RV park calculator: site mix to NOI, value per site, loan & IRR

What this measures

RV park underwriting starts with the site mix. For each site type you pick how it rents and enter the number of sites, the rate, the occupancy, and the months it is open. A monthly site earns its monthly rate for each month it is rented. A seasonal site earns one season rate. A nightly site earns its nightly rate for each night it is sold. Every site rented for every open month, season, or night is gross potential site rent.

Occupancy means different things for each stream. For monthly and seasonal sites it is the share of sites rented. For nightly sites and cabins it is the share of available site-nights sold, which is usually far lower and swings with the season. Site rental revenue divided by gross potential shows how much of the park's capacity is really earning.

Booking, reservation-platform, and card fees come off nightly revenue, and discounts, refunds, and credit loss come off all site revenue. Add utility bill-backs, the store and propane net of cost, and other income to get effective gross income, or EGI. Take off property tax, insurance, payroll, the utilities the park pays, repairs, marketing and software, a management fee, and a capital reserve per site, and the result is NOI. Value, value per site, and the loan all come from NOI.

Formula

Monthly sites: sites × monthly rate × months open × occupancy. Seasonal sites: sites × season rate × occupancy. Nightly sites: sites × nightly rate × months open × (365 ÷ 12) × occupancy. Gross potential site rent is the same with occupancy at 100%.

Net site revenue = site revenue − booking fees (% of nightly revenue) − discounts and credit loss (% of site revenue). EGI = net site revenue + utility bill-backs + store net + other income. NOI = EGI − operating expenses − management fee − reserve per site × sites. Value = NOI ÷ cap rate. Value per site = value ÷ sites.

Break-even occupancy = the share of gross potential at which NOI (or NOI minus debt service) is zero, with every site type's occupancy scaled together. LTV loan = max LTV × the lower of price and value. DSCR loan = the amount whose payment equals NOI ÷ minimum DSCR. Debt-yield loan = NOI ÷ minimum debt yield. Loan = the least of the three. Exit value = the NOI of the year after the sale ÷ exit cap rate.

Example

Example

The sample park: 30 monthly sites at $650 a month and 90% occupied earn $210,600. 15 seasonal sites at $3,000 a season and 80% sold earn $36,000. 25 nightly back-in sites at $50 a night and 45% occupancy earn $205,312.50, 10 pull-through sites at $65 and 55% earn $130,487.50, and 4 cabins at $120 and 50% earn $87,600. Gross potential site rent is $1,147,700 and site revenue is $670,000, or 58.4% of potential. A 4% booking fee on nightly revenue ($16,936) and 2% discounts and credit loss ($13,400) leave net site revenue of $639,664. Utility bill-backs, store net, and other income add $38,000, for EGI of $677,664. Expenses of $321,000, a 5% management fee ($33,883.20), and a $250-per-site reserve ($21,000) leave NOI of $301,780.80. At a 9% cap rate that is a value of $3,353,120, about $39,918 a site, against a $3,300,000 price ($39,286 a site). A 70% LTV caps the loan at $2,310,000, below the DSCR and debt-yield limits. Debt service is $200,362.06 a year and the DSCR is 1.51. Year-one NOI is $301,781. Value at the cap rate is $3,353,120. Max loan is $2,310,000.

Illustrative example. Every input is a sample so the math is visible, not a real park, a market average, or a deal RE Underwrite Lab did. NOI covers operating costs down to 29.4% of gross potential and covers the loan too down to 48.6%, against 58.4% today. With 3% rate and expense growth, a 5-year hold, a 9.5% exit cap, and 3% selling costs, the example shows a 14.7% levered IRR, a 9.9% unlevered IRR, and a 1.82x equity multiple. Those are outputs of example inputs, not a forecast. The guide to valuing an RV park walks the same numbers line by line.

Example

Second example

Illustrative example. A 50-site park rents only by the night at $55, open all year. Gross potential is 50 × $55 × 365 = $1,003,750. At 40% occupancy, site revenue is $401,500. A 5% booking fee ($20,075) leaves $381,425, and $15,000 of other income brings EGI to $396,425. With $180,000 of expenses, a 5% management fee ($19,821.25), and a $200-per-site reserve ($10,000), NOI is $186,603.75, about $1.87 million of value at a 10% cap, or about $37,321 a site. NOI reaches $0 at about 19.4% occupancy. These figures are made up and are not the sample in the form above.

When this ratio misleads

Value per site and a single occupancy number both hide the mix. Two parks with the same NOI per site can carry very different risk: one leans on monthly guests who stay all year, the other on nightly guests who can disappear in a bad season. An owner's NOI often leaves out a management fee and a reserve, and nightly revenue is often counted before booking fees. Check how the NOI was built, how much of it is nightly, and how close today's occupancy is to break-even before you trust the cap rate.

Common pitfalls

Using peak-season occupancy for the whole year. Pull a full year of reservation reports and use annual site-nights sold, not a busy month.

Counting nightly revenue before platform and card fees. Take the fees the park pays off nightly revenue, or the NOI is overstated.

Assuming long stays are allowed. Zoning, campground licenses, and local rules often cap the length of stay. Confirm monthly sites are legal before you count them.

Ignoring septic, wells, and electrical. Older systems sized for smaller rigs can turn into large capital bills. Inspect them and set the reserve and day-one capital to match.

Questions