I want to tell you about a conversation I had that I have not been able to stop thinking about since.
I was talking with a woman who had recently bought her first RV park. She was smart, determined, and had done what most people never do, she actually pulled the trigger. She partnered up, found a park, made an offer, got financing, plunked down a big fat 1031 down payment, and closed. That takes courage and I respect it.
But as we talked, the story started to unravel. Not dramatically, not all at once, but in the way that a sweater unravels when you find the wrong thread and keep pulling. One issue led to another. An expense she had not anticipated, or agreed to. A revenue stream that was not performing the way the seller’s numbers suggested it would. An operational problem she was not aware existed during due diligence. A financial system that was not set up to give her visibility into what was actually happening month to month.
None of it was catastrophic on its own. Together it added up to an ownership experience that was significantly harder, more expensive, and more stressful than it needed to be.
And the whole time we were talking I kept thinking the same thing. If we had this conversation six months ago I could have helped her avoid most of this.
Not all of it. Ownership always has surprises. But the specific issues she was dealing with were not random bad luck. They were the predictable, avoidable results of going into a complex acquisition without the right financial guidance in her corner before she signed anything.
That conversation is a big part of why PVI Financial exists.
What I Kept Seeing
I have been in real estate for over 30 years. I have built and sold a seven figure real estate portfolio. I bootstrapped a seven figure business from $500. I have spent eight years as a private money lender, putting over $4 million into first trust deeds secured by real estate, which means I have spent eight years sitting on the other side of the table evaluating deals that other people brought to me and deciding whether the numbers held up.
That combination of experience gives you a very specific view of the market. You start to see patterns. And the pattern I kept seeing in the RV park and outdoor hospitality space was this: buyers were doing their homework on the real estate side and almost none of their homework on the business side.
They were evaluating the property. They were not evaluating the business model. They were looking at the broker package. They were not rebuilding the NOI from the source documents. They were getting excited about the opportunity. They were not asking who is going to help me set up the financial infrastructure to actually run this thing once I own it.
And then after they closed, many of them were figuring it out as they went. Which is an expensive way to learn.
The Calls Started Coming In
After I started sharing my background and perspective in RV park investor communities, something interesting happened. People started reaching out. Not one or two, multiple times a week. Buyers who were under contract and wanted someone to pressure test the numbers before they committed. New owners who had just closed and did not know where to start with the financial side. Experienced investors who were adding an outdoor hospitality asset to their portfolio and wanted a CFO perspective on the deal structure.
Every conversation confirmed the same thing. There was a real gap between the real estate transaction side of RV park investing, which has brokers, attorneys, and inspectors serving it well, and the financial and operational side, which most buyers were navigating alone.
That gap is expensive. I had watched it be expensive for the woman I mentioned at the beginning of this post. I had watched it be expensive for other buyers in my network. And I knew I had the specific combination of skills to close it.
What PVI Financial Actually Does
PVI Financial is not a bookkeeping company that dabbles in real estate advice. It is a fractional CFO practice built specifically for small business owners and outdoor hospitality investors who need the financial expertise of a CFO without the cost of a full-time hire.
I work with buyers before they close to rebuild the NOI from verified data, stress test the assumptions, and tell them what the deal is actually worth before they commit. I work with new owners after they close to set up the financial systems, the bank account structure, the chart of accounts, and the monthly reporting process that gives them real visibility into how the asset is performing. I work with operating park owners on an ongoing basis as a fractional CFO, someone who knows their numbers, advises them on key decisions, and helps them make better financial decisions month after month.
The woman I talked to needed all three of those things before she closed. She had none of them. And her ownership experience reflected that gap in ways that were painful and largely preventable.
Why I Am Telling You This
I am not sharing this story to make anyone feel bad about the mistakes they have made or the deals they have done without proper financial guidance. I am sharing it because if you are evaluating a park right now, or if you have recently closed and are trying to get your financial systems in order, I want you to know that this kind of support exists and it does not require a full-time CFO salary to access it.
The conversation that sparked PVI Financial was with someone who needed help she did not know to ask for. If you are reading this, you now know to ask for it.
Reach out at pvifinancial.com. That is exactly what I am here for.
And if you have not grabbed a copy of my book yet, ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ’๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ($49), it covers the full financial framework for buying and running an RV park the right way from day one.
You can get it direct here: https://wendipvifinancial.gumroad.com/l/kqmyb or Amazon has it too, just search author Wendi Rook.
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