I'm still waiting for an empty trailer in Brownsville, Texas.  I was informed that there would be one here at 2:00 pm - it's now 3:15 pm.  I assume one will show up today, but it's getting to the "I'm not driving straight back" point.  I mean, I may be asked to do so for there are no empty trailers in the yard in Longview for the Brownsville run. We have a bunch of trailers dedicated to this account, but the customer hasn't been sending them up and has cut back their orders to one truckload a day...

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And as soon as I started writing this, an empty showed up.  Put the computer away, got with it.  And I mean, I got with it. It's almost 3 am - I can't just come home and go straight to bed, normally anyway. I'm too wired up to go to sleep. They had no trailers available for anything but one Oklahoma run tomorrow, they needed this one.  She didn't actually ask me to drive half the night but it was obvious what they wanted.  

I hate night driving, literally despise it. Just as the hours tick away and it goes from 10 to 11, to midnight, ,to 1am - it gets harder and harder to stay awake.  But about the time I hit Lufkin and stopped for fuel, I knew I would be able to get this done and get home.  I'll actually have more time later on today after I get some sleep for personal stuff than if I had stopped somewhere for the night and taken a 10 hour break.  

When I got back to the yard, there was only one trailer sitting there - at least for what we haul. 3 other trailers sitting there - 2 oxygen and one LNG trailer.  I don't get this plant in Mexico.  They had 2 trailers come down today - the only trailers available. But they have ALL of the rest of the trailers down there at their plant, saved the 2 loaded trailers sitting in the Brownsville yard.  They must have 15 plus trailers sitting down there.  Why? And why order more product when you have so much of it sitting there?  

I guess I haven't even revealed the news here yet.  That's what I was writing this one out for, now that I think of it.  The seller counter offered at $4,400 per acre. My realtor called with that news and I immediately agreed.  It's time to get this land portion of this deal behind me.  It's going to be somewhere around $57,000 total for 13 beautiful acres of property.  With $11,400 down, I'll only be financing $46,000. If the mortgage calculator I am using is correct, it's only $313 per month payment.  They want me to pay off 2 particular credit cards and an unsecured loan that has $2,500 left to go on it as  part of their stipulations to get the loan. So, I'm losing around $410 in monthly payments by doing that and therefore, I actually have more money at the end of the month.

Well I take that back. They'll probably add taxes to the mortgage, I dunno about insurance. It's just land, I want liability insurance on it but I need nothing more than that, at least until I get the business up and running.  And that, as I have stated a few times already - is going to be a while.  

But, I have at least decided that only the front of the property, initially, is going to be set up for the business. The back half of the property will be left untainted, nothing more cut down unless there is some need for it and all the natural beauty of tall pines will remain. In fact, I suspect 3/4'th of the property will remain intact.  I'm only starting out with 25 spots and I can make that work on less than 3 acres of land.  Maybe 4.  That leaves 9 acres that I don't have to cut down beautiful trees for.  

I'm just going to do the minimum that I can get away with at first, but of course going to have to be up to Texas code for various things.  I probably don't fully grasp what I'm getting myself into here, but that's fine. I see so many experts casting doubt on anyone that wants to build a new RV park.  They call themselves experts anyway.  I don't really care what they say or the vast amount of money they determine it will cost per lot (15 - 50 thousand).  It's just amazing how many people will tell you not to do it. Fortunately I found a group of people that are building their own parks and I get to see through their eyes the snags, the difficulties, the screwups they made and - yes - learn from all of that.  

Well that's enough. Fatigue is finally settling in.  I want to go traipse the property later on today  - all of it - without having to use an umbrella and probably take the dogs with me as well. Yes, I know I don't have it yet, but that didn't stop me with any of the other properties I wandered around looking at and - never got.  "At least in this case we have an agreement on the price. I have no idea how long it will take for the seller to get to signing all of that stuff - I did it online and they assigned me a signature instead of having to physically sign everything.  I doubt this seller is going to want to do that.  It might be many more days before there is a fully signed contract by all parties involved and get it to my lender.

Whatever the case, time to zonk out. 

G'nite.  

 You will see a lot of repetition in my thinking during the next - however long - while I try to grasp all of this situation and attempt to come up with a plan.  I have a plan, yes, but it's a loose plan at best.  It changes the more information I get. That's on a "what do you want in a park?', what the state regulations are and how much it costs basis.  I have changed the pad size. Some pads will be smaller and some will accommodate large rigs.  Some will have full hookups - some won/t  I want to only install one septic system to start with and accommodate however many rigs that will legally allow for plus a dump station.

I want electricity at every lot - but I don't want to have full electric hookups at every spot. Many campers don't need 50 amp outlets.  There will be a mix.  I'm trying to envision a starting point and right now? It's kind of hard.  It's slowly forming - regardless of what property I may end up with - but it's not near as easy as I  thought it would be.  It was  this, that and the other thing. Now its, this - plus regulations, that - plus expenses and the other thing - how much will that cost to install? How much space should I devote to 25 spaces?  Where in the property will I put it?  That's important because the water line will be coming from the street, the power line will come from a setup next door that runs through their property.  

You want to run the power line over head to as close as possible to the sites before putting in a pole for your main box.  Much less costs doing it that way.  

I've been doing my research, I can say that. And the more I do, the more "stuff" I come up with.  I'm not going to try and skirt state regulations, at all.  I don't need or want that kind of heat on me.  Do it right the first time and get it over with.  Get the permits, get whatever help I need, pay for whatever professional help is required or necessary to get it done right.  That's why I believe it will take longer than shorter to get this done.

Pads installed first.  That will take plenty of time - designing and then removing necessary trees and then installing each pad.  Water - easier than most of it, but still time consuming.  That's  do-it-yourself stuff.  Sewer- professional installed septic but I can easily run my own lines from the setup to each pad.  Saves on costs.  Electrical - Yes, get the power run overhead to nearby, but then it's going to be costly to get it run to each site, no matter what method you use to do it.  

But it's a make or break thing - people want power.  They'll pay for it, they don't care, they must have electricity.  

Pads - will include clearing the land, leveling it and dumping gravel on it.  Cement can be - some far distant date in the future, the costs are too high and not worth it.  People can like or hate gravel - some can't stand it - that's their choice.  

The idea that I have to have bathrooms if there isn't sewer to every site is problematic.  I'm going to need to consult with a septic system expert before I make any decisions on that.  An actual building for a bathroom would be far more money than I can deal with right now.  I'd have to "ask" if a restroom trailer would be acceptable and then - figure whether it's cheaper to run septic to every site - and possibly more than one septic system necessary - or deal with the bathroom scenario.  

Regardless of their hurdles, I remain focused on the end result - however long that may take.  I remain focused on a retirement that doesn't include living in poverty or completely dependent upon the government, that's my biggest concern.

Anyway, 2 empties came in early this afternoon.  2 drivers ahead of me, I contacted my dispatcher - are there any more coming today?  I doubted there would be - the trailer I brought in last night, loaded - they didn't touch.  They brought those two trailers in and left without taking the loaded one.  There is no math to their equation, it's all guess work, but I base it on their history.  Highly doubtful more would be coming today, but who knows.  

My dispatcher said no, there doesn't appear to be any more coming, go to the truckstop if you'd like.  I wasn't actually asking permission to leave the yard, I was more asking permission to stay another night.  If she gave me the red light to leave, that's the red light to get 2 days detention pay down here.  She said that and I said thank you.  That's when I headed to the hotel. I'm on the 4th floor of the Holiday Inn down here. It's a decent hotel within walking distance of several restaurants, hence I chose this one over the Marriott Residence Inn - it's only within walking distance of a small restaurant and I wanted a more familiar feeling.  

My earnings will be high on this run. But I will need another run to shore this one up.  I'm in this for the money, not to do the company a bunch of favors taking ridiculously low paying runs and a lot of them in a row.  I don't care anything about that.  Brownsville runs have been scaled back to one per day - per the manufacturer/customer - they can't keep up with the normal 2 to 3 per day they get.  That is why it was surprising to find 2 drivers down here and 2 nights worth of do-nothing pay.  

So what else is there now? Lol lots more research. Reading endless threads from people that are full time RV'ers, attempting to get a feel for what most people want - the basic things they can't do without.  Looking up state rules.  Looking at youtube videos - how to install this and that.  I feel like I"m getting closer to the starting point.  May or may not be so, but I'll stay in the "let's hope" lane until/if or when something changes that.  But even if this one doesn't happen, there are more.  Not like this one, no.  I don't know where the water is going on this property, but it's not pooling up and sitting around forever.  

The bathroom part I don't like. I not a builder, I'd have to pay a contractor to do that and that isn't very appealing, the cost would be very high.  I'll figure it out. But that's kind of an obstacle that I have not addressed yet because I'm not there yet.  

And, attempting to stop the temptation to contact the realtor.  She can't tell me anything until the other realtor says whatever he says.  If she had something to tell me, she'd send it immediately.  

With that, I think I'll watch some tv.  

 Day 2 in Brownsville.

I was mistaken last night when I thought that I was the only one down here.  I had looked in the truckstop and saw no tractors from our company sitting there waiting, usually a good sign that there is no one else here, waiting.

However.

I woke up this morning to the sound of a beeper coming from a truck backing in, I got up and looked, it was another driver.  I didn't see any other trailers besides the one I brought down here, so it dawned on me that perhaps a driver decided to take a night at a hotel.  Pretty common thing - the second night you go get yourself a hotel and get out of the truck.  

Sure enough, not only has he been down here over 2 days, another driver as well.  Although it happens, I don't expect them to bring up 3 trailers today.  Usually they bring 2 empties across. There are no empties sitting at their yard across the border, which makes me believe that there is only going to be 2 coming up from Alta Mira.  

Why go on about this? Because if I spend another night here, it's going to be at a hotel and this time, not that place up the street. After my last stay there, I decided I wasn't going to stay there anymore.  Besides the couple have loud sex, there is no carpet on the floor, not even throw rugs.  It's not really a nice place to stay and it only costs me another 20 -25 bucks to get a better place.  In fact, I was looking: Marriott Residence Inn is going $89 tonight.  That would be great.  

The Bible tells us to be anxious for nothing. So, I'm trying not to get jittery and exasperated waiting on a decision from the guy that owns the land.  I'd like an answer, but I also think maybe the realtor isn't going to get over to that guy's house this weekend.  Apparently this person doesn't do stuff over the hone - they said he's elderly, perhaps he's incapacitated and can't go anywhere and simply doesn't like doing transactions over the phone like that. Old school thinking, nothing wrong with it, but it will delay this from happening.

I therefore have decided I best keep on looking at other properties.  In case this falls through, I need to have more lined up behind it.  There are a couple of them.  One is more than what I am financed for - but they have had it up for sale for a long time.  They might come down, especially considering it's rather overpriced property - but - it's in a great location.  That will probably be my next attempt if this one doesn't go through.  Whatever the case, I am convinced that any property needs to be near a major highway.  It doesn't necessarily need to be down the street from a grocery store, but the highway needs to be within a few miles at most of intended location. 

There are 2 major highways going through my town and several lessor highways.  Those are my target areas.  A location near both would be excellent - but improbable. There are 2 properties right there near the intersection of both. The land owners wants 400k for the 4 acre and 600k for the 6 acres.  In my view, that is an outrageous amount of money and I wouldn't pay that much even if I were a rich person.  It's a small town, now some mega-city with the potential for huge income.  And 4 or 6 acres would mean a sardine can type of setup.  

I actually would like to try such a venture, where the lots are small and you cram a bunch into a small location - it seems that the ones in good location around my area are mostly full.  But they're just glorified parking lots.  

Oh, and Texas. Their regulations require a "recreational area" "easily accessible" by all campsites and at least 2,500 square feet. In every property I have looked at, I have looked for a place to install a dog park, a camp fire ring and an area for peace and quiet.  Book reading swing, picnic tables, etc.  That really isn't a great expense besides clearing the land to make it.  So that was something I had already thought of before I even found this official state site.  

The thought of not having sewer at every site didn't cross my mind until the last few days when I started reading about sites that have sewer at some sites and not at others.  In fact, your campground can have all kinds of different sites set up for different types of campers.  The idea is to offer everything anyone would want - while cutting some of the costs.  

No one recommends installing the electrical system yourself unless you are an actual electrician. I kind of came to that conclusion already anyway.  Most of them tell you that installing water yourself is recommended and easy. Yes, I know that as well.  Dig trenches, install water line, walaah.  Easy peasy, save thousands of dollars.  

So I'm kind of undecided on the sewer - excepting that if every site doesn't have an individual sewer line? You have to have a restroom built.  It doesn't actually say what kind of restroom, for I have seen many restrooms trailers that are set up very elegantly inside and saves on the cost of installing a building.  Regardless, I will have to at the very least have a dump site.  RV's pull in, dump their blackwater into it and move onto their pad - or on their way out - or probably both.  

I've got to keep costs trimmed down at the beginning.  I just don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to throw at this project.  Most "experts" tell you to simply buy an already existing RV park.  Yeah? The cheapest one I've seen was half a million and the price tag goes way up from there.  

And frankly, if this project gets too expensive, I'll switch back to a small mobile home park, acquire old homes, renovate them and go that route.  Remember, this isn't something that has to happen tomorrow.  I'm in no huge rush.  Land acquisition is the major thing, after that, I can and probably will take my time in construction whatever I end up with.  It will highly likely take at least a year before it can be operational.  I don't have unlimited time - I'm still going to have to work - and I don't have unlimited money.  I might have around 70k available.

That means for starting out? It will have to be a small RV park - no more than 25 spaces to begin with.  That way I don't have to install multiple septic systems and the electricity installation expense will be kept down.  BUT, I do expect to install some boondocking sites - these are sites that have no electricity - or anything really - just a place to park.  Charge at most $15 per night, probably less.  Good use of the land. No expenses besides install the pad.  Have 5 of those and see how that goes.  

I have lots of plans, but in reality it will take years to build up what I want.  Money being the biggest factor, time being the other.  I think I can enlist James tho to do a lot of stuff, he is quite handy and if I pay him a decent hourly wage, I suspect I can get a lot of this stuff down while I'm on the road.  I just can't quit my job.  Not at the beginning.  Just not in the cards.  I wish it were, but I am being realistic about this, especially about the way Im going to go about this.

Most people are getting full time into the RV park business - they quit their careers.  Me? I'm going to tighten up ship and bring my expenses down so that I can dump portions of my paychecks into the operation.  This will mean eliminating eating out with the family as often as we do - tho I don't always pay, it adds up.  I will just have to take my mother's role modeling in being a very wise spender, frugality has always been her mindset.  She doesn't have to be, trust me, she has plenty of money, it's just the way she lives her life.  

Ok, well I have a whole day to do - something - with.  This town is still "locked down" compared to other towns, you are still required to wear a face mask everywhere, limited seating, social distancing, etc etc etc.  So I'm just going to stay in the yard for the day and see if I can find a good movie to watch on my laptop versus attempting to find something to do.  It gets kind of boring, even if watching tv all day, just no one around to have a conversation with. 

Well actually I could make a trip to Walmart for some needed supplies, now that I think about it.  

Anyway, offa here.  

 Brownsville.

I was surprised to pull in here and find no empty trailers. Management was getting antzy about "all" of the drivers being down here several days ago. Well, it wasn't me, they had me on endless Oklahoma trips and they will not be sending me on another one of those next trip, either.  If they try, I'm going to tell them no thanks.  I actually wanted to get out of here early am and get back home.  Why? I dunno, just want to be close to home until I find out whether the gentleman is going to sell me that property - or not.  

But I can also handle getting paid to do nothing. I have my laptop and unlimited internet.  The other weird thing about today is that I didn't see any of our trucks coming back up from here. I always see them, every time I come down here. Usually two of them.  

Oh, the other reason I wanted to go back up early was to get home and then go look at that property - without the down pour that was going on when I looked yesterday.  I would have done a lot more exploring if I didn't have to fool with that umbrella - but I'm not complaining about that umbrella, it kept my dry and I was thankful for that.  

But I suppose I should stay away from it until I get word back either way.  I have no idea when that other realtor is going to go over there and discuss it with this person.  Today? Tomorrow? Monday? 

And I finally found Texas - stuff - on RV parks. The county apparently has very little of anything, but the state, however, has some permits and rules for building parks. Especially the septic systems.  And minimum required space between site.  And shower buildings required if you don't have sewer at every site.

Didn't know about that one. I was planning on having sewer at every site anyway so I'm not going to worry too much about that.  Sewer is actually the biggest cost worry I have about this proposed business.  I have no access to city sewer and - I don't want any.  

Well whatever the case, I'm really tired. Another half sleepless night.  I just am too much of a light sleeper and it isn't much fun.  

So I"m going to cut this one short, go to bed and get some sleep.   

 Emails and texts continue to flow at lightning speed now that I have finally decided on something - that is still available, versus all of this nonsense that became unavailable a day after I even saw it, went to look at it and made a decision to buy it - and find out it's "under contract" after sitting on the market for 200 days.

The realtor texted me 20 minutes ago about wanting direct info about the lender, the lender emailed me about that acceptance letter they had already sent - send that to them. So fine.  This is practically real time, this stuff just happened.  I sent the realtor the acceptance letter that had all the info on it and then some - more than she needed.  

I have to tell you the satellite view of the property turned me off. It looked like a piece of land that had the timber cut down and replanted.  It looked too perfect.  Upon walking the land, well - there are 75-100 foot tall pines - my favorite - but the lines are where they cut down trees to open up lanes for whatever purposes.  Apparently hunting, tho I can't imagine doing that much work to go deer hunting?

I can tell ya, that's a lot of man hours that don't need to happen on my part.  

What was interesting is the fact that this land is owned by an "elderly person", as described from the realtor this land was created by.  Umm,, I don't know what this person's situation is, but if he/she is in dire need of the money? I'll pay the full price.  I don't want to mess with the older generation and their needs.  I'm getting there, slowly, but I'm beyond the 40's and getting close to 60's.  

The realtor - not mine, she is dealing with his realtor - will have to go to this man's house to sit down and discuss my proposal for - lessor money - but I didn't know about this situation until after I made the offer.  I really don't want to feel like I'm hurting an older person and their welfare by "taking advantage" of them. I had no knowledge of this until after I made my offer per acre.  

I can tell you I would really feel bad if I found out this person direly needs this money for whatever. 

And the signing process on my part? Over 23 papers worth.

I'm getting a bit excited. This property is not on the MLS. That means it isn't showing for sale anywhere.  I only got the info because I was ready to offer on the other property - across the street - yesterday.  

I will wait - somewhat patiently.  It might be days before I get the answer. But since I agreed to whatever - the full price if they insist - it "should" be mine.  

_________________

We just hit the weekend.  I will find nothing out until Monday at the earliest.  Well I dunno,, realtors are highly motivated, I have been finding out. This lady I have been working with has repeatedly stated she doesn't mind all of the endless questions and queries about properties.  Is this still available, can you ask them about that situation with the property, please offer them this amount, etcetera.  

And, we also hit the grandparents coming down.  So it was of great interest that the 6 year old didn't spend the entire night wit grandma.  That is the normal thing, they come, the boys disappear.  They are immersed in grandma the entire time. 

Instead? He wanted to be with me.  That was highly unusual and I really encouraged him to go spend time with grandma, for they don't get to come down here that often.  It's about 3 hours to where they live.  He didn't refuse per se, he just didn't want to leave my room.  

I have no clue on that one, it was a first.  Whatever the case, it's my time for bed and they are all going over to Shreveport tomorrow to an aquarium over there and whatever else they are doing.  Just for the fact of an aquarium - which I didn't know existed over there - I would have loved to have gone as well.

Instead, I am heading to Brownsville early.  This is my life as it stands. And this is why I traipsed through the wet woods this morning.  I will continue to say it, for I am there and beyond: I am soooo tired of working for someone else.  I don't care who or what it is, they are benefiting from my labors. I am getting a wage, yes, but I am not getting the dividends of owning a business nor the freedom of doing so.  Ok, no one said there is a lot of freedom in owning your own business. 

Or did they?  You aren't beholden to a company. You aren't on their schedule.  You don't have to account for anything to a person "above" you.  You account to your customers.  You try to make them happy.  And if they can't be happy? They can go somewhere else.  

I'm nowhere near  the position of quitting my job. Years more to go.  Whatever becomes of this business enterprise - unless it flourishes to the point I don't need to work for someone else anymore - I will still have to work for ... someone else.  

Now, do I think this business could flourish? Yes!  100%.  I think it will flourish. But does that happen right away, or does it take time to build a reputation in the RV industry? I have no clue.  I am clueless about alot of things - I have tried to find out, but some things are going to be relegated to "live and learn" theorem.  I have never been a businessman, the learning curve here is high.  You don't know how much time I have spent studying and asking questions and trying to find out about things related to this particular business and operating a business in general.  

Well, perhaps long time readers understand how much time I will give to learning about things that I no knowledge about, but want to gain understanding. Business expertise undoubtedly comes with experience and all I can say about that is: you have to start somewhere, even if late in life.  

This thing will cost every penny of my savings and all of the old 401k and then some.  There is risk involved here in dumping a bunch of money into an endeavor that - could possibly fail.  I acdtually, seriously doubt it will utterly fail and if it does, I have a back up plan.  Plan A gone, Plan B comes in place.  Or, Plan A will work along side Plan B.  As long as I can get utilities on the land - which shouldn't be a problem - I can make money.  As long as I can clear even a part of the land - I can make money.  

Get rich quick? No.  Help pay for retirement? Yup.  That's the goal and leave something behind for Caleb if he so desires. Tho, my will at the moment includes him and another individual not related to me.  Caleb has voiced  his desire to come out here - I stated that here before. I try to read between the lines and at this point? I don't know if that means a visit or stay - as in - staaaay.  If he wanted to visit only, he would say so.  I could put him up on the - potential - property in a mobile if that doesn't bother him and he can find a new life out here if he so desires.  Help manage the park for tha tmatter.

It takes money to make money. That old adage is never truer for my reality than it is now.  I'm going to try to figure out how to get something go0ing with the money I will have after down payment and other fees for the land. The whole property doesn't need to developed at first. I just need - minimum 20 spaces anyway - to start with.  End up with 60-70. I don't want to overload the land and I'm not trying to be greedy.  There should be land left over for walking trails and book reading benches - quiet places for people to hang out and enjoy nature. This is definitely going to be a nature type thing. 

Some people like that, others want a shopping mall down the street. I will not be trying to cater to everyone. I'm more on the - enjoy nature - side.   

I have high confidence that I will get this property since it isn't listed on the MLS, there are no ads for it on any of the land sale sites, I have made an offer which includes instructions to the realtor to agree to the full price if they don't come down  and I don't see too much way for anyone to sneak in and take it from me.  I'm still concerned about this "elderly person" thing. Full price would still only be about $321 per month.  I look at the price per acre but I also look at the value of the property and it's location and the utilities available. And other things, such as level land versus hilly land.  

I'm going to end this and hope that I can clear my mind enough tonight to be able to get to sleep. Or stay asleep, I should say.  I just feel like I am finally on the brink of getting something started.  Even if only a foot in the door, land has been the most perplexing, complicated, irritating and ridiculous thing to get. Get the land? You just started.

There is so much potential with this property. 

With that, it is bedtime.  

 I'm done with losing out on a property because I waited - a whole freaking day or two - and then find out the property is already under contract.  They put this property up for sale yesterday - but it's not showing on any of the land sites yet.  

I went out there in this rain - it's raining heavy and it's definitely wet enough and has rained long enough that if there were any water issues on this property, it would show up.  And honestly, I didn't walk the whole thing. I walked a lot of it, yes, but not everything. I'm not concerned about that, I saw enough "dry" ground that I can do what I need to do with it without fear of not having enough dry land to do what I need to do.  A bit of water logged land wouldn't bother me at all, actually.  

But, as I said, it's raining and I was carrying a giant umbrella - it was a bit hard to get through the brush with that thing over top of me - but it kept me dry.  

I found lots of "roads" in there.  These are wide, elongated clearings where someone has cut out the trees already and created a path through.  At at least 15 feet wide, RV's could easily drive through that - the road surface would have to be dealt with, of course, plow it up and put down gravel - but I'm in love with this place already.

Power across the street, that would just be paying a contractor to put in a pole and run the line across the street.  ATT has cable running through there - an unexpected plus that I didn't see the other day when I was going through the other property across the street. There are ATT signs - please contact us before digging - and there is a pedestal at the corner.  I don't need to dig, I just need to clear land, as long as the cable is at least a few feet underground I won't have to worry about that.  This presents the opportunity to have wifi on the property, something I was hoping for on any given place but not a deal breaker.  

Verizon has 3 bars out of 4 on many areas of the property and only 1 bar on others.  I would have to get someone with ATT phone out there to check on that, but probably the same since a lot of them piggyback on the same cell towers. 

The property has a slight grade to it.  A bit of a drawback but also not a deal breaker. I want level lots for RV'ers - that's what they demand. So, lots may have to be dug down just a bit near the backs of them and put in small block walls.  No biggies, a bit more work than I want but it's a problem I am willing to deal with. It's a very slight grade so I'm not concerned about it. There are steeper grades elswhere on the property, I don't have to use any of that.  

I could easily hide a couple of mobile homes in the rear of the land. The property is literally covered with trees.  BIG trees, not just small ones. it's a mix, actually, the smaller stuff would probably have to come down along with the underbrush.  Why would I want mobile homes on there? For onsite management.  I have a couple of people in mind, one of which would very likely jump on the opportunity to have a free place to live - they pay for the utilities but everything else is free.  

I could easily put on 60 lots and have plenty of space left over.  The property next door is unused, perhaps some day that could be in the offing. It's not for sale but it isn't being used for anything.  

There doesn't appear to have been anything ever built on this property.  Just a deer stand in the middle of those "roads".  I guess someone went through all of that trouble to create a hunting grounds?  

Besides the lack of a pond/body of water, this property appears to be perfect.  Without taxes and insurance, it's only $321 per month after putting 20% down.  That money is sitting in the bank, waiting for me to do something with it. I could actually build a pond at some point.  Just the water issue.  But, if I could dig a well to supply it with water, that would work.  I wouldn't want to use water out of the public utility because it would cost a fortune to keep a pond filled up like that.  That's nothing in the present tho.  

There is a body of water nearby.  I've been on it several times with the boat. The Brandy Branch Reservoir is a man made "lake" used to cool a very large power plant right next to it.  That is somewhat of an attraction since it's close by - not on the property but it's a selling point never-the-less.  The only real drawback of this property is the nearest towns.  My town is like 4 to 5 miles away, there is a small town probably another 5 miles the other direction.  But, the selling point is the peace and quiet the woods afford for those that like tall pines and being off the beaten path.  It's just far enough from the Interstate not to have constant traffic noise - I-20 is a heavily used highway and it's got traffic running up and down it day and night.

Of course, the inconvenience of not having a convenience store nearby opens up the possibility of having my own convenience store in the office, on-property.  RV'ers tend to carry their own supplies with them tho, they mostly ask for ice and treats for the kids and such.  The nearest Walmart is about 6 to 7 miles as well a Krogers, a Super 1 is maybe 5 miles away.  I was torn between being close to a city or not.  I wasn't torn on the idea of needing it near a major highway. That, in my view, is a necessity.  Advertising a mile off the Interstate will be a huge selling point to RV'ers wanting to stay somewhere overnight and not wanting to have to go too far off the highway.  

All of that to say that yes, I pulled the trigger on this property.  Location, available utilities, price.  Price a tad bit higher than I want per acre. I asked the realtor to offer them $4,000 grand per acre. They have it listed at $4,750 per acre. I then instructed her to take any counter offer. After that, I said to take it even if they don't come down at all in price.

I can't spend the rest of my life looking for the "perfect" place and I have been getting literally nowhere for a long time just looking for land. It's gotten frustrating and annoying. I want a land and then, baaaam, it's under contract right when I want to make an offer.  Again, this property just got listed yesterday. I contemplated not going today to look at it, but then I thought, what if it's a great piece of land, I don't go because of the rain and tomorrow I find out it's already under contract?  I did not take Addler. He's a big baby and doesn't like the rain.  He would have been drenched - for if I had taken him, I would have forced him to go walking with me.  

If this falls through, I will  be disappointed, I am not going to lie. But I at least can take solace in the fact that I did my due diligence to check the place out, make sure everything is available - there is no sewer but that's to be expected in any of these land properties. With the ground not being saturated with water even after it's raining, installing a septic system shouldn't be a problem. It will be expensive, but I have relative confidence that I can install one. There are parks that do not have sewer systems.  RV'ers are all self contained, but not having sewer doesn't work for a lot of people that pull in and want to dump their black water holding tanks.  

If I get this property, then starts a series of actions that I will take to get this project started.  It will be a long time before it's finished, up and running. I can definitively state that right off the bat.  There is a lot more than meets the eye in getting one of these things going and there is definitely expense just putting in the utilities. I have counted the costs.  I can expect 20 to 25 grand for a big enough septic system. I can expect several grand to have them install a power pole to the property and run the lines over to it.  The water - I will have to pay a contractor to put in about 125 feet worth.  I don't know how much that will cost, but a couple of thousand sounds about right. It's just dig a trench, lay the line and install a meter.  ATT cable - no idea.  I can't imagine it costing much of anything to simply run it across the street - hopefully can piggy back on the power line.  If it had to be bored under the street, well that's a lot more.  

But cable/wifi is not the first priority.  The utilities are. Just get them TO the property and then figure out the rest after that.  I am also wanting to use a professional service to draw me up a layout.  I can video the entire property, they can see it through satellite, outline the existing roads and come up with a blueprint.                    

Is it time to celebrate? Not yet.  I don't have it under contract and until that happens I will remain cautiously hopeful.  Meanwhile, Taylor wants to go get a coffee at the new Starbucks.  

Talk more later, when I get an answer.  

 Friday morning.  

1st full day off in weeks, literally weeks.  

My plan was to get the pond going and go check out some properties.

My plans - were disrupted.  It's going to rain - allllll day long.  That makes putting the pond up impossible, I need a dry day for that.  The reason is I put thick duct tape over the overlaps on the trough - keep it from potentially puncturing the liner down the road.  

Going to look at properties? I dunno yet. Maybe. Just plan on getting wet I guess.  The "new" property yesterday I discarded as a non-starter.  Too much road noise and machinery noise from the auto salvage yard next door - which pervades the entire property with noise.  And the lack of access. The owner is claiming a gate at the side of the property - which you have to cross another property to get to and use a mini storage driveway - is the access to it.

? That's not access. That's the owner of the property not knowing you're using their nice, concrete driveway to get to your property.  They certainly aren't going to want a bunch of RV's driving up through there and then?  You get to the easement to get to the property - it's power lines running through the first property and then the one that's for sale - and it's not wide enough to build a decent road.  I don't get how all of these properties can be landlocked, but they are.  There's a 28 acre property that looks perfect as well for cheap - cheap because....there is no legal access to it.  

My thoughts return to the - overpriced property - that is in a great location in a great neighborhood. Perhaps price per acre is mitigated by the location. It's still iffy to me tho because of that road going through it that is used by an oil and gas company that has a natural gas well operation going on. A portion of that well site - small portion - is on the property, the rest is on the property next door.  Anyway, I just asked the realtor to ask if they decided to add any property onto that deal.  That would mitigate that road and would also add the needed two extra acres to qualify for the loan. 

Taylor quit her job yesterday, so she will be a stay at home mom now, they're dragging the 4 year old out of daycare permanently at the end of the month.  That's going to drive her insane I believe. That boy is  5 handfuls for the caretakers at the daycare and one of them even asked her how she was going to be able to handle that boy.  I dunno, but that is her current chosen path, so beit.

I think I will go look at at least two properties.  I'm going to drag Addler with me.  He probably won't like the rain, too bad so sad, get over it dog.  He can come home after that and lounge in my bedroom the rest of the day.  He likes that, lol.  He could spend the rest of his life in my bedroom and think nothing of it.  

No other news? I dunno, my mind is somewhat consumed with this land search.  I gotta get this done and over with. Yes I have 90 days but I don't want to wait that long.  Although the thought occurred that the tax lien sale will occur before that 90 day window is up.  Could go to that auction.  It's still too far off, they don't have anything listed for it yet.  It's another month and a half before the next sale.  I have plenty of cash right now, I could definitely land some acreage if anything was available. At the same time, the monthly payment for the 12 acres I'm about to go look at would be $321 per month - without taxes or insurance.  

And it is raining again. It stopped for half an hour and now it's right back at it, with heavy rain coming, at least judging by the radar map.  I have an umbrella, lol.

Have a great day.

Yesterday.

Late loading time? late day.  I got up to the plant and then decided I would get through Tulsa and then stop - somewhere. Not many places to stop.. Not the direction I am going anyway. The Loves was filled up, so I thought, okay, I'll drive the 70 miles to the next place and spend the night there.  And? It was beyond full. Even the places that aren't actually designated for trucks, all filled up.

I dreaded the idea of driving another 75 miles, I was burnt out and it's dark driving out there on that turnpike.  But I had no choice.  By the time I got to the casino truck stop? I got off the clock, crawled into bed and instantly passed out.  

So this property with this pond? "Half of it is under contract".  This property has been on the market for 187 days and now that I am interested in it? It is sold.  The portion that was sold included the pond, of course, the other part is mostly easement that you can do nothing with. The property owner put another 12 acres up across the street from it - looks interesting I may check it out tomorrow. 

11.5 acres came available yesterday just outside of town.  It looked nice.  It is nice, actually, for I went and looked today. Except for one little detail. There is a junkyard next door. When I realized there was one there - it showed up on the satellite image - I envisioned a lot of noise, and especially the noises of back up beepers on converted front end loaders - turned into giant forklifts. 

I've been around junkyards in the past.  But I checked it out anyway.  Took Addler, he loves any opportunity to get out.  When I got there, I didn't hear the beeping - but that was because I was hearing more road noise at that side of the property and was focused on the fact that the entrance "road" is nothing more than a power line easement. The only access to this property is through an easement and it's not wide enough for what I would need.  But halfway in, I heard it: beep, beep, beep, beep - unending. Like they put it in reverse and then just leave it - in reverse. 

I was 500 feet away and yes, it was noisy.  I wrote that one off. Between the highway noise and the noise from that yard? No thanks. 

So now I feel like I'm back to square one. But I will go take a look at the property across the street from the other one tomorrow and I'm going to go look at a property i was looking at before. Over priced and some issues, but if they'd come down in the price it might be worth it.  Great location.  

Other than that, there are no other properties that fit the criteria and I will wait. It's a 90 day limit on that loan. New properties come up - not all the time but here and there. If I get to the end of that loan period, then I will have to make a decision. Buy something iffy, or let the loan go and stick to trying to get something from the tax lien sale.  

There's a lot of rain coming down right now, tomorrow will be great to check out that one property that shows a portion of it in a flood zone.  What does the rest of it look like?  

 So I made it round trip to Oklahoma today.

The method of doing this legally isn't difficult, but if you get pulled over, troopers are probably going to give you a hard time about it.  They can try to write you up - or threaten to - but in reality, they can't really do anything about it.

This is what I did.  Drive straight up to the plant, stopping only once for 3 minutes to relieve myself, lol.  Get up there, go into on-duty mode and while I"m weighing the truck, dropping the trailer, weighing the tractor afterwards and then hooking up to an empty, I'm also on my 30 minute break.  

No, I didn't get a break today.  After I got the empty hooked up, I pull outside the property, do a pre trip - cause' I want to not because I have to (but yes, it's federaly required) and then take off.  I drive down to the love's maybe 70 miles away, fuel up, get a lettuce wrapped Carl's Jr avocado bacon burger and take off. 

Now, I just pass right on by the casino truck stop.  I look at the drive clock, almost 2 hours left on there.  So I just drive the clock all the way down to two minutes, pull into a parking lot, and then hit on-duty on the elog.  Then I post post-trip, wait 8 minutes, go off duty and then?  I put it into personal conveyance mode. That's glorified off-duty mode for all intents and purposes.  

I enter into the comments seek safe haven and I know that between where I am at and the yard, there is no place to park. Well there's one place, but at that time of night? It's full, there's only a few parking spots in there.  So I drove back to the yard, took it out of that mode and then - got into my personal vehicle and drove home lol.

My company could make an issue out of it - my manager won't but higher ups could - tell me we can't do that. But technically, it's perfectly legal and especially for hazmat.  Hazmat is allowed to, per federal regulations, "seek safe haven".  

I could do this every time, actually.  I won't tho. Not because I don't want to or think it's wrong, but because those late loads in the afternoon?  Yea, no.  I would end up getting home at around 3 to 4 am and no thanks. I'd rather stop somewhere, spend the night in the truck, get some sleep and finish it out the next day.  But for the morning loads, going to Oklahoma?  Yup, I will probably start doing that every time.  
Why not?  I get the next day off, at homeOr if they see what I'm doing, they can just dispatch me again the next morning.

And that's what's happening here. I'm going right back up to that plant tomorrow - but afternoon load.  So no, I am not going to try and do it a day trip.  Not only because it would get me home too late, but also because I am due for a reset.  And no, I didn't want to stay in some crap truck stop for 13 hours, I want to go home since it's possible. 

So that's that.  

It's midnight-thirty and I'm going to bed soon. But I wanted to recheck some properties that I had looked at before but discounted.  I had forgotten about the 33 acres that is in "residential zoning" - like a lot of them they try to tell you in county land.  The county has no such zoning. The county laughs at the idea that realtors call a street "residential zoned" in an area outside of city limits.  The allure of that property is that it's more acreage than the one I am looking at 

Okay, here we go again....the birds start chirping at midnight - midnight-thirty.  Why? Oh why oh why.  This is a recent development, never happened before, it's become a nightly thing.  I have to wear my ear plugs again.  

Did I say I'm tired? This is a long trip to do in a day. Almost 700 miles, it just wears you out. I think I'm ready for sleep.

Land

 At long last.

I got an approval notice for the land loan this morning. 

I don’t have the land yet, I just have the loan to pay for it. 

But the more that I think about this particular plot of land, the more I think it would work better than that 8 acre plot. It’s 22 acres, 14 acres bigger. It’s got a pond. Plenty of wooded area. Probably about 4-5 acres is power line easement, but all of that could be used for walking trails and area for fog walking/running. 

The burned out portion is ample room for office/laundry and pull through sites for big rigs. 

It’s just a bit over a mile off the Interstate. 

I dunno bur the door has been opened. I’m going to walk the property next chance I get. Which won’t be today or tomorrow, possibly Thursday for I was dumped with an impossible schedule and asked to get it done.  

I left for Oklahoma today. Dropped the trailer and heading back. But they want me to load another Oklahoma tomorrow afternoon. 

So I have to drive out every last minute today and get as close to the plant as possible and then leave for the plant tomorrow at however much time it will take to get there before my appointment time. So I’m looking at sitting in a dirt truck stop for 13 hours to make that happen.

This kind of stuff is what drives me to find a way out of trucking. I’m tired of ir and I want to work for myself. 

Now comes the rather agonizing decision of which property to take. I have 90 days. The realtor sent a list of over 30 properties today that fit my parameters. I’ve probably looked at most of them. My phone wouldn’t open the attachment so I probably won’t see it until tomorrow when I can get on a computer. Yes I like the property I used for getting the loan but there are other properties I like as well. 

So there it is. Get the land and embark on a new adventure. Land has been the eternal obstacle. There will be other obstacles to come, but I doubt nothing that comes to the level of this land business. 

I’ll post a pic of the land I’m thinking about getting on my Facebook page. 

So many things floating through my kind right now. But I’m not using a keyboard and I’m going to cut this one short. 

 Beautiful Monday. 

The weekend was a wash for me since I worked all of it.  No biggies.  I should start getting caught up herein the next few weeks if the work load remains the same and I keep getting at least some decent runs. I need another run this week - even if just an Oklahoma run - to shore up the next pay period paycheck.  

I'm sitting at the casino truck stop.  No, I didn't gamble in here last night - I didn't feel like it and anyway, it was past midnight.  In fact, I had considered driving another 100 miles which would have had me something like 30 miles from the yard, but I decided i was too tired to try it and finding a place to park between here and there can be difficult.  Especially for 10 hours.

That's the other thing.  I got over 8 hours of sleep, now I have to sit here - 2 hours when I got up. The one-size-fits all nonsense is dumb. Everyone has to take a 10 hour break.  Regardless that you just got 8 hours of sleep, will only be driving some 124 miles and then be off the rest of the day.  These types of regulations from the Federal government come from people who know nothing about the trucking industry, have never stepped foot into a truck much less lived in one and want to exert their authority millions of people in the names of "safety".  

Whatever. Things I cannot change and an industry that is becoming more and more regulated.  It's no wonder 80% of new drivers - new to the trucking industry - quit before their first year is up.  They best get with those automated trucks because the grey-haired generation such as me are retiring in droves and they aren't able to attract new people to the industry.  70% of  truckers are over the age of 55....

So, anyway, I had breakfast at the casino. There's a small deli in there - the restaurants are closed at this time of day.  The lady remembers now, I tell her what I want and she doesn't ask any questions, she just gets it done. Free coffee at the casino to boot.  No, I didn't gamble, lol.  The black jack tables aren't opened at this time of day and I don't do one armed bandits.  And I wouldn't have played blackjack this morning anyway.  I haven't done it in quite a while, I don't even remember the last time I sat down at a table.  I believe it was at this casino.

Is today the day? The day I find out whether I'm approved or not.  How long does it take? For a land only loan? I have no idea.  The loan very well could possibly be rejected for the amount of money they want per acre for the particular property I chose.  Well, maybe not. It's 5 grand an acre, that's a far cry better than a lot of these properties listed.  

Meanwhile, attempting to verify the account mother set up to transfer money.  I've already spent - a lot - of time on the phone attempting to get Capital One to fix this situation.  So, this morning, the two small deposits they put into my bank account showed up.  So, I entered those numbers into their system to verify the account and the notice said: "it looks like that is not what we were looking for, please try again". I kept trying, of course, until it locked me out of the account.  Yup, I have to call them back yet again and try to get this situation resolved.

However.  It is highly likely at this point that I am going to find the nearest Capital One bank - I think there's one in the town where I work - and get a cashier's check and simply deposit it into my bank account.  I don't have til' the second of never to get this done.  And mother doesn't want that money sitting in there - which at the moment I can do nothing about.  

Yes indeed. There are 2 of them in that town. We don't have one in our town, there was one but it shut down for whatever reasons - probably not enough business. I'll be back in time today to be able to get to the bank, get a cashier's check and hoof it straight to Chase bank and get it deposited.  At least that's the theory.  They told me I could do that on the phone, I would only have to show my ID.  Something tells me it won't be quite that easy, but I'll find out later on.  

Ok, well they don't understand why I was sent codes - then sent two more codes without anyone asking.  So we're actually probably on our 3rd set of numbers and I'll have to wait  - who knows how long - to get this account verified.  Upon asking about about getting a cashier's check directly from the bank, I was given: "they should be able to". Lol, ok.

Oh, mom decided to let me know that my middle brother - who wrote us off over two years ago now - hasn't spoken with her in that entire time.  He blamed her for something that didn't happen.  He lost his ever-loving mind and now won't speak to anyone, even my oldest brother.  My oldest brother thought they were best pals and thought mom and I had some sort of "conspiracy" against both of them. It took an outrageous event such as the one that happened 2 years ago.  

Anyway, my time is running out. 

Time to get on the clock and get back to town.  

 BTW, the offense Facebook said I committed to get suspended for 3 days?  A dude got into a group I'm in, started saying anti-black stuff - completely and totally racist, I came back at him. Facebook obviously just read my comment and didn't take the post itself into context.  Facebook sucks, that's what I can say.  It's nothing like it used to be, it's just a political tool now.  

Anyway.  Last night I got to Brownsville and no empty trailers.  And, there was a driver still there from the previous day.  So I was confident I was getting detention pay and get to sleep in after a miserable night's sleep the previous night - that story is in the last post.  

Well I slept okay, but the phone rang at 8:00 am.  I wasn't even thinking about getting up.  But it was the driver that left last night - they had come in late with a trailer and he decided to leave with it.  His air compressor quit working.  You know, the thing that supplies compressed air to the entire air system to do everything from fill the air bags on the cab, lift up your driver's seat, fill the air bags on the suspensions and - of course - braking.  

Bro, can you come take this trailer back? After explaining the whole situation.  I said yes instantly, thinking about getting home to day. But after getting off the phone, regretting that decision.  Tired, but I got up and got out of there.  He was only 30 miles up the road at a truck stop.  I grabbed that trailer and hoofed it back up to Longview. GPS alerted me to a traffic jam just north of Houston and gave me a route around it - glad I took it because the traffic in that miles long area would have held me up an hour, I'm guessing, if not more.  

Well, back at the yard and the only trailer to go back down to Brownsville tomorrow? The one I brought in.  They'll likely be asking someone else to drive all night long to get another one there, that run is up and cranking again.  2 or 3 loads a day going down there.  I'ts not our fault they can't get trailers back to us in time to get them back up to the yard to get loaded again the next day. they must have half a dozen of our trailers sitting at their plant.  They wanted us to commit even more trailers to that run, the company said no. 

Get your s*** together. It doesn't bother me, we get detention pay.  I made an extra $340 going to bed last night because of that.  They're our best customer - but - these trailers are $400,000 a piece.  New ones anyway.  They can convert old LNG trailers and cost a lot less, but this particular customer wants all new trailers so the product can sit there as long as they need it to and not start heating up - creating vapor - creating pressure. 

Whatever. I'm off to Oklahoma tomorrow.  Not an early load so I can deal with it.  Realtor started texting me - I haven't talked to her in days, there is nothing to report.  She sent some small properties that I could pay for with cash.  I think too small, tho.  4 acres - just don't know if I could accomplish what I need to with that.  I thanked her for sending them and then informed her of the situation - waiting on a decision from the banker.  

Cranky. Everyone is cranky here. No one is sleeping well for various reasons. 2 nights ago here, birds were the issue for me.  I dunno, I'm going to bed soon and hope for a decent sleep. I don't have to leave until after 10:00 am.  

Mother finally got her birth certificate.  She was ecstatic - she has never had a birth certificate - her entire life.  She had a "notification of birth" which is not, I found out, a birth certificate.  

My son said he wants to come out here to visit.  I kind of think he wants to come out here to stay - if temporarily.  I don't have a place for him, but we could work something out.  They've had friends living over here before for weeks at a time.  I dunno what his plans are and I dunno how's he's really doing, the divorce and end of marriage is taking a toll on him from what I am gathering.  Seemed like they were doing so well.  It is what it is and he'll learn from it and move on.  But, he's certainly welcome out here whenever.  He knows I"m not home half the time.  

I'm sure there's more but I'm weary.  Long drive, tired and ready to go to sleep. 

 Last night was crazy if not highly annoying.  Around midnight, I was jarred awake by noises coming into my ears. Unwanted noises. Noises that I could not sleep through. So I woke up and heard - birds chirping.

At midnight.  What on earth are these birds doing making all this racket in the middle of the night? It went on for hours.  I turned the fan setting up on my AC unit to try and drown out the noise to no avail.  I then realized after almost 3 hours that I have ear plugs in the bathroom. I stopped using them at night a while back.

Put them in and walaah, no more noise. Of course, I had to get up in less than an hour but I fell fast asleep.  

That was the start of my day today, 4 hours of sleep maximum.  Went through the motions, go to the plant and went to sleep in the sleeper after they started loading it.  Bang, bang, bang! The noise of the hammer hitting the fittings in the back of the trailer meant that they were unhooking the hoses and time to get up.  

After getting out of the plant, I forced myself to drive 400 miles before stopping for a break.  Fueled up at the Loves in Sinton, pulled into a parking space and fell fast asleep again - setting the alarm on my phone cause I knew if I fell asleep? It might hours before I wake up again. 

It was worth the trouble forcing myself to get down here, for there are no empty trailers and that, of course, equals more money in my pocket for doing nothing more than sitting around until the next day. They allegedly expect to have empty trailers up here by tomorrow afternoon.  

During that time, however, I was asked for more and more documentation and explanations of this and that.  Why does your tax return show adjusted income of 75k but it shows you made 90k last year?  What is this late pay for mortgage 3 years ago? That was just me forgetting to pay the mortgage, not me being too broke to be able to afford to make the payment. But, it doesn't look good on there regardless so that's a ding against me. Then I contacted this loan officer again - I forgot about 4 properties I own here outright to use as assets. 

He writes back good and I'll look into that.  And then I remembered my boat, my utility trailer and my Jeep - all paid for, owe nothing and more assets.  The more money you're worth, the better it looks.  

I really want this loan. But, I"m not going to have a meltdown if I don't get it.  My credit is good, my income is good, my assets are good, my debt isn't too high.  But, I have no idea what these people consider a good risk or not, especially with land, but they want 20% down. That's not a small chunk of change.  People putting that much money down aren't likely to just want to walk away from it.  I mean, stuff happens in life and people are forced into doing things they don't want to, I get that but I doubt most people are going to chunk down 20 grand and 6 months later say, well that didn't work out! I"m just going to give it back to the bank!  

No, I didn't get an answer today, I was hoping they would get this done and give me a reply.  I didn't ask them for an answer, tho, I didn't say anything besides what they were asking for.  No need to get pushy, they'll tell me when they've made their decision and I'll just have to wait.  

If this fails, I give up on bank loans and will just have to hope there is something decent at the next tax lien sale - which is still two months off.  and that I can actually get the winning bid - auctions can get carried away with people getting into bidding wars and end up paying far too much for land.  Might as well just go give the cash to a property owner and buy it from them for the price some of this stuff goes for. But there are definitely good deals.

The other possibility is that someone puts something up for sale that is big enough and in a good location that I can afford to pay cash for outright.  I am looking every day now for any new listings.  

Well I guess I got lucky. Two trucks left earlier today but now another empty came in here. Fortunately for me, there is another driver ahead of me that has been here 2 days waiting.  If another empty comes in? Per our manager and what he worked out with the plant? "No empty trailers available at time of arrival".  And there weren't.  That was two hours ago.  I need only shut my curtain or leave this yard altogether.  But I don't have to leave the yard since it would be legitimate for me to claim detention - if another shows up  tonight - since that's what they worked out.  My manager made the point: What, are my drivers supposed to stay up all night looking for trailers?  That may never come? 

I can tell you after last night, I want to have the opportunity to sleep in in the morning.  

Well, Facebook has suspended my FB account for 3 days.  Woo hoo!  I can't wait until Trump comes out with his platform, I would consider leaving Facebook altogether.  My time on there has been less and less and less in the last few months.  I commented on a post in a debate group - another thing I am not spending much time doing - and someone reported it and of course, Facebook took offense to it.  Facebook doesn't like conservatives and they don't even try to hide it anymore.  You will obey or you will pay.  Nah, bro, I don't care that much about Facebook anymore. If they permanently suspended my account I might miss a few aspects of it but I would get over it quickly.  Facebook is digging a hole and eventually will bury itself in it.  

I have numerous friends that have been suspended on Facebook for saying trivial, mundane things that shouldn't get them into trouble.  The post I was on ? The guy said that blacks not be allowed to have retail jobs - and went on to say extremely racist things about their service.  I dunno what happened to that person, I would assume Facebook would take offense to anything like that as well?  Who knows, but the Facebook that exists now is nothing like the Facebook I originally signed up for.  

So, y'all that know my on facebook won't be seeing me on there for 3 days lol.

With that, I am going to go to sleep.

G'nite. 

 So, this latest lender - of whom I filled out all kinds of paperwork for and sent it in - called and asked for a half dozen more documents.  

OKKKKKKKK.

But I was out and about, didn't rush home for that.  I originally went out to get breakfast, I ended up driving up and down the street where I bought one of the properties at tax sale and looking at square footage.  They told me at the city I would have to build a house that is at least 1,100 square feet.

Yes, that's small, but I was going even smaller.  600-800 square feet. Like a mini home.  I took pictures and wrote down street numbers to look up square footage, but from guesstimation, I'd say more than half the homes on that street are 900 square feet and less - a few much less.  

Take the mobile, manufactured or modular home equation out of it, simply look at the square footage.  But, there was a newer looking modular home that couldn't have been 800 square feet - and that is a generous guesstimate.  This guy from the city made his decision from the house across the street from my property.  He said it's 1,150 square feet. Oh? And the house next to it?  Around 700 square feet.  

I'm going to look up the square footage of at least half the homes on that street - big and small and in between.  Then, if I am right about my guesses at square footage - I should be pretty close on a lot of them - I am going back to this city dude and show him the facts of what this street consists of.  There are 2 mansions on the street - it's an odd mix.  Those houses must be 6,000 square feet each - and that's a conservative estimate.  They are absolutely huge and beautiful properties.  And next door to them? Old houses, falling apart, or old houses not falling apart, but old and small.  

There isn't any reason on earth the city should deny my request to put in whatever I want, really, ,as long as it meets city code requirements for being a habitable structure. My goal was to put on a small structure and put up a rent to own ad.  $2,500 down, $600 per month and figure out how long the loan should last by the amount of money spent on the structure and profit.  I did buy these properties for profit and I don't feel bad about that at all as long as I'm not taking advantage of people.  It's a small property to begin with.  

After going to the store for dinner stuff, I came home, took photos of signed papers I had to print out yet again, dug up other files and sent them off.

Now awaits the period where they do their research and determine whether they want to loan me money or not.  

I kind of think I can take it as a good indicator if they refuse me credit that probably all of the credit unions will do that as well.  I'll try a regular bank after that and see what they say and then - we are back to square one.  I might have to consider at that point if this is really meant to be, or if there is a pot of gold at the other end of this rainbow, I just have to go through the effort to find it.  Because honey, I have given a lot of time, travel and energy to just finding property.

There have been no new listings in the last week I think it is.  The house with 20 acres is already under contract.  Lol.  It was listed too high anyway, I don't want that high of payments, but it was intriguing.  

Well enough of this, time to do house chores. 

 Endless forms and information to dig up.

Contacting the wrong lender.  Out of sheer ignorance for I have never applied for a land loan before.

Endless phone calls and emails.

More digging up of more information.

Total assets and total liabilities. 

I was amazed at my total assets tho, didn't realize I was worth that much money lol.  Mostly due to 401ks and my house in Arizona. 

One lender in Houston area said I could sign up, then couldn't, then could.  But the online application won't allow me to do so without either knowing someone already in their credit union, living in  certain zip codes near them or working for a list of companies they give.  None of those apply.  The loan officer is probably getting tired of my constant emails lol.  I think I'll just put my name in the related field and see if it will work.  

Meanwhile, another lender in a town about 60 miles away called and said that these types of loans are based on regions and that I was out of their region, but that he could give me the number of the lender whose region I am in.  Note that this bank asked for all kinds of information including 2020 tax return.  

I mean, I needed to do it anyway so no big deal but dang.  It took me hours of digging up info to find out - I am not even qualified to apply with them.  

I really should have started this process long ago, I had no idea land loans were so complicated and involved, they are more difficult to obtain than a house loan. 

Regardless, I called this local lender and they said okay, sent me an application.  I have all of that information now, so I just filled that in easy peasy.  

In the end, I don't even know if they'll grant me a loan, tho the amount isn't that much, at least not by lender's standards and they will see that I will easily be able to afford a less than $300 per month payment.  

So, until I exhaust all lending options that do land loans, I will keep trying.  If it all ends up in a dead end, then I will be forced to try and buy a much smaller property for cash or go to the tax lien sale and see if I can score something there in the next auction they do.  

What I am not going to do is agree to the land owner's outrageous terms having me pay close to triple monthly payments than what I can get through a bank. He can keep that land.  

I am not giving up hope, but this process is getting rather exasperating. I only have so much free time and I really don't want to have to use it all up dealing with lenders.  I guess it's the price one must pay, and I'm getting educated at least on how the process works, but another thing I have never had any experience with is credit unions.  

They give better rates but dang, they make it hard to join up with them.  

Anyway, I'm taking a break from that for I have sent in that latest application and I'll see how that goes.  I really wanted to get the pond set up today, but I also really want to find out one way or another if I can get financed for this project or switch gears and focus on other ways to get land.  

Well, the money mom sent is now in the other account.  It's an account she set up and then added me to it so she can just send me money versus sending me checks. This is yet another process, I just found out, to be able to transfer money from that account to my checking account.  That apparently will take a couple of days to set up, lol.  

I don't need that money for a down payment. It will come handy to start doing the things it will take to set up the park.  She is okay with that, in fact she said she thought it might help. Yes, yes indeed it will if I can ever get to that point in this process.  

And, if I can qualify for a loan, perhaps I can look at other properties I put on the shelf.  Higher dollar amount for the land, but a lot more property, one of them specifically comes to mind.  They want a lot more money but the ad lists it as a "motivated seller" - which usually means they are willing to take less money to unload the property.  

I thought I was taking a break but I keep getting emails. So I set up the credit union account in my name, it was the only thing I knew to do to try and open an account there. They have 10% down payment and better terms. The loan officer from that company is the one that told me I could open an account and make a donation to some charity - so that's fine as long as the minimum donation isn't terribly much and the charity is something I can actually agree with.  

Now?  I probably should get away from the desk, my goal today was to try and get the pond set up. So far, I have done nothing with it for I am here, at my desk, attempting to answer all of these questions and fill out all of these  forms, lol.  And I'm hungry, so time to eat. The day is wasting away and I suspect I will not get to the pond after all is said and done.

I also suspect I will be sent out tomorrow somewhere, I was a bit amazed they didn't send me anywhere today.  I mean, I'm glad they didn't, gives me a chance to do all of this paperwork.  I wouldn't have been able to do it on the road with my laptop, I had to print out a lot of stuff and then scan it and send it back to the lenders.  

This whole thing isn't likely to end anytime soon, lol.  Grin and bear it, there is no use getting frustrated.  

Okay I'm offa here - for now.

Home again.

This trip to Oklahoma entailed a dispatcher wanting to know if I could make it back to the yard today by 2:30 pm.  That was before I even left the yard yesterday.  

Of course I hoofed it up there, not stopping but for 3 minutes to go the restroom, took my 30 minute break while doing the drop and hook operation (I normally pull over somewhere and take a nap instead), got back down the road and stopped at my usual spot - got there by 1 am.  

At exactly 10 hours, the clocks reset and I was out of there, back to the yard and done.  My manager informed me - in a nice way of course - that he had checked and that I had quit at 1 am and had started at the exact moment that the clock reset.

Thanks? I guess.  

Mother wanted me to call her - rather urgently it seemed - so I finally got a chance to today.  I don't normally talk on the phone while driving the truck. It's not illegal I just don't much care for it.  I guess I'd like it better if I bought one of those fancy bluetooth headsets - and I could get one free from Love's with my points - but how often would I use it?  Just one more thing to clutter up the truck, but I'll think about it.  Truckers have to have "special" headsets - there is only one ear piece on one side, we aren't allowed to have earphones in both ears.  

Anyway, she decided she wanted to hand out part of her estate.  Asking her why?  I just keep reinvesting it and I think it might help you with your project.  But what if you needed it at some point? Umm, if I thought I would need it, I wouldn't be giving it away.

My mother is very intelligent, but I had to ask anyway.  It's a sizable chunk of change that I won't go into here.  Well, I'll just say it's probably enough to put in a large septic system I may need for any given property.  

____________________

HOURS later.  I just filled out my 2020 tax return since they want it to be able to process the loan.  I'm filling out a loan application and they want a lot of stuff.  I wasn't prepared to do my taxes, but it needed to be done I guess.  Checking account, 401k, pay stubs, etc etc etc.  I had forgotten how involved these types of applications are.  But, I'm motivated and I want to at least try to get this behind me.  I've been working on this so long, it's getting to the exasperation point.  

Another option, however, is to wait for the next tax lien sale in 2 months, saving all that money my m other is giving me and adding it to my savings, I could do some serious bidding with that much cash.  

But, then you wait 6 months before you can do anything with the land.  And, there is no guarantee that if I wait 2 months from now, that there will be any suitable land in the auction.  

On the other hand, I might not qualify for a loan and will have to go that route.  I already have a house payment and they may decide I have too many expenses? Probably not with my income, but who knows how these banks look at things.  I'll wait on their decision, if it's a no, I'll apply somewhere else.  I don't want to rack up too many credit inquiries on my credit score tho.  

So hurry up and wait. That property may sit or it may sell. If I get approved for it and it sells, I'll just ask them to finance another property.  Or not, if there is nothing suitable, it will just have to wait.  

Meanwhile, I have no work tomorrow. Seemed a bit odd with no trucks in the yard.  I don't mind a day off, yet I don't mind working to get caught back up.  I'll probably - probably - try to get that pond set up.  I just get distracted by other stuff that I need to get done - the pond isn't a need. It's a want, yes, need, no.  I have everything I need - I think - to get it set up, get the water filtering and start conditioning it before putting some fish in there.  This setup will have to be far more elaborate than any other ponds I have set up before in order to try to keep birds, snakes, raccoons and other fish eating creatures out of it.  

Whatever the case, I think I will enjoy a movie and vegetate a while.

Good to be home.

 It's time.

I am putting in bank applications at several places.  I have one preferred for they only want 10% down and competitive interest rates - but I'll take a 20% property - just means a lower monthly payment.  

Meanwhile, Zillow now has my Phoenix house valued at 295k.  So tempting.  The house is 10 minutes from down town Phoenix.  On the base of a mountain, the views are over the city and can see well off on clear days - if there are any.  Selling it at that price would give me a handy 150k profit.  Not that it would sell at that price - but not that it wouldn't.

Location, location, location.  The entire city and surrounding cities are virtually landlocked and all of the land is developed.  If you wanted to build a house in the Phoenix metro area but near downtown Phoenix? Good luck.  There's nothing available. You'll have to go 50 plus miles outside of town.  Of course, you could buy a house, knock it down and build whatever you want.  That's a San Francisco scenario. We aren't quite there yet, but all of these people moving to Arizona from New York, California, Illinois and other places have created a huge demand for housing.  

It would be a fine day to have an RV park there.  I could charge $800 per month just for the lots.  

Oh, well I only got onto that subject because a realtor sent me a message - this wasn't the "I want to buy your house" junk, it was we'll do a valuation of your house with comps and give you a number of what we think it's worth.  They came up with 185k.  I laughed out loud at that.

But, this was a comprehensive list of houses they used to come up with that valuation.  The problem? Most of it were mobile homes that are 30, 40 even 50 years old.  They aren't even in the same realm as my house.  There are no comps in the neighborhood, no one has brought any new manufactured homes. The only thing that is worth more are the few, site built homes that have been built.  

NO one is moving out of that neighborhood. There is nowhere to go!  Sell your place and go - where?  Texas, in my case lol, but I"m saying there is no valid reason for anyone to sell even their old, junk mobile home if they have no place to go.  

I dropped my phone today. It landed on a concrete floor. It was the last straw.  The screen cracked and I put in a warranty claim. I have the insurance that covers you even if you do something stupid - like dropping your phone on the floor.  But it's hardly what is all wrong with it. The charging port has all but quit working.  I thought it was bad phone cord - I tried it on 5 different cords, 2 of them brand new I bought today.  Fortunately, I have a charger where you just put the phone on a pad and it somehow "infuses" energy into the battery.  I have no clue how that works, but it's working fine.  

Besides that, I click on an app or on a link or just trying to click on a facebook link and it takes forever for it to switch.  Nothing like when I first got this phone. And, the camera doesn't work right.  So I made the claim. They ask you the specifics - yup, I dropped it but it's had several other issues.  It doesn't really matter, when you're paying for the "whatever happened" insurance, they are going to replace it regardless.  

It still works, at least, til I get the new one, which should be tomorrow or the next day. But I'm leaving for Oklahoma tomorrow afternoon, seriously doubt it will be there before I leave.  

They're keeping me busy as of lates, I'll give them that.  I'd say I'm ready for a break - but my bank account disagrees with me. I've had 3 good runs in a row, that will help.  I don't mind taking one or even 2 low paying runs in a row, it's when we get to 3. Or if I get two - but it's spread out so long that I'm eating more than a week's pay's worth.  

Anyway, I have a late load tomorrow - 2:30 pm.  That's really sucky.  Means I'll be out of the plant around 4:30 - 5:00 - drive 6 hours, drop and hook (plant open 24 hours) then find the nearest place, which is 25 miles away, to park for the night.  But whatever, it is what it is.  I just like the "normal" Oklahoma run when you leave in the morning and get back the next day - in the morning.  

Finally? The 8 acres I was looking at, I could get for less than $300 per month payments if I could get one of these banks to move there @$$es and get on with the program.  30 year loan, yes.  But whatever. That payments are next to nothing so I don't care about that.  

My next mental project - things that I have to do research on, make phone calls, attempt to find the right info, etc - things that I have no knowledge about and have to get educated on - is getting my undivided interest in the hunting property - divided and in my name.  That will entail calling or emailing a lawyer specializing in land laws.  I could see spending a grand on that - if it would get me 2 acres in my name.  That would open up other possibilities that I need not go into here now because - that may never happen. It isn't a great priority, but if it were something I could get done without too much more money into that property I would definitely do it. 

And next land auction? I'm going to look at every single piece of land, the small stuff going for small stuff. Land out in the country - nothing else.  Rent to own - what I wanted to do in the city.  That's another issue, the city and their progressive rules.  Wanting things that aren't going to happen in any of their lifetimes.  Rent to own is appealing. Small  down payment, affordable monthly rates and eventually they have their own place. I have decided that at some point I'm going to take my issue up with the city council about one of my existing properties.  But not until after the 180 day period has expired and I have an actual deed/title in hand for the property, not a sheriff's deed.  

Things that cost money but hopefully make money in the end.  Things that make you have to learn about things you have no knowledge of. Things that in the end, may actually make you happy that you had to go through all of that mental fatigue in searching out information because you came to understand how it works without going to school or actually working in the field. 

And with that? I am offa here, watch a show and go to bed late.  I mean, I don't have to leave the house until 12:45 pm tomorrow......

Nite.  

Happy "He Is Risen Day" Easter!!!!

 I'm out on the road, fairly common event to be out here somewhere on a holiday, but it's no worries.  I just ate a fantastic Easter meal in my truck, talked with people and texted, stuff on face book, I'm good.  

I'm in Brownsville, btw.  I had mixed feelings of whether I wanted to find an empty here today or not.  I really didn't think they would have any - Easter  is a big holiday in Mexico and I wouldn't have expected to see them bringing up empties, but empties there are. 2 of them in fact.  So I'll be leaving out of here early tomorrow morning - I could leave as early as 4 am but I doubt I will, probably more like around 5:30 am.  

But, Happy Easter to you, your loved ones, family, friends, acquaintances and of course doggies and pets!  My doggy was clearly unhappy that I was leaving this morning, well they were both unhappy about it but Addler gets this look on his face.  He knows what I'm doing.  I get up, put the collar on his neck, get my shower, pet him and Aspyn for a while, then leave.  I didn't sleep worth a Jingle Bell last night, I woke up around 2 am and never got back to sleep. So, I'm kind of sleepy right now.

But it's only 6:30 pm, full daylight, it's much too early to be going to sleep. So I'm going to force myself to stay up at least until around 8:30 and then go to bed.  Oh, and I got down here the earliest I ever have at 5:30 pm!  I didn't waste any time, being tired? My goal is to get here and get out of the driver's seat and relax.  

I haven't looked at the property listings in a while.  Same stuff all the time, there are a few new ones that come on there here and there, but mostly it stays the same with properties that are unusable - covered with water or overpriced. They don't sell, no one wants to pay double, triple, quadruple etc for property and you can't do anything with a swamp.  You offer them fair market value to the properties that are usable? They just laugh at you. I laugh back - I see your property has been on the market for 2 years.  

Or how about a "commercial property", 6 acres, 600k? Undeveloped land next to a motel, lmao.

Oh, the situation at home. Well, I'm not going into personal details of other people's lives in great detail on the internet.  At least not that stuff.  Taylor is, however, going to be a stay-at-home mom, pull Jaxon out of daycare and do the home mommy thing.  Is it good or bad? That's not my call. People are free to live their lives as they see fit, learn from their mistakes, enjoy whatever right decisions they make and that's that.  I could be making a huge mistake in attempting to get property and start up a business.  But, it's a risk I am prepared to take.    James will start making more money after he gets down with college.  In fact, I saw a place that allegedly has excellent wages, tho I don't know that he's interested in a new job.  He gets off work and goes to college 2 blocks down the road from work. 

I never got started on my pond setup.  It keeps raining.  I need a dry day to do it.  I mean, it won't be that hard, per se, to set up it's just the fact that I need the right weather conditions.  The grass - I planted a bunch of seed out front after using the aerator machine - about half of it or less is actually growing. The rain washed the rest of the seed away.  

So that's it for me.  Just waiting out another hour so I can try to go to bed.

G'day

 Ok. Instead of sending the email telling me that they were working on the birth certificate, they just bypassed that part and - sent me the birth certificate.  My mother has never had a birth certificate - in her entire life.  It was only until she needed it to renew her driver's license that she found out her "notice of birth" wouldn't work.  It's a very old document, the only "real" and official thing she had. 

Why she waited so long to get her birth certificate is unknown, but because the state was never asked to make one, she couldn't get it on her own.  You read that right: she asked them to send her a birth certificate with the state seal on it and they refused.  Appalling? Yes, in my opinion, but whatever. They told her a family member would have to ask for it for her.

How does that  make any sense?  Whatever the case, I didn't get into it with them about it, I just sent in the form, got some stuff wrong on it, they sent me an email informing me of such, I corrected the issue and walaah.  Mom will finally have a birth certificate.  I sent her a pic earlier - just got the thing - and asked if she needed it overnighted to her.  

I suspect she's driving on an expired license - I've gone through this before. I didn't used to be that you needed a birth certificate to renew your license. I thought it was only for commercial licenses, apparently they want it for everyone now?  I didn't know anything about it, went to get my license and they told me I needed a birth certificate  The issue had me going clear back to Arizona to get one because I was not going to be able to work - it's a long story not worth going into again, I just know how she feels.  

Mobility is important. As long as she is legally/medically qualified to drive, she should be able to.  Yes, I asked her if she was driving on expired license, I didn't get an answer lol. I changed the subject after realizing she didn't want to admit to it for whatever reason - wouldn't have bothered me if she was doing so, she doesn't normally go around breaking the law everywhere and her need to go to the store and get groceries supersedes the state's desire to have everyone in a computer data base so they can keep tabs on you..... and she tried to do this on her own to no avail.  The state doesn't care what your needs are, I have learned that from ample experience and a book's worth of stories I could go into here - and won't.

So today was a "put the house back together" day.  It's been in a shambles for quite a while.  I had a box out there in the living room amidst the rest of the boxes I had forgotten about. I tried to bring it into my room when....plop....the entire contents spilled out onto the floor after the bottom gave way. 

No worries, I threw half of the stuff into the trash can and put the rest of the stuff away, problem solved. Another box to go through and I'll be done with that. But, that's nothing I'm doing today.  

I didn't finish this post but publishing it anyway.