So I sat down and started crunching the numbers.  I'm going to get paid regardless of what else happens.  Bills paid, of course, keep the electricity, water, wifi and trash service going.  But I haven't taken any pay and I'm at the point where I must get something out of this.  The people moving in this week are 99% for sure coming. I would say 100% but you never know. 

There have been people driving through here today, looking of course.  There have been inquiries, haven't heard anything back from others that said they were interested.  Some people will call back at the end of this week, or so they said. It's near the end of the month, I am hopeful I can get these other 2 lots re-rented quickly.  

There were the 2 overnighters in here this morning. One of them didn't feel like talking, I didn't bother them. The other guy wanted to talk.  I was out there applying a coat of wood sealant to both picnic tables, something I have put off but there is no way I want almost $400 worth of tables going back simply because I was too preoccupied doing other stuff.  Maintenance is a thing.  

I got all the topside stuff done on both of them, in a couple of days I will turn them over and apply the sealant to the bottom of everything and especially thick coat it on the bottoms of the legs.  I have no plans of buying more picnic tables right now, people aren't asking for them.  

Anyway, the guy got back to me to completely install the toilet and shower setup. That includes doing the sewer pipe outside and running it to the inside, the water lines, everything it will need to work.  $1,200.  I said I would get back to him, that's when I sat down crunching the numbers of money going out and money coming in, in the next 2 weeks - that is, of course, if no one else leaves.  I'm fairly confident I'll get these other two lots going again soon.  

I came up with enough money to cover my pay for April and May, pay the $1,200 plus parts and all the current, monthly bills I have and still leave me almost 4 grand in the bank. That also includes paying taxes on the income. I"m probably going to pay my self 3 grand. I still haven't called the tax man yet, I won't take that check until the beginning of April. I can hold off a few days to keep this quarter in the red as far as personal income goes.  

I don't know what happens after April and May, I just know that I can survive off of 3 grand per month, just don't do too much extracurricular stuff like too many restaurant visits. My house pays for itself, that doesn't really come into the equation.  But, I do have high credit card payments right now and then the regular monthly bills beyond my house.  I've got a couple of loans - small payments - on the personal side.  The business related loans are paid out of the business account and all of that has been accounted for in crunching the numbers this morning.

I will have professionals doing the installs of the shower and toilet, really just don't want to do all of that work. Besides the endless trips to Lowes and watching endless videos and getting some headaches (literally), I need this setup done to get HipCamp going.  I'm not going to worry about the electric stuff now, if there is something that needs modified, changed or whatever, I will have them do it and a person of interest will pay it for me.  I wish the contractor would make up his mind when he's coming, he only said "this week" and that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be fixing things that he deems inferior/no good enough. I will be putting the pressure on him tho, I need this thing operational and very, very soon, please.  I want tent campers to consider staying here, what with shower and toilet, I want HipCampers staying here, same reasons and I want people that want long term to be more interested by having laundry available.  

Really, I'd like all of this done within the next week. The shower/toilet install people said they will come Saturday morning, work all day and finish up on Sunday. They have good, local references and seem to know what they are doing.  I think they are even licensed and insured.  Hence the high hourly wages they are demanding.  It's $200 more than I wanted to pay, oh well, shrugs shoulders, let's get it done.  

The "only" thing I'll have left to do is install a ceiling light and frame the rest of the bathroom.  I won't even be starting on that until they are finished.  I can finally hope that this project's light at the end of the tunnel is clearly visible and within reach now. 

The other pressing matter - I have procrastinated admittedly - is taxes.  I'm sure a pro will charge me accordingly, I'm also sure that there is money to be left on the table without expert advice on paying the quarterly taxes.  Supposedly due mid April, I hope I'm not wrong because if I am, the IRS will administer a penalty.  They are good at doing that, of course.

I'm actually sitting in the shed at the property.  I didn't feel like going home yet.  Tomorrow I will be out here digging up some of the sewer line - I want to make sure it didn't settle too far what with it not completed and the end just sticking out like it is. I'll dig back about 8 feet - it's not as bad as it sounds, it's not that deep and it wasn't long ago it was filled in.  I want that assurance that it's all good under there. If it is, fine, if it isn't, I'll fix it. Then I'll install that sewer dump station and then they can do the rest.  I want a sewer dump in there for "just in case" purposes.  This will allow even Hipcampers to dump any holding tanks if they so happen to have them, they will have 110 volt electric available and there is now a water spigot next to the shed.  

In fact, all of my water is turned on and has been on for a week in here.  I'm thankful there are no leaks. 

_________

Long interlude.  Phone calls, talking with the older couple and then the new people showed up. Turns out the kids are a baby and a toddler, they won't be causing any trouble anytime soon.  They are moving in tomorrow. That leaves 2 more spaces to fill back up with long term, hopefully I get some calls coming in the next couple of days.  I basically counted on those people moving in for the numbers crunching and didn't count the other 2 lots since - there is no way of knowing if someone will actually show up to rent them.

I'm really only sitting out here hoping the electrician will show up. Considering the time of day it is? Highly doubtful.  Tomorrow I am dressing to get dirty, finish up with the portion of sewer I need to do - which will probably take most of the morning what with the digging and all. They aren't showing up til this weekend so I have plenty of time to deal with "unknowns".  I'd really like the electrician to get here before this weekend to let me know about whether I need to install that ground wire back to the pedestal or if the ground I have going to 2 grounding rods is sufficient. I don't really want to fill in the trench along there if I need to also run a ground wire through that portion of the ground.

Whatever the case, I'm starting to get my hopes up a bit with the prospect of getting this all done.  It's HipCamp season and I'm not Hipcamp ready.  It's also tenting season and I really need to get some verbiage out there promoting the tent camping site/s.  They won't make a lot of money - but I'll take whatever.  Once I can say I have a toilet and a shower, I do expect I will get some HipCampers in here.  Especially if I can also say they have access to an electrical outlet.  I am hoping anyway.  See, if you are a HipCamper and want those things, you input them into the fields.  Any place that doesn't have that stuff?  Doesn't show up.

This is why I am hopeful I can get some of them in here.  I can list laundry, shower and toilet.  And eventually, a small kitchen (not on the priority list atm).  I don't think a kitchen is mandatory, it's just and added amenity that will work for some people, but not everyone needs that so it's going to be a while before I get to that.  

Well I'm a little more optimistic at the moment. The windshield thing kind of got me down a bit, it was a needless problem that I should have really seen the potential for.  I won't be making that mistake again, but the damage is done and it was a chunk of change to pay for it.  Yet, I feel good that I did the right thing and didn't try to argue or just say no, it's not my responsibility  - or just be a bad business person and not own up to it and pay for it.  

Okay, well, I'm going home at this point.  I think my day here is done, I have a list for tomorrow and if I can get that done with the sewer, I shouldn't have any more to do with that setup at all. Just pay them and move on. There are other things I need to start thinking about, especially where to set up this other wifi router.  

And Taylor just texted me, she needs a ride home. They are going to replace her tires but she doesn't want to have to wait there. I can feel that, she's pregnant and has been getting nauseous quite a bit.

\

 Well.

Tuesday morning.

The person that came out to look at installing the shower stall and toilet called earlier to give a quote.  I don't know why he couldn't just print the quote in the same messages he was sending me to call him for the quote? He said they could start Saturday morning and be done by Sunday afternoon. It's mostly labor, I have almost all of the stuff to install it.  But, there is some labor there for sure.  I fear what quote he may give me, it sounds like he is going to want more than I want to shell out for this.  But, after I wake up  a bit more and some coffee in my system, I will be calling him. 

The idea of a loan is out of the question.  I was informed that, like most if not all banks, appraisals are farmed out to companies that do appraisals and for RV Parks? The cost of an appraisal will be anywhere between 2 to 5 THOUSAND dollars.  He wouldn't give me a ballpark, I've already come up with my own. It may be that in the end, I will have to get an appraisal if the county decides to give me some over-priced valuation on the property for the next tax year.  But that isn't a bridge I need to cross right now.  Going by other parks for sale, I'd say the place is worth around 400k.  Acreage alone has skyrocketed in this area over the last year- year and a half.  The property without anything is probably worth around 200k.  Add a park and you have minimum 400k. If I go by other properties in the region, it's more like 500-600k - but you have to be able to find a person that wants to pay that much, of course.

Anyway, putting that out of my mind for now.  I'll keep looking around for other types of loans is all I can say about that.

2 people left yesterday. Just magically, out of the blue, they are gone. One of them gave no notice - his rent is paid until the 12th of April if I recall correctly. The other? That was a bit strange. I texted him yesterday morning and informed him he is a couple days overdue for the rent, can I go ahead and run your credit card? Yes.  I am glad I got that in writing, because, 10 hours later? He texts me that he's moving out of the park and onto his parent's land. 

I've got my feelers out for people that have inquired about moving in - several messages.  One of them is moving in this week, I'll be needing two more, so I reactivated my facebook ads and notied my Google business account that i have a lot available.  It's near the end of the month, the inquiries for lots should come in.  Now, I have been getting calls nearly every day for some time now for long term, I do hope that trend doesn't stop now.  I need those lots refilled quickly.  Well, the dude that isn't due for awhile I'm not terribly pressured, but the one that left after paying the same day? Well, I will repay him after I get someone to move onto his lot.  IT doesn't seem fair to me that I should be eating this on a notice like that.  It also wouldn't be fair to him to make him eat an entire month's rent for nothing. The middle ground is once the lot is re-rented, pro-rate the days from the due date of the rent, subtract that and give him back the balance.  

So what's on for today? Well, find out what this guy wants to charge.  Go to property, start painting the picnic tables if nothing else.  Depends on what this dude tells me for a price. I won't go around shopping for prices, if his is too high, pretty sure everyone else's will be up there, too.  If you take 3 guys and give them, what? $15 per hours?  That's $720 right there plus the parts.  He's part of the crew of people working. I'd say this dude is going to want $1,500, just taking a guess paying his crew and taking a chunk of change for additional profit.  

I have no idea when the electrician will come. Par for the course.  He'll show when he wants to, that's pretty much how they operate. I will have to drop everything I'm doing, if I am doing something, and rush over there if I'm not already there.  I'll say that waiting much longer isn't on my schedule.  I need that coin op up and running and really, the only thing holding it back is electricity.  I can set up that dryer and washer pretty quick now.  Just have to cut a hole for the dry exhaust, the rest is just hooking up the electric lines to the machines - the come separately with them and you have to screw them into place, hook up the drain lines and hook up the water inlets.  The rest should be nothing more than plugging it in, putting some quarters in the slots and make sure it's going to work properly. 

Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Eternal waiting games are not my forte.  I've waited for long periods of time for this contractor or his associates to come out to do whatever.  

With that, I am going to get a very long overdue haircut and then over to the property. 

G'day.