Valley is one of the exceptions that don't have deeded lots because Escapees bought it as an existing RV park instead of building it from scratch.

Escapees Co-Op parks were the original park model, they're owned by individual members who buy a share in the co-op and get a lifetime lease on a specific site in the park. Escapees who aren't co-op members are welcome to stay on a space-available basis - when a leaseholder is away from the park they can place their vacant site in a rental pool for other Escapees to use.

The Co-ops have waiting lists, where prospective members put down a deposit to join the park when a space becomes available. A waiting list is part of the co-op's business model and is what was being discussed above. Lots in the co-op park belong to the co-op and can't be bought and sold like real estate, they can only be transfered with the co-op membership. If a person decides to leave the co-op they turn in their membership and it's re-sold to the next person on the waiting list, who then gets unrestricted use of that space. When the park gets the money from the new member, they refund the purchase price paid by the departing member. Having people on a waiting list primed and ready to buy into the co-op facilitates this process.

Lou, if you will look at the OP you will see that he did not limit his statement to any "type" of Escapees park. He posted "All the escspee parks are full with multi-year waiting lists."

This is simply not true. My statement stands. If you wish to discuss occupancy levels at all of the various Escapees parks, you'll have to do it with others as i have only driven by the one lately.

Lou Schneider · March 25, 2021

On 3/24/2021 at 3:13 PM, CFerguson said:

Lou, if you will look at the OP you will see that he did not limit his statement to any "type" of Escapees park. He posted "All the escspee parks are full with multi-year waiting lists."

This is simply not true. My statement stands. If you wish to discuss occupancy levels at all of the various Escapees parks, you'll have to do it with others as i have only driven by the one lately.

If you look at the rest of the posting instead of just taking that sentence out of context, you'll see the OP was talking about fulltimers having a long term base they could return to instead of relying on overnight stays always being available. "Waiting lists" refers to the way the 11 co-op parks fill vacancies in their lifetime memberships and, more recently, how people are chosen to fill a vacancy at one of the limited number of annual leases or ERPU 5 year leases at some of the Escapees owned parks. All of these are such superb values that it often takes several years for someone to rise to the top of the list and become eligible for one of these.

As I pointed out, Racoon Valley isn't a co-op park, nor does it offer ERPU or long term leases. Thus it's occupancy level isn't relevant to this discussion.

If you want, you can get more infromation about the various types of parks in the Escapees network here: https://www.escapees.com/benefits/rv-parking/

Edited March 26, 2021 by Lou Schneider

CFerguson · March 27, 2021

On 3/25/2021 at 7:25 PM, Lou Schneider said:

If you look at the rest of the posting instead of just taking that sentence out of context, you'll see the OP was talking about fulltimers having a long term base they could return to instead of relying on overnight stays always being available. "Waiting lists" refers to the way the 11 co-op parks fill vacancies in their lifetime memberships and, more recently, how people are chosen to fill a vacancy at one of the limited number of annual leases or ERPU 5 year leases at some of the Escapees owned parks. All of these are such superb values that it often takes several years for someone to rise to the top of the list and become eligible for one of these.

As I pointed out, Racoon Valley isn't a co-op park, nor does it offer ERPU or long term leases. Thus it's occupancy level isn't relevant to this discussion.

If you want, you can get more infromation about the various types of parks in the Escapees network here: https://www.escapees.com/benefits/rv-parking/

Reread the ENTIRE original posting please. My response is NOT out of context. Again, my experience is in contrast to what was stated in the OP. Also again, if you want to argue with others, feel free. But the FACT remains that an Escapee's park near me was not full at the time when i visited. And i see that you always ignore that fact and try to divert your criticism onto other parks which i have no information on.

bigjim · March 27, 2021

must be the weekend

DavidCD · April 11, 2021

On 10/12/2020 at 5:19 PM, ToddF said:

https://rvbusiness.com/woodbury-consequences-of-rvings-unprecedented-surge/

I'd be very concerned if I was a fulltimer without a guaranteed place to park.

With the extreme heat waves, hoards of snowbirds, fires out west, and armies of bloggers blogging about "their unique lifestyle", not good for hard core boondockers either.

All the escspee parks are full with multi-year waiting lists.

Hang onto your S + B if you still have one. (It's value has soared in the past 5 years in many parts of the country.)

OK - I know I'm going to feel stupid when I hear the answer to this but, what is "S + B" or "S&B" ?