Clarkson Energy Homes

My main business is being a landlord of a small mobile home park. It’s just little too tiny to be my sole source of income. So, I also spend time doing affiliate marketing and the occasional web programming project for others. Currently I am committed to three new web sites. One web them is up and running. The second web site, which was originally the first one, is running but has no content. The third web site is currently a site created by an author with one of those web interface tools (Blech!) where the software programmers seem unaware of how page validation works. Last month I had only the second of these projects, but last month my home was a wreck. I have just gotten over a four month funk with my disease and I hadn’t clean much in all that time. I have corrected that now at the risk of not completing my current projects. Do you remember biorhythms? You do? Man, you’re old. I think the theory behind biorhythm was that your emotional and other rhythms were not always up or always down at the same time. That’s how I feel now. My financial life is in the toilet while my health and quality of life seem are on the rise.

Today, I only rent the land, but a few years ago, I used to rent mobile homes. I had one fellow who had a couple of kids and was squeaking by. Like most people, he tended to live paycheck-to-paycheck. I tried everything short of paying him to help him stay in my rental, but eventually had to evict him. During the last week or so of his stay, we were still trying to work things out and he said he was speaking with someone about something at lunch earlier that week. Now, I need you to picture how I lived at that time. I had gone to work for Wal-mart because my rentals were not pulling in enough money for me to live on and my savings were quickly dwindling. I live a pretty meager life. I don’t eat out. I don’t commute. I combine trips to save fuel. I only watch matinees at the cinema. I set up a community book exchange to lower my book costs. I drink a diet powdered drink to save money on food. Back when this was happening I didn’t even have cable TV. (more…)

Oh, I just had the worst meeting and I can only blame myself. More than a year ago, I made a big mistake and I am paying for it now. You see, I own a small mobile home park in Stephenville, TX. I live right in the middle of it. I lease my improved land to mobile home owners. I do not own any home other than my own.

Just about a year ago I was not feeling well and a two homes in the park were purchased while I was shut in my house. When I was notified of the sale, I should have immediately informed the buyers who were the current residents that they had no lease and that they needed to move out of the park immediately. As you can probably guess, I didn’t do that.

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In real estate investing propaganda I often see terms like “50 cents on the dollar” or “buy property for half off.” This is bull shit, folks. Any product sold is worth exactly what the purchaser paid for it. A house which sells for $50,000 is not worth more than $50,000. We know that because it sold for $50,000, not for more than that.

Is is possible for a person to buy a house in the morning and sell it immediately for a profit. With a double closing I could do it in one trip to the closing company. Though it is a rare deal, it might be possible to buy a property for $50,000 and immediately turn around and sell it for $100,000 in one transaction.

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