What Happens During an RV Park's Due Diligence Period?

August 27, 2026 · RV park investing, explained

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The due diligence period on an RV park deal is usually 30 to 60 days between signed contract and closing. It costs real money, typically $5,000 to $25,000 or more depending on park size, for inspections, environmental reports, and legal review. This is the window where a buyer confirms the numbers, the dirt, and the paperwork actually match what the seller claims. Miss something here and it becomes your problem the day after closing, not the seller's.

What you need

• A purchase contract with a clearly defined due diligence period and an earnest money refund clause tied to it
• A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, ordered from a licensed environmental firm
• A current ALTA survey or at least a boundary/topo survey if one doesn't exist
• Title commitment and a review of all recorded easements, liens, and encroachments
• Two to three years of financials, tax returns, and bank statements from the seller
• A current rent roll broken out by long-term, seasonal, and transient sites
• Utility bills for at least 12 months (water, sewer, electric, propane)
• Septic system and well records, or municipal water/sewer tap documentation
• Zoning verification and copies of any conditional use permits or variances
• A licensed inspector or engineer for site infrastructure (electrical pedestals, roads, drainage)
• Flood zone determination (FEMA map) and current insurance loss runs

Step by step

1. Order the slow reports first. The Phase I environmental assessment, survey, and title commitment all take two to four weeks to come back. Order these on day one, not day fifteen. If the Phase I flags a possible issue, like an old fuel tank or a nearby dump site, you'll want a Phase II assessment ordered fast, and that eats into your remaining timeline.

2. Verify the financials against source documents. Don't just read the seller's profit and loss statement. Cross-check it against bank deposits, tax returns, and the rent roll. Look for gaps between reported occupancy and what the utility bills or propane deliveries would support for that many sites running. A park claiming 70% annual occupancy should have water and electric usage that lines up with that claim.

3. Walk the entire property, not just the office and a few sites. Check every electrical pedestal for amperage and condition, run water to test pressure at the far end of the park, look at road base and drainage after checking recent rainfall, and confirm the septic system or lift station capacity actually supports the number of sites being sold. If there's a well, get a flow test and a water quality test, not just a receipt showing one was done five years ago.

4. Confirm permits match actual use. A park operating short-term or transient sites needs the zoning and permits to support that use. Some parks were permitted decades ago for long-term or seasonal stays only, and the current owner has been running it as a nightly rental campground without updating anything. This is common and it's a real risk, not a technicality, because it can limit financing or force an operational change after you own it.

5. Negotiate based on what you find, then re-paper the deal. If the septic needs $40,000 in repairs or the survey shows an encroaching neighbor's fence, bring it back to the table. This is the point to ask for a price reduction, a seller credit, or a repair before closing. Get any agreed changes in writing as an amendment, not a verbal promise.

Where this goes wrong

The most common failure is ordering the environmental and survey work too late. Buyers spend the first three weeks reviewing financials and touring the property, then order the Phase I in week four with only two weeks left in the DD period. When it comes back flagged, there's no time left to order a Phase II or negotiate, so the buyer either waives the issue or asks for an extension that the seller may not grant.

Another common problem is trusting the seller's occupancy and revenue numbers without cross-checking utility usage or actual bank deposits. Sellers aren't always lying, but P&Ls get cleaned up for a sale, and seasonal parks especially can have revenue timing that looks better on paper than it performs in practice.

Septic and well systems get underestimated more than almost anything else. A system that's been fine for a smaller number of full-time residents can fail once you add more transient turnover with higher peak usage. Buyers who skip a proper flow test and capacity check find this out only after they own the park and the system backs up during a busy holiday weekend.

Permit and zoning mismatches are another quiet killer. A park that's been running transient RV sites without the right permit can face a shutdown order or a costly permitting process after closing, and title insurance won't cover that kind of operational risk.

Finally, earnest money gets released too early in a lot of deals. Some buyers agree to release part of their deposit to the seller mid-due-diligence to keep the deal moving, before all reports are back. If something bad turns up after that release, the buyer's negotiating leverage is gone and getting that money back can mean a dispute or even litigation.

When to stop and call someone

If the Phase I environmental report comes back with a recognized environmental condition, stop and get a licensed environmental consultant to scope a Phase II before you do anything else. Don't try to interpret contamination risk yourself or take the seller's word that it's not a big deal.

If the septic system, lift station, or well shows signs of undersizing or failure, bring in a licensed septic engineer or well contractor for a real capacity assessment, not just a pump-and-inspect. The cost of a proper engineering review is small next to the cost of replacing a failed system for forty or more sites.

If the survey shows boundary disputes, easement conflicts, or the zoning doesn't match current use, this is attorney territory. A real estate attorney who has actually closed RV park or campground deals, not just residential or generic commercial deals, should review the title commitment and permit history before you go firm.

And if you're a passive investor reviewing a syndication or fund's due diligence process rather than running it yourself, ask direct questions about what reports were ordered, who reviewed them, and whether any issues were found and how they were resolved. A sponsor who can't answer that clearly hasn't done the work. This is the kind of process review Invest With Zac walks investors through before capital ever gets committed to a deal.