Buy an RV Park or Campground

1. 1

   Learn what a park is actually worth

   Revenue for a 50-site park at 55 percent occupancy runs $400,000 and up, with the broader range spanning $150,000 for small rural parks to $1.5 million at scale. Operating expenses eat 40 to 50 percent (utilities 15 to 20, property taxes 5 to 10, maintenance 10, staffing 10 to 15, insurance 3 to 5), leaving roughly 35 percent net. Parks trade at 4x to 10x cash flow; learn to rebuild the seller's numbers from utility bills and booking records, not from their broker's summary.

2. 2

   Line up SBA financing early

   SBA 7(a) loans are the standard instrument in this category, with median loans near $792,000 and recent deals implying $748,000 to $3.7 million total values. Prequalify before you shop so you know your ceiling, and expect the lender to scrutinize occupancy history, environmental reports, and your management plan.

3. 3

   Hunt for the under-managed park

   The best acquisitions are parks run by retiring owners who have not raised rates in years, never listed on modern booking platforms, and let weekday occupancy sit empty. Every one of those is an immediate value lever that costs almost nothing to pull. Park-specific brokers, direct mail to owners, and the campground association grapevine surface these deals.

4. 4

   Do infrastructure diligence like your money depends on it

   Septic and sewer capacity, water systems, electrical pedestals at each site, and road condition are the six-figure surprises in this industry. A park needing a new septic system or electrical upgrade can swallow a year of profit. Inspect with specialists, pull permit history, and price known deferred maintenance into your offer.

5. 5

   Check zoning, licenses, and seasonality honestly

   Campgrounds carry conditional use permits and health department licenses that must transfer cleanly, and northern parks may earn everything in a 3 to 4 month season. Model the slow months against your debt service before you sign anything; seasonality is fine when it is priced in, fatal when it is not.

6. 6

   Modernize revenue in the first 90 days

   List on Campspot, Hipcamp, and RVshare-adjacent channels, install online booking with dynamic weekend pricing, and bring rates to market. Balance the mix with monthly and seasonal long-term contracts, which smooth the volatility of nightly transient bookings and serve the growing remote-work crowd.

7. 7

   Layer amenities that raise rate per night

   A handful of glamping units, a camp store, firewood and golf cart rentals, better Wi-Fi, and weekend events push average daily rate on land you already own. This value-add layering is how sophisticated buyers turn a 4x purchase into a 10x asset without adding a single acre.

8. 8

   Decide: operate, manage remotely, or roll up

   One well-run park is a living; an on-site manager plus systems makes it semi-passive; and the playbook repeated across two or three parks in a region is how small operators quietly build seven-figure portfolios in an industry still dominated by mom-and-pop sellers.

Do not take our word for the money. Put your own numbers in and see what this idea has to earn before it works. Free, instant, no account needed.

Best for: Operators and real estate investors who want land appreciation plus a hands-on cash-flowing business

Not for: Not for anyone allergic to physical operations: sewage, storm cleanup, and guest disputes are part of the job, at least until systems and staff carry it. Not for buyers without access to commercial-scale capital or the patience for a months-long diligence and SBA process, and not for spreadsheet investors who will not visit the property, because in this asset class the truth lives in the septic tank, not the P&L.