How to Find and Choose a Campground Broker for Your RV Park

You can call a campground broker before the septic repair is scheduled and before three years of P&Ls sit in one spreadsheet. A first conversation, with a broker or a buyer, can run on basics: where the park is, how many sites, what the season looks like, and what you want from a transition. How well a broker serves your park depends on the firm and the licensed person who shows up. The listing agreement you sign also matters. Start by checking a broker's license and recent closings. Selling directly to a buyer, or running the park another season while you decide, are also options.

What campground brokers do for a seller

Most campground brokers advertise the same four services: an opinion of value, marketing, buyer screening under confidentiality, and help through showings, negotiation and due diligence. Northeast Campground Brokers (NECB) offers "free 'fair market' valuations to all sellers" and does not call them appraisals. Parks and Places counters that "The best valuation is through a third party appraisal," which can "often cost several thousand dollars." DWC Properties markets listings blind until a buyer is qualified and under NDA. NECB also says "We are at every showing" and coordinates diligence materials.

Treat these as advertised services until they appear in your listing agreement. Brokers do not publish their signed agreements, and RVParkSales.com describes the agreement as covering "the commission rate and the length of the listing period." If the free valuation, the NDA process or attendance at showings matters to you, ask for it in the agreement.

How to find campground and RV park specialists

Dedicated firms include:

• Campground Brokers of America (CBOA), licensed in AL, CA, CO, FL, GA, MI, NC, NY and TX
• NAI Outdoor Hospitality Brokers
• DWC Properties
• Northeast Campground Brokers
• Parks and Places
• Campground Brokers (western states)
• Marcus & Millichap and Colliers (RV teams inside larger firms)

CBOA appears in at least ten state campground association supplier directories, and Texas (TACO) also lists Colliers, Baehre Real Estate and Yale Realty & Capital Advisors. A directory entry shows the vendor paid dues; the association is not vouching for them.

Verify the license first: several firms disclose no state list, and some list inconsistent states, so confirm with the regulator. ARELLO's multi-state search shows an individual's license status but not discipline, and a missing result does not prove someone is unlicensed. For discipline, Texas's TREC runs a separate search and California's DRE publishes monthly enforcement summaries.

How to choose a broker who fits your park and priorities

Look for dated closings of parks like yours. NAI Outdoor Hospitality Brokers lists its 4 Guys RV Park, KY sale as June 2026, and Woodall's reported it on July 1, 2026. You learn more from dated, corroborated closings than from a logo wall.

• In Modern Campground, Marie Hansen advises asking each broker "for an opinion of value and for a review of what the broker would offer in the way of marketing, negotiating, and paperwork." Ask for two or three recent sellers to call, and ask them who attended showings and what happened when a buyer wanted to walk the park unannounced.
• A 308-site eastern Ohio campground and a 97-site Houston-area RV resort, both listed by Parks and Places, draw different buyer pools. Ask which buyers the broker has sold to in the last two years and whether they kept the park's name and staff. Ask how long each buyer plans to hold. Then ask what the broker does when reservation history lives in a ledger and a wall calendar. You'll learn from the answer whether they will help assemble records or send you off to do it alone.

Questions to ask before signing a listing agreement

Commission, term, tail and representation are negotiable; NAR's consumer guide says compensation is "fully negotiable and not set by law." Woodall's puts broker fees "usually somewhere between 5% and 7%"; NECB's Selling 101 guide says "anywhere from 5-10% of the price (depending on the size of the deal)." Both are trade estimates, not surveys. Get written answers on:

• Fees and scope: The percentage, any minimum fee, whether the commission covers land, improvements and the operating business, and who pays marketing and cooperating-broker costs.
• Term and termination: Start and expiration dates (California requires a definite termination date for exclusive listings; Florida requires a definite expiration for written listings), auto-renewal, and how either side can end it early. Ask about the tail period, the window after the listing ends when you may still owe commission on a buyer the broker introduced. Lexology suggests three to six months as reasonable; Virginia's commercial form uses 180 days. Protection typically covers only named prospects.
• Representation and conflicts: Whether the listing is exclusive right-to-sell (commission owed whoever finds the buyer) or exclusive agency (you can sell on your own without paying), and whether the broker may represent both sides. Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming restrict dual agency, and Alabama changed its rules effective October 1, 2025. Check your state's rule.
• Seller timing: Whether a buyer you already know can be excluded in writing, and when the broker would go to market relative to your season.
• Staff and guest communication: DWC schedules visits on slow days or after hours and briefs buyers so staff and guests never hear the word "sale." Woodall's published an owner's account of a motel sale on August 20, 2026: a buyer breached a confidentiality agreement and approached staff, did not close, and "our staff mutinied for the rest of the process."

Our companion trusted-broker checklist puts these questions in a form you can bring to a first meeting.

Do you need perfect records or repairs before speaking with a broker?

1. A first conversation runs on basics; lender packages and post-offer diligence come later. Common buyer intake forms ask for location, site count, occupancy and asking price, with a T-12 (the trailing 12 months of income and expenses) and rent roll "if available."

Records matter at two later stages:

• Listing and lender underwriting: DWC says lenders want at least three years of P&Ls and tax returns.
• After a letter of intent (LOI, the non-binding offer that opens diligence): NECB typically requests bank statements, utility bills, insurance, seasonal contracts, permits, equipment lists, and septic and water reports.

On repairs, Woodall's reports that issues findable in state environmental or municipal violation records "probably should have" been disclosed. In our view, a known septic problem changes disclosure and price more than whether a park can be listed, and mentioning the lift station early beats having it surface after a buyer's inspection.

Local versus national specialists

A regional broker may hold a license in your state; confirm it. A national firm may work through a local cooperating broker; get that in writing.

• Northeast Campground Brokers works the Northeast and will co-broke (split a commission with another licensed broker): "We co-broke."
• Parks and Places markets nationwide but calls itself "a Transaction Brokerage, and as such, does not co-broke," and says a referral fee may be offered when the buyer has had no prior contact.

Paying a referral fee does not authorize in-state work. Arizona, for example, requires a prior written cooperation agreement and routes all Arizona negotiations through the Arizona broker.

Rules vary by state, and none we found are specific to campgrounds, so ask a national firm who its broker of record is (the licensed broker legally responsible for the sale in your state). Ask whether that person will co-list and hold escrow, and what the fee split will be.

Brokered sale, direct buyer or continuing to operate

There is no published head-to-head comparison of brokered and direct campground sales on price or speed. No published comparison covers closing rates either.

• Brokered sale: First Turn Capital calls competition "the single most reliable way to improve both price and terms," and a Woodall's column quotes a self-reported Colliers claim of 20 to 30% over the owner's expected price.
• Direct buyer: EverHaven, a direct buyer, concedes that "Selling directly means fewer competing offers and less built-in price discovery than a broadly marketed sale." In Family Business Magazine, Brady describes a middle path: a targeted solicitation to a few credible buyers that gives "enough of a market test" without a public listing. Keep operating: You can hire a manager or third-party management and keep ownership, or revisit the decision after a season. Writing down what only you know, such as reservation workarounds and the seasonal regulars, makes the park depend less on you. If you are tired of being the only person who knows the reservation system, that belongs in the first conversation too.

Dirt Ventures is a direct buyer and long-term operator. Brokerage and fee-based advisory services are outside its scope. Our process, A Conversation, in Three Steps, begins with the park and its people. We discuss what matters to you (timing, employees, regular guests, whether you stay involved), then explore whether there is a fit.

You do not need a fixed timeline or every answer before we begin. A broker is not required, and neither is a valuation or a decision to sell.

If you are beginning to think about what comes next for your park, start a conversation. You do not need to have the timing or structure figured out. If email is easier, write to George at george@dirt.ventures and tell us a little about your park.

FAQ

These answers cover finding local campground brokers and checking their credentials, along with fees and what to bring to a first call.

How do I find campground brokers in my area?

Open your state campground association's supplier or associate member page and look under real estate services. Pennsylvania's PCOA lists CBOA and Danielle Windus-Cook Properties. It also lists Pine Creek Real Estate. Camp Michigan lists Parks and Places and Yale Advisors; Wisconsin's WACO lists Castle Rock Realty. We found no public supplier directories for Connecticut or Virginia. We also found none for Tennessee. In those states, use the Woodall's Business Directory and brokers' own license pages.

How do I verify a broker's credentials?

Check the license by name with your state's real estate regulator, then run its separate disciplinary search. California's DRE may remove discipline from its public lookup; you can request it by phone. Designations such as CCIM or IBBA's CBI show general training.

What do campground brokers charge?

Frank Rolfe, an RV-park investor and educator, said in 2020 he has seen "anywhere from 3%, I've seen as high as 10% on a smaller RV park." DWC says commission "varies based on the property's value and complexity."

What should I bring to a first call?

Bring your site count by type, your seasonal versus transient mix (a buyer's SBA lender may ask, since SBA rules effective October 1, 2026 tie campground eligibility to whether more than 50% of prior-year revenue came from stays of 30 days or less), known repairs, the staff you want looked after, and your preferred timing. That is enough for a first conversation.