If you bought an RV park between 2020 and 2022, you paid peak prices. That is just the reality. Occupancy was record high, interest rates were low, and sellers knew exactly what they had. You probably paid a multiple that made sense at the time, and maybe it still does. But the market has shifted. Debt costs are higher, operating expenses have climbed, and the post-pandemic camping surge has normalized. If your financials are not telling a clear, accurate story right now, you are sitting on a risk you may not fully see yet.
This is not doom and gloom. It is a call to get eyes on your numbers before someone else does it for you, whether that is a lender, a partner, or a buyer.
Here is what I look for when I work with park owners who acquired during the boom years.
Your NOI needs to be real, not optimistic.
A lot of operators track revenue well but get loose on the expense side. They forget to include a management fee even if they self-manage, they skip reserves for capital expenditures, and they leave out one-time costs that are actually recurring. If your NOI looks healthy on paper but you are always scrambling for cash, those two things are telling you something. Clean it up. Real NOI protects you.
Your debt service coverage ratio needs room.
If you financed at peak prices with rates that have since risen, your DSCR may be tighter than it looks on the surface. Lenders want to see at least 1.25, and most prefer closer to 1.35 or higher. If you are sitting at 1.10 or below, you need to know that now and have a plan before your next refinance conversation.
Your revenue mix matters more than it used to.
During the boom, parks could run on transient weekend traffic and still hit their numbers. That window is narrowing. I look at what percentage of revenue is coming from long-term stays, from shoulder season, and from ancillary income. If you are still 90% dependent on peak-season transient guests, your income is more fragile than your P&L suggests.
Your books need to be audit-ready, not catch-up ready.
If you had to hand your financials to a lender or buyer today, would they hold up? Commingled accounts, missing receipts, cash transactions that were never recorded, these are the things that kill deals and tank valuations. The time to clean them up is not when you need something. It is now, while you have runway.
Buying at the peak was not a mistake. Not knowing where you stand right now is the actual risk. Get your financials in front of someone who understands this asset class and can tell you the truth.
If you want a second set of eyes on your numbers, that is exactly what I do.
Read this next: What a Lender Actually Looks at Before Approving an RV Park Loan
I cover the financial side of RV park ownership in depth in my book, ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ’๐ ๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ($49), including how to read your own financials the way a lender does. Available at wendipvifinancial.gumroad.com/l/kqmyb and on Amazon under my name, Wendi Rook.
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