If you have ever tried to get a loan on an RV park and felt like the process was opaque, you are not imagining it. Commercial lending on outdoor hospitality assets is more specialized than a residential mortgage, and lenders are evaluating factors that are not always obvious from the outside. Understanding what they are actually looking for changes how you prepare, and how you show up to that conversation.
The Property Has to Make Sense on Its Own
The first thing a commercial lender evaluates is the property’s ability to service the debt from its own income. They are not primarily interested in your personal income or your net worth as a primary repayment source. They want to see that the park itself generates enough NOI to cover the debt payment with a reasonable cushion.
That cushion is measured by the Debt Service Coverage Ratio, or DSCR. Most conventional commercial lenders want to see a DSCR of at least 1.25, meaning the property generates $1.25 in NOI for every $1.00 of annual debt service. Some SBA lenders will go to 1.15. Below that, the deal typically does not work regardless of how strong everything else looks.
This is why NOI accuracy matters so much before you walk into a lending conversation. If your books are not clean, the lender cannot confidently calculate your DSCR, and an uncertain DSCR almost always gets discounted in your favor, not the lender’s.
Your Financials Need to Be Verifiable
Lenders do not take your word for income. They want to see at least two to three years of tax returns for the business, trailing twelve month profit and loss statements, bank statements that reconcile to your books, and in many cases a rent roll or occupancy history.
If your books have been kept inconsistently, if you have been running personal expenses through the business, or if there are revenue streams that show up in your bank account but not in your P&L, those discrepancies become problems. The lender’s underwriter will find them, and when they do, it raises questions about the integrity of everything else in the file.
Clean, consistent, well-organized financials do not just make you look professional. They reduce the friction in underwriting, shorten the timeline, and give the lender confidence that the income they are underwriting is real.
The Property Itself Gets Scrutinized
Beyond the financials, lenders look hard at the physical asset. Infrastructure condition matters because a lender does not want to finance a park that has a $200,000 utility replacement sitting in the near future. Environmental considerations matter, particularly for properties with on-site fuel storage, older septic systems, or adjacent land uses that create contamination risk.
Market position matters too. A lender wants to understand who your guests are, how competitive your market is, and whether your occupancy is driven by genuine demand or by unsustainably low rates. A park with strong occupancy at market rates in an underserved area looks very different to a lender than a park with strong occupancy because it is the cheapest option in a crowded market.
Your Personal Financial Profile Still Matters
Commercial lending on a small park is not purely asset-based. The lender is also evaluating you as the operator. They want to see a personal financial statement, a reasonable personal credit profile, and evidence that you have the liquidity to support the business through lean periods.
For SBA loans specifically, they will also look at your management experience. If you have never operated a hospitality business before, being able to show a management plan, an advisory team, or relevant transferable experience strengthens the file considerably.
How to Prepare Before You Apply
The best thing you can do before approaching a lender is build a clean, current financial package. That means up-to-date books, a trailing twelve month P&L, a current balance sheet, bank statements, and a clear narrative of the business that explains the numbers in plain language. If there are anomalies in your financials, a one-page explanation attached to your package is far better than letting the underwriter discover them without context.
The owners who move through commercial lending the fastest are the ones who show up prepared. Not just with the numbers, but with the story the numbers tell. That is where having a Fractional CFO in your corner before you apply makes a real difference. I have relationships with RV Park lenders, and help get you pointed in the right direction.
And if you have not grabbed a copy of my book yet, 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗥𝗩 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿’𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 ($49), it covers the full financial and operational management framework for running your park with the discipline it deserves. You can get it direct here: wendipvifinancial.gumroad.com/l/kqmyb, or Amazon has it too, just search author Wendi Rook.
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