What is my RV park or campground worth?

Step by step

How to value an RV park or campground: 5 steps

Buyers, brokers and lenders tend to work through the same five questions. If you answer them first, you'll know what your range is built on before anyone else tells you.

1. Build a clean multi-year P&L by revenue line. Split revenue the way the park actually earns it: nightly or transient stays, weekly and monthly stays, seasonal or annual sites, any long-term residents, the store (propane, laundry, firewood, supplies), cabin or rental-unit income, utility pass-throughs, and anything else. A buyer can't judge stability from one blended "site revenue" line. They want to see which streams come back every year and which depend on a good summer.
2. Normalize the books into SDE and NOI. Take out owner perks and one-time items, then add back one owner's pay. That's your Seller's Discretionary Earnings. If you want the full build-up, here's what SDE is. For the NOI view, start from the same normalized books but charge the costs a hands-off owner would pay: a market-rate manager wage, a reserve for replacing things that wear out, and the real property tax and insurance bills. SDE and NOI come from the same books but answer different buyer questions. SDE asks what one working owner takes home. NOI asks what the property earns if someone else runs it.
3. Pick the lens that matches how a buyer will run it. If the buyer has to live on-site and work the park, the conversation usually starts with SDE times a multiple. If the park is stabilized, with staff and steady income, it leans toward NOI divided by a cap rate. Plenty of parks sit in between, so it helps to see both views. We don't publish multiples or cap rates. They depend on local market, park quality and financing, and current figures should come from a broker or appraiser. For the general logic, read SDE multiples and what moves them. For how ValuRight handles the income approach, see cap rate among seven methods.
4. Adjust for risk. Buyers move the multiple or cap rate based on what could go wrong: the occupancy trend across the whole year, how seasonal the cash flow is, the mix of short and long stays, the CapEx backlog, the condition of roads and utilities, permits and zoning, guest reviews, and how complete your records are. Every risk you can explain with paperwork is one a buyer has less reason to price against you.
5. Separate what's being sold. A park sale is often three things in one: the land and improvements (roads, pads, utility lines, buildings), the operating business (bookings, guest relationships, reputation), and the equipment and rental units (carts, mowers, cabins, any park models you own). Buyers and lenders may look at each one differently. The biggest question is whether you own the land outright (fee simple) or run the park on a ground lease. With a ground lease, the remaining term, renewal rights and rent terms shape what a buyer is really getting, and a short or uncertain lease can make the park harder to finance. Have your attorney read the lease before you talk price.

Park types

RV park vs campground vs RV resort: does it change value?

The name on the sign doesn't set the value. What's behind it does: the kind of sites, who stays, and how much work it takes to run. Those change the income mix, the staffing load, and which lens a buyer leans on.

• Tent and primitive sites vs full-hookup sites. Primitive sites cost less to build and keep up but tend to earn less per site and rise and fall with the weather. Full-hookup sites carry more infrastructure a buyer will inspect (electric, water, sewer) and more to replace down the road.
• Amenities. A pool, store, clubhouse or activity program can support rates and reviews. It also adds staff, insurance and upkeep. Buyers ask whether each amenity pays its own way.
• Cabins, park models and glamping units. These can stretch income into the shoulder season, but they bring housekeeping, furnishings and replacement cycles. Expect questions about who owns each unit, how old it is, and what's left on any financing.
• Long-term residents vs transient guests. Long stays steady the income and cut turnover work, but they can bring different rules (landlord-tenant law and local ordinances) and less room to change rates. Transient guests bring more rate flexibility along with more marketing, check-in and cleaning work. Ask your attorney how your state treats long stays.

The more the park looks like a staffed, steady property, the more weight the NOI view gets. The more it depends on an owner doing the work, the more SDE drives the conversation.

Add-backs

Park add-backs buyers question, and the traps

An add-back only raises SDE if a buyer believes it. These are the ones that come up most at parks:

• Owner housing on site. If you live in the park house or on a site rent-free, decide how to treat it before a buyer asks. A buyer who will also live on-site may see the housing as part of the job, not a perk. If a hired manager would need housing, it's a real cost in the NOI view.
• Personal vehicle and fuel. The truck that doubles as the park truck. Add back only the personal share, and keep the records that show it.
• Family on payroll. Add back pay above what the work is worth. If a buyer would have to hire someone to do that job, the market wage stays in.
• One-time repairs vs recurring maintenance. A storm repair is one-time. Re-graveling roads every few seasons isn't. Buyers push back hard on mislabeled add-backs, and one bad one makes them doubt the rest.
• No CapEx reserve in the NOI view. Leaving out a replacement reserve makes NOI look better than it is. A buyer will build one in, so build it in first.
• Income that isn't in the books. If it isn't recorded, buyers and lenders won't count it.

Owner dependence

Can the park run a season without you?

If every late-night call, every seasonal renewal and every county inspection runs through you, a buyer isn't just buying a park. They're buying your job. They usually answer with a lower price, a longer transition, or more of the price held back until things settle.

Quick yes/no check:

1. Are you the one guests call at night when a breaker trips or a sewer line backs up?
2. Could anyone else open the park for the season, including water lines, pedestals and the store, without calling you?
3. Do rate changes, seasonal-guest renewals and site assignments live mostly in your head?
4. Do the septic pumper, the electrician and the county inspector deal only with you?
5. If you left for a couple of weeks in peak season, would bookings or reviews slip?

More yeses mean transferability is a project to start now, not the month you list. Read how owner dependence lowers what buyers pay.

Go deeper: What is SDE? · Methodology · How to sell my business