business plans for sba loans?

Question

we want to buy a existing rv park in the future, must we wait till we find the exact park we want to buy before creating a business plan for a sba loan?

Answer 1

As someone who used to work for an SBDC ( http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/ ) let me tell you what you should do, if I may. Write what you can now and then fill in the rest when you know which park you want.

Your B-Plan will consist roughly of the following sections:

1 - Executive Summary
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2 - Introduction
>>>Business Desription
>>>Business HIstory
>>>Future Plans and Goals for 3 years
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3 - Marketing
>>>Major Goals and Objectives
>>>Products/Services
>>>Target Market
>>>Place of Business
>>>Price Information
>>>Promotion
>>>Competition

~~~Begin writing the sections that you now have the ability to write. Even though you do not have an exact park, things such as prices, promo, target market can be researched and desrciptions can be written. If you know a general area where you would like to purchase, begin compiling a list of all RV parks, their websites and research on each one.
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4 - Management
>>>Goals and Objectives
>>>Personnel
>>>Oranizational Structure
>>>Human Resources Management
>>>Policies
>>>Insurance
>>>Legal

~~~Much of this section can be written now. It is the MOST IMPORTANT section of your business plan. This is where you stress every detail of your management skills, all history managing anything in your previous work experience and the amount managed. (both in quantity of dollars and people)
Who will be resposiblefor what functions?
What wage/salary structure?
List all of insurances.
What legal strucute? LLC..., licenses, trademarks...
Some of this will, of course, come with the existing park, but it is good to familiarize yourself with them now.
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5 - Financial Information
>>>Start-Up cost
>>>Equity & Collateral
>>>Projected Cash Flow
>>>Pro forma Income Statement
>>>Pro forma Balance Sheet
>>>Ratio Analysis

~~~Obviously, this will be specific to the one you buy. However, it is good to get cost estimates so that you can start formualting general numbers. Decide how much of your own money you will be willing to put up.
Go to the local library and get the RMA Annual Statement Studies. You will find average financial statements for RV parks. You will probably need the business librarian to help you if you are not familiar with them. Bankers will have this information. They will know if your financial data looks screwy.
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Contatc RV Park Associations

Go to the local offices of these for free trustworthy help:
http://www.score.org/
http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/

Yes, it is a pain in the behind. But the earlier you start, the easier it will be.

Good Luck

.

Answer 2

You can prepare a business plan right now and add details of the RV park you can buy at a later stage.

According to the book “The ABC's of Writing Winning Business Plans: How to Prepare a Business Plan That Others Will Want to Read -- and Invest In” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446694150/powerhomebizguid by Garrett Sutton, below are some tips to make a winning business plan that can get funding:

- Money follows management. Investors look first at the people involved in the company. If you are just starting out and don’t have relevant experience, investors expect to see that you have an experienced team of advisors and employees helping you in the business.

- Make sure you “sell” the one reason your business will become profitable.

- State clearly the strategies you will employ to get the word out about your business. Your business plan must show how you will leverage the Internet, public relations, viral marketing, and other strategies to attract customers.

- Present realistic estimates of the time, energy and costs of building a successful business. Do not underestimate or overestimate revenues. While investors know your numbers are simply guesses, they want to see that your numbers are within the “range of reality.” Be careful of your financial statements: this is one area where you can easily lose credibility if presented poorly.

- Benchmark similar companies to show that you’ve done your homework and researched the market.

- Your Executive Summary is your calling card. If it is not a winner, investors may not even read your entire plan. Emphasize your own as well as your team’s track record in the Executive Summary.

- Before sending your business plan to lenders and investors, send it out first to a few in order to get feedback. You’d want to correct your plan if someone tells you that you’re way off mark, rather than have a potential investor tell it to you and lose the chance to get the funding you need.

Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:

- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/businessplan.htm
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,7253,,00.html

You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it actually looks like:

- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.cfm
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners
http://www.businessplans.org/businessplans.html
- VFinance - View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format. http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&ToolPage=bps_main.asp
- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to create a plan. http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_m.asp
- PlanWare Planning software and information. http://www.planware.org/
- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan. http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html
-SBA Business Planning Guide http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/planning/basic.html
- Small Business Advancement Center http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/business_plan/businessPlan.pdf
- Sample Business Plan General planning guide created by the Canadian Business Service Center. http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=CBSC_FE/display&c=GuideFactSheet&cid
- Business Plans Index - A subject guide to sample business plans and profiles for specific business types from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. http://216.183.184.20/subject/business/bplansindex.html

Some recommended books are :

- Business Plans Kit for Dummies
- The Complete Book of Business Plans : Simple Steps to Writing a Powerful Business Plan
- Writing Business Plans That Get Results : A Step-By-Step Guide
- Business Plans For Dummies®
- Your First Business Plan : A Simple Question and Answer Format Designed to Help You Write Your Own Plan

Hope that the above resources help

Answer 3

You don't have to wait for the exact park, but you have to have something similar (as comparison) to write your business plan.

Answer 4

you might get a good accountant to help, maybe they won't be as expensive however the people who are in the business of doing this know what needs to be sent in to get approved and in the end it might be worth the money