The Park Doctor: A Checkup Before the Buyer's Exam
Nobody likes going to the doctor. But everybody would rather hear about a problem from their own doctor, early, than from a stranger at the worst possible moment.
Selling a park works the same way. A buyer's due diligence is an exam. Their inspectors, lender, and attorney will poke at the septic, test the pedestals, read the books line by line, and pull the title. If something is wrong, they will find it. The only question is whether you found it first.
The Park Doctor is how we approach that checkup. It comes from more than 40 years in construction, infrastructure, and private money, and a simple belief: the glitch is the equity. A problem you diagnose, price, and document is a negotiating point. A problem the buyer discovers is a club.
Why a Checkup Matters at Sale
Most owners do not lose money at sale because their park is bad. They lose it because of surprises. Surprises do three things to a deal:
- They lower the price. Buyers subtract the worst-case cost of anything unknown.
- They raise the risk. A buyer who finds one surprise assumes there are more, and wants a better return to make up for it.
- They burn time. Escrow slows, lenders hesitate, and deals sometimes die.
A checkup turns surprises into known items with known prices. That is where value gets protected, and often created.
The Five Conditions We Check First
1. Septic strain
Many parks were built for weekend campers and now host full-timers and big rigs. Tanks and fields that worked for decades can struggle under heavier loads, especially when holding-tank chemicals harm the system's biology. Symptoms: bright green stripes over the field, soft ground, odor after busy weekends, more pads rented than the permit supports.
Treatment path: permit review, pump records, a peak-load observation, a licensed inspection, and a written plan, ranging from better maintenance to remediation to replacement. See our septic page.
2. Electrical overload
Older 30-amp loops, aging pedestals, and service sized for lighter loads can sag or trip under modern rigs. Symptoms: tripping breakers on hot days, melt marks, guests' surge protectors cutting out, turning away 50-amp rigs.
Treatment path: site-by-site amp map, load testing at the far pedestals, a licensed electrician's phased plan. See our electrical page.
3. Utility bleed
Long-term guests on flat rates, with you paying the master electric and water bills, can quietly drain your net income. Because buyers value income at a multiple, that drain costs you at sale too.
Treatment path: two years of bills, recovery ratio, local rules, then sub-metering or another lawful billing method with a track record. See our utilities page.
4. Messy books
Cash that skipped the system, deposits counted as income, utilities folded into rent, and owner labor that never shows up. Buyers and lenders rebuild these books, usually downward.
Treatment path: a month-by-month T-12, clean revenue lines, an add-back list with receipts, and a rent roll that matches the bank. See our books page.
5. Tax timing
A lump-sum sale can create a large tax bill in a single year, including possible depreciation recapture. Structure, such as seller financing, may change the timing for some owners.
Treatment path: an early conversation with your CPA and attorney. We do not give tax advice. See our page on taxes at sale.
What Buyers and Lenders Will Scrutinize
Across all five conditions, expect the buyer's team to ask for:
- Financials: three years of tax returns, a month-by-month T-12, rent roll, deposit ledger, bank statements.
- Septic: permits and design flow, pump logs, inspections, violation history.
- Electrical: service size, pedestal inventory, bills with demand, permits, repair history.
- Utilities and water: two years of bills, billing method per site, water testing, system permits.
- Title and permits: title commitment, survey, zoning, licenses, environmental and flood reports.
- Physical plant: capital history, insurance loss runs, equipment list.
The red flags that move price fastest: unknown septic capacity, visible electrical heat damage, big unrecovered utility bills, books that do not match the bank, and liens or permit gaps found late.
How the Checkup Works
Step 1: You send what you have
Last twelve months, rent roll, and a few notes on what keeps you up at night. Imperfect is fine.
Step 2: We ask the questions a buyer will
About utilities, septic, pedestals, the phone after hours, the books, and anything odd on the property.
Step 3: We map the glitches
What is likely to come up in a buyer's exam, roughly how serious it is, and what kind of fix or documentation would change the conversation.
Step 4: You get a plain-English next move
Fix it, document it, structure around it, or hold and stabilize first. Written so you can sleep on it and talk it over with your family and advisors.
Get-Ready-for-Sale Checklist
- Month-by-month T-12 and three years of tax returns
- Rent roll that matches your reservation records and bank deposits
- Septic permits, pump log, and a Sunday-morning field walk with photos
- Site-by-site amp map and a summer load test
- Two years of utility bills and your recovery ratio
- Water testing and system records
- Preliminary title report and zoning/site-count confirmation
- Capital history with invoices
- Written bids for known repairs
- CPA and attorney conversations scheduled
Common Mistakes
- Waiting for the buyer's exam to learn what is wrong.
- Treating every glitch as a deal-breaker. Most are line items with a price.
- Fixing cosmetics first. Paint does not move a septic number.
- Hiding known problems. It costs more when it surfaces, and it can create legal exposure.
- Going it alone on taxes and contracts. Use your CPA and attorney.
An Example
Illustrative example. Composite of situations we see; details and numbers changed.
An owner in his seventies called us after a buyer walked away. The buyer's inspector had found a struggling septic field, a hot electrical loop, and a summer electric bill the owner was eating on the monthly sites. The buyer had offered a large discount, then left.
We walked through the five conditions with him. Over the next season, he got a licensed septic plan with a bid, had the worst electrical loop rebuilt with permits, started lawful electric billing on his monthly sites, and worked with his bookkeeper on a clean T-12. His CPA modeled a hybrid sale.
When the next buyer came through, every condition had a file: what it was, what was done, what was left, and what it would cost. The conversation was about terms, not surprises.
Book Your Checkup
Request a free Glitch Audit. Email wayyago@gmail.com with your last twelve months, rent roll, and a few notes on septic, electrical, utilities, and anything else that worries you.
No Zoom pitch. No listing contract. You pay Way-Ya-Go nothing. Our 1.9% Transparency Premium is buyer-funded at closing; sellers pay 0% in brokerage fees.
Request a free Glitch AuditGeneral education only. Not engineering, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Licensed professionals and your CPA and attorney make the real calls for your park.