Well here we go.
They countered with $83,500 and I instantly accepted. I have sold myself on the property and there isn't much of anything that will change my mind on that. There are a few details I want to confirm before closing date - but we are a long way off from that. They have to get an appraisal which is taking long periods of time to acquire. I dunno if they need a new survey. There is clearly a survey done - the ribbons were on the tree this morning. Those ribbons weren't exceedingly faded I suspect it's a more recent survey - tho - doesn't necessarily mean it was for this property, could have been for the property behind me.
Anyway, it's $16,700 down payment plus closing costs - which $1,000 of is required to be paid by the seller per the contract we are all signing. Same contract as before, either party can pull out at any time. The kind of contract I like, if some information is obtained that sours the deal, I am not constrained to it. I only have to give about $900 earnest money, all of it refundable minus $100 fee. I've already lost $350 on a property I can't buy, this best not happen again after the appraisal for I am not willing to just eat this again. I will stay in the contract if that happens.
The mortgage payment without taxes is $450.20 per month, easily handled with current paychecks until I can get the operation up and running. Taxes are $920 per year, not that great for undeveloped land, but that's this area. The ISD takes far more money than they need, as evidenced by building a massive covered stadium for the football team at the local high school. We don't even have that in Arizona where the temps are much higher and people die or end up in the hospital with heat related illnesses all the time. They must have spent millions of dollars for that thing and the people that see the use of that facility say it is hardly ever used.
Imagine that. Some school board member's pet project approved and run through likely without much debate. Kids can take the heat - give them ample water and some electrolytes if necessary they'll be fine. It's one reason why I started watching the city council meetings but now that I think of it, I'm going to have to see if I can find the school board's meetings online as well. I have vested interest in it, already paying property taxes here even without the purchase of this property.
Anyway. I checked county codes again - I keep going back to that .There are state codes but nothing really too significant beyond septic systems and construction activities that you have to get a permit for. And that is only for water run off during storms.
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Next day/Wednesday. No load today - I'm hoping that means they are fixing my truck.
We are waiting on the seller to sign off on the documents and send back to my realtor who will in turn forward it to my lender who is already apprised of the situation.
So while that is going on - the waiting period will be long because appraisals are taking 4 to 6 weeks, the same as with the Finklea property - I will be attempting to assess what utility companies offering access in the neighborhood. I know the city has the water supply, I'm not sure who the power company is there - there are multiple power companies with operations in this region - and I'm not sure about the cable/internet.
I have come to learn that many of these people want home away from home situations with their RV's including access to cable tv - a hookup you have to provide at each campsite.
I'm also awaiting delivery of the lease agreement with the gas company. I want to read all of it and find out what provisions have been made for their access to the property. It's not their access I'm concerned about, it's mine and customer access. I don't want and won't tolerate a locked gate on the property, period, unless they have some provision for that. That will definitely mean creating a new driveway, tho I was going to do that anyway, but also would mean wasting a lot of space at the rear of the driveway in creating a turnaround for RV's to exit the property. But it doesn't matter as long as I can fit at least 15 sites in there I'm good with it.
Still even if they have some provision in there I would like to hope they would work out to have their portion of the property gated, not the entire length of the front portion of the property. I don't really want to have to go to court and hash this out in front of a judge, it's a simple courtesy, this is my property, you are guests, you have your access rights, I'm not trying to diminish those rights, I'm simply trying to exert my right as the property owner. They already conceded we could use "their" driveway - granted they took down the trees and built it, but that's still going to be my property.
If the gate at the front was enforceable then I would simply ask that we can install an automatic gate - something I'd like to do anyway on both driveways. That would eliminate the need for park staff and the ensuing bills that would entail. Online registration and payment, issued an access code to the gate/s, they come, find the pad numbered to their registration, park, hookup, enjoy.
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Well that was cute. They tried to send me to Brownsville today last minute thing to pick up empty trailer. I'd love to take that, but there's this issue of the engine fan staying on that I've been writing up and not getting a response to. So I forced the issue. "I've been writing this thing up for days now" - the mechanic gets a copy of the writeup in his mail basket in front of his office. He claimed no knowledge of it so I replied to the dispatcher that I was not interested in taking another load or another task until the truck is fixed, that I wasn't about to allow it to continue on like the vibration thing did for TWO MONTHS.
I then contacted my manager, who never replied - as is his want when people are bringing issues to him he doesn't really want to address - but I finally got back from the dispatcher that she found another driver to head down there while they try to get my truck fixed.
After that? Off to the inspection station - my registration expires the end of this month, over to Harbor Freight - machete, wheel measurer and a cheap set of bolt cutters - and then off to the property. Soooo hot out today, I only wanted to measure the length of the driveway and the width of it. I was literally blown away to find out my estimate was way off. But then again, I was trying to be conservative in it so as to get my hopes up.
The length of the driveway from the street all the way to the end where it goes into the gas well pad? 1,370 feet! Even more dramatic, at least to me? 197 feet wide from the edge of the driveway!
That simply means the entire RV park can be constructed in that front half, I don't the rear of the property to engage in the business and that makes this situation very much simpler in terms of dealing with this gas company.
The back = guessing 15 acres, not really sure? Have the power company run a line back there and set up a mobile home, make some walking trails, dig out the pond and have a place for guests to walk their dogs - hikes and have a weekend getaway. That would be future reference. Well the hiking trails I'd probably want to get started on right away, instant appeal. The pond and house however, yes future stuff.
The driveway? Very easily can plow another drive way on the other side of the property all the way to the back and curve it around to intersect back into the existing driveway. 30 pads down each driveway. 40 feet wide, that's 1,200 feet leaving 250 feet for an entrance building. According to an online calculation to give the number of acres, that's a little of 6 acres of land there not including the existing driveway.
What this does is allow me to put in giant, lengthy spaces - 70 feet long on each side plus have rom in the middle to keep trees in place plus have 10 feet of trees between pads, every pad.
The initial phase will to be to install a driveway on the other side, improve the existing driveway a bit - not much work really needed and then put in around 20 pads. To do this without getting into a huge loan and keeping payments down, that's what I want to do. Water is definitely there, there's a fire hydrant right up the street and I saw water meter boxes in the ground along the way. The power lines are on my side of the street. There is cable along the street as well, the boxes don't say what company and I'm a bit hesitant to walk up on people's property - in Texas you know, guns and freedom loving patriots? People don't take kindly to that sort of thing.
In fact the only drawback I can see here is the neighbors at the front. Not exactly an appealing property but not trashy either. They keep the lawn groomed at least, it's just an old house that is in desperate need of a fresh paint job. There is, however, a Pitbull and it likes to bark at strangers. It's undoubtedly not used to seeing people walking along the length of the driveway. I'd hate to think of the dog barking all day long, but once I was past it it stopped. A good sign at least. Also they are truckers - I don't hate truckers lol - but he is parking his tractor on "my" property.
Am I getting ahead of myself again? Well, possibly I guess. The realtor is coming today for the earnest money and after that is when it becomes official - I think. I dunno, but I wrote a check and left it on the counter in case she shows up when I'm not here. I just pulled out the map the city gave me - a huge thing 3 feet deep by 4 feet wide - and rechecked. The street is no in city territory. No city restrictions. The water I checked on the PUC, allegedly it's from the city so I have no idea what kind of ordeal I may be in for, but everyone else has water so if they start trouble, we will go to court if necessary. you can't legitimately tell everyone else, including other businesses, that they can have water but I can't - for whatever reasons. Look, if I have to, I'll have a well drilled and that's that. I don't want to, but I am not going to rule it out entirely. There is ample water supply everywhere underground Heck, there's a stream with clear water, not that I'd want to use that, but for non -potable use not out of the question.
I got back in the property and then stopped. Today that is, while doing the measuring. It is so serene and peaceful, albeit hot right now. Yesterday the lawn maintenance people were out there making noise, but it wasn't that much and didn't last that long .Today, there was nothing. Just birds chirping. Even occasional vehicle noise wasn't loud or obnoxious. The roadway is decent. must better than most properties I have looked at. A salt water truck came by - not terribly loud either as it passed on by while I was on the street taking measurements. It's not a busy road. No property is perfect, but this one certainly is well up there on the "gee this is pretty nice now that I've come here several times and taken it all in" list. Finklea would have been nicer albeit 12 acres smaller. Get over it, BB, that is now ancient histroy.
Alright, I have satisfied my need to find out information. There will be more, of course, but the basics are covered. I don't think there's sewer lines, but who knows? If the city has water going down there they may very well also have sewer lines. That would be such a big plus.
Anyway, that's it. That's all for now.
