The Five-Million-Dollar Campground Loan

Open ParkVestor on any given morning and the shape of the market is right there on the screen. Four hundred and thirty RV parks and campgrounds for sale. A median asking price of $1.5 million. A median price per site of $55,000. And, in the column that matters most to a buyer who needs a loan, this line: 91 percent of the listings with a price are at or under $5 million. That number is not a coincidence. Five million dollars is the SBA 7(a) loan limit, and the overwhelming majority of the parks for sale in America fit inside it.

The loan, in other words, already exists. What does not exist in abundance is the lender. A campground is a business that most banks cannot underwrite, because it is two businesses at once: a piece of real estate and a nightly-rate hospitality operation. The land and the pads are collateral. The nightly revenue services the debt. A lender has to price both, and the banks that fund hotels do not understand pads, while the banks that fund land do not understand occupancy. The borrower who needs a campground loan usually discovers this the way borrowers always discover it — by being told no by two banks and then finding the one lender who has done the deal before.

The SBA 7(a) program is the workhorse. It lends up to $5 million per loan, with terms up to 25 years for real estate and 10 years for equipment and working capital, a minimum down payment of 10 percent, and a debt-service coverage ratio of at least 1.25 times. The test that decides whether a park qualifies is the transient test: more than half of the prior year's revenue must have come from stays of 30 days or less, under the SBA's standard operating procedure SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026. A park full of long-term residents is a different asset — closer to a mobile home park — and the SBA treats it that way. The test is the difference between a campground loan and a real estate loan, and it is the first thing a specialist lender asks about.

Beside 7(a) sits the 504 program, which funds fixed assets — land, buildings, long-term equipment — up to $5 million, or $5.5 million for some projects, and cannot be used for goodwill. The two programs can be combined: the SBA announced on July 7, 2026 that a borrower can pair a 7(a) loan with a 504 loan for up to $10 million of combined financing under Policy Notice 5000-879058. That matters because the parks at the top of the market — the 150-site resorts with pools, stores, and glamping — sell for more than $5 million, and until the combination rule the buyer of one of those had to find the extra money somewhere else. Now the SBA itself is the somewhere else.

The lenders who do this work are few enough to name. Live Oak Bank is the largest SBA lender to RV parks and campgrounds, with a dedicated team led by Nick Parker, vice president for RV parks, alongside Pierce Verchick and Moe Kruger, a senior loan officer. In 2025 the bank made about 37 percent of all SBA dollars lent to the niche — roughly $33.4 million across 13 loans — and it pairs a 7(a) loan of up to $5 million with a conventional loan for larger deals, financing from $500,000 as an SBA Preferred Lender with a minimum FICO score of 680. CCFBank, a national outdoor-hospitality lender, holds a campground loan portfolio of $151 million across 70 loans, with an average loan size of $2.2 million, a weighted average loan-to-value of 48 percent, and — as of March 31, 2026 — zero net charge-offs and zero criticized loans. Its bankers, Chad Larson and Josh Villella, have lent on parks that grew from 45 sites to 150 and from 40 sites to six resorts. Crestmont Capital covers the rest of the market: SBA 7(a) up to $5 million with terms to 25 years, conventional term loans from $50,000 to several million over 3 to 10 years, and alternative funds in 24 to 72 hours after approval for the borrower who cannot wait for underwriting.

The deal math underneath all of it is straightforward. BizBuySell's analysis of 24 campgrounds and RV parks for sale puts the median asking price at $1,490,000 — the lower quartile at $935,000, the upper at $2,925,000 — against median reported revenue of $385,674 and median seller's discretionary earnings of $143,167. The median revenue multiple is 5.54, with a range of 3.99 to 7.86. At a $1.5 million price and a 10 percent down payment, the buyer brings $150,000 and borrows $1.35 million; at a 1.25-times coverage requirement, the park's earnings have to clear the debt service with room to spare. ParkVestor puts typical RV park capitalization rates at 8 to 12 percent. None of this is exotic. It is a seven-figure transaction with six-figure cash flow, and the financing fits the deal as it actually is.

The counterargument is that the SBA is slow, and it is. A 7(a) loan takes paperwork, time, and patience, and a seller with three offers will not always wait for the one that needs an SBA guarantee. The transient test excludes parks that have drifted into long-term tenancy. The 10 percent down payment and the 1.25-times coverage requirement exclude buyers who are short on cash or buying a park whose earnings have been managed down for tax purposes. Seller financing exists, conventional term loans exist, and alternative funds exist for the borrower who values speed over price. But the alternatives are either slower to arrange, more expensive, or smaller than the SBA — and none of them changes the basic fact that 91 percent of the market fits inside the 7(a) limit.

That is why the name matters. A borrower who has just been told no by two banks searches for the words "campground finance." A lender who does these loans needs to be found by that borrower, and the borrower needs to find the lender before the seller accepts a cash offer. In a market where one bank makes more than a third of the SBA loans, the lender who is easiest to find wins the deal — and the name that is easiest to find is the one that states the product exactly.

Sources: ParkVestor, "RV Park Financing: SBA, Bank and Seller Loans" — 430 active listings, median asking price $1.5 million, median price per site $55,000 (141 listings), 91% of listings at or under $5 million, cap rates typically 8–12%, data updated November 8, 2026, https://www.parkvestor.com/financing/rv-parks. U.S. Small Business Administration — SBA 7(a) up to $5 million, up to 25 years for real estate, 10 years for equipment and working capital, minimum 10% down, DSCR of at least 1.25x, transient test of more than 50% of prior-year revenue from stays of 30 days or less (SOP 50 10 8.1, effective October 1, 2026); SBA 504 up to $5 million ($5.5 million for some projects), fixed assets only, no goodwill; combined 7(a) + 504 up to $10 million (announcement July 7, 2026; Policy Notice 5000-879058), https://www.sba.gov/. Live Oak Bank, RV Park Loans — largest SBA lender to RV parks and campgrounds, about 37% of all SBA dollars to the niche in 2025, about $33.4 million across 13 loans, dedicated team (Nick Parker, VP — RV Parks; Pierce Verchick; Moe Kruger, Senior Loan Officer), combination financing pairing 7(a) up to $5 million with a conventional loan, financing from $500,000, SBA Preferred Lender, minimum FICO 680, https://liveoak.bank/business-loans/rv-parks/. CCFBank, Outdoor Hospitality Lending — national outdoor-hospitality lender, loans $3 million–$10 million, up to 70%, campground loan portfolio $151 million outstanding, 70 loans, average loan size $2.2 million, weighted average LTV 48%, 0.00% net charge-offs, 0.00% criticized (as of March 31, 2026), bankers Chad Larson and Josh Villella, https://ccf.us/business/outdoor-hospitality-lending/. Crestmont Capital, "RV Park Business Loans" — SBA 7(a) up to $5 million, terms to 25 years; conventional term loans $50,000 to several million, 3–10 years; alternative funds in 24–72 hours after approval, https://crestmontcapital.com/blog/rv-park-business-loans. BizBuySell, "Campgrounds and RV Parks For Sale" — 24 businesses analyzed, median asking price $1,490,000 (lower quartile $935,000, upper quartile $2,925,000), median reported revenue $385,674, median seller's discretionary earnings $143,167, revenue multiple median 5.54 (range 3.99–7.86), https://www.BizBuySell.com/campgrounds-and-rv-parks-for-sale/1/.