My wife and I have been mostly focused on small residential investing so far but we're considering expanding into RV parks. We've seen a trend in our area of Houston where increasingly more people are getting into RV's and RV vacationing.
Anyone here experienced in the RV park sector? Any advice for someone just starting out looking into it?
Investor · Pacific Northwest · Member since 2026 · 512 posts · 293 votes
4d
The biggest mistake I’d avoid is underwriting an RV park like it’s just a different version of multifamily. It isn’t.
You’re really buying land + utilities + transient demand + an operating business. In Houston especially, I’d get obsessive about drainage/flood exposure, water/sewer capacity, electrical service, permitting, and exactly who the customer is supposed to be — long-term workforce, monthly residents, snowbirds, or true vacation traffic. Those are very different businesses wearing the same “RV park” label.
The attractive part is that a well-located park can have multiple levers residential investors rarely get: site count, utility billing, storage, laundry, propane, premium pads, and operational upside.
But I’d validate the demand source before I ever fell in love with the real estate.
Brandon, if you start narrowing down actual parks around Houston, feel free to reach out. I’d be interested in looking at one with you.
Thank you for the advice! We really appreciate your help! That's a really great point about drainage, flooding really is a huge problem around here. The city keeps growing faster than the infrastructure can keep up. If we do find one that looks promising, we'll reach out!
San Marcos, CA · Member since 2017 · 2 posts · 0 votes
3d
Brandon - I don't know much about your specific Houston market but as a RV Park owner with 55 sites and 5 cabins in the Midlands of South Carolina, our success has been the location between two metropolitan areas (one a major) (Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC) just off an interstate - less than 1.5 miles from the exit ramp in an area that has continued success with construction workers, military tenants, retirees, traveling nurses and snowbirds. We are on well water and septic which works for us. Good luck.