Onsite Insight Podcast by RV Housing Group

RVs to the Rescue: Debunking the Myths of On-Site Housing

• RV Housing Group • Episode 3

Share episode

We debunk common misconceptions about on-site RV housing and explore why staying on your property during home repairs offers unique advantages for displaced families.

• Being on your property allows you to monitor repairs and protect your belongings
• Modern RVs offer surprising comfort with multiple slide-outs, full kitchens, and private bedrooms
• Compared to extended hotel stays, RVs provide more privacy, cooking facilities, and living space
• RV Housing Group offers 24/7 support for any maintenance issues that arise
• Flexible placement options include positioning on your property or at nearby campgrounds
• Insurance representatives can partner with RV Housing Group to better serve rural clients
• The temporary "camping adventure" mindset helps families adjust to the transition

If you're an insurance representative with questions about on-site housing options, reach out to us at rvtemphousing.com or connect with us directly on LinkedIn.


Speaker 1:

All right, brad, welcome back when disaster strikes families need more than just a place to stay. They need stability comfort and a solution that works for them.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Onsite Insight, the podcast that gives insurance reps or housing agencies the tools, strategies and insights they need to make temporary housing simple effective and stressful. I'm your host, Drew Powell. I'm just a bad thing.

Speaker 1:

I'm a CEO and founder of RV Housing.

Speaker 2:

How we can streamline housing placements serve families better and take the headache out of temporary housing, because when people need help, the right solutions make all the difference.

Speaker 1:

Let's get started. Here's one thing that people don't know about you. I don't think they know. Maybe they do, I don't know. But I've been around a lot of people in my life and a lot of people in music space. I would put you in the top five, maybe even top three, best vocalists that I've known. And that's saying, like I live in nashville, I know a lot of people who sing right, yeah, so this is like a little. This is a big part of your life up until recently, still as a part of your life for fun, but you're not doing as much like professionally or whatnot.

Speaker 2:

But you were on I tried.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, hey, you never know. I mean, you were on the voice. Was it the voice you did? Or was it american idol? I can't remember. Yeah, I did both. Man, I did both so give us, give us a little. Give us a little taste of something, give us 10 seconds uh, I'm putting you on the spot. Give us give me some, give me some teddy swims let's try not to blow up, because you only all right seeing one volume and that's loud.

Speaker 2:

All right, here we go. Something's got a hold on me lately.

Speaker 1:

No, I don't know myself anymore yeah, a little, that's good, dude, feel like the walls are all closing in, but the devil's knocking at my door, whoa I love it. That actually sounded good. Man I was. I didn't know how I was gonna come across the screen. Man, that sounded awesome. So we met in college playing music and I could play guitar. At the time you weren't a very good guitar I could not, no dude, not at all.

Speaker 1:

You got. You got better, so you didn't need me anymore. Yeah, for sure, but I was like hey, that was good man sing.

Speaker 1:

Let's do it all right. Maybe more of that in the future, but for now, let's let's dive in. We, we, we teased this last week. We're gonna debunk the myths about on-site rv housing. Um, we're gonna address some common misconceptions and, uh, spend a few minutes just talking about that, because there is a lot of questions and misconceptions about this, right, but what are some of the biggest concerns? Or, or it's not concerned the biggest myths you've encountered in rb housing?

Speaker 2:

um, I mean, I think, first of all, it would be that, uh, staying on your property is not a great idea, right, you know, um, that that would be one, uh, because maybe you're in the way, or, um, you know, I I think that's one of the biggest reasons too many people going to be on site doing the repairs and things like that. But I would, you know, I would counter that with you're going to have so many people on your property and you still have things on your property, right, you still have, you know, assets or whatever, right, a lot of your belongings are probably still there, and so it gives you the opportunity to look after these things, right? Number one and number two really, just try to keep the contractors honest and make sure they're showing up, right, Um, it's not as easy to do when you're not on site. So, uh, I think that would be one of them, for sure. And then I think one of the other ones would be that, um, staying in an RV, um, you know, maybe longer term is not a great idea because, you know, maybe they're not quite quite as formidable as a home, right, and as far as how they're they're built and things like that.

Speaker 2:

But really, if you look at this as, hey, this is a temporary home, this is not a long term, this is not even, you know, a lot of times it's not even a like renting a home for a year, you know like a year lease, and so if you can just kind of get that in your head and say, hey, we're going to camp for a little while on our property, then I think it's, you know, you would see that it's a pretty viable option. You know, one of the things that I hear a lot from, just from the industry, is that you know people, when they have issues, what's, you know how are they going to be taken care of, and for us, you know, as you know, that's a really big deal. That's a big deal to me that we're there.

Speaker 2:

You know to answer the call when something goes wrong. You know the AC goes out, or you know to answer the call when, when something goes wrong, you know the AC goes out, or you know the water heater goes out. You know there's a number of things right, just like a home, but, um, we do a really good job of taking care of those issues, man and, and getting them knocked out really quickly, getting a tech out there to diagnose, to repair. Um, and I think that you know, if you talk to any of our past tenants, they would say that we care, we care about making sure that they're taken care of.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, 100%. Our team calls. When we do those. The majority of the time we're talking about those. You're very involved in any issues that might come up with any of our clients. I mean we have a team that works to serve those people and really the team doesn't sleep. I mean 24 seven. If there's an issue or problem, we're going to help take care of it. It doesn't matter if it's a weekend, whatever it is, we're going to respond to those needs.

Speaker 1:

But talk a little bit more about comfort and quality. So that's probably a concern some people have and I love what you said because it is true, like a lot of our, a lot of our people, they'll just view it as a three-month, six-month camping adventure. They just have fun with it and there's some practical reasons why people do it right To be on site whatever. It's not just about having fun, but you kind of put it in that headspace. But talk a little bit about comfort and quality from the standpoint of a lot of the people we're working with. They've done some rving before, so this is not their first rodeo. They know what they're signing up for.

Speaker 1:

But then there's some people who are on the fence who haven't done this as much and they may not realize that even though these rvs aren't set up to, you know, live in permanently always. I know some people do it sure, the way they're built and made now they're very comfortable. People sometimes are surprised when they tour these units. And we're using all fifth wheels and travel trailers, right? So these aren't these little short motorhome deals. These are places that feel like a home. Talk about that a little bit, about the comfort and quality of these RVs we use bit about the comfort and quality of these, these RVs we use.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you know, on that, I think a lot of people don't realize that these units have multiple slide outs, so that's going to give you an extra, you know, a hundred square feet when it's all said and done, when you push the slides out, right. So you're thinking, maybe, of a trailer going down the road. Yeah, it's not, it's eight feet wide and so pretty narrow. But when it gets set up and you put all the slides out, it creates a lot more space in there. Um, but you know, every unit's going to have a full kitchen, right, a full bathroom sometimes multiple bathrooms, um, a comfortable, comfortable beds and and on. You know, let's stay on beds for a second, because everybody's level of comfort is different. And I have, um, I can't tell you the amount of times that I have swapped a mattress out for a family or multiple right, so they're comfortable.

Speaker 2:

That's just something that you know, gosh man, I'm a I'm a huge proponent of a good night's sleep. So, you know, when we hear that, right, and they say, hey, everything's good, but not sleeping so well, okay, well, what's it? What's the issue with that mattress? Right, and we'll get to the bottom of that and we'll ship them a new one, right? I mean, it's just, you know, like, although it's temporary housing, I mean it could be three, six, nine months and sometimes longer. So it's important that, uh, that people get a good night sleep, right, so, um, but ultimately, yeah, I mean these things are not as bad as you may think of, especially if you've never been in one, right? You know just, you're going to sleep in it, you got room to hang out, you're going to have a TV, you know you have the living space. Showers are going to be plenty big enough for you to move around in.

Speaker 2:

And you know, I mean, as long as you can see it from the perspective of it's just temporary, right, um, because, no matter what the home size is that we're dealing with, as far as you know, our tenants go, you can guarantee that this trailer is going to be smaller, right?

Speaker 2:

Doesn't matter how small their home is, this trailer is going to be smaller. But there's, if you know, if you kind of weigh out all the pros and cons, you're going to find that, you know, in a lot of situations I think the pros may outweigh the cons, you know, especially man just being able to be on your property and continue your lifestyle you know, whether it's, you know, has to do with your kids or you, right and then being able to look after your home while it's being repaired. So there's a lot of benefits. And if you think of, if you can get over the fact that you may not have enough as much space as you're used to, I think that's really the one thing that I think keeps people from going that route. But if you can, you know, be okay with a little bit more of an intimate environment, I think. I think that when we talk to people on the back end, I think a lot of people are happy they went that route.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, and that kind of brings me to my next point, because you know I'm a big guy, right, so I'm sensitive to this. When I'm in one of these units, you know, it's like I'm sensitive to space, I'm feeling claustrophobic. But I've been in several ones where there was actually like almost like an upstairs loft area. There's bedrooms, privacy, all those different things and I was surprised being in there as a big guy, like man, this feels comfortable. Like man, this feels comfortable.

Speaker 1:

But you know also, you were talking about space issues. But a lot of times what we're looking at the alternative to are hotel rooms, right, and so when you look at it through that lens, they're complex, they're quite a bit bigger than that and you feel connected to the outdoor space, whereas in a hotel room you're kind of sandwiched in there or whatever. Talk a little bit about that as people are weighing out, and I love that. You also, you're quick to say it's not for everybody, right, so we'll vet people as they're coming through, like this is not us selling this as this is the best experience for everybody.

Speaker 1:

It's not that's right, but as people are trying to decide between, like a hotel room or an RV. What are some of those conversations like that you're having with them?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, when you think of a hotel room, you know you're in a general space and maybe you have kids, right, um, maybe you have teenagers right, still kids, but older. So privacy is even more important. And you know, in a hotel room you have the bathroom. Privacy is even more important and you know, in a hotel room you have the bathroom, right. So, um, so yeah, I mean, a lot of times we we are, when we're talking to people they're currently in a hotel because you know they had, they had an issue, you know, with their home that they obviously weren't expecting, and so, boom, now they're displaced and so a hotel is the fastest option most of the time, um, and so you know they're there, for hotels are great when you're on vacation, potentially right, uh, you know they've been in it for a week or two weeks and they're like okay, like this is this is tough.

Speaker 1:

They're ready to get out man yeah, they're ready to get out.

Speaker 2:

You know they're ready to get out. And what? What the rv? You know what the rv offers is. You know the ability for more privacy. Um, even though you know what the RV offers is, you know the ability for more privacy, even though you know, quite frankly, square footage wise, it may be similar to a hotel room, you know, unless it's a small like studio hotel, then it would be bigger, but but you're getting doors, you know what I mean. Like you're getting, you're getting doors to your bedroom, so so it's going to give you certainly more, more privacy, uh, than than a hotel room is. And we hear so many people are like I'm so ready to get out of the hotel, oh, man and you know yeah, I can't.

Speaker 1:

We hear that a lot. I mean, we, you know, yeah, we do a lot of times they'll have an animal, like it'll be in a hotel that allows animal. They're just, I gotta get out of this hotel. I've got this dog that, I've got it's. You know, I can't cook, I can't. I remember talking to um. You know, grandmother um, this was been probably a year or so ago, but she was so desperate to want to cook for her grandkids again. That was her big thing. It's like I need to have a space that I can cook for the grandkids and she really missed that and she loved the rv that we were able to to uh, equip her with.

Speaker 1:

This RV actually had some outdoor cooking capabilities. Correct, she would just have her. She had a big family, she would have them over, they would grill, they would cook out, they would, you know, and they got to be on the property and she was so thrilled to get out of that hotel room to be able to, you know, cook for her family.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, cook for a family? Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, you have no kitchen, most of the time in a hotel room, right, Unless you get, uh, you know, unless you happen to have a long stay type, you know hotel in your area, but oftentimes, you know, most of our uh, most of our customers do not have that, so they're stoked man, they're stoked to get into a trailer and be able to cook again because, hey, I'm tired of eating out. You know, yeah, um, and shoot, a lot of, a lot of our you know a lot of our tenants are in a rural area, um, and so then you have less restaurant options, right, and so I'm tired of eating the same place all the time not just eating out, eating the same food, you know, um, but there's a lot of, you know a lot of reasons why they want to get out of the hotel.

Speaker 2:

I mean, shoot. I remember one time a lady told me she said listen, I know this is going to sound weird, but I've got to get out of the same room as my husband. And so I said, well, that's a whole other problem right there. I don't know that we can solve that.

Speaker 2:

But, what we ended up doing for them is we put them in a dual master suite um trailer. So basically, on each end of the trailer was, you know, a queen bed, so they each had their own room. Evidently, he's a, he's a, uh, serial snorer and so, um, but uh, it was good. We had some good laughs over that conversation.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, I mean, there's just so many different, you know, you just never know someone's dynamic, you know, someone's uh situation that they're, that they're dealing with, and so you know, most of the time people are absolutely stoked to get out of the hotel and into the trailer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah well, let's switch gears just a little bit and let's talk about another myth when it comes to privacy and security. You mentioned a little bit of the privacy and some of the capabilities there, but it even speaks a little bit to where the RVs are placed on the property. Walk through that process a little bit. Someone's worried about privacy and security and the myth around are they safe? Are they secure? You know all those things safe?

Speaker 2:

are they secure?

Speaker 1:

you know all those things well, they have locks, no one's gonna bring a truck and tow you off with it while you're sleeping, or something no, no, no, they're locked down.

Speaker 2:

You know, uh, the doors lock, um. But yeah, I mean, you know, in some, in some cases, we've put units in the backyard, you, you know, so it's just kind of out of out of sight, uh for people. And obviously in that situation you have to, you have to have the space to do that and be us, you know us, be able to get the truck back there. But, um, really, when it comes to putting it on the property, we can put it anywhere. We just want to have a. You know, we want to have a solid foundation where it's going. We want to have a solid foundation where it's going, not necessarily concrete or pavement or anything like that, but it can't be on soft ground.

Speaker 1:

But we've, knock on wood, we've never had any issues when it comes to security or anything like that, even pull up Google Earth and look at what's around there and the surroundings and where, not just for safety purposes but just for where's the best place on the property for this to sit, where's the most convenient, where's the out-of-way construction? But also we put a lot of time and care into making sure it's placed on the property in a spot that works for everybody, where people feel safe, where it's sitting.

Speaker 2:

No for sure, and I'll say this too.

Speaker 2:

One thing that I was just thinking is, you know, we've had some situations where the property, for whatever reason, maybe they just didn't have enough space, the yard was too small, the driveway is too small, um, but there also is no home or hotel within, you know, 15 or 20 miles of where they're at, because they're so rural, and sometimes even farther than that, Um, and what we'll do in those cases is we've put them in a campground, right, we've put them in a campground, right, you know, there, maybe there happens to be a campground within, say, five miles of their home, you know, and they want to stay close because maybe they have animals you know that they've got to tend to on the property, farm animals, those types of things and so we'll just put them in a campground where you're going to have already power, water and sewage, right, you can have everything you need, all the amenities, and now you're they're able to be close to their home, still much closer than if they were in another home or a hotel.

Speaker 2:

So, um, you know, and obviously being in a campground is going to be a safe and secure uh, secure solution.

Speaker 1:

So we do.

Speaker 2:

We've done that, you know, I'd say quite a few times actually.

Speaker 1:

Can you talk a little bit? You mentioned this earlier but I wanted to go back to it. Talk a little bit about just maintenance and support. Mentioned this earlier but I wanted to go back to it. Talk a little bit about just maintenance and support. You know, I think some people might have the myth of like here, drop this rv off and now I'm just going to be out here with this thing. I don't know how to work it or run it, what if something goes wrong with it while I'm out here?

Speaker 2:

you know at least in a hotel.

Speaker 1:

They've got a maintenance staff and a team. If you know something goes wrong they can send somebody up like help. Kind of debunk that that myth around maintenance and support.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's, it's um, at times it can be, you know, I'd say it can be challenging, um, because if something goes wrong in an RV, um, you know, obviously our tenants aren't going to know how to fix it. And so what we're going to do and this is where it gets tough for them we're going to put a lot on their shoulders in this situation by asking them to just give us a call and let us handle it. It's that simple. I was like where's he?

Speaker 1:

going with this.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I know, I knew you had to be thinking no man, no man, I mean, you don't have to know anything, right is you just have to know how to freaking pick up the phone. Yeah, call us or text us and say, hey, I'm having a problem, um, and we've got people to handle that. You know what I mean? It's it's we don't. You don't have to know really anything. That's what we're here for, man, and we're you know we are staying with them every step of the way.

Speaker 2:

We are just a phone call away and if they have an issue and sometimes it's easy, maybe they didn't remember how to work the thermostat. I mean, sometimes it's so simple, but it's fine I'd much rather them reach out to us and say, hey, here's what's going on, and the problem is, here's what. I see. A lot of People feel dumb calling us and it's like, yeah, hey, here's what's going on and and the problem is, here's what I see a lot of right people feel dumb calling us and it's like, yeah, and they'll say it. Even sometimes, you know, I feel really dumb calling you, but here's what's going on. I'm like, look, there is no dumb questions, right? I would much rather you call us and let us make sure that we're handling this right. Then you start tinkering and then mess something up. You know what I mean. Mean.

Speaker 1:

Good point, yeah, yeah. Well, like you said, nine times out of 10, those calls are simple things. We can walk them through over the phone hey, do this, that, the other, this switch, this you know. And most of the time it's like oh okay, you know, it's just once, you know it, you know it, but until then, you know it's a simple solution. Before I let you go, let's talk specifically to the insurance reps. How do we help the reps when it comes to? Maybe they're saying we've never done this before, we've never used the RV before, or how do we handle even just these questions, these myths as they come up? How do we come alongside these reps and make their world and their job easier?

Speaker 2:

Well, I mean, we'll do as much as they'll allow us to do right, we'll get involved as much as they want us to get involved. I think, at the end of the day, if they can insured, you know, um, you know, you look at where they're located, say hey, all right, they're pretty rural in this situation, or they've maybe mentioned the fact that they want to. Um, you know, their kids need to keep riding the bus or they need to be close to their work or whatever, right? So I think it's just, if you're not really sure of on-site housing and maybe the questions that you might get from your client, then reach out to us, right? I mean, we're happy to answer those questions, even if, at the end of the day, it doesn't equate to a placement for us. It's not about that, man, we want to be helpful as much as we can and obviously I know that my hope would be that they're going to remember that, right? Okay, this one didn't work out, but man RV Housing Group was super helpful and willing to answer all my questions. But man RV Housing Group was super helpful and, you know, willing to answer all my questions and and in some ways, train me, you know, and help me gain some knowledge around on site housing.

Speaker 2:

You know, I think that's that's who we want, to be for sure. We want to be a really good partner that is always available to answer any questions, and if that you know. And then, furthermore, if they want us to jump on a call with them, right? I mean, I've seen and heard from reps that have said, man, I'll tell you what having you on that call with me was so helpful. I learned so much. Right, because it's well, while we can coach them up, you know, on a one-on-one call it's a little different when you get on the phone with the actual insured and they have some questions that they're throwing at you that maybe you don't get to talk about on that one-on-one. You know training, so you know, I think that there's a number of things that can be done. But really, you know, just to make sure that they know that we're just a phone call away and are always willing to help if they just reach out to us yeah, that's great.

Speaker 1:

That's so well said man. Um, dude, this is. This has been great today, really helpful stuff. Even got a little little song in the beginning um, close us out, man, close, close us out. You can. Either it's your choice. You can either close us out with a final word or you can close it out with a final song. Ooh, let's see here, or you could sing your final word, all right.

Speaker 2:

Well, let's just say I hope everybody has a great week oh, that's perfect rad.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, man, I need to change up.

Speaker 2:

I need to change up the uh uh the genres from time to time, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's the thing. You're pretty versatile man, you've got this.

Speaker 2:

RV you know thing.

Speaker 1:

But you can see country, you can do the whole deal.

Speaker 1:

For sure We'll have to do something on the podcast, which is a little more official, with with cause, we're both music guys, man, we gotta, that's right. All right, brother. Look forward to next time, man. Okay, buddy, take care. Well, thanks for joining us on Onsite Insight, where we break down the future of temporary housing and how you insurance reps and housing professionals can make the process easier for your clients and your team. If today's episode gave you new ideas or insights, we'd love to hear from you. You can connect with us online at rvtemphousingcom or reach out to us directly on LinkedIn, and, if you found this valuable, don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with someone who needs it. Until next time, I'm Drew Powell and this is Onsite Insight, where housing meets solutions Solutions.