Here it is.  I could not get it to upload the image from my computer, so I took a screenshot of it.  Look at the rows.  There are lanes throughout the entire property. They have not been maintained and are filled with underbrush, and more specifically, a bunch of thorny vines that need to go.  There is a lane going vertically through the property, that is the cutoff.  To the left is RV park, to the right is kept as is.  Except, of course, to get rid of the underbrush.  It serves no useful purpose and can dry out in dry season and cause forest fires.  I will try to outline the areas for the things I want to install with lines tomorrow. It's late now, lol, I'm going to bed.  

 

 There are days when I definitely do not feel like driving, today was one of them.  With around 540 miles to go to get back to the yard, I just wasn't in the mood.  I mean, I'll get  it done but I have to distract myself when it's going that bad.  Mostly listening to stuff on YouTube.  All kinds of content on there, you can find anything that suits your fancy.  

It didn't help that the thought of - simply because there are power lines nearby, that doesn't mean I'll have access to them. It just hit me today - those lines are on other people's property. There are easements going through those properties but there isn't an easement going to mine. Well there is a path that seems like it might be one, but who knows?  Awful large risk to take to think about buying a property you can't get power to.

So, after putting up with all the nonsense and lunacy on the road all day long - that's probably my biggest reason why I don't like driving anymore - I drove straight over there from work.  I had to get this out of my head.  I eight can or can't have power. If I can't, this deal is off, I don't want anything to do with it. It's one thing to have to have your own septic system installed, it's quite another to think about having to supply your own power. No thanks.  My concerns were eased when I saw a power line crossing the road maybe 50 feet from "my" property line.  That's all easement along the road, they could easily just run it from there over to my land without having to pay any property owners for easement rights - if they'd even give it.  

I'm still going to pursue this before signing day tho.  I have time.  I'm going to call what I believer to be the power provider tomorrow and ask them to please find out what will need to be done to get power to my property.  

I got at least a hint of hope today when the realtor joyously texted me that the title company was asking about my marital status.  Don't know why they need to know that but I gave it to her. She said it's at least good that they are moving on this.  We made jokes about how long this process is taking and that was that, lol.  It's still over 2 weeks to closing day.  

Back to working, I think besides dealing with all the ridiculousness in traffic every day, it's also the long days.  I put in 16 hours yesterday.  The day before that was 14 hours.  Today was less at 10 hours, but good grief.  It's too much. I'm tired of it, I want a permanent break from it.  If I could just work an RV park every day for 8 hours and take a day off here and there, I'd be good.  It's why I am seriously looking into just financing the whole thing, get 70-80 sites set up at the get go, have a laundry and bath facility, get an office building and let's go with this.  About 200k, maybe 250k to do what I would need to do would get the whole thing set up and over with. There would be other things I would want to add over time but that would get me over the initial hump.  

Whether I would qualify remains to be seen. Otherwise, I'm going to have to cash out that old 401k and then probably have to get a loan on top of that.  To that end, I'm also looking at home equity loans.  My house is worth far more than I owe on it, it's just it's a manufactured home and a lot of the lenders don't want to finance that regardless of how much it may be worth.  But I'll keep looking until I either exhaust all of it or I find something.  Right now, tho, I'm not doing anything that requires any kind of credit check.  I don't need that showing up for the lender for the property.  

I've got another loan that's down to less than 2 grand, I'm considering paying that off as well and get my monthly expenses down far enough that any lender looking at my monthly liability spreadsheet would definitely at least give consideration to my loan request.  And then there's the banker next door who knows the person in charge of the SBA loans in this region.  They have money and hardly anyone taking it at low interest rates.  That's his words.  

Lenders such as LightStream, Prosper, upstart and the like want way too much of an interest rate to even consider using them for a loan unless I didn't need that much. If I were to just do the 25 pads and I could get most of it done with the 401k, then I could see taking out a 15-20k loan. But you get into the 50k and up territory and they want more than a house payment for monthly payments.  I get that it's an unsecured loan but get real with the interest rates, please.  

And on and on.  There will be a flurry of activity at the get-go if/when this property closes.  A quote on a septic system - I'll contact 3 companies and get some bids.  Get electricity to the property - unless it's going to cost a fortune, then it can wait until I secure more financing.  And get the water line run to the property. I can't see that costing more than 3 or 4 grand, it's not that much of a project.  And get the underbrush cleared on the front half of the property.  

Which means I'll have to go and put ribbon around all the stuff I don't want taken down. That'll take a bit of time.  I want all of those lanes cleared out.  Where they already took out trees and made rows. It's almost as if the owner wanted to build his own RV park, I have no clue why he did all of that. None of my business, I guess, I'll never meet him apparently. This is all being done through realtors.  But the fact that all of those rows already exist - that's a lot of tree felling that won't have to happen. There will be plenty more trees that need to come down, yes, but all of that is already out of the way.  

There is a plan slowly developing in my mind. The more understanding I gain, the easier it is to come up with a basic plan.  Money is everything of course.  

There is also future stuff that I am considering.  A convenience store with a deli - that also takes care of the lot rentals of course. Why? Because there is a huge piece of land with an office that accommodates 250 people in the office portion and even more in the warehouse part.  It's up for sale for 3 million, it was owned by BP, they moved out for whatever reason.  Someone is going to buy that facility sooner or later and I wouldn't mind facilitating lunchtime for whatever portion of them I can get to come down and buy lunch.  The nearest place to buy anything is 6 miles away.  People don't have forever lunch times.  

That was something that crossed my mind today.  I don't really want a gas station, just a convenience store and propane sales.  A log cabin type of thing, that sticks with the look and feel of the land.  Rustic look - pine trees and such don't need some "modern" feel to it. That's not what campers want anyway and those that do can find fancy RV resorts that better suit their desires.  I'm not going to try to appease everyone, the trees will drive off a certain amount of RV population and I'm fine with that.  They complain about them and say they want open clear land.  Yup, well that's not the theme of my park.  

Oh, the 250 people part of that facility up the street? That's what got me to wondering if they paid for sewer line over there. Otherwise, they must have had to install a very large septic system or several smaller ones.  It's an oil company, they can of course afford to do whatever they need, but I am going to find out if they have septic or if they paid to tunnel under the Interstate a sewer line.  

Yes, it has actually been useful that the land hasn't closed yet, because it's giving me time to really think about what I'm attempting to get into here. But, I am pleased with the property and the location and the availability of the utilities, wifi especially. Many RV'ers work out of their RV's, they live in them and travel from place to place. If you don't offer wifi, those types of RV'ers won't come unless they have their own wifi off of their phones (which is what I would have anyway if I were doing that type of lifestyle, I already have unlimited internet with unlimited tethering as it stands).  

But whatever happens, the fact of the matter is, even starting out small, the getting the utilities set up on the land is going to be more than I will have with the 401k and I am preparing my mind for more debt - but hopefully debt that will be supported by revenues. I just can't make a decision on what to do concerning loans until I get all the numbers in on how much all of it is going to cost.  

But, the things I will be installing, I have thought about endlessly. Water lines from the main connection, that's me.  I am not paying someone to do something that is quite easy, it's not brain surgery. Underground electric from the pole to the sites? I'm wishy washy on that one. The materials will cost at least 10k and that doesn't include installation.  Setpic? I'll pay someone to install but I'll run the lines to it from the pads.  I don't need help with that, that's as easy as the water line installation and I have contacts to get the pipe for cheaper than anyone can get it.  

The water, sewer, electric are going to be the money gobblers in this proposition.  Pad creation probably not so much, asphalt millings or concrete shavings I haven't looked into yet.  That's for pads and driveways. 

I will say James is all for this.  He'll work his ass off, I know him well enough, he's not a slacker, if I pay him an hourly wage, he'll get stuff done.  He's smart and can figure things out as well.  I could see him doing pads on his off time - just get a Bobcat rented for a month or two and he could get those done.  I have to keep working my job, I can't stop working til' I know I have the monthly income from this venture to be able to live off of.  I'm fortunate that I can get help from a person that is motivated, knowledgeable and likes to learn new things.  Cause' honey, all of this is new to all of us.  I have lived in trailers, but that isn't the same as attempting to build the place your rig is parked on. Apples and oranges.  

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am highly motivated to get this land and get this project going.  I have no fantasies of it up and running in a month. More like next year a grand opening. I already have numerous people that want to come.  I'm going to take 20 plus pics of the property after it's cleared and have a name-calling contest.  I can't come up with a name that isn't really unique. Whispering pines, Timberline, Piney acres -  and many more are already taken and are a bit  less than different. It's got to be something that at least remotely; reflects the type of place it is - tall pines, peace, quiet, restoration perhaps.  Nature, camping, trails, freedom.  I dunno, but I do know that others are far better with coming up with names like this than I am.  Someone has a eureka moment, comes up with this awesome name and walaah, there it is.  A permanent name is important not only for the image of the park, but the fact that you have to pay to have signs and billboards and ads put up.  

I can't just open a park and expect people to randomly find it, lol. It has to be advertised through multiple different media, but most importantly on social media sites.  Billboards are good for the nomadic traveler needing a place to stay for the night.  Local ads are good for the person needing a place to park their unit semi permanently. But if you want people to know about it and include it in their traveling plans, you have to be all over social media.  And have it come up in the top google searches - you pay a firm to do that for you.  You have to have your own website, your own facebook page and pretty much anywhere else - twitter, myspace, whatever gets the message across. Start your own RV group with your park name on it.  Get it up there in the google searches - again, you pay a firm to do that for you. I don't know how they do it, but they get it done.  

There are a large number of internet sites that rate and review your camp site and include it in their listings.  

I could go on, but you can see that this kind of project has a lot of different facets to it - some of it time consuming, some of it money consuming, but you have to do all of it to make it a successful venture.  I will have a professional set up my website replete with an online reservation system that will pay for a site rental in advance and reserve it in advance.  It seems endless all of this.  But it has to be done, all of it.  Anything missed is revenues declined.  You have to spend the money at the get go to get the word out, it's not just setting up a park, it's making it know to the RV'ing world that its' there and you are welcome to come check us out.  I can see thousands of dollars spent on all of that alone.  

To be honest, my mobile home park idea would have been easier than this.  But, my mind switched gears after looking into potential profits.  And the social aspect.  RV parks don't have the social stigma of mobile home parks.  A mobile home park isn't out of the question, but not on beautiful land like this.  Tear down half the trees to put them on there? Naw, not happening. Just get barren land for a mobile home park, put in a bunch of old mobilies, fix them up and rent them.  In reality, my truck parking idea has far more income potential and much less investment than a mobile home park. 

And RV parks - you don't buy RV's to rent them out, everyone already owns them.  You just have to have an appealing place to bring them to you.  And this whole thing is a challenge. I like a challenge.  All of it.  Work through one thing and then work through another - and another - and another.  You get it done and you think how good of a feeling it is that you got that accomplished and now tackle the next thing.  Money will be a thorn in the side, but it will keep me realistic as well.

Home? I got here late. The boys were all happy I walked in the door.  Taylor was gone to the neighbor's house, I saw her for 2 seconds before she came in, said g'nite and went to bed.  James I talked with for a while, especially about this venture - as I said - he's all for this.  These are my friends, if they want to help they can also reap the rewards of helping out.  I'm not looking for handouts here, that would be wrong on several fronts. I don't want free labor, I need help and it's something I will pay for, just as any business owner would do beyond what that owner can do on their own.  But, they are people I can trust.  Without any doubt, I can trust both of them.  James works at his own pace but he gets it done.  Taylor is highly organized and would take care of accounting to anyone's delight.  I wouldn't mind hiring her to run the place initially, but she wants to do stay at home stuff for now.  I respect that and there's nothing wrong with it.  But she is someone that can take care of business and do it efficiently.  

Their friends are willing to help as well. In fact, it was discussed quite a while back that they live on property.  I didn't bring that up, they did. I dunno how far I'm going to go with all of this, but also Maria would probably help out for either a place to live for free or a paycheck.  I just need friendly people - I don't need people that can't smile, be friendly and talkative and can take some normal customer - abuses. If a customer starts s*** and starts cussing anyone out, then it can be taken to the next level. Like, get the h*** out of the park, take your sorry @$$ and your rig out of here and don't come back.  I don't expect that to happen, yet, there are sorry people that affect every business. Still, you have your reputation to think of and even if they are demons from hell, you have to try at least to de-escalate anything and attempt to come to an amiable conclusion.  

This whole thing has become a bit overwhelming the more I find out the things I will need and the information I will need to know  I'm not giving up at all, but the learning curve here is huge.  I don't considering myself low IQ - I'm attempting to learn everything as I am confronted with new information.  

I've said this for many years on my blog - I write this stuff out because it helps me think things through.  This is by far and away the biggest undertaking I have ever attemptied in my entire lifetime. This is why you see me writing some of the same things, over and over here.  I write something, stop writing and sit back and think about it for a while.  I go do some research and then I might come to a different conclusion. I am not double-minded as some of this may appear. Where I say one thing and then switch to something different.  I had literally no clue what I was doing when I started the land search.  And after months of research, I can honestly say I am still far from being any kind of expert.  But, if I write all of this out, it causes me to think about my intended actions or thought process and then causes me to question it, confront it and learn other, more informed views of it.  

If there is one thing I have definitively learned in my life, it's to learn from other's mistakes.  What did you do wrong? What did you do to fix it? How can I avoid making the same, costly, mistake?  RV park owners are not free with their information, I am finding out.  They went through the same ordeals and I guess they think you should pay to play, find out about it at your own expense.  Some day, down the road, I will be able to offer advice and opinion on how to go about doing this, Right now, I just offer my observations of what I am dealing with.  

There is nothing more to say today about this.  Tomorrow I am going to call the power company, at least the one I think that serves the area from the research I have done and ask them to get me information about what it will take to get power to the property. This is of UTMOST importance. No power - no park.  

Addler is not happy with me lol. I've been gone alot. I give him and Aspyn a lot of attention when I get home. But, he just doesn't like me being gone so much.  Hopefully the day comes before his earthly days are over that I can have him roaming around with me doing the stuff one the property.  He can come every time, he's a good, obedient doggy. You have to somewhat pay attention to him wandering off, yes, it's just dog nature out in the wilderness.  But, he always comes back.  

Yes, it's getting late. I got home late.  I can't just get home and go to bed or something.  3 days out and out again tomorrow - it's somewhat depressing.  I'm more of a social creature than not, sitting in a truck alone all day long is no longer acceptable to me.  It pays my bills but it doesn't serve my desired life.  I'll take whatever debt risk I need to to get this business up and running. I have nothing to lose, this is what I've always wanted to do. Debt is the deterrent here, don't do it! Yes, do it if necessary, under a business setup, not your personal name if it's a business loan.  An LLC is necessary.  Just one more thing on the list.  It's a roll of the dice. Start small and try to do it with minimal loans and debt, or start it all out, get it all done, have a much larger monthly payment - but hopefully have the revenues to more than pay for it. You tell me. I don't know, I haven't decided yet and can't really come to that conclusion until after I know what my initial costs are.  Even then, it will still have to be a decision either way.

With that, I bid you a good night.