Clarkson Energy Homes

I just had the strangest visit. About a month ago I sold a mobile home for a woman who had abandoned it. I sold it “as is” to a buyer for $2,500. That’s what was owed on the back lot rent plus some late fees. She got $500 down and financed the rest plus some prorated rent on a note. I took the note in exchange for the back lot rent. This morning, the buyer came over with his son who acted as interpreter. He said the roof leaked. I said, okay. He asked if I had insurance to repair it. I explained that I never owned the house, that it had been abandoned and that, no, I had never had insurance on the home. Since I never lived in the house I don’t know much about it at all. I don’t recall speaking of insurance during any meetings we had prior to the sale. I asked if the leak was a bad leak and was told it was serious, but they both left just the same. They have done quite a bit of work on the house and they have already moved in. I doubt I’ll get it back, but it was a really strange conversation. Perhaps it was the translation, but the owner just seemed to make statements and seem to expect me to repair the leak in house he got for $500 down. There are a couple of lessons to learn here. First, any mobile home which has a weak spot in the floor probably has a leak somewhere. I recall a weak floor in the living room of this particular home. It was near a window and I assume that window leaked. Always leaving a window open is not usually enough to weaken the floor. It requires a constant leak and a constantly wet floor. So, if you are inspecting a mobile home look for weak spots in the floor and consider why that weak spot exists. Every weak spot is a potentially leaky wall, window or roof. Another lesson here is for me to learn. Since I get one or two abandoned homes a year and since I am expecting one again soon it behooves me to make a checklist for buyers that clearly defines what will and will not be covered should something go wrong with the unit after the sale is made. I could translate it into Spanish ahead of time just to make sure there are no false impressions about warranties or insurance.

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.

I just caught a speeder and probably slowed a lot of others down. The evenings have been cool and a shady spot is just right for reading a book and waiting for weekend traffic. I have also been sitting outside some early mornings. I think my presence slows down residents, but I may get some paddles (with signs on them) to slow down some guest traffic. Private Road 1098 is pretty slow and I don’t mean to imply its the Indi 500. The speed of almost all vehicles remains below 10 MPH. There are only a few people who speed, but the residents who used to stop speeders have all moved on to greener parks. Speeding is really not a problem when the children are at school, but I am watchful when they are in the park.

Well, it finally happened. I have had quite a bit of success with the Sun Valley Family Barbecue for more than two years. This last month only 5 people showed up. None of the regular participants arrived and I know most were at home. I hope it was just too darn hot to go outside, because my ego cannot handle any alternative. (more…)

Last night I did some indirect grilling. I cooked baked potatoes and sausage. The sausage burned, but still tasted great. The potatoes cooked faster than I thought and tasted fine. I added hickory wood chips to the coals this time. I didn’t really taste the hickory, but I did enjoy the food. I resisted the temptation to eat all three potatoes.

Well, the day started around 4am and things were going downhill. The SunValley Family Barbeque got off to a dismal start. The two families which show up most often must have had other plans and just after 3pm it looked like no one was going to show up. (more…)

First, I didn’t expect anyone to show up and I wasn’t surprised that I ate alone. Here are some thoughts on what went wrong and what went right. (more…)

Well, it’s that time of the year again. It’s time to lie to my residents about the quality of their drinking water. Technically, we are all telling the truth. We are just leaving out a lot of truth we would rather not tell the public. I am writing about my annual Drinking Water Quality Report (aka the Consumer Confidence Report). What kind of truth? (more…)

If it hasn’t happened already, the Spring Cleanup should be underway shortly. That burned-out trailer in the front should be down to its very base. That has been my albatross since three days after I took over the park. The owner abandoned it and went to jail soon afterwards. With my very limited funds I had it pulled out of the lot in hopes of placing it in the back of the park. The back end started to sag while we were moving it and that was the best place to dump it. (more…)

I used to cook off shore in another lifetime. I was a fair cook, not a great one. I always had someone around to check my work. On Friday’s most rigs barbecue. We’d have thick steaks and burgers and we never killed anyone. (more…)