Darryl Searer, chairman and president of the Recreational Vehicle/Manufactured Housing (RV/MH) Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Indiana has announced that a 12-year loan taken out to purchase the David Woodworth antique RV collection has been paid in full— in just 2½ years, saving the Hall $565,000.

Searer successfully renegotiated the $1.165 million loan down to a $600,000 cash settlement, borrowing the money from 1^st Source Bank. By negotiating the loan from a 4.5 percent interest rate down to a 3.5 percent rate, Searer saved the Hall an additional $50,000, as elkharttruth tells MHPronews.

When Searer took over the helm in 2012, the Hall was in danger of closing due to financial problems, but Searer has managed to turn the situation around. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. The debt elimination challenge, initiated by Kevin Clayton of Clayton Homes, which is a competition between the MH and the RV industries to each raise $1 million, has resulted in more than $715,000 raised to date. ##

(Photo credit: RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum)

Article submitted by Matthew J. Silver to Daily Business News-MHProNews.