Saturday, November 16, 2024

Saturday - mid afternoon
So this lady calls me out of the blue and says she wants to move in.  Huh.  She starts telling me she used to work for one of my competitors and has run a couple of rv parks locally. 
I wasn't and am not offering her a job.  

But, I know who she is. She was the office manager for the biggest competitor I have.  Apparently the owners fired a bunch of people - for what reason she claims she doesn't know.  I suppose I could contact them and ask them, we've had a congenial relationship albeit we don't talk often.  In fact it's been quite a while.

Amazingly, she wants the "end cap" lot. It's the lot where the welder stayed for almost 2 years.  I don't think those people are ever coming back. Well the first 2 that left I know what happened to them, this guy? They claimed the company wasn't paying the bills so they moved him elsewhere.  But, he could have also decided to move to another park.  I have no clue.  

Anyway, she says she's been at my park "several times", no clue on that either tho I have no reason to not believe her.  She loves what I have done with the place and would love to stay there. So, within the next few days she's moving in, allegedly. I always throw the allegedly part in for you never know.  

I did take a look to see if those parks were for sale.  I couldn't find anything but the park my contractor built for a profit making venture who sold it to some company? They have it up for sale now.  It's got 20 something tiny homes on it, I think the park owns them and rents them out.  How much do they want? $3,750,000.  They bought it for a million.  The absolute absurdity of pricing of RV parks. It's crazy!  Almost 4 millions for a total of 36 spots? One building? No other amenities?

They say they are full for the tiny homes and have a waiting list.  Look if I could afford to fill my park up with tiny homes or even just a few of them I'd do it.  They undoubtedly spent quite a bit of money buying all of those brand new tiny homes, no doubt.  I don't know if they got financed, had cash, a mixture, what?  I'd love to find out how to go about getting financed for stuff like that.  I'd also like to know what they are charging for monthly rent.  I can't even guess, I just think, maybe a grand? More? Less? Housing is so expensive in this area.  

Anyway, if I added 25 spots and somehow filled them up and kept them full for the books to show to people, I  would have a property worth around $850,000. Now, that is meaningless to me if I intend on keeping the property "forever", but what if  decided to sell it off? More specifically, cut the property up into 2 pieces, sell the 7-1/2 acres up front and keep the rear 15?  Not including the gas well pad.  That's around another 2-1/2.  

These are the thoughts that enter my mind when I think about upgrading the property with a ....
Well, quote is total around $207k.  Add 76k worth of covered parking (this would increase the value of the park substantially, btw).  Add an above ground pool and an above ground hot tub.  Add a 16X40 barn for more laundry, showers, bathroom and workshop.  Now you're talking over a million dollars value.  

I try to take all of these thoughts into consideration for the idea of getting a loan to upgrade.  How much will the payments be? How long? How much will this upgrade also upgrade the value of the park? More importantly, however, how much more will insurance cost and how much will the county jack up the property taxes on it? Yeah, those last 2 are sticking points.  

There is a point where I need a property tax/real estate lawyer to take a look at the situation and see what they can come up with.  Like, about the time I did that much of an upgrade.  We're talking an over 300k loan to cover all of that stuff.  You have to add however much you owe on the land as well.  

Anyway, yesterday I bought 300 pounds of rye grass seed. It cost me $242 total, including tax.  It's an amazing deal for rye grass seed, look online and you'll see what I'm talking about, these are 50 pound bags. I took them over there this morning and parked near the shed before leaving for Arkansas.  I then contacted the new park host, that's what he is I am going to have to groom him into an effective RV park operator, and informed him that all 5 bags - I took one home to put on our front yard, the stuff looks so amazing! - need to be spread today. 

I mean, if I ask him the way I used to, it just doesn't get done.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Monday and I want that stuff out there. The great amount of dew in the morning and the daytime highs not being hot at all, if it rains, it should sprout.  So, when I got back, he had done all 14 lots and was fixing to do the doggy park. He had one of my "guests" helping him, lol.  He also figured out that the ATV - the one that's been to the shop a couple of times now? - the guy that said he replaced the carburetor? Yeah, no.

Look, this park host actually went to school for mechanics. I knew the carb had problems I didn't realize it was the only real problem, the only other thing was a bad circuit breaker.  He said that is the original carburetor and that person who ever it was ripped you off, that is definitely NOT a new carburetor.  

Yeah, I haven't been back to that dude in 3 years? I think.  He did half-@$$ed work and it showed. The local shop did a 1/4-@$$ed job and just got it running and nothing else.  Whatever!  This stuff pisses me off. People taking advantage of people......

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It's so late now, lol.  After 10 pm and I"m getting sleepy.  Things have happened since I started this entry but no thank you, I'm going to get offa here and get myself to bed.  














 Monday - mid morning Well, turns out Walmart "free" delivery - for $100 per year - isn't free after all.  The delivery fee is...