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.

DSC02551

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.

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.

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!

 

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.

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!

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.

Everyone’s Been Added

I’ve taken the liberty of adding everyone as a user to the Web site so that no one will be without the latest updates on Kamp.  This will make it easier to get information to everyone as needed without having to update the Facebook group, the Web site, and send an email.  I’ll also know that everyone is getting the same information from me as I’ll only have to post it once.

If the email address I have for you is not the the one you check most often, please let me know and I’ll change it.  I think you can probably change that yourself within the user settings.  I just want to be sure you’re getting the latest information in a timely manner, which won’t happen if you don’t check your email very often.

The biggest news for this post (aside from adding everyone to the blog) is that I opened a checking account at North Country Savings while I was up north for Christmas.  This will make it easier for me to transfer funds and pay bills as they start coming in.  You should still make any deposits to the savings account as it will give us a chance to earn some interest on the funds, as little as it may be.  Email me for the account number if needed.

I’ll be posting a new concept for the kamp design later today, and I’ve got another post that will follow soon after.  So, keep your eyes open for more information coming soon!

Konstruction Is Being Put On Hold

At this time, I am putting construction of the new cabin on hold. The demolition will go ahead as scheduled for April 2016, but for now, I have no solid plan to move forward with the construction. I’ll detail exactly why.

I sent out an email a month ago regarding the surprise bill for the Parishville-Hopkinton CSD taxes. I have heard from only two people (Lyn and Michelle) and have received money from them (thank you!). I stated in that email and a subsequent email that I did not expect full payment right away but that a payment plan or some other acknowledgement of the bill would be appreciated. In a nutshell, ignoring it won’t make it go away.  What it will do is keep me from investing anything in the property. This is not to be mean, vindictive, or punitive in any way.  Rather, it is the only financially intelligent thing for me to do if I do not have a commitment from everyone involved. I’ve been crunching numbers and, frankly, I’m not liking what I see.

The Internet is a wonderful tool. I was quickly able to find an amortization calculator and some current loan rates and was able to come up with a general idea of what the monthly mortgage payments would be if I borrow to build the cabin. I did this months ago and recently redid the figures based on the rough estimate that Randy had given me. If I were to borrow $40,000 for 15 years at 3.75%, the monthly payments would be around $300.00 a month. That’s a payment I can make even if the interest rate increases by next year when I am planning to get the loan.  The issue is that this would not be the only payment.

The Internet also offers a plethora of information on the properties around Lake Ozonia. After being unpleasantly surprised by the Parishville-Hopkinton CSD tax bill, I decided to do a little research.  Not only can I see what our tax bills are, but I can see what the current taxes are for all of the surrounding properties, both county and school. It’s a matter of public record (you can see it yourself at www.taxlookup.net), so here’s a breakdown of some of what I found:

Emlaw/White:
$2350.00 county
$2171.00 school
——–
$4521/yr combined

Curran:
$2840.74 county
$2624.39 school
——–
$5465/yr combined

White/Harrington:
$2568.49 county
$2716.99 school
——–
$5286/yr combined

Mike White:
$2056.00 county
$1900.23 school
——–
$3956/yr combined

I looked at a few others with Kingston’s being the least amount at $3185.83/year.  Even looking at the low end of these tax bills, the taxes on the kamp will go up significantly once the cabin is built.  If I were to low-ball it at $3600/year, that’s $300/month.  Couple that with the mortgage and whatever the insurance might be, and I’m looking at a monthly bill that I cannot afford.

So, before I make my commitment and move forward on construction, I need an absolute commitment from each one of you that you will pay your share of the taxes and insurance.  That means starting next month (November 2015), you commit to paying $50.00 a month, paid to me or deposited in the North Country Savings account.  For November and December, unless you’ve already paid me, this will cover what is currently owed on the P-H CSD tax bill (plus $10).  From January on, those monthly payments will cover the tax bills for 2016.  Yes, I realize that the taxes are not that high yet.  The reason I’m making $50.00 the requirement now is four-fold:

  1. You’ll have paid your share of the 2016 tax bill each month.
  2. The extra monies will be stored as escrow in the account in case the taxes are higher than anticipated after construction.
  3. You’ll get used to paying $50.00 a month as a normal monthly bill, a rate that may increase once the cabin is complete.
  4. I’ll know you’re committed to this project.

Without that commitment of your share of the taxes, I cannot afford and will not feel comfortable to move forward with a construction loan.  I cannot afford a $300.00/month mortgage payment and a $300/month tax bill (and whatever the insurance might be).  I have my own living expenses to consider just like everyone else.  I’m committed to the mortgage and my share of the taxes and insurance.  If you’re not willing to make the commitment to your share of the taxes and insurance, then we’ll have an empty lot at the lake; I have to take down the current building no matter what because the liability of leaving it standing is too great.

That’s where I stand on the camp project. I’m having issues with the user registration, so you’ll have to comment on the Facebook group for now.  Or shoot me an email if you don’t want to discuss it in public.

I’m also thinking a gathering in Google Hangouts or my virtual office at GoToMeeting might be in order soon rather than trying to work out all these details over email and blog posts.  Let me know, either on Facebook or through email what days/nights/times work best.

Registration Is Now Available

So, I expected WordPress to make it a bit more simple to add user registration. I mean, it’s a blog that allows comments, so why wouldn’t it have an easy user registration feature?

Well, it didn’t, so I had to install a plug-in and create new page. But, you should be able to register on the site now. This may mean I need to watch for a bit of spam here and there, but it was either this or creating user accounts for each one of you. This way you can choose your own username, password, etc.

Greetings!

Welcome to the new Kamp Kalorie site!  Using WordPress will allow me to add posts and have old posts archived.  It will also allow for better organization of the information to be disseminated to those with an interest in Kamp Kalorie.  This will also allow for registered users to comment on or reply to the posts that I add.  Depending on how much time I have, I may also upgrade those who register to admin positions so that I’m not the only one posting.

I hope to have the pages from the old site, including the link to PayPal, to be added soon.  So, stand by for updates!