How to Sell a Campground: Step-by-Step Guide

You decide who takes over and what the buyer learns before closing. You also decide whether the maintenance lead who has kept the water system running for twelve years meets the new owner before or after the papers are signed. Buyers and lenders set most of the price. A seller controls the sequence and the choice of buyer. The handoff then shapes whether the park still feels like itself two seasons later.

The procedure covers how a buyer and a lender will value the park, which records they ask for, what a Phase I environmental assessment covers, how a seller note or a 1031 exchange changes the tax bill, and when in the camping calendar each step tends to land. Work done a season ahead strengthens each step. Preparation also gives you negotiating room for things that never appear on a closing statement, like a defined role for you through the first summer or a conversation with the buyer about the family that has booked site 14 every July since 2009.

How to sell a campground: the seven-step process

The seven steps run from valuation to closing, and most of the price risk sits in the first two and the last one. The price that holds is the one that survives the buyer's lender review and site walk. Following the steps in order helps protect that number through diligence and closing.

Establish a value range: Work out net operating income and apply a cap rate. Then use a per-site check to set a range before anyone else names a number.
Clean up the financials: Assemble three years of statements and tax returns. Reconcile them and document every owner-related adjustment.
Prepare the property: Fix the items a buyer will price as concessions, starting with utilities and septic. Address anything visible from the entrance road as well.
Choose a sales channel: Decide between a broker, a self-service listing, a corporate acquirer, or a direct conversation with a long-term operator.
Market confidentially: Share detail under a nondisclosure agreement so staff and seasonal campers hear about the sale from you, on your timing.
Qualify the buyer: Confirm how the purchase will be financed before accepting a letter of intent, because the financing path sets the closing odds.
Run due diligence and close: Expect environmental and utility reviews, followed by zoning and agreement reviews, then a closing timed to the season.

What is your campground worth? NOI, cap rates and EBITDA multiples

The Yale pricing report, published in July 2026, reports that closed sales of RV-dominant parks traded at a 7.14% median cap rate in 2025 among deals with disclosed cap rates; Yale tracked 40 deals that year. It is the closest thing to a closed-sale anchor in the published data, and the definitions below explain what it measures.

Net operating income, or NOI, is what the park earns after operating expenses and before loan payments or income tax. Depreciation also sits outside NOI. It does not include a salary for you if you have never paid yourself one, and it does not include the roof you replaced in 2022. A cap rate is NOI divided by price. A park earning $300,000 in NOI that sells for $3,000,000 traded at a 10% cap. The relationship runs backward for sellers: the higher the cap rate a buyer applies, the lower the price, so every argument in a negotiation is an argument about which cap rate fits your park.

Yale's series moved from 5.70% in 2023 to 8.00% in 2024, the highest in eight years, before the 2025 moderation. Q1 2026 came in at 7.88% but rests on only two disclosed transactions, which Yale labels "indicative and not conclusive." Other benchmarks sit around the same band:

Newmark North American Market Survey 2026: BVR's summary of Newmark's opinion survey of valuation leaders, not closed sales, puts going-in cap rates at 8.00% for Class A/B parks (over 200 pads) and 9.00% for Class C (under 100 pads).
Yale quality tiers: Indicative underwriting bands, not averages: rural campgrounds 10–15%, standard RV parks 8–12%, destination resorts 6–9%, and trophy resorts 5–7%.
CBRE symposium deck (May 5, 2025): A CBRE presentation to the CPTA puts typical overnight campground caps "between 9%-13%." CBRE's published national cap rate surveys carry no RV or campground row.
West Coast closed sales, 2025: Kidder Mathews' year-in-review lists five sales from 7.20% (White Horse RV Village) to 10.51% (Shoreline RV Park), with Crescent City KOA at 10.01%.

Values are under pressure. Richard O'Brien of Athena Real Estate told Woodall's in September 2025 that paper values of parks bought in 2021–2022 are down 25% to 35% absent major value creation. Broker Landan Dory put the refinancing side plainly in Modern Campground in August 2026: "If you bought with 4% interest and you bought maybe a 6% cap rate park, you're finding yourself in a tough spot right now." If you bought before 2021, none of that applies to your basis, but it shapes what the buyer across the table can borrow against.

EBITDA multiples are the second yardstick, and the commonly repeated 4x to 8x range does not hold up as a general rule. No published source reports closed-transaction EBITDA multiples for U.S. campgrounds. What exists points in two directions:

Small owner-operated parks priced on SDE: BizBuySell's 2025 data for Campgrounds and RV Parks shows an average 3.07x cash flow (seller's discretionary earnings, which adds back owner compensation) from 15 sales, with a median sale price of $155,000. Whether real estate was included is not stated.
Advisor benchmarks with no disclosed sample: UnionMetric (March 2026) cites EBITDA multiples "from 4.0x to 7.0x"; WildProperty cites 5x–8x NOI; CT Acquisitions (an M&A advisor) cites 10x–12.5x EBITDA for stabilized single-site owner-operator parks.
Cap-rate math: Yale's 7.14% and 7.88% caps imply roughly 12.7x to 14x NOI (simple division). Cap rates apply to NOI, not EBITDA, and none of the sources reconcile the two.

So before you compare two offers, ask each buyer which base they used. The choices are SDE, EBITDA, or NOI. Also ask whether the land and buildings are in the number. A 5x offer and a 12x offer can describe the same park.

Price per site is the third check, and Yale calls it "the more reliable indicator" because some years have fewer than ten sales with disclosed cap rates. Yale's 2025 median was $33,258 per site across 40 sales and 5,186 sites, "the lowest median price per location ever recorded in the dataset," down from $39,311 in 2024. Yale's indicative tiers: basic/rural $8,000–$20,000 per site, standard RV park $20,000–$45,000, destination/resort $45,000–$90,000, premium/trophy $70,000–$150,000. One caution on outside figures: RV Park World reports an $80,850 average per site with no stated methodology, roughly double Yale's 2025 average of $41,666, and the two do not reconcile.

A worked example: valuing a 120-site park three ways

A 120-site park produces an illustrative range of roughly $2.9 million to $3.2 million where the appraisal-basis cap rate and the M&A advisor EBITDA band overlap, using labeled inputs from published sources. This is arithmetic, not an appraisal, and your own numbers will move every line.

Start with revenue. Newmark's RV Park Expense Analysis, built from actual operating statements for 62 properties and 10,682 sites between 2015 and 2021, puts revenue at $4,645 per site. That figure is dated and not inflated, which is one reason to use your own trailing twelve months instead. At $4,645, 120 sites gross $557,400.

Expenses come next, and here the sources split. Newmark's same analysis shows total operating expenses at 53.7% of revenue, an appraisal-grade basis. RV Park World's 2026 modeled database of 6,407 parks shows a 45% average expense ratio. Run both:

At 53.7% expenses, NOI is about $258,076.
At 45% expenses, NOI is about $306,570.

Adjustments go in both directions. If you have run a personal vehicle or a one-time storm cleanup through the business, those are add-backs that raise NOI, and a buyer will accept them only with documentation. The adjustment that catches owner-operators off guard runs the other way. RV Park World notes owner-operated parks often show 0–5% management cost while third-party management runs 8–12% of gross revenue. A buyer who will not live on site deducts a manager: at 8% of $557,400, that is $44,592 off NOI. Newmark's 2026 survey also carries a replacement reserve of about $75 per pad, or $9,000 for this park.

Apply the cap rate and the EBITDA multiples. Then compare the result with the per-site tiers from the previous section:

Method	Inputs	Indicated value
Cap rate, appraisal basis	NOI $258,076 at 8.0–9.0%	$2.87M–$3.23M
Cap rate, database basis	NOI $306,570 at 8.0–9.0%	$3.41M–$3.83M
EBITDA multiple, advisor band	NOI $258,076 used as an EBITDA proxy at 4.0x–7.0x (UnionMetric)	$1.03M–$1.81M
EBITDA multiple, M&A advisor band	NOI $258,076 used as an EBITDA proxy at 10x–12.5x (CT Acquisitions)	$2.58M–$3.23M
Per site, closed-sale median	120 × $33,258 (Yale 2025)	$3.99M
Per site, standard tier	120 × $20,000–$45,000 (Yale)	$2.40M–$5.40M

The 8–9% cap band is the Newmark survey range; a 120-pad park falls between Newmark's Class C and Class A/B definitions, so both ends apply. The gap between the two EBITDA rows explains why the base question matters. A buyer quoting "6x EBITDA" on this park is offering about $1.5 million for a property the cap-rate method values near $3 million, and the only way to tell whether that buyer is lowballing or using a no-real-estate basis is to ask.

The table uses pre-adjustment NOI; deducting the $44,592 manager cost alone at 8–9% would take roughly $495,000–$557,000 off the cap-rate values.

Getting your books and records ready for buyer scrutiny

Clean books are the lever that protects price in due diligence, because a lender will verify three years of your statements against IRS transcripts and question anything that does not match. SBA lender checklists from Hartwell and GoSBA both call for three years of financial statements and tax returns plus interim statements; one says interims must be within 60 days, the other 120, so the buyer's lender decides. Woodall's reports that bank officials "will typically want to review tax returns from at least the past three years." An independent business valuation is required on every SBA purchase unless the price is $350,000 or less and the parties are not closely related.

Yale lists "owner-managed parks with no financials" and an expense ratio of 50% or more among the factors that push cap rates up, which means a lower price. The OHI/ARVC 2023 Benchmarking Report (282 qualified responses) found 48% of parks do not hire a manager separate from the owner, so nearly half of sellers will need to show a buyer what a separate manager would cost.

A lender or buyer will ask for records beyond the P&L. A campground loan checklist from Jaken Finance Group lists the following:

Site counts split by long-term and seasonal use, with transient sites reported separately.
Monthly occupancy for two to three years by site type.
Average daily rate history and the current rent roll.
Revenue by stream.
Insurance loss runs for three to five years.
An equipment list.
Phase I and septic records, with water records provided separately.
The operating license and a zoning letter. Include a flood determination as well.

A few cleanup steps help most. Reconcile tax returns to the P&L and write one page explaining every difference, with the receipt or invoice attached for each add-back. Pull reservation-system reports by month and site type, then separate them by length of stay; buyer checklists such as US Professional Funding's request those reports alongside rate history and deposit and cancellation policies. Bring a CPA in before the listing, not after the letter of intent, because the OHI/Towe Law Firm checklist notes that lender requests for tax returns are "often objectionable to sellers and needs some finesse." A seller who has already decided what to share and why holds that conversation on better terms.

If your records are partial, that is a starting point, not a disqualification. Many owners know their occupancy and their regular guests better than their general ledger shows. They also know the repair history, and the ledger can be rebuilt from bank statements and reservation exports.

Property prep: deferred maintenance, utilities and curb appeal that move price

Yale lists deferred maintenance among the factors that expand cap rates, and a one-point move in cap rate on $258,076 of NOI is worth about $360,000 between 8% and 9%. A buyer who finds a failing septic system will usually ask for its repair cost off the price, and often a cushion for what else might be hidden.

Published sources tie four categories to price:

Infrastructure and utilities: Yale lists sub-metered utilities among the factors that compress cap rates and raise value, alongside 90%+ stabilized occupancy and annual tenants. UnionMetric reports full-hookup infrastructure commands "a 20% premium in per-site valuation." A Montana source-water assessment flagged large-capacity septic systems and on-site dump stations as potential nitrate and pathogen sources, so expect a buyer's environmental consultant to ask about them.
Site mix: Woodall's reported in September 2025 that extended-stay and seasonal-site parks are sought after while vacation and nightly parks are tougher to sell. CBRE's symposium deck adds the other side: overnight campgrounds carry higher operating expenses but, if well managed, higher cash flows. If your park is transient-heavy, a clear record of repeat bookings does some of the work an annual rent roll would.
Size: Trailstead's 2026 bands put parks of 150+ sites at 7.0–8.0% caps, 75–150 sites at 8.0–9.5%, and under 75 at 9.5–11.0%. These are advisor bands, not closed sales, but they explain why a buyer may discount a small park regardless of condition.
Insurance: LIPG's 2025 Central Florida report (RV and mobile-home parks combined, 97 sales) notes insurance premiums often rose 50% to over 300% on renewal. A buyer will underwrite the renewal quote, not your current premium, so get one before listing.

Curb appeal matters in a narrower way than the phrase suggests. DWC Properties advises that tours happen on slow days or after hours, which means the buyer sees the entrance and the bathhouse before walking the empty sites. Clear directions at the gate and a mowed overflow area are inexpensive. So is making sure the bathhouse does not need an apology, and these details set the tone for how a buyer reads everything else on the walk.

One operator told a Modern Campground fireside chat in August 2026 that small campgrounds under 100 sites with about 20% lodging are the ones "making money." That is one practitioner's view, not a market finding, but it is worth raising with your broker or buyer if cabins or glamping units are part of your mix.

Broker, marketplace, corporate buyer or FSBO: choosing your sales channel

A broker typically costs 5% to 7% of the price on a campground sale, based on a dated Woodall's guide from 2020, and no campground brokerage publishes a current fee schedule. CampgroundsForSale says "Only Pay if We Sell Your Park!" and The Campground Marketplace charges "a negotiated fee on the final selling price." Morgan & Westfield reports that general business brokers, who are not campground specialists, often charge a flat 8%–12% under $1 million with $10,000–$25,000 minimums, or a sliding Lehman scale (5% on the first $1 million, then 4%, 3%, 2%, 1%).

Self-service listings replace the commission with a flat fee, which only works if you can price, screen, and negotiate yourself. Listed fees as of October 12, 2026:

Platform	Fee	Term and notes
RVParkStore Standard	$66.66/month	Billed $199.97 quarterly, auto-renews, "We never charge a sales commission"
RVParkStore Showcase	$133.32/month	Billed $399.97 quarterly, includes an email blast
CampgroundsForSale U-List	$79 quarterly or $149 annually	Self-service
The Campground Connection	$79 / $199 / $399	1, 3, or 6 months, no commission
BizBuySell Basic / Showcase / Diamond	$74.95 / $99.95 / $199.95 per month	6-month term; 3 and 12 months available
LoopNet	Custom or bundled	No published dollar prices; no free listings

The arithmetic on when each channel nets more is straightforward. On a sale at BizBuySell's $155,000 campground median noted earlier, a general-broker minimum fee of $10,000–$25,000 is 6% to 16% of the price, and a six-month RVParkStore listing is about $400. On a $3 million sale, a 6% commission is $180,000, and the question becomes whether the broker's buyer pool and negotiation produce more than $180,000 of price the owner could not have reached alone. Brokers do widen the pool: Colliers MHRV Group was engaged in March 2025 to market a 15-campground portfolio to investors, and Parks and Places reported 21 park sales in 2024.

Direct buyers remove the commission but not the pricing question. PropertyCashin, a commercial cash buyer, states on its own site that it charges no commissions and that its offers "will not be as high as the full market value." That is one company's stated positioning, and it states the trade plainly: speed and simplicity in exchange for price. Other direct buyers, including long-term operators, do not publish terms, so the only way to know whether a direct sale nets more is to have a number from each path.

Matching buyer type to your park

Four kinds of buyers show up for independent parks, and each one wants different things from the first conversation.

Family and individual buyers: Woodall's reported that the Walter and Bestul families acquired Red Barn Campground in Shell Lake, Wisconsin from the family of Bud Styer, and that the Thiems of Inn Town Campground "hand-selected" new owners who planned to keep the staff. Buyers like these often look at SBA financing (covered below), which caps the price they can pay and lengthens closing.
Investors and syndicators: Newmark describes Class C parks under 100 pads as the territory of family offices, syndicators, and smaller investors. Modern Campground reported that Soder Capital bought Silver Creek Campground (259 units) in Louisiana for $2.5 million in March 2026 after an auction buyer fell through, which works out to about $9,650 per unit. Investors underwrite to a target cap.
Corporate acquirers: KOA's own "Sell to KOA" page lists 150+ sites, registration revenue over $1,700,000, and a location within about two hours of population centers or destinations; KOA's most recent reported acquisition was three Montana parks in the first half of 2023. Sun Communities acquired 11 manufactured housing and 3 annual RV properties for $457.0 million in Q4 2025 and sold six RV properties in Q2 2026, its SEC filings show, with no published site threshold. Equity LifeStyle Properties reported 453 properties and 173,559 sites at June 30, 2026 and no acquisitions in its latest 10-Q. Blue Water Development, which both buys and manages parks, says it would consider a park as small as 100 sites in a high-demand market, otherwise 225–250 sites. A park well under those site and revenue figures is unlikely to fit a corporate program.
Relationship-first long-term operators: Woodall's described Wayhaven Resorts as "an active, relationship-driven buyer" with a "soft landing" approach and called Starlight Campgrounds "a thoughtful, long-term steward" after its Silver Springs purchase. Dirt Ventures is in this category: we buy and operate RV parks and campgrounds as a long-hold buyer, and our stated approach is to build on what works and improve what matters. We do not publish portfolio size or standard terms, so the fit question gets answered park by park, in conversation.

Whatever the category, a few questions sort buyers faster than any brochure. How long do you plan to own this park? What changed in the first season at the last park you bought, and what did you leave alone? Which of my staff would you want to meet before closing? Will the name stay? Can I talk to the owner who sold you your last park? A buyer who answers in specifics has thought about your park. A buyer who answers in portfolio language has thought about a category.

Marketing confidentially: CIM, data room, NDAs and listing assets

Confidential marketing means a buyer signs a nondisclosure agreement before seeing anything that identifies the park, and the full financial package waits until after that signature. The confidential information memorandum (CIM) is the written package: a park profile with site counts by type and the revenue-by-stream history, followed by the occupancy table and equipment list. It also tells the story of the place in your words. The data room is the folder, usually online, that holds the supporting documents from the lender and buyer checklists above, released in stages as a buyer moves from NDA to letter of intent to diligence.

Public listing assets stop short of that detail. A listing on a marketplace shows a profile and photos, often with video or a 360-degree tour. RVParkStore's Showcase tier adds an email blast. A broker's blind listing describes the region and the numbers without the park's name. What a buyer sees in public should let them decide whether to sign the NDA, not let a competitor or a seasonal camper work out that the park on Route 9 is for sale.

Timing of disclosure to staff and guests carries contract consequences, not only feelings. A Canadian campground transfer case study from Treadstone Law, illustrative rather than U.S. precedent, found that seasonal promises "legally stayed with the founder unless each camper agreed to carry them forward," and part of the price was held back pending how many campers signed new agreements after closing. Modern Campground reported that members at Roaring Run RV Resort in Pennsylvania disputed the loss of lifetime access after that campground sold. Seasonal campers who learn of a sale secondhand may not renew, and the rent roll is part of what a buyer is paying for.

Staff deserve to hear it from you, with a plan attached. The more useful version of that conversation includes what the buyer has said about roles and pay, which is one reason to settle those questions before signing a letter of intent rather than after.

Qualifying buyers and how they finance the purchase

A buyer's financing path determines whether the sale closes, so ask for it before accepting a letter of intent. Marcus & Millichap reported that the Whistle Stop RV Resort (115 sites, Abilene, Texas) sold on December 1, 2025 at approximately a 7.75% cap with conventional bank financing. Silver Creek, mentioned above, went to a second buyer after the auction buyer fell through; Modern Campground did not report why. Asking how a buyer will pay is the earliest signal a seller has of whether a sale will close.

Three paths cover most independent-park purchases:

SBA 7(a) and 504 loans: The 7(a) program lends up to $5 million with an 85% guaranty on loans of $150,000 or less and 75% above that. The SBA's 504 page states a $5.5 million maximum while a July 2026 policy notice sets a $5.0 million standard limit with $5.5 million reserved for energy and small-manufacturer projects; the conflict is unresolved, and campgrounds are not named in the exceptions. A 504 loan is structured as up to 50% private lender, up to 40% certified development company, and at least 10% borrower equity, but Woodall's August report says RV parks and glamping sites "may be considered" special use, so lenders may require 15% or more. Park Marketplace's October 2026 commentary (a listing marketplace, not a lender rate sheet) put 7(a) actuals at about 7.5%–10% and 504 effective rates at 6.53%–6.60%.
Conventional commercial debt: Broker Mark Whitworth says lenders require 20% or more down, and James Cook told Woodall's that buyers outside SBA and USDA criteria may need 30–40%. That higher equity requirement narrows the pool of buyers who can use it.
Seller notes: Under SOP 50 10 8, a complete change of ownership requires a minimum 10% equity injection. Starfield & Smith explains that a seller note counts toward it only if it is on full standby for the life of the SBA loan and covers no more than half the requirement, so 5% of the 10%. Live Oak Bank confirms the standby note needs a signed SBA Form 155. A full-standby note pays you nothing until the bank is paid off, which is the trade for making a buyer's financing work.

SBA eligibility has two campground-specific tests. Under SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026, RV parks and campgrounds are eligible if over 50% of prior-year revenue comes from transients staying 30 days or less; mobile home parks are not eligible.

Separately, a management agreement that gives a third party sole operating discretion makes the business passive and ineligible. The borrower must keep "meaningful oversight," including budget approval and control of bank accounts. A park with mostly annual tenants may therefore need a conventional lender, and a buyer planning to hire a management company needs to structure that carefully.

Timing follows the financing. Lender sources cite 60–90 days for a 7(a) loan and 90–120 days for a 504. The appraisal takes three to four weeks, while the Phase I takes one to three weeks. When a buyer presents a letter of intent, ask for the lender's name and the pre-qualification letter. Confirm the equity source as well, then plan the closing date from those answers rather than from the buyer's enthusiasm.

Due diligence checklist specific to campgrounds

Campground due diligence turns on five items that a hotel or an apartment buyer never sees: water and septic compliance, environmental history around dump stations, permit transferability, seasonal agreements, and the reservation system. The federal rules are fixed; the state and local rules vary enough that each item needs a local check.

Phase I environmental site assessment: EPA recognizes ASTM E1527-21 as satisfying All Appropriate Inquiries, effective February 13, 2023, and a Phase I is presumed viable if completed within 180 days before acquisition. A buyer can use the assessment to support liability protections, and the consultant reviews current and former uses of the land, which on a campground can include septic fields and dump stations.
Public water system: A system serving 15 or more connections or 25 or more people for 60 or more days a year is a public water system, and EPA classifies campgrounds as transient non-community systems subject to the Revised Total Coliform Rule and nitrate monitoring. Records retention under 40 CFR 141.33 is five years for microbiological analyses and ten for chemical analyses and sanitary surveys. Public notices must be kept for three years, and a buyer will ask for all of it. Ownership transfer is state-specific. Pennsylvania requires a transfer application at least 30 days before planned opening, and Washington requires a new operating permit before the new owner takes possession. Texas requires a Core Data Form plus a deed or bill of sale.
Septic and wastewater: A system serving 20 or more persons a day is a large-capacity septic system and a Class V well under EPA rules. Transfer inspections vary by state and county. Massachusetts requires a Title 5 inspection within two years before sale. St. Louis County, Minnesota requires a point-of-sale inspection with 100% of replacement cost escrowed if a failed system is upgraded after closing, while Arizona requires an inspection within six months before transfer and a Notice of Transfer within 15 days after.
Zoning and conditional use permits: Conditional use permits generally run with the land, and Chelan County, Washington notes they may be revoked after 12 consecutive months of discontinued use. A Wisconsin Court of Appeals case allowed a nonconforming campground's expansion from 21 to 44 RV sites only on condition that six sites within the setback be removed. A zoning verification letter from the county confirms whether your existing use conforms before a buyer's attorney finds out that it does not.
Licenses and flood zones: Michigan campground license transfers require the transferee to meet all requirements plus a $75 fee. New York Subpart 7-3 permits are not transferable and expire on a change of operator, while Florida uses DH Form 4037. Under NFIP rule 44 CFR 60.3, RVs in Zones A1-30, AH, and AE must be on site fewer than 180 consecutive days and highway-ready, or meet permit, elevation, and anchoring requirements, which affects any seasonal site in a mapped flood zone.
Seasonal agreements and deposits: The OHI/ARVC model seasonal agreement states it "is not a lease of real estate" and that "The Camper is not a tenant," and the camper may not transfer the agreement. The OHI/Towe Law checklist says the buyer needs "to know what deposits they have for reserved campsites for prorations." Purchase agreements commonly credit deposits and prepaid fees to the buyer at closing.
Reservation system handoff: Campspot runs a separate "Change of Park Ownership" process. Firefly warns that stored payment methods "will not transfer to the new processor" if the processor changes. Campground Master charges a $300 transfer fee and ties its license to a single business location. Newbook notes that bookings imported before go-live "will have no billing and no financials." A guest with a prepaid July reservation does not care whose name is on the deed; the handoff plan should name who owns that booking and its deposit on day one.

Practitioner checklists from OHI/Towe Law and Camp Law & Finance cover the remaining items, including title and survey. They also cover employee lists and vendor contracts.

Taxes, deal structure and the 1031 exchange decision

The tax bill on a campground sale is set by how gain is characterized and how the price is allocated. Your choice about whether to defer also affects the bill. Sellers decide these questions before closing rather than at tax time, when many of the terms are already fixed. The rules below come from IRS primary sources; the application to your park belongs with a tax advisor who has your depreciation schedules in hand.

Gain characterization starts with Section 1231. Land and buildings held over a year produce Section 1231 gain, generally taxed as long-term capital gain.

Depreciation recapture then divides between two sections. Depreciation taken on buildings is recaptured as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at up to 25%. Depreciation on personal property, such as golf carts and equipment, is recaptured as ordinary income under Section 1245. Some site improvements may fall into that category, and bonus depreciation and Section 179 expense enter that computation without shelter.

Whether cost-segregated 15-year site improvements fall under 1245 or 1250 is unresolved. Those improvements can include roads and pads, as well as utility runs. An RV-park CPA article treats them as fully ordinary, while the IRS audit guide says classification depends on each component with "no general bright-line test." Owners who took 100% bonus depreciation on site work, now permanent for property placed in service after January 19, 2025 under P.L. 119-21, have the most at stake in that question.

Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets the 0% long-term capital gains rate for tax year 2026 through $98,900 for married filing jointly and the 15% rate through $613,700, with 20% above that. The 3.8% net investment income tax applies above $250,000 for joint filers and $200,000 for single filers, thresholds that are not indexed. Gain from a nonpassive trade or business is excluded from that tax, but gain from selling S-corporation stock or a partnership interest generally is not. For most families, OHI notes the permanent federal estate-tax exemption of $15 million per individual and $30 million per couple removes one variable from succession planning.

Structure decisions come in three forms:

Asset sale versus entity sale: In an asset sale, buyer and seller file Form 8594 allocating the price across seven classes, and the written allocation binds both. Sellers generally prefer value in land and goodwill; buyers prefer Class V (buildings, roads, utilities, equipment) for faster depreciation. Unassigned liabilities typically stay with the seller, but each permit and contract must be conveyed, which collides with the New York rule that campground permits expire on a change of operator. In a stock or LLC-interest sale, the buyer inherits liabilities and the existing basis, and consents are generally not required. C corporations face double tax on liquidation, and former C corporations now taxed as S corporations may owe built-in-gains tax under Section 1374.
Installment sale under Section 453: A seller note spreads the gain across the years payments arrive. Recapture is fully taxable in the year of sale even if no payment is received, as Form 6252 states, so a seller note on a heavily depreciated park can produce a tax bill before cash. Interest charges on the deferred tax apply where the price exceeds $150,000 and year-end installment obligations exceed $5 million. A note with little or no stated interest creates imputed interest.
1031 exchange: You must identify replacement property in writing within 45 days of transfer and close within 180 days, or by your return due date if earlier, using a qualified intermediary so you never touch the proceeds. Since 2018 only real property qualifies, which includes permanently affixed roads, in-ground pools, docks, and fences, but not equipment, a camp-store inventory, or a license to operate. Personal property received is boot and taxable, with an exception for "incidental" personal property up to 15% of the replacement property's value. Recapture under 1245 or 1250 may still apply inside an exchange.

The 1031 decision comes down to whether you want to own another property. Sun Communities funded its Q4 2025 acquisitions primarily from 1031 exchange escrow, which is the institutional version of the same clock a retiring owner faces: 45 days to pick, 180 to close. An owner who plans to stop owning real estate has no replacement property to identify, and the exchange offers nothing. Consult a tax advisor before signing a letter of intent, because the allocation and structure terms in that letter are hard to reopen later.

Timeline, seasonal timing and what happens after closing

A well-prepared park takes about six months to get under contract, based on DWC Properties' April 2026 estimate. DWC's stage durations put closing roughly two to three months after that. The IBBA/M&A Source Market Pulse survey of 350 brokers (Q4 2025, all small businesses) puts the range at 6–12 months with three to four months of diligence after a signed letter of intent.

BizBuySell's campground category shows a 225-day median on market from 15 sales, and Parks and Places reported 8.8 months average for its 21 sales in 2024. DWC breaks the back end into a 2–4 week letter-of-intent stage and 30–45 days of diligence, followed by about 30 days to close after contract.

Season decides the calendar. DWC says most buyers want to close before the season opens or after it ends and calls a July listing "the worst timing possible." Campground Investor notes many sellers list in December–January and close in March–April, while a spring listing lets buyers tour at peak. For a park open May through October, an illustrative sequence looks like this:

October–November: Close the season's books, order the insurance renewal quote, pull reservation reports, and engage a CPA for add-back documentation.
December–January: Finish the CIM and data room, decide on channel, and list or open direct conversations.
February–March: Tour qualified buyers on quiet days, collect letters of intent, and confirm each buyer's lender and equity source.
March–May: Run diligence in the off-season, including the Phase I, water and septic inspections, zoning letter, and permit transfer applications; close before opening if the lender's clock allows.
June–September: If the sale slips into the season, show the park full and plan a fall closing; tours happen after hours, and staff and seasonal campers hear from you once the letter of intent is signed.
October: Close after the season, prorate deposits and prepaid seasonal fees, and complete the reservation-system ownership change before winter bookings open.

After closing, the transition is where continuity becomes a set of actions rather than a sentiment. Blue Water Development took over management of Spacious Skies' 15-property portfolio effective June 23, 2026. Modern Campground reported that the Clayton family in Townsend, Tennessee stayed on as significant investors after selling to Streamside, with local operators continuing day-to-day management. Streamside's Sandy Pines purchase came with the statement that "all existing guest reservations will be honored."

Three questions define a handoff more than any clause in the purchase agreement. Who tells the regular guests, and when? Which staff member holds the knowledge no manual contains, and how many weeks of overlap does that person get with the new owner? What do you want your own role to be: gone at closing, present through one season, or involved in a defined way afterward? Those preferences belong in the first conversation with a buyer, not the last.

That is how we start at Dirt Ventures. A Conversation, in Three Steps begins with your park as you describe it. It then moves to what matters to you about timing and employees, including regular guests and your own involvement. Only then do we explore whether there is a fit, including a visit and a joint look at the business if both sides want one. You do not need a broker or a formal valuation to begin. Finished records are not required either, and a conversation does not commit you to anything. 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

Owners tend to ask the same six questions before they decide anything else, and short answers follow.

Is campground ownership profitable?

Modeled data from RV Park World covering 6,407 parks in 2026 shows an average NOI margin of 55% on a 45% expense ratio, with observed margins from 19% to 66%, and the company describes 52–59% as normal for a professionally run year-round park. Newmark's appraisal-grade analysis of actual statements from 2015 to 2021 shows a 53.7% expense ratio, which implies a 46% margin. The OHI/ARVC 2023 survey of 282 parks reported median revenue of $3.52 million against median total expenses of $2.89 million, including $300,000 of capital spending. No national operator margin benchmark exists for 2025–2026, so margins vary widely by season length and site mix, as well as whether the owner's own labor is counted.

How much does it cost to buy a campground?

Yale's closed-sale median for RV-dominant parks was $33,258 per site in 2025 and $36,616 across seven sales in Q1 2026, so a 100-site park in the standard tier would trade somewhere between $2 million and $4.5 million at Yale's $20,000–$45,000 band. Recent asking prices on listing platforms ran from about $13,000 per site (Southern Trails, Unadilla, Georgia) to $97,727 (Granbury, Texas), with Gold Country Campground Resort in California listed at about $32,692 per unit and Northtown RV Park in Illinois at about $42,344. Purchase price is only part of the cost; a buyer also funds equity of 10% to 40% depending on the loan, plus the Phase I, appraisal, and inspections.

What commission does a campground broker charge?

The only published campground-specific figure is a 2020 Woodall's guide citing 5% to 7%, and current campground brokerages publish negotiated fees rather than percentages. General business brokers charge 8%–12% on sales under $1 million or a Lehman scale, and self-service listings on RVParkStore or BizBuySell cost roughly $67 to $200 per month with no commission.

How long does it take to sell a campground?

The IBBA/M&A Source Market Pulse survey puts listing-to-close at 6–12 months for small businesses, and DWC Properties estimates about six months to get a prepared park under contract, with up to two years for a complicated one. Diligence after a signed letter of intent runs 30–45 days by DWC's estimate and three to four months by the broader IBBA survey, and SBA financing adds 60–120 days depending on the program. Listing in the off-season and closing before opening day or after closing day keeps the sale off the busiest weeks.

What documents will a buyer ask for?

Expect a request for three years of financial statements and tax returns reconciled to each other, interim statements within the last two to four months, monthly occupancy by site type, rate history, the rent roll, revenue by stream, insurance loss runs, an equipment list, copies of seasonal and long-term occupant agreements, deposit and cancellation policies, and the permits with a note on whether each transfers. Water test records, septic inspection reports, a zoning letter, and a flood determination round out the campground-specific set.

Is my campground eligible for an SBA loan when I sell?

A buyer can use SBA 7(a) or 504 financing on an RV park or campground if more than half of the prior year's revenue came from transient guests staying 30 days or less, and the buyer keeps meaningful operating control rather than handing sole discretion to a management company. Mobile home parks are not eligible. A seller note can cover up to 5% of the buyer's 10% equity requirement if it sits on full standby for the life of the SBA loan with a signed SBA Form 155. The buyer's lender confirms eligibility against the current SOP, so ask for that confirmation in writing before you accept the letter of intent.