Have another cup dear..we've already got the summer house..I think you meant winter house..*l*
Oh..That is what I meant..
Property Free No More
- Thread starter ATeam
- Start date
Oh..That is what I meant..
jujubeans
OVM Project Manager
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Greg wrote:
Probably not of this purchase, but maybe more of their overall success and quality of life...I mean i think it is almost a "sport" with you being derogatory about most anything Phil post...
See there is the big difference...Phil and Diane HAVE it to spend...
Probably not of this purchase, but maybe more of their overall success and quality of life...I mean i think it is almost a "sport" with you being derogatory about most anything Phil post...
See there is the big difference...Phil and Diane HAVE it to spend...
14Wheeler
Seasoned Expediter
There's always gonna be the haves & havenots. Instead of always belittling the successfull ones, the havenots oughta get off the computer and go outdoors and make themselves a decent living. Theres NO denying the level of jealousy that exist. Theres NOT one reader who buys the "this is just too funny" part. Nothing funny about dissing those who EARNED a spot at the top. Instead of talking about it, wouldnt you earn alot more credibility if you were actually successful doing it ?
Interesting response. I have to comment. If you have a delivery within 30 min.'s of your new home... and it's set (and/or works out that you drop) to drop @ 8 or 9 Pm. You have a team in the truck... you have an hour or 2 to burn on your log easily... just hypothetically speaking of course, then you are going to wait until the next day (sun rise) to go to your house??? because you don't want to disturb the neighbors? Considerate or not... you are paying for the use of the gate, the lot, the storage lot... the utility bills. Why wait? I'm rollin' in, neighbors don't like it- get a meeting started. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if a 35 foot diesel motorhome came in at that hour... what's the difference? commercial or not- the noise level is the same.
Being one, 18 wheeler drivers don't jump for joy when they find out they're going into a gated community- because it typically means tight turns, lots of wheel turning, and careful manuevering due to many obstacles.
Tools on the truck, that's good, but if u want to stop to go in and watch the football game (or anything on TV) in your living room... hope u gotta golf cart. If you gotta rush out for an emergency, something happened at home... your golf cart would come in handy. But I'd much rather have my space on my property (regardless of whether or not it's owned or rented).
And in their defense (Phil and family)... whats the big deal over rented or not? The others have just made it more interesting of a thread by chiming in... they're like drummers in the back of a bus hauling HS kids... there's gonna be comments. oh well.
After a while you will probably see that the gated community is nice in the sense that it's secure for your home. However, having to deal with the gate, and having a seperate parking area that's gated again for the rig... that's not going to surprise me if that's gonna get old after a while. 2 gates. 1 to go home, 1 to park. No thanks, Not my cup of tea. Give me a rental lot or home lot down below Tampa somewhere. I deal with plenty of fences and gates on the road with trucks and busses. When I'm going to a house that I'm technically an owner of... I don't want gates or fences unless it's all on the house property. Neighbors can watch the place just as good if not better than law enforcement.
BBB
an OOIDA member as well
Being one, 18 wheeler drivers don't jump for joy when they find out they're going into a gated community- because it typically means tight turns, lots of wheel turning, and careful manuevering due to many obstacles.
Tools on the truck, that's good, but if u want to stop to go in and watch the football game (or anything on TV) in your living room... hope u gotta golf cart. If you gotta rush out for an emergency, something happened at home... your golf cart would come in handy. But I'd much rather have my space on my property (regardless of whether or not it's owned or rented).
And in their defense (Phil and family)... whats the big deal over rented or not? The others have just made it more interesting of a thread by chiming in... they're like drummers in the back of a bus hauling HS kids... there's gonna be comments. oh well.
After a while you will probably see that the gated community is nice in the sense that it's secure for your home. However, having to deal with the gate, and having a seperate parking area that's gated again for the rig... that's not going to surprise me if that's gonna get old after a while. 2 gates. 1 to go home, 1 to park. No thanks, Not my cup of tea. Give me a rental lot or home lot down below Tampa somewhere. I deal with plenty of fences and gates on the road with trucks and busses. When I'm going to a house that I'm technically an owner of... I don't want gates or fences unless it's all on the house property. Neighbors can watch the place just as good if not better than law enforcement.
BBB
an OOIDA member as well
Streakn1
Veteran Expediter
Two successful people? LOL There are many more successful expediters besides Dave and the ATeam that live in the same state (FL), like my wife and myself. We are so succesful that we even own the land under our house. LOL Plus our house is made of bricks instead of sticks! Hope you got good hurricane insurance, if they still insure mobile homes in FL for hurricanes. Ok, give me a break here. My Mom owns two doublewide mobile homes in FL.
All silliness aside, the Ateam is paying property (real estate) tax in a sense just like we as bonified property owners do in FL. Theirs simply is factored into their monthly lot rent, being that property taxes are paid by the owner of the park.
There are advantages to owning a residence (permanent or seasonal) either way. For ATeams needs it sounds as if this is the optimum choice as mobile homes tend to be low maintenance residences (especially in a park) which makes it extremely attractive to the non-permanent resident.
I would assume this purchase was in the same community as Glen and Janice Rice's home, which is a nice cummunity within a nice area of Central Florida.
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greg334
Veteran Expediter
OMG,
This really isn't a rag on Phil but those who don't see the point - Mobile Homes, Manufactured Homes or what ever you call them are not real property. They have titles like cars (most states treat them as motor vehicles/Personal Property) and the do not have deeds. Your agreement is with the community with lot rent, and maybe other fees for up keep.
It isn't like owning a piece of land (dirt, trees, sand, water), the land is immobile, stuck to the earth and is limited in it manufacture - God or mother earth only made so much of it.
If Phil bought one of the many cheap farms or bought one of the cheap Manhattan apartments, then it is working property and actually worthy of investing time in telling others what his plans are, but ...
Jealousy?
H*ll no, happy for Phil and Diane.
They deserve what ever their labor gives them but amused because of people falling over themselves to defend them when I'm not really talking about Phil and Diane to begin with. Of course in a way I'm poking fun at Phil's lack of disclosure in one post but that's Phil.
I think Phil has a very good point, invest now because deals may not be around in the future. Housing, land and commercial property is still out there relatively cheap so why not. Maybe we will see that predicted downturn to the economy and no one will afford anything.
I can't spend another $30k on another piece of property (although the next one will be in Canada) as much as I can't or won't buy another truck. Our last purchase was $6k for 10 acres which already paid for itself twice over.
Success?
Well I won't go into that.
This really isn't a rag on Phil but those who don't see the point - Mobile Homes, Manufactured Homes or what ever you call them are not real property. They have titles like cars (most states treat them as motor vehicles/Personal Property) and the do not have deeds. Your agreement is with the community with lot rent, and maybe other fees for up keep.
It isn't like owning a piece of land (dirt, trees, sand, water), the land is immobile, stuck to the earth and is limited in it manufacture - God or mother earth only made so much of it.
If Phil bought one of the many cheap farms or bought one of the cheap Manhattan apartments, then it is working property and actually worthy of investing time in telling others what his plans are, but ...
Jealousy?
H*ll no, happy for Phil and Diane.
They deserve what ever their labor gives them but amused because of people falling over themselves to defend them when I'm not really talking about Phil and Diane to begin with. Of course in a way I'm poking fun at Phil's lack of disclosure in one post but that's Phil.
I think Phil has a very good point, invest now because deals may not be around in the future. Housing, land and commercial property is still out there relatively cheap so why not. Maybe we will see that predicted downturn to the economy and no one will afford anything.
I can't spend another $30k on another piece of property (although the next one will be in Canada) as much as I can't or won't buy another truck. Our last purchase was $6k for 10 acres which already paid for itself twice over.
Success?
Well I won't go into that.
Yes. That's exactly what we would do. We have a comfortable truck. There are nice freeway rest areas not far north and not far south of our exit. We would go to one of those and proceed to the house the next morning.
You are correct that a diesel pusher motor home makes the same noise as our truck but you also know that people are more disposed to complain about trucks. I have never seen a motor home driver intentionally scare the life out of a four-wheeler by riding just inches off his rear bumper. Truckers have burned up a lot of good will in the public eye. I'm not moving into this community to fight social status battles or educate people about noise levels. I'm moving in to enjoy the community, which means being as good a neighbor to my neighbors as they are to me. They pay the same lot rent I do but I would not want them waking me up in the middle of the night. It goes both ways.
There is a hypothetical situation in which we would drive through at night. We are in the house, in service and a load offer comes in for an ASAP pickup that requires us to leave in the middle of the night. The storage area is isolated from the houses so warming up the truck is no problem. If we were in service, the truck would be run ready and we would not need to stop at the house before leaving. We'd just drive out as quietly as we could.
Realistically, how often would this happen? Probably never.
As I said in a previous reply, this community is fine for driving a truck in. There are a few spots where the trees are too low for a big rig but only a few. We just drove in today with no trouble at all. We have done many pickups and deliveries that were far more challenging. Also, we are not doing anything with the truck in the community other than drive it from the gate, stop at the house to unload stuff, and then drive to the storage area to park it. When leaving, the process is reversed.
When parked, the truck is 4/10 of a mile from the house; easy walking distance or a little run if in a big hurry.
To each his own.
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The deal is done. Diane and I now own and maintain a 1,400 sq. ft., two bedroom, two bath, manufactured home in a gated community in Florida. The house is a vacation cottage to us, intended to provide a layover location when we are in the Southeast and a winter retreat when winter driving becomes more than we care to bear. Our official residence remains in Minnesota and our home is the road.
This is a different house than the one we first intended to buy. Items discovered by a professional house inspector prompted us to rescinded the offer, obtain an escrow refund and look for another house in the same community. With 700 houses in this retirement and second-home community, some are always for sale.
After touring five houses, we found one we liked. The seller was asking $47,000. As with all homes in the community, and many homes in Florida, prices continue to fall. The $47,000 was substantially lower than the original listing price. A house like this would have sold for $100,000 two years ago. We offered $40,000 cash and the ability to immediately close the deal. The seller accepted. She moved out and we took possession on Monday.
There is the way things are before you do something, and there is the way things are after you do it. Before we bought the house we had a pretty good idea why. Now possessing the house, we are in the "What did we just do?" phase. This is not about regret. It's about adjusting to the fact that this house is now part of our lives.
Most on mind is figuring out how to minimize the house's impact on the mobility and flexibility that has served us well as expediters in the past. The house is perfect as a winter retreat, which is why we bought it. We're working out now how to use it also as an easy-in, easy-out layover location when the freight takes us close.
Having arrived in Florida last Thursday to buy a house, we have already been out of service longer than we expected. We hope to tie up the loose ends today and be back in service Wednesday morning.
This is a different house than the one we first intended to buy. Items discovered by a professional house inspector prompted us to rescinded the offer, obtain an escrow refund and look for another house in the same community. With 700 houses in this retirement and second-home community, some are always for sale.
After touring five houses, we found one we liked. The seller was asking $47,000. As with all homes in the community, and many homes in Florida, prices continue to fall. The $47,000 was substantially lower than the original listing price. A house like this would have sold for $100,000 two years ago. We offered $40,000 cash and the ability to immediately close the deal. The seller accepted. She moved out and we took possession on Monday.
There is the way things are before you do something, and there is the way things are after you do it. Before we bought the house we had a pretty good idea why. Now possessing the house, we are in the "What did we just do?" phase. This is not about regret. It's about adjusting to the fact that this house is now part of our lives.
Most on mind is figuring out how to minimize the house's impact on the mobility and flexibility that has served us well as expediters in the past. The house is perfect as a winter retreat, which is why we bought it. We're working out now how to use it also as an easy-in, easy-out layover location when the freight takes us close.
Having arrived in Florida last Thursday to buy a house, we have already been out of service longer than we expected. We hope to tie up the loose ends today and be back in service Wednesday morning.
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Streakn1
Veteran Expediter
From would have sold for 100K to sold for 40K in a two year period would equal a 60K decrease in value of the home over that two year period. Interestingly enough, although home values in our area of FL (including ours) did take a hit during these hard economic times, we've not seen the 50-60% decline as would be indicative in Phil's area based on his numbers. Let me elaborate here by saying that I base this comment on the more realistic real estate values at the time two years ago verses the grossly inflated values during the real estate bubble that sellers commanded, and buyers so foolishly paid for homes they could not afford and have since lost.
Why such a high decrease in value then? Does location, brand name of the manufacturer of the home, age of the home (pre or post hurricane Andrew), or insurability meaning with or without hurricane exclusion riders come into play?
Differences in the manufacturer such as say Guerdon, Skyline, verses say Palm Harbor etc can and do attribute to the rate they will depreciate (like a car) or how well they hold they're value and even appreciate over time. Although much improved over recent years, a mobile (manufactured) home still does not hold its value and possibly increase in value as does a site built home, especially one (MH) situated in a park that rents the land it sits on.
What do you do when the owners unexpectedly sell the land to the wealthy mall developer that rezones the land and kicks all of the home owners out in 30-90 days. Does it happen in Florida. Let me show you the malls, etc that stand where mobile home communities once existed. Who buys the MH then? What's it worth to have relocated?
Friends in central Florida recently were faced with this. Could not find a buyer for their 14 year old (Florida built) doublewide so they were forced to buy a lot 18 miles away and relocate the home. Needless to say, this what appeared to be structurally sound home (according to the expert) did not fair well in the stresses of the relocation and was never right from that point on. Theirs is just one of multiple stories.
So, mobile from the factory to your lot? YES. Mobile after being setup for ten or more years? Questionable. Do you chance relocating it or just walk away? Good investment or bad? That's for the buyer to decide!
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greg334
Veteran Expediter
Streak,
I learned a long time ago these are never investment vehicles, but rather housing.
They appreciated in value only in the terms of location and how anchored (not movable) they are at that location - both are hard to judge without knowing the history of the mobile home park or the region it is located in. Moving them, it is an instant money loser, like moving a house - too much can go wrong with the move.
If someone wanted to properly invest in property, then they would locate one of the millions of foreclosed homes and use that. Surprisingly there are homes in very good places that the banks got stuck with.
I learned a long time ago these are never investment vehicles, but rather housing.
They appreciated in value only in the terms of location and how anchored (not movable) they are at that location - both are hard to judge without knowing the history of the mobile home park or the region it is located in. Moving them, it is an instant money loser, like moving a house - too much can go wrong with the move.
If someone wanted to properly invest in property, then they would locate one of the millions of foreclosed homes and use that. Surprisingly there are homes in very good places that the banks got stuck with.
stamp11127
Seasoned Expediter
Welcome to Florida, I spent most of my younger life there. FYI the state bird is the mosquito, so don't swat to many of them.
They like to say Florida is the Sunshine State, really it is the mildew state....don't like the rains in summer - wait 5 minutes it'll be over soon.
Oh yea, almost forgot - Love Bugs...please keep them down there....
But some of the good things are the OJ and pink grapefruit when in season.
They like to say Florida is the Sunshine State, really it is the mildew state....don't like the rains in summer - wait 5 minutes it'll be over soon.
Oh yea, almost forgot - Love Bugs...please keep them down there....
But some of the good things are the OJ and pink grapefruit when in season.
14Wheeler
Seasoned Expediter
Happy for yall Mr & Mrs A Team
Grew up in Ormond Beach myself but have been out of state last 20 years. Mom Dad & my Sis are all real estate agents in Florida and have been telling me the last 18 months about all the bargins. I own 2 lots 30 mins south of the SW Florida Intl Airport,Ft Myers. Havent seen them in 10 years but theve still continued to go up in value. Youve made a great inverstment and cant see even remotly how youll lose money on that deal.
Once things have settled down I betcha you'll easily double your money. Enjoy the sunshine state and I look foward to hanging out near you once I retire.
Grew up in Ormond Beach myself but have been out of state last 20 years. Mom Dad & my Sis are all real estate agents in Florida and have been telling me the last 18 months about all the bargins. I own 2 lots 30 mins south of the SW Florida Intl Airport,Ft Myers. Havent seen them in 10 years but theve still continued to go up in value. Youve made a great inverstment and cant see even remotly how youll lose money on that deal.
Once things have settled down I betcha you'll easily double your money. Enjoy the sunshine state and I look foward to hanging out near you once I retire.
Thank you, 14Wheeler. It would of course be nice to see the value of the property increase after purchasing it and I appreciate your good thoughts. But I would like readers to note the very important fact that Diane and I did not purchase this house as an investment or a home.
We view the house as a consumer good and vacation location. It is not an investment. It is an expense.
For the $40,000 purchase price and less money per month than it costs to stay in an RV park, we have a two bedroom, two bath, 1,400 sq. ft. place to stay where we can park the truck and enjoy living space, grounds and amenities that no RV park we have seen or read about can provide. Unlike a time-share arrangement, the house is available whenever we arrive and for as long as we wish to stay.
The kind of structure it is and the community it is in makes it easy to leave for months at a time so we can stay out on the road. We are making it as trouble-free and worry-free as we can by turning it into what we call a "throwaway house."
That is not about maintenance. We will keep the house in perfect working order and neat and clean, just like we keep our truck. Amazingly friendly and helpful neighbors make that easy to do, like the retired master plumber who lives across the street and retired craftsmen of all kinds who like to keep busy by doing odd jobs and keeping an eye on houses for people when they are gone.
Throwaway is about running freight without significant interruption or emotional disturbance if the house was destroyed by fire or hurricane or whatever. Throwaway is about owning property without it owning us. Throwaway is about having a vacation property to enjoy without committing the time and emotions that a single-family home would tend to draw.
Again, this house is not our home. It is a vacation property in which nothing of significant value will be kept. If a hurricane wiped out the house, we would be able to phone in instructions from out on the road to bulldoze the lot, throw the debris in a dumpster and send us the bill. Contents would not be an issue because everything in the house is purchased used. The furnishings either came with the house or will be purchased at thrift shops at low prices. They'd go into the dumpster or the bulldozer operator's puckup truck without concern. Business records, address books, personal photos, treasured keepsakes and the like would not be an issue because none are kept in this Florida house.
Owning and maintaining a throwaway house is about having a nice place to go when the need for time off is felt, and it is especially about keeping the freedom and flexibility that have served Diane and I well as expediters who live and work on the road.
To us, expediting is not about possessions. Expediting is about the freedom and revenue this work provides. This house provides a winter haven without tying us to it.
I encourage all expediters and expediter wannabees to think through the real meaning of property to you and the relationship you have with it. As people who live and work on the road, the fewer ties you have, the more free you will be to commit to the freight that takes us here, there and everywhere.
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Streakn1
Veteran Expediter
ATeam's approach on this purchase is interesting and even makes since. When making this kind of purchase I believe you have to be able to look it exactly as ATeam does, especially when its not your primary residence.
We've actually discussed when we no longer have the need to keep our Florida home, possibly selling it and purchasing a large motorhome (45' min) and placing it in the rv park at one of the many favorite places we enjoy our r&r. This also is what one could call expendable housing as you are not purchasing it with the intent to get your full investment back. What we like about this over a purchase such as ATeam's, is the ease of mobility. When we get tired of one area we simply drive to another. Either way both have to be licensed since mobile homes in a rental park that aren't the primary residence is not classed the same as one on private property, unless that law has changed in resent years in FL.
