So, with the guy asking to stay additional time, I got the same amount from him for 13 days as I would for someone moving in long-term with my $100 discounted ad rate. Now, if I could get people doing this all the time, my financial problems wouldn't even exist.  But, as long time readers probably know, it simply hasn't been happening that way.  This is what I was erroneously basing my income off of for the 14 lots initially.

Like, the park would instantly fill up with people for overnight stuff and I would be living in paradise. If my 14 lots were constantly full with short term - whether a few nights or at my weekly rate - I would have no need to go back to trucking. This is a fact.  My net income would be around 5k per month.  It was a pipe dream, I soon found out and not sure why I thought I could just "instantly" fill up a park. There are SO many factors to getting a park full, as I found out the hard way.  

And now, I am going to have even more competition when that new, 36 spot park opens.  My discussions with that other park owner 20 miles away, however, had him thinking that they can't really compete with me unless they go "crazy ridiculous" with the amenities. Well, I found out the people buying the park have multiple parks already, they know what they need to do. Paying a million dollars? I figure they're going to go crazy with the amenities. 

But, with that much of an investment for only 36 spaces, they are going to have to have high rates to make any net revenues off of it. The payment as it stands will be somewhere around 5 grand a month.  That's no upgrades, just a plain jane park.  Now, you start adding pools, clubhouses, restrooms, etc and you have a lot more invested.  The only way you really jack up the income is to add more spaces.  I really don't think that many people are going to want to rent at a park that is way out of the way for higher than everyone else near town prices without some serious amenities.  

You know, I mentioned "luring them in" a while back and people jumped on my case about using the "wrong" word and appealing is the appropriate word. Uh no, it's not.  You are literally trying to lure people away from other parks by offering amenities that will be so appealing, they can't resist. That is, IF they have the money to spend on such things. 

I used lure and appealing correctly in the same sentence, thank you.  

The focus when I get this job and start paying down debt will be to add another septic system, add more rv spots and build cabins.  Actually, more like tiny homes on wheels. If you keep it on wheels, you don't have to pay state taxes.  What's the difference? Technically? I guess it's not a permanent foundation, considered a vehicle that can be moved.  Reality? Ridiculous.  

James just happens to have a 20 something foot long trailer in the back of the front portion of my property.  It's just the frame and axles with wheels. The structure is gone - it was a travel trailer at one point.  You start from the frame up, you can build a tiny home that never has to be moved anywhere.  Get a set of plans for it - easier to let some engineer who knows what they are doing than trying to guess work it.  James could build the thing. I could probably do the electrical if I have a schematic.  And the plumbing for that matter.  

The goal with this job is to get debt paid down but at the same time start investing in upgrades and the very first upgrade that has to happen is another septic system. At 7 grand, it will take a while to save up that kind of money. It's another 15 or more spots worth.  Get me 30 spots in that place, get it filled up or mostly filled up and I can quit trucking.  I can quit corporate life. I can quit being treated like an animal by abusive management. I dunno, this company I'm going with here - if i can last that long financially - sounds decent.  It's a smaller company but they've been around a long time.  They flat out admitted they have older trucks.  Do you have a automatic transmission only on your CDL? No, I don't like automatic transmissions in trucks.

Good, because we only have manual transmissions.  I'm all good with that.  They're going to have to give me a few minutes of "gee, I haven't driven a truck in a while, let me get reacquainted with shifting" when doing any driving test.  Pre trips are easy.  None of it is hard. The hardest part I think is just learning loading and unloading a new type of product that I haven't dealt with before. This is a hazmat tanker job.  

Anyway, I'm a lot more upbeat now that I will have some money coming in. It was a dry period for a while there and it totally sucked.  I hope not to have to go through that again, at least not that bad.  You get 6 empty lots in such a small park? You're kind of screwed. You don't take a paycheck for a month or more and you wonder if it's going to last forever. You start to second guess yourself. Was this a bad idea?  It's hard to imagine that all it took was re-wording everything? Was that the only reason or is it just happenstance that I wrote that ad and people started calling at the same time? It could be a bit of both.   

And the more that I think about it, it seems to me that my area is more of a "seasonal" thing with travelers - not the  long term people.  It's nice in my area for the most part in the winter. Yes, it can get very cold and even snow and ice, but for the most part, it's pretty darn good weather.  It will be something I will be heavily advertising once we get back to the cooler season.  Perhaps Hipcamp could come into play in decent weather.  Dunno, that's pretty much off the table for now.  I rode the trails today, too hot to walk that stuff. Lots of downed trees, growing weeds, it's bad.  It will need the mulcher man back and I won't even bother with that until weed growing season is done and over with.  It's not cheap and no one is using the trails now anyway. 

I'm learning.  I've been an employee all my life, this kind of thinking is all new to me and it's taking quite a bit of time for me to understand how this works and what makes it work.  What comes naturally to someone in the business for 20 years .... they don't think in terms of not knowing the things that they have learned to the point it is second nature to them, so they don't really think to give you the parts about certain situations that you don't know about.  And then you strain your brain, why don't I understand this? Or why isn't this working?

Well whatever. It's bedtime.  

 I always love when an entire post just goes poof! and disappears into the clear, blue cyberspace. Doesn't happen much anymore, but I guess I didn't double check before shutting down the laptop.

A few things. The purple people went to the hospital last night. I got a notification for around 1am and saw an ambulance coming through looking for the spot.  I found out this morning that his lack of insulin caused to have - whatever it's called - event and ended up in the ER and after, in the ICU.  Supposedly they are moving out Monday, he has a job in Longview he is starting and they will have to move closer to it.  They are waiting on government checks to pay for their lot rent and be able to move into another park.  These people paid the 7 days in advance initially.  

The 7 day stay people showed up early - and parked in the wrong lot.  They didn't bother to stop at the shed, so I ended up walking down there and asking them if they are so and so?  Yes  Ok, y'all were supposed to park at lot 5, but it's no big deal.

The reason they took 7 is because the dude in lot 6 had his pickup parked in lot 5.  So I knocked on his door and informed him I have 2 more coming tomorrow, you can park there today if you like but please have it parked elsewhere tomorrow.  The people at lot 7 said they want to extend their stay - from 7 days to 13.  It's hard to tell people no, especially when you have been in a dry spell, so I just said, ok.  I need the money. 

Well, that in turn created other problems on down the road.  If they are staying in that lot, then the people that are coming for that lot will need to be relocated to a different lot.  The issue?  Well, at first I thought there wasn't an issue excepting there is a person wanting to move in - like right away.  I'd rather have the long term. So, I figured when the purple people leave, there will be a space for her to park her trailer.  But I remembered that another couple is coming tomorrow - the don't have an online reservation, they are allegedly going to stay for a month or more.  

Things start getting complicated when people who are leaving - don't leave. The dude at lot 10 said he was leaving but I had to find out by contacting him myself that he is working for another company but at the same job site (those oil field sites can have multiple companies working in them) and that he's staying for another couple of months. Is that ok or do I need to find another place? Uhh, it's ok, I said immediately. I'll take the 2 or 3 months over whoever that I don't know how long they're staying. Just seems a silly idea to ask someone to leave because you want someone else to take their place?

So, to take this person in and still have enough spaces would mean opening up another space.  But after I started scrutinizing it, there are 2 trailers coming in on the 7th, I think. Even without this new long term coming in, I still have an issue with too many units and not enough spaces.  

My mind drifted back to the idea of moving the New Jersey people back behind the shed.  They are only using 20 amp, 110 volt service.  Can I run an outlet out there off of the shed and still be safe on that circuit or do I need to run a line from lot 1?  If I have to run a line from lot 1 (which I should do anyway), I'll need to rent a $200 trencher and buy things I don't necessarily want to have to purchase right now.

Namely, a small breaker panel for the new service and wire to run the 20 amp service off of it.  I'll have to build some sort of frame to mount the thing to - I can't do it on the shed now, I have no access to the inside to install a cross board for the screws to dig into.  I don't necessarily think it would be terribly difficult to install, but it's so hot outside.  So, we're talking renting a machine, buying a panel and whatever I can find to install it on, a circuit breaker and wiring.  We're at $350 easily.  I have the direct bury line, if I didn't have that, add another almost $300 to that price.  

Can I afford $350 right now? Uhh, if the place fills up with 17 spots because of it, yes. The extra lot rent will pay for it and the the next month start making some money off of it.  

There is one thing that could change that will change all of this: if the people that didn't make an "official" reservation don't show up tomorrow.  They called on the phone, asked questions, said they'd like to make a reservation. But, they didn't pay anything so you know sometimes people are no shows if they think they found "something better".  

It still makes no sense for me to pass up moving the New Jersey people back there with my RV and have an extra pull through. Their trailer looks to be about 22 feet long.  If I run a wire from lot 1, I won't have to worry about overloading the west side circuit.  I will have to think about whether the septic system can handle 17 units when it was vocalized it's good for 14.  

I think that's what the state mandates?  I don't think they really care if I put extra stuff on it, as witnessed when I asked about putting a washing machine and shower/toilet setup on it as well. Nope, it'll handle it.  

The electrical load is what I'm concerned about mostly.  I'll price everything out, if I can do it for $350 I'm probably going to get with it and get it done - early.  It's way too hot out there, I just get heat sick when I'm out there doing anything. I will likely do nothing tomorrow and then Monday, I'm going to set the alarm at 6:00 am get, up, drink my coffee and try to be out there by 7:00 am.  I can install the hot water setup for my RV and then start thinking about this other setup.  

I was mowing more weeds today and it just took it all out of me. The temps are rising, tomorrow slated to be 100, Monday 101 and Tuesday 102.  

Yup, from the answers I'm getting, I will have to run that underground line off of lot 1 or risk circuit breakers tripping or even the main, west side, 200 amp breaker tripping.  I don't want to move those people over behind the shed and then find out it's not going to work. I know it's "only" 20 amp service, but I'm asking a lot on that circuit and there will be yet another RV in there tomorrow.  

Fortunately, if they do show, it's only 1 AC on 30 amp.  But during the daytime, there are a lot of AC units running continuously on that circuit.  10 of them I can think of right now, including the shed and my RV.  

I guess I could just plug another window unit into the shed and see what happens. That and a small freezer are all that the New Jersey people are running.  

___________

Tomorrow is Sunday, but I'm seriously thinking of getting up early and getting some work done over there before the heat of the day hits. Church doesn't start until 11:00 am.  I don't know if I will succeed in getting up that early, depends on my sleep. I'd like to make a dent in what needs to be done with my RV hot water setup. That's really all I'm trying to accomplish, but it's quite a bit of work.  

If not tomorrow, definitely going to hit it Monday.  Early. Force my @$$ out of bed early, 6:00 am, get my mind into working mode and get over there and put in some good hours before that 100 degree mark hits.  Long before that hits.  

Just finish the trench at least?  I'm not going too deep, not even a foot. It's only to protect it from being stepped into/run over.  

I dunno, but it's getting close to bedtime.