Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc.

Good day, everyone, and thank you all for joining us to discuss equity lifestyle properties first quarter 2021 results. Our featured speakers today are Marguerite Nader, our president and CEO, Paul Seavey, our executive vice president and CFO, and Patrick Waite, our executive vice president and COO. In advance of today's call, management released earnings. Today's call will consist of opening remarks and a question and answer session with management relating to the company's earnings release. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Certain matters discussed during this conference call may contain forward-looking statements in the meanings of the federal securities laws. Our forward-looking statements are subject to certain economic risks and uncertainty. The company assumes no obligation to update or supplement any statements that become untrue because of subsequent events. In addition, during today's call, we will discuss non-GAAP financial measures as defined by SEC Regulation G. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release, our supplemental information, and our historical SEC filings. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Marguerite Nader, our President and CEO.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. I am pleased to report the results for the first quarter of 2021. Our performance shows the increased demand for our properties. We continued our record of strong core operations and FFO growth with an 8.1% growth in normalized FFO per share in the quarter. New customer growth in both our RV and MH business contributed to the positive results in the quarter. Our new home sales grew by 24%, contributing to the high quality of occupancy at our MH communities. We ended the quarter with core portfolio occupancy of 95.4%. Home sale leads from websites increased by 37% in the quarter. Within our RV platform, we were successful in offsetting some of the loss in seasonal business with significant growth in transient business for the quarter. We ended the quarter with a 15% increase in transient revenue. Our subscription-based Thousand Trails Camping Pass showed strength this quarter. Over 5,000 new members purchased a Camp Pass, which was an increase of 64% over the first quarter of 2020. In the quarter, we saw an increased demand for upgrades in the Thousand Trails system. Our members were looking for expanded access to our portfolio and we saw an increase of $5 million in sales. We now have 117,000 members with access to the thousands of trails footprint. We are approaching our summer RV season and are encouraged by the reservation pace and the feedback we have received from our customers. We recently completed a customer survey and the results support our view that our customers are looking forward to spending time outdoors and at our properties. The survey results show that 98% of respondents who were new to camping last year planned to camp again this year. The respondents indicated that they chose to camp because it felt like a safe choice and they were able to safely travel with their family and friends. The survey indicates a plan for increased camping adventures with 65% of those responding indicating an intention to camp more this year. The survey also showed that 70% of those responding do not plan to travel by plane this year. In 2020, to help support the safety of our guests and members, we launched a new online check-in option for our RV guests. Since launch, over 160,000 guests completed the online check-in process, allowing them to get to their site more quickly and with less direct interaction. In addition, we provided our guests an added way to communicate with our on-site teams during their visit by launching a text message program to reduce the number of in-person interactions. Our guests reported high satisfaction levels based on the experience provided by our teams at our properties. Based on the first quarter survey results, guests responded to customer experience questions with a rating of 4.5 out of 5. We continue to protect and enhance the environments where we live, work, and play, and encourage our residents, members, and guests to do the same. Our annual sustainability report will provide updates on our partnerships with conservation-focused organizations. We have increased our efforts through partnerships with leading organizations focused on water conservation, supporting the reforestation movement, and ocean conservation. Our team members did a wonderful job ensuring the safety and well-being of our snowbird residents and guests. Our COVID response team has been instrumental in arranging 39 vaccination events at our properties that supplied vaccinations for approximately 8,700 individuals. Our operating team will now turn their attention toward the summer season properties and will focus on delivering excellent customer service to our residents, members, and guests as they explore our properties this summer. I will now turn it over to Paul to walk through the numbers in detail.

Thank you, Marguerite, and good morning, everyone. I will provide an overview of our first quarter results and walk through our guidance for second quarter and full year 2021. I will also discuss our balance sheet before the operator opens the call for Q&A. For the first quarter, we reported 64 cents normalized FFO per share. The outperformance to guidance in the quarter resulted from better than expected transient performance, membership upgrades, and expense savings. In addition, our guidance did not assume the net contribution from our Southern Marinas portfolio acquisition. Core MH rent growth of 4.7% includes 4.1% rate growth and approximately 60 basis points related to occupancy gains. Core RV and Marina rental income from annuals was in line with expectations for the quarter. Annual RV rental income represents 90% of the combined RV and Marina rental income from annuals, and it increased 3.5% with 3.4% from rate. Within the Core Marina portfolio, Marina rent from annuals represents approximately 99% of total Marina rental income. Core RV and marina rental income from seasonal and transient customers outperformed our expectations. Included with our guidance assumptions imposed in January, we estimated a $10 million decline from combined seasonal and transient revenues compared to first quarter 2020. The actual decline was approximately $6 million. The main factors driving this favorable result where increased customer confidence in travel given declining COVID case counts and increased vaccine availability, as well as the cold weather pattern in February that increased customer demand for stays in warmer climates. Transient revenues represented approximately two-thirds of the combined outperformance. First quarter membership subscriptions, as well as the net contribution from upgrade sales, outperformed our expectations. The main contributor to outperformance was strong demand for our upgrade products. Upgrade sales volume increased by 640 units compared to first quarter 2020. The price of upgrades sold increased approximately 10% compared to last year. In addition to strong demand for upgrades, our camping pass sales volume increased more than 60% during the quarter. First quarter core property operating maintenance and real estate tax expenses increased 2.3% compared to prior year. Utility expense, payroll, real estate taxes, and repairs and maintenance combined represent more than 80% of our core expenses in the quarter, and the average increase across these categories was 2.3%. In summary, first quarter core property operating revenues increased 2.8%, and core NOI before property management increased 1.9%. Property operating income from the non-core portfolio, which includes assets acquired in 2020 and during the first quarter of 2021, was $3.3 million. Overall, the acquisition properties performed in line with expectations. Property management and corporate G&A were $25.9 million, flat to first quarter 2020. A key contributor to the year-over-year comparison is lower travel expenses in 2021. Other income and expenses were approximately $3.1 million higher than first quarter 2020, mainly from home sale profits and ancillary income. Interest and related amortization was $26.3 million, slightly higher than prior year. The first quarter 2021 results include the interest expense resulting from debt used to fund our acquisition activity, offset by the accretive refinancings we closed in the first and third quarters of 2020. The press release provides an overview of second quarter and full year 2021 earnings guidance. As I provide some context for the information we've provided, keep in mind my remarks are intended to provide our current estimate of future results. All growth rates and revenue and expense projections represent midpoints in our guidance range and are qualified by the risk factors included in our press release and supplemental financial information. A significant factor in our guidance assumptions for the remainder of 2021 is the level of demand for transient stays in our RV communities. We have developed guidance based on our current customer reservation trends. While macro indicators suggest we're heading in a favorable direction relative to the impact of COVID on daily life, our experience over the past year has shown that circumstances can change. We intend to continue to monitor the situation closely and we'll manage our business accordingly. We provide no assurance that our actual results will be consistent with our guidance and we assume no obligation to update guidance as conditions change. Our full year 2021 normalized FFO guidance is $2.38 per share at the midpoint of our range of $2.33 to $2.43. Normalized FFO per share at the midpoint represents an estimated 9.7% growth rate compared to 2020. Core NOI is projected to increase 5.3% at the midpoint of our range of 4.8% to 5.8%. The core NOI growth rate increase from our prior guidance is mainly the result of our first quarter outperformance. Our expectation for the second through fourth quarters is consistent with our budget. As a reminder, our core portfolio changes annually. You'll find our definition of core on page 19 of the earnings release and supplemental information. Our guidance for the full year and second quarter includes the impact of the acquisition activity we've closed in the first quarter, with no assumptions for additional acquisitions during the year. We've also included the impact of the financing activity we've disclosed, including the recast of our unsecured credit facility, which I'll discuss after highlighting some of our second quarter guidance assumptions. We expect second quarter normalized FFO at the midpoint of our range of approximately $103.5 million with a per share range of 51 cents to 57 cents. We expect the second quarter to contribute 22 to 23% of full year normalized FFO. We project a core NOI growth rate range of 6.9 to 7.5%. Keep in mind, our second quarter 2020 transient RV business was significantly impacted by COVID-related travel restrictions and shelter-in-place orders. MH and RV annual rate growth assumptions for the second quarter and full year remain consistent with our prior guidance. As Marguerite mentioned, we anticipate continued strong demand across our RV platform. We've built our transient RV revenue assumptions for the second and third quarters using factors including current reservation pace compared to both 2020 and 2019. Our guidance for the second quarter assumes a growth rate of approximately 14% compared to 2019. This represents a core transient RV revenue increase of approximately $8.8 million compared to 2020. Before opening the call up for questions, I'll discuss our year-to-date refinancing activity, highlight current secure debt market conditions, and provide some comments on our balance sheet. During the quarter, we closed the previously disclosed $270 million 10-year secured loan with a fixed interest rate of 2.4%. In April, we closed on an amended unsecured credit facility, including a $500 million revolver and a $300 million fully funded term loan. The term loan proceeds were used to repay an acquisition loan we originated in early February. The revolver matures in four years, and we have two six-month extension options. The term loan matures in five years, and we've executed a fixed rate swap that locks in the interest rate at 1.8% for three years. Current secured debt terms available for MH&RV assets range from 55% to 75% LTV, with rates from 2.5% to 3% for 10-year maturities. high-quality, age-qualified MH assets will command best financing terms. RV assets with a high percentage of annual occupancy have access to financing from certain life companies as well as CMBS lenders. Life companies continue to quote competitively on longer-term maturities. We continue to place high importance on balance sheet flexibility, and we believe we have multiple sources of capital available to us. Our debt to EBITDA RE is 5.7 times, and our interest coverage is 5.2 times. The weighted average maturity of our outstanding secure debt is almost 13 years. Now we would like to open it up for questions.

Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. To withdraw your question, press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from John Kim with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Thank you. A couple questions on your guidance. So in the second quarter, you're projecting an 8.8 million increase in transient RV, which would put it above 2019 levels. But I was wondering how much clarity you have on that at this moment. I know you talked about the reservation pace, but your first quarter numbers came in well above your initial projections. I just wanted to see how confident you were in the second quarter projections.

Yeah, I think, John, as we think about our guidance, you know, the second quarter increased that 8.8 million over 2020. That's about 14% over 2019. We've taken a look at our reservation pace, and we've taken a look at the activity in 2019. as an indicator of a normalized environment because it is quite challenging, frankly, to look at 2020. But we definitely recognize that over time, pace can change. So we've given our current estimate and anticipate that that may change, but it's our best view into the second quarter at this time.

And what are you expecting as far as the growth in the Thousand Trails? You had strong demand this quarter with membership upgrades. Do you see that pace continuing in this second quarter and for the remainder of the year?

I think that, you know, if you look at our history over the last 10 years, you see that our upgrade revenue line tends to increase in periods when we introduce a new product, and we introduced a new product this quarter. And the biggest uptick is really in 60 to 90 days after that product launch, and then it tends to fall in line with more of a historical run rate performance.

And can you remind us, Marguerite, once you upgrade the memberships, is the goal to keep them at that level or is the goal to convert them to a seasonal RV customer?

Sure. So just a little bit of history on the Thousand Trails upgrade. It That really, it offers a number of options. We offer enough options to own an upgraded membership. It's really designed for the RVer who plans to camp and travel in multiple locations over an extended period of time, or really those who just want the flexibility to go to a single destination with fewer use restrictions. So they're looking for longer stays, advanced booking windows, and the ability to kind of go resort to resort. And so I think that as we see some of those members becoming annuals and some of them just wanting to continue to upgrade, and some of them are multiple upgraders that continue to upgrade as the new products come on board.

Okay. And then my final question is on the Marina acquisition. And basically, what is your appetite to do more? Right now it's about 4% of your total sites. What is your – expectations to acquire more, and also what are the opportunities?

Sure. So since our last call, we did purchase a portfolio of marinas for about $260 million. That was a deal that we've been looking at over the end of last year, and it fit really nicely into our acquisition strategy. The portfolio lines up very well with our existing marina portfolio with about 4,100 slips 95% fee simple and 96% of the revenue is derived from annual sources. And as we look at, and I think we included it in our presentation at the time that we did the deal, to talk about what we look like on a post-acquisition basis of about 4% marinas. And I would see that continuing to be the case where we'll grow in the MH space, the RV space, and the marina space.

And what was the cap rate on this portfolio?

This deal was a five and a half cap.

Okay. Thank you.

Thanks, John.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Nick Joseph with Citi. Your line is now open.

What does the transaction pipeline and acquisition pipeline look like today, and then how does it compare across the three different verticals? Sure. Sure.

So the deal flow is really, it's in line with what we've seen in the immediate past. I think over the last five years, we've closed about a billion dollars of transactions and really focused on creating that long-term value. I think the strong relationships we have in the industry that we'll just continue to benefit from in closing on the transactions. But as our, and we've talked about this, Nick, in the past, is our asset class continues to be sought after and our performance during the pandemic and and the first quarter, I think it only heightens the desire by others to become owners of these assets. That being said, most deals are really well marketed, and the acquisition team does a very good job of underwriting assets and assessing the strategic fit for ELS. So I think there are opportunities out there, and we'll continue to update as we close deals.

Is it weighted towards any of the different verticals, or are you seeing opportunities across all three? We're seeing opportunities across all three. Thanks. And then just you mentioned the technology enhancements. How does that impact long-term expenses from a property-level perspective, and does it change margins at all?

I think what we anticipate over the long term, Nick, is that there will be some shift. and potential for reduction in those expenses. As we talk about the initiatives like contactless check-in, the self-serve options for the customers, I think that frees up resources that would otherwise be dedicated to those efforts. But, you know, in the near term, there's a transition back to normalized operations that we're working through, but I definitely think over the long term we would see that.

Thank you. Thanks, Nick.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Keegan Carl with Brandberg. Your line is now open.

Hello, Keegan?

Keegan, do you have a question? Operator, maybe we can move to the next one and then we can circle back with Keegan.

Absolutely. Our next question comes from Wes Galladay with Baird. Your line is now open.

Hi. Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to go back to the upgrade product. It sounds like you said the price increased 10%. Was that due to the new introduction of the product you mentioned, Marguerite?

Yes, it was. So we upgraded the product. The upgrade product is a new product called Adventure, and there were some additional benefits in it, and we were able to increase the price as a result.

Gotcha. And then I think on the last call you kind of – mentioned that deals tend to close in the fourth quarter and a little bit surprised about the first quarter deal. I guess, would you still hold that same comment for the remaining pipeline that, you know, waited towards the fourth quarter?

Yeah, I mean, I think that that's what we had seen historically is what I think how I addressed it in the call last time. And there was an opportunity to close some close the deal that we did in the two deals, transactions that we did in the first quarter. So it's lumpy. Over time, you can see it's lumpy as to the quarters. But it ends up, like I said, over the course of five years, I think we were at roughly $225 million a year.

Got it. And then maybe one last one on, are you seeing any inflationary pressure in the business, and probably more specifically on the home sales?

Yeah. Sure. This is Patrick. Let me take our home sales prices first, and then I'll speak to cost. We saw an increase in our new home sale prices for the quarter of 20% year over year. Some of that is just mixed, and that will continue to contribute to to quarter-over-quarter yield differences, and some of that's based on some higher-priced homes. But broadly, we saw strength in Florida, where home prices were up more than 10%, and we're consistently seeing 5% to 6% increases in new home sale prices in our primary sale locations across the portfolio. With respect to pricing pressures, lumber is up two and a half times year over year. Steel is up one and a half times year over year. Crude oil, 1.7 times. That's the base for PVC pipe and other adhesives. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Construction Index really points to price fluctuations and supply shortages in lumber, steel, PVC, and copper. That's due to a couple issues. One, we know about increasing demand. that's brought across the residential space. But we're starting to see, you know, supply chain issues materialized. And another one just recently was that major winter storm in Texas disrupted petroleum processing. So, you know, we're seeing good demand for new home sales. We're seeing price increases come through on our new home sale prices, but there's also going to be some price impact on the cost of homes as well as potentially timing for delivery.

The demand is very high, but it is taking us longer to get the homes to the locations, but the demand is very high.

Great. That's all for me. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. And our next question comes from Keegan Carl with Barenburg. Your line is now open.

Everyone hear me now? We got you now, Keegan. Hello. All right. Sorry about that.

No problem. So with the explosion of RV sales and RV ownership, how have your online metrics specifically trended? And I guess what conversion rate do you guys anticipate from, you know, the memberships just into the annual passes?

Yeah, so we've seen a significant increase on the camping pass sales over time. So the vast majority of the increase is from the camp passes sales for the quarter. I think they went from 5,000 compared to 3,000 last year, a 64% increase, and the vast majority of that comes from online channels. So we went from many years ago where we were all face-to-face sales to now a significant portion of our Camp Pass sales are done online, and it's a very seamless process. It's a subscription-based model, so people become very familiar with that concept over time, and we've seen people continue to want to push that through, and we'll continue to push other opportunities through the online channel.

To follow up on that, are you seeing your average age of a resident trending down? I know in the March presentation it said the average age of a new resident in the RV space is 55, but the RVIA was putting out a report showing that the 18 to 34 age cohort is actually picking up in ownership.

Yes, Patrick. I'm familiar with the study, and I would – I would anticipate over time that we may see additional lower-aged new customers coming into the space. I mean, as Marguerite and Paul both pointed out different parts of their comments. There's significant demand across the portfolio. One thing we're seeing that contributed to results in Q1 and also what we're seeing in Q2 on the transient side is reservations being booked much earlier in the corresponding months than we've seen in the past. So there's a real desire for people to get out in a socially distanced COVID safe manner and spend time with family and friends. So that is bringing with it, you know, people with first-time users and first-time exposure to the RV space. So, you know, we may anticipate to see some younger, you know, new customers come into the space in coming quarters. We haven't seen that come through our average age at this point, but it's a reasonable expectation.

And it would take a lot for the average age to change. It'll take time for that to change within our portfolio.

Yeah. And then just one final one for me. So obviously leverage is now at 5.7 times, highest you've been in quite a bit. Is there an expectation this is going to come down back to the five times range? Are you guys actually more comfortable with some higher leverage given how you performed during the pandemic?

I think we've long talked about the strength of our balance sheets, and I think we're perfectly comfortable with, you know, with a higher level of leverage. We don't have a target that we're aiming to meet.

All right, that's it for me. Thanks, everyone. Thanks.

Thank you, Keegan.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Joshua Dennerlein with Bank of America. Your line is now open.

Yeah, hey, Marguerite. Hey, Paul. I hope you're all doing well. I'm curious on that. On the Thousand Trails product update, was that kind of something you had planned that had been in the planning for a while, or was this an opportunity you saw because of COVID to offer something new or unique on that side?

Yeah, so we do roll out a new program every few years, but really last fall as we continued, you know, and weakness in our seasonal revenue stream, we built the product and focused on the demand we were seeing from our current customer base. Of course, we had issues with the Canadian customer base. The demand was there, they just couldn't access. So we just saw people seeing ways to have limited access to more properties, advanced booking windows, as I mentioned, and so we were able to roll out that program in anticipation of what we saw with some weaker you know, some weaker issues on the Canadian border front and seasonal front.

Okay, nice. And then do you expect to see additional strength in the upgrades in QQ? Something you kind of built in?

Yeah, I mean, I think that what you see is there is that uptick that I mentioned in the first, as soon as the new product goes out, and then I think it goes, you know, tends to fall more in line with our historical run rate.

Okay, okay. And then on the transient revenues, they seem to come in much better than expected for 1Q, setting some of the weakness you were expecting in the seasonal side. How did that trend across the quarter, and has that kind of trend continued into, like, the early days of 2Q?

I mean, what we really saw in the quarter was, that March was the highlight of the quarter. You saw really strong demand when, as the weather got really bad, you know, towards the end of February up north, and then we just saw more activity at our properties in March, and it is continuing into April.

Okay, awesome. Was it more weather-driven or maybe COVID cases coming down?

Yeah, I think it was a little bit of, it was certainly a little bit of both, but they happened to coincide. I mean, as the availability of the vaccine and then you had strong, you know, strong demand and, you know, so that helped. And then you saw that the weather was really difficult. And we saw strong demand in our Keys properties at that time.

Okay. Awesome. Appreciate the color.

Thanks, Jess.

Thank you. Our next question comes from John Pawlowski with Green Street. Your line is now open.

Thanks for the time. Maybe just a follow-up question on the transaction market. When you're looking at pricing in terms of private market pricing and MH and different types of RV product, is pricing getting to a point where borderline irrational where you start to maybe sell assets and buy back stock?

Yeah, I mean, I think that there's certainly some deals that are trading that we've walked away from because we don't think the pricing makes sense. But I do think there are still a lot of opportunities out there for us to invest in accretive deals that would make sense for us in the long term. So I'd say we would continue to pursue those deals.

I guess maybe a follow-up direct question. Is your share price screening more attractive than kind of a bigger and bigger swaths of the private market across MH and RV right now?

Yeah, I mean, I think that the best use of our capital right now is to continue to invest in our properties, invest in development, and invest in, you know, future acquisitions.

Okay. And then just one follow-up question on, Paul, your opening remarks about one Q was better than expected, but the balance of this year is trending in line with prior expectations. Is it a fair interpretation that if the positive trends on the transient and membership businesses continue, there's going to be an additional upside coming this next few quarters?

That's not an unreasonable statement to make.

Okay. All right. Thank you for the time. Thanks, John.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Our next question comes from Todd Stender with Wells Fargo. Your line is now open.

Hi, thanks, and good morning.

Good morning, Todd.

Good morning. Not sure if I missed this. Was the Marina deal a widely marketed deal? And any discussion about using OP units or any other tax-advantageous currency?

Sure. The Marina deal was a deal that we'd been working on, like I said, towards the end of last year. Widely marketed, I would say, maybe not so widely marketed. It was certainly discussed with other – there were other people that were interested. And as far as OP units, that was not something that the sellers were interested in, so it was not a discussion point.

Okay, just cash. Okay. Yes. And can you share your annual growth rate assumptions in the underwriting and maybe how that compares to how you're underwriting MH and RV right now?

You know, let me – it's Patrick. Let me cover the RV business broadly first. Southern lines up, as Marguerite mentioned, very similarly to our loggerhead portfolio. And our experience on loggerhead, it's really stable annual occupancy. The 90% of the overall revenue comes from our slip income. And as Paul referenced, a high 90% of that comes from our annual customer base. We see 3% to 4% type rate growth. top line with some periodic upside with occupancy and some rate opportunity. And that's really translating to NOI growth in the range of 4%, subject to some of the same expense pressures that we're seeing in other property types, like insurance and real estate taxes. So overall, the two portfolios are very similar, heavily weighted, coastal and in particular, Florida.

It's helpful, Patrick. Any CapEx, any comments on deferred maintenance? Just because it's such a new property type, maybe just comment on what's required maybe going into it.

Yeah, I wouldn't say that it's a deferred maintenance issue as we work our way through due diligence, but from a run rate perspective, the capital load is more similar to RV than MH, and we can call it somewhere in the neighborhood of you know, 5% to 7% of gross revenue on a roll-forward basis. That will ebb and flow depending on, you know, particular improvements across the portfolio.

Okay. Probably just last question, Patrick, just to stick with you. Back to home sales. Can you maybe just characterize the buying behavior? I know you spoke to the demand is so high, but because your new home sales continue to outpace your used home sales. Are buyers paying in all cash? Are they as liquid as we think they are?

Yeah, it's the same trend as it has been historically for us to call it, you know, 90, 95% are cash buyers. And just part of the point I'll make on the used home, you know, we've reduced our used home inventory from a rental perspective pretty consistently over the last five to six years. It's down 20% year over year. So some of that's just going to be a driver on the used homes that are actually available for sale. Another part of it is just reduced mobility at a time of COVID, but that's been normalizing over the last quarter or two.

Got it. Thank you. Thanks, Todd.

Thank you. Since we have no more questions on the line at this time, I would like to turn it back over to Marguerite Nader for closing comments.

Thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to updating you on the next quarter's call. Take care.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.