Park Brokerage, Inc. Under New Direction

John Grant, the founder of Park Brokerage Inc., has retired after 35 years of real estate brokerage specializing in the sale and financing of RV and mobile home parks throughout California.

After some reluctance on walking away from the industry due to all the great people John has met and had the privilege to represent, John has opted to now concentrate on purchasing additional RV parks to add to his current holdings of RV parks in San Jacinto, Kingsburg, Sacramento, Auburn, and Minden. 

Working the entire state of California, John brokered RV parks everywhere from his home and office location in San Diego, all the way up to Crescent City.  He started off driving throughout the state visiting with RV park owners, but it's a big state which later led John to learn how to fly.  Aviation was an important tool that allowed him to visit RV park owners and see their properties more readily. John, his wife Sandra, and their son Taylor would occasionally turn the business trips into a family adventure, traveling together in their RV trailer during their summer vacation, and visiting different RV parks throughout the state.

A lot of changes to the economy, technology and general business practices have occurred in the last 35 years and when asked about the evolution of the brokerage business over the time John spent working in the industry, this is what he had to say. "In the '80s and '90s there was no internet, and the brokerage business was a much more personal business than it is today, relying more heavily on phone calls and in-person visits.  RV parks then were also considered specialty properties by most investors and lenders, and the market was thin for buyers.  Most buyers were couples and individuals commonly called "Mom and Pops".  Financing was very difficult with most RV parks being sold with seller financing.  But the RV park market continued to accelerate during my career, and the last five years has seen it climb to a favorite property type for many institutional and large private capital buyers, and there are now a large number of banks financing RV parks".

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The sales of many CalOHA properties can be attributed to John including Placerville KOA, Mountain Gate RV Park in Redding, Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, Coachland RV Park in Truckee, The Springs RV Resort in Borrego Springs, Loomis RV Park, Vines RV Resort in Paso Robles, and The Rio Bend RV & Golf Resort in El Centro.
John and Park Brokerage Inc. have always been active supplier partners with what started as CTPA with Tug and Judy Miller, later became CalARVC with Debbie Sipe, and is now CalOHA with Dyana Kelley and staff. John contributed his time and knowledge of the industry by serving on the association's Board of Directors and Park Brokerage Inc. has always been a vendor participant in the annual trade show.

Park Brokerage Inc. is continuing on and expanding their territories under the new direction of John Sheedy, who has taken over as President and Designated Broker for the now re-named Park Brokerage & Commercial Real Estate.  After working side by side with John Grant for the last ten years based out of Phoenix, John and his associate agent Andrew Dohogne who is based out of Santa Barbara will be focusing on California RV parks.  Sheedy and Dohogne have completed the sale of several noteworthy RV resorts in the past including the $17,000,000 sale of Evergreen RV Resort in Ventura in 2022.  Mr. Sheedy also currently serves as President of the Arizona chapter of ARVC a position he has held for the last five years after serving as treasurer and vice president.
 
"Our goal is to keep our core business on the West Coast while offering our services nationwide.  We have experienced agents now in every time zone - Santa Barbara, Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta - which allows our firm to have boots on the ground to serve clients regardless of their location.  I heard the calls from clients and noticed the outdoor hospitality business was going more corporate which meant owners wanting to purchase communities in other Sun Belt markets.  Our growth was client-focused in that regard." commented Mr. Sheedy.
 
"We also plan on offering our services to other intertwined asset classes on top of our current manufactured housing and RV community sales platform.  Our capital markets VP is currently based out of Dallas but is a California native named George Waidelich who has been in the business for several years offering financing and equity services for our clients on both acquisitions and refinances.   We are also exploring sales agents dedicated to other hospitality assets."
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