The Wild Card: Paperwork You Forgot About Can Stop a Sale Cold
Every park has something odd. An old well nobody uses. A fence line that does not quite match the survey. A permit for 40 sites on a park that rents 52. A contractor who got stiffed years ago and filed a lien you never heard about. A back loop that floods every few springs.
None of that may bother you day to day. But in a sale, these are the items that stall escrow, scare lenders, and give buyers a reason to reopen the price at the worst possible moment. We call them wild cards. The fix is simple in concept: find them before a buyer does.
Why Wild Cards Matter at Sale
Most wild cards fall into a few buckets: title, zoning and permits, licenses, boundaries, environmental, and flood. Buyers and their lenders check every one of them, usually on a tight clock, through title companies, surveyors, environmental consultants, and public records.
When something turns up late:
- Escrow slows or stops while it gets cured.
- Lenders may refuse to fund until it is resolved.
- Buyers use it to renegotiate.
- Sometimes the deal dies.
Found early, most of these issues can be cleared quietly, often for far less than they cost when found late.
What Buyers and Lenders Will Scrutinize
Documents they will ask for or pull
- Title commitment: liens, judgments, contractor (mechanics') liens, easements, access rights, encroachments.
- Survey, often a detailed commercial survey (ALTA), showing boundaries and improvements.
- Property tax status: current, delinquent, special assessments.
- Zoning designation and whether your use and site count are allowed, including whether you are a legal nonconforming use.
- Operating licenses and health permits for the park, pool, dump station, food service, propane, and any others that apply, plus recent inspection reports.
- Certificates of occupancy for buildings like the office, bathhouses, and laundry.
- Titles for park-owned units and equipment: park models, rental trailers, golf carts.
- Any code enforcement letters, notices, or litigation.
- Environmental reports: lenders commonly require a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, performed to the current ASTM standard (E1527-21).
- Flood zone status from FEMA flood maps, and flood insurance information if applicable.
Tests they will run
- Title search and survey review
- Zoning and permit verification with the city or county
- Phase I environmental review, and a Phase II if the Phase I finds concerns (for example around old fuel storage or maintenance areas)
- Flood map review and insurance quotes
- License transferability check: will your permits transfer to a new owner?
Red flags that move price
- Liens or judgments you did not know about
- More sites than your permits allow
- Unpermitted structures or additions
- Boundary or access problems
- Old fuel tanks, dumping areas, or spills
- Pads in a flood zone with no insurance plan
- Licenses that do not transfer, or expired permits
What to Check, Clear, and Document
1. Order a preliminary title report
Ask a title company for a preliminary report before you talk to buyers. Read every exception. If there is a lien you did not know about, you can deal with it quietly now. Your attorney can help clear items.
2. Check taxes and assessments
Confirm property taxes are current and look for any special assessments. Delinquent taxes are usually paid at closing, but surprises make buyers nervous.
3. Confirm your legal site count
Ask your city or county planning office what your zoning allows and how many sites you are approved for. Compare it to how many you rent. If there is a gap, talk to your attorney about options before a buyer finds it. Buyers usually value only the legal count.
4. Gather licenses and permits
Collect every operating license, health permit, and recent inspection report. Ask the issuing offices whether they transfer to a new owner, and how.
5. Walk your boundaries
If you have a survey, compare it to what is on the ground. If you do not, consider ordering one. Fences, sheds, or sites over a line are easier to fix before a sale.
6. Look at environmental history
Make a list of anything that could concern an environmental consultant: old fuel tanks, a former maintenance shop, an old dump area, propane fill stations. If you have any prior environmental reports, find them. Some owners order a Phase I before selling to get ahead of surprises.
7. Check your flood exposure
Look up your park on FEMA's flood maps. Know which pads, if any, are in a flood zone, and what flood insurance would look like. Disclose known flooding honestly.
8. Write down your wild cards
Make a short, honest list of anything unusual: unused wells, unmapped lines, old agreements with neighbors, handshake easements. Bring it to your attorney.
Get-Ready-for-Sale Checklist
- Preliminary title report ordered and reviewed with your attorney
- Property taxes current; special assessments known
- Zoning and approved site count confirmed in writing
- All licenses, permits, and recent inspection reports gathered
- Transferability of licenses and permits confirmed
- Certificates of occupancy located for buildings
- Titles for park-owned units and equipment found
- Survey reviewed, or a new one ordered
- Environmental history listed; prior reports gathered
- FEMA flood status checked for all pads
- Code enforcement letters and notices answered in writing
- Written list of known wild cards shared with your attorney
Common Mistakes
- Assuming the title is clean because nothing has come up in years.
- Renting more sites than permitted and hoping no one checks.
- Forgetting the paperwork for park-owned units.
- Not asking whether licenses transfer. Some do not.
- Hiding a flooding history. It will come out, and it costs more when it does.
- Waiting for the buyer's title company to tell you what you could have found yourself.
An Example
Illustrative example. Composite of situations we see; details and numbers changed.
An owner was weeks from listing when he ordered a preliminary title report on our suggestion. It showed a contractor's lien from a roof job years earlier, a dispute he thought had been settled with a handshake. It also showed an old easement for a utility line that ran right through a row of pads.
His attorney cleared the lien with a modest payment and a release. The easement turned out to be for a line that had been abandoned, and the utility agreed to release it. He also learned his county had approved fewer sites than he was renting, and started the process of getting the extra sites approved.
When a buyer's title company ran its own search, there were no surprises. The site-count issue was disclosed, with paperwork showing the approval in progress. What could have been a closing-week crisis became a line on a checklist.
Want Help Finding Your Wild Cards First?
Request a free Glitch Audit. Email wayyago@gmail.com with your last twelve months, rent roll, and anything odd you know about: old wells, boundary questions, permits, liens, flooding.
We will tell you what a buyer's title company, lender, and inspectors are likely to find, and what to clear first. No Zoom pitch. You pay us 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 legal, environmental, or surveying advice. Your attorney, title company, and licensed professionals handle title, zoning, environmental, and flood questions.