Author: Lee

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For What It’s Worth….

Don’t know if anyone even reads these posts, but here comes the latest update.

I had called my insurance company last summer to find out what might be involved with insuring the property at the lake.  I knew they wouldn’t insure the camp as it was, but I wanted to find out what options I might have once the demolition had taken place.  I was told that an empty lot would be covered by my homeowner’s policy even if it was in another state.  That was great except for the fact that there is still a building of a sort on the property, and I really wanted to have some kind of coverage in case a tree or something fell on the boathouse.  So, after chatting with someone at USAA, we worked out a policy that covers the structure as well as includes liability for $150 a year.  Definitely worth it for the peace of mind.  That expense will be incorporated into the monthly bill for everyone who decides they want to contribute to this collective effort.

And speaking of the boathouse….

The other thing I want to ensure is that the boathouse remains standing.  There’s no problem replacing structures not on the lakeside, but replacing a lakeside structure might be a nightmare of paperwork if it were even possible.  As such, I want to do everything possible to keep that structure standing.  As of last summer, the two supports on the dock side of the boathouse have started to lean due to the ice pushing them over.  So, while I was up north last weekend, I met with Randy Sherman to see what might be done to keep the thing standing.

We both agreed that the best option was to pour a much bigger and more substantial pier on which the boathouse will rest.  Essentially, he wants to copy what is on the other side.  This will hold up much better and provide much more stability.  Similarly, he wants to put a large concrete pier down the middle (replacing much of dock that is there).  This will provide the support for the center of the building and, again, be much more stable than the support it has now.  Of course, this will set the Kamp Fund back anywhere from $5,000 to $7,500, which may push out the final kamp build by a year or so.  But, I’d much rather make sure the boathouse remains before I concentrate on the kamp.  If all goes well, this construction might be completed this fall.

Lyn and some of her krew are going to help out by clearing out the dock extensions from inside the boathouse.  This will help in two ways: first, it gets that stuff out of the way for Randy, and second, it relieves some of the stress on that side of the boathouse.  It will be piled behind the boathouse and covered with a tarp for now.  Anyone interested in helping out with that should give her a call to find out when she’s going to get up there.  I know she and I would both appreciate any help on this.

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Moving Forward

Labor Day weekend seems an appropriate time for a new blog post.

Randy Sherman completed demolition a little over a week ago.  The picture below was sent to me by my mother after her visit up north last week.  I expected Randy would take everything, but he left the outhouse behind, which is actually kind of cool.

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So, what happens now?  As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, construction is currently on hold.  Put simply, I will not risk my financial future or the lake property by getting a large mortgage with the exorbitant tax bill that will come with new construction.  That does not, however, mean that I’ve given up on construction altogether.  I want to rebuild.  Thankfully, neither the APA nor the town of Hopkinton have any time limit for that rebuild.  I double- and triple-checked this before I made any decision to move forward with the demolition.

That demolition, and latest tax bill, has pretty much wiped out the money in the savings account.  But, I’ve got a plan to replenish that account.  Since I had already planned to pay between $300.00 and $350.00 a month for the mortgage payment and my share of the expected tax bill, I’m going to take that money each month and put it into the savings account (well, I’ll likely put it into my own savings account each month and then make a deposit whenever I happen to be up north).  As other money becomes available, such as tax refunds, that money will likely go into that account as well.  If better investment possibilities come along, I may move that money around to maximize returns.  For example, my current mutual funds, while a bit risky, can offer better returns than the roughly 1% APR currently garnered in a savings account.

Once there is enough money in that account, then construction can move forward.  How long that will take and how much will be enough is yet to be determined.  The last estimate from Randy for a one-storey building was around $40,000.  The estimate for a two-storey would be just over $50,000.  If we bump out construction for several years, the estimates for construction will obviously go up.  There may also be other issues that will require funding over the next several years, such as repairs to the boathouse.  But, having the cash in the bank will forego the need for a mortgage or a monthly payment to be made.  Granted, the taxes will still go up (the average tax bill of the properties around us is $4,200.00/year), but at least I should be able to cover that if I am forced to do so.

The length of time before construction begins will also be dictated by how much others choose to contribute to this effort.  I don’t expect the same kind of financial commitment that I’m making; as I said, this was the commitment I had planned to make had I gotten the mortgage.  But, every little bit helps.  I’m hopeful everyone will be committed to paying their share of the tax bill.  Without construction, and indeed with no building remaining, the current taxes should not go up significantly; the monthly commitment noted on the Google spreadsheet was something less than $17.00 a month.  And, again, if you want to take care of the whole thing at once, such as when tax refunds arrive, that is acceptable as well.

In the meantime, I am also looking into the possibility of purchasing a used travel trailer to park on the property as something that will be usable until construction.  It may not enable any full family reunions, but it will give us something in which to sleep and eat.  I’m still looking into this and will update the blog when any decision is made.

That’s it for now.  I’ll let you know if there are any important developments that come about.

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These Financial Times

The day for demolition is coming.  I’m going to call the Town of Hopkinton offices tomorrow to find out if the road is open yet.  I’m also going to find out what the fee is for the demolition permit so I can complete that paperwork and send it to Randy, the contractor, so it will be ready when the road opens.

I’m happy to see that the account at North Country Savings continues to grow, but I have some major misgivings regarding the payment of everyone’s share of the taxes.  First, I haven’t seen anything from one member of the Konsortium.  I won’t name names here, but it’s pretty obvious who it is if you look at the Google spreadsheet.  Couple that with the tardiness in the payments from others and I have to take a step back and reconsider things.  Yes, it’s true that most everyone is up on their payments in one way or another through March and this is currently April, but you have to remember that the tax bill and insurance will be escrowed with the monthly mortgage payment.  That means I need to have the tax money in the bank at the time the mortgage is paid, which will likely be sometime in the first ten days of every month.  I shouldn’t be burdened with the entire monthly bill every month while I wait for payments to come that might be delayed by months.

Another thing that has to be taken into consideration:  what if, Heaven forfend, I get laid off again?  It happened once, it can happen again.  Living in Florida, it’s certainly easier to find a good paying job, but the older I get, the more difficult that may become.  What happens to the monthly payment if there’s still a mortgage left and I’m out of a job for an extended period?  This must be considered as a possibility.  I certainly considered it when I bought my house; I wanted a mortgage payment reasonable enough that I might be able to cover it if I were to be laid off.  Good thing I thought about it because it helped keep me in my house during those lean months.  I’m going to have to consider the same things with the kamp if I can’t be assured that timely monthly payments could be made by the Konsortium.

And while it’s true that there is plenty of money in the NCSB account at the moment to cover all of these contingencies, remember that most of that money will be gone when construction is complete.  That’s the purpose of the majority of that money: to help pay for the construction.

So, with these things in mind, I’m altering the initial plan.  The size of the kamp will be reduced to the single story without the L-shaped wing for the sleeping area.  The original two-story plan called for two rooms downstairs that could be used as bedrooms, and those will remain in the floorplan.  This accomplishes two things.  First, it reduces the cost of construction, thus reducing the amount borrowed and the monthly payments.  Second, a smaller building will (hopefully) produce a smaller tax bill, which will also contribute to a smaller monthly payment.  This doesn’t mean that we can’t someday add that wing or the second story; it just means that it needs to be put on hold for the time being to be sure we have something and I can afford to make the payments without compromising the lifestyle to which I’ve grown accustomed.  🙂

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Dumpster is Full

Actually, the Dumpster was filled on day one.  Thanks to Lyn and her crew as well as Pam for hauling the mattresses downstairs, and thanks again to Lyn, Matt, and Rachyl for helping to get the last of them into the Dumpster on Monday.  What I thought would take all week to fill was filled in only a few hours.  And I didn’t even get a chance to think about looking at stuff in the boathouse.  I considered renting another Dumpster for the week, but after chatting with Randy Sherman, the contractor, I changed my mind as I’ll explain next.

I met with Randy on Tuesday morning to talk about going forward.  At the moment, there is a 5 ton limit for the lake road, so any demolition is going to have to wait until after the ground is thawed and the road can take the weight of the demolition equipment.  After some consideration and discussion, the demo plan has changed just a little bit.  That is, rather than bury the remainders of camp in the woods, we’re going to go ahead with removal instead.  He said he had recently done a demo of a place about the same size as the camp, and it took three big Dumpsters to haul it away.  Three big Dumpsters would run about $3,000.  If he can rent the machine for the right price, etc., the whole thing will be about $5,000 to take it down and haul most of it away.  There might be some leftovers, but less crap buried in the back can only be a good thing.  And if we decide to rent one final smaller Dumpster for the last detritus of camp, we can clean out the boathouse as well.

That’s the latest from the lake.  Another post should follow soon with some additional information regarding the next steps in the plan.

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Dumpster Is Rented

The Dumpster will be arriving at the lake on the morning of Monday, March 28th, and will be there until Friday, April 1st.

I had a thought on the beds and mattresses issue:  I realize that my plans of cleaning up during the week might not coincide with the plans of others as you’ll still be working, etc.  So, here’s something that would be very helpful if you, your spouses, or your kids can’t get up to help during the week I’ll be up.  Since the biggest hassle and need for another person will be just getting the beds down the stairs, could one or more of you go up there over one of the upcoming weekends to at least get them down into the living room?  I’d be able to wrestle them out to the Dumpster from there.  It should take more than an hour or so (depending on how many people went up) to get them down to the first floor.

It would be a great help if you won’t be able to find the time to get up there while I’m in town!

 

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Kamp Cleanup Addendum

One more thing to add about the cleanup effort taking place at the Lake during the last week of March.  While we have the Dumpster, I will also be cleaning up the boathouse as well.  Pretty much everything except the boats and the church pew are going to be tossed.  This includes the old boat engines, old toys, broken paddles, etc.  If the dock parts look salvageable, they’ll be spared.

In a nutshell, if it looks like junk to me, I’m tossing it.

If you want to save it, get up there and remove it before March 28th.  Anything — and I mean, anything — left behind will be fair game to be tossed.  This is the one and only warning.

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Final Cleanup Before Demo

We’ve gotten everything out of the camp that we thought we could salvage, but that still leaves a mountain of detritus to be dealt with.  Much of it can be pushed into the woods with the rest of the cabin during demolition.  But, there is a great deal of stuff that I’d rather not see just buried out back.  Specifically, there is a boat load of stuff in the back shed that should be taken out.  There is also a lot of trash remaining in the dressing room.   I’ll be heading back up north at the end of March to use up the last of my vacation time before my anniversary date at work.  I’ve spoken with someone at Cassella about renting a Dumpster during that week.  My plan is to spend my vacation up at the lake shoveling out the remainders and having Cassella dispose of it for us.  I’m hopeful that this will include the remaining mattresses upstairs.  But, for that, I’ll need a hand.

I realize that many of you will be working during the week that I’m planning this.  But, I’m hopeful that one or two of you or your kids will be available during some part of the week to come up and help out with the big stuff.  It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so to get the mattresses down and out to the Dumpster.  And I figure if I bring it up now, there might be time to coordinate something with one, two, three, or more.  Even early evening would work.

My plan is to have them deliver the Dumpster the morning of Monday, March 28th.  We’ll have it all week long; they’ll pick it up sometime on that Friday.  I’ll be in town from Sunday evening through Saturday afternoon and plan to spend some part of every day up at the lake.  So, let me know what times can work for people and/or their kids and we’ll be ready for demolition.  You can either log in and use the comments below or use the Facebook group or email.  But, I’d like to hear from someone on this before I get up north!

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Tax Season Nears

Before I begin discussing the upcoming tax season, I want to take a moment to reiterate the $50 monthly requirement to cover the remaining 2015 P-H School tax bill.  The account is short several dollars as I have not received all payments from all parties (you can check the Google spreadsheet to see the totals for everyone).  This will affect my decision to do anything in the Spring, so the sooner the delinquent amounts can be remitted to the bank, the better.

Tax season, in this case, has two meanings.  The first is that the latest tax bill for Kamp Kalorie (the county taxes) will be arriving in the mail any day now.  For now, it looks to be roughly the same as last year:  $590.15 according to www.taxlookup.net.  But, as stated in an earlier post/email, because of the upcoming construction, the tax bill for next year will be significantly more.  This is why I’m requiring the $50/month payment to cover both the current taxes as well as the upcoming increased taxes.  So, if you had already paid your P-H School taxes, you should start paying the $50/month in January.  If you still owe for the P-H School bill, as mentioned above, you should remit that as soon as possible.  If you’re unsure of your status, check the Google spreadsheets.  All the information is there.  If you don’t have the link to the spreadsheets, let me know and I’ll get it to you.  If you don’t have access to it, let me know that, too, and I’ll grant it (you’ll probably need a Gmail account).

The other meaning for tax season is the fact that we’ll all be filing our income taxes sometime in the next 4 months or so.  I know that I always get a refund, and I expect everyone else gets one as well.  So, here’s something to consider:  The total bill for kamp for each person is $600 for the entire year.  I had initially said an easy way to pay said bill was to split it up into payments of $50 per month.  But, if you’re getting a big tax refund (and with all those kids, I would hope everyone is getting significant refunds), you also can use that tax refund to pay the entire year’s bill in one fell swoop of $600.  Simply write a check and send it to the North Country Savings account.  If you need to know the account number, let me know, and I’ll email it to you.  That one-time payment will take care of your entire year’s commitment to the Kamp tax bill.

That’s it for now!  Still waiting to hear feedback from people on the new kamp design.  Randy likes it and thinks he can move forward with it.  So, if you have any comments, please don’t hesitate to leave them on the blog.