Another way to stay here in the valley!

I know it may sound a bit like we are bragging, but really we are just reporting that it was hot enough this afternoon, that we caved in and started the A/C for the last 4 hours before sunset.  That seems so wrong, as we will have to resort to some heat after midnight tonight, but such is the desert.

We had a wonderful morning hanging around the motor home with the door open and Loyce working on her charity blankets.  I was hemming up the legs of a new pair of light weight warm up pants by hand.  I usually don't like too much sewing by hand, but with the fragile cloth of the pants, it had to be hemmed by hand.  Loyce knows that I can sew, so she said have at it.

It was after noon, when I finally got cleaned up and out on my scooter.  I was headed to an ownership RV park to check it out.  In this mecca of RV parks there is almost every kind of  park you can imagine, and here is another kind to be interested in.  It looks just the same from the road and while you are driving around inside.  But......you don't rent from the office.

Everyone has a deeded lot.  They own their little 36 by 48 feet of ground, and their resultant share of the common area too.  But that is deeded to the management corporation.   And you still have to pay $110 a month for common expenses.  It is operated by the HOA or home owners association.  

The surprise is that a lot cost between 50 and 65 thousand.  Wow!  and you still have the $110 a month to pay to the HOA.  And that goes up every year too.  I wonder what principal interest taxes and insurance will be on the 55K lot.  Maybe that $550 a month rent here in the RV park isn't so bad after all.  I'm beginning to understand why folks just rent here in the park!!!  

It would take years and years to come out any better with this ownership thing.  And do you really want to own a postage stamp sized lot, so many miles away from home?  Now I'm really confused by the many options to live here in the desert Southwest city of Mesa, and of course Apache Junction.

If you invest 50K in a lot, and forego the interest it would earn, even at 5 percent it would be $2,500 a year. Then add the $1,200 of HOA dues, and your up to 3,700  now pay the real estate taxes, and suddenly the $4,700 here at the park doesn't seem so out of line.  And that's why people do the park rental bit!

So I guess I'm still in the no buy zone.  I'm not convinced you should own anything as an investment here because it simply would not be anything but an expense.  Even a normal house here is horribly depressed in value.  It would be a nice thing to purchase at the current values, but since we would not be here for months, that isn't realistic either.

Now we know why we have an RV and just come down in the winter!!!  

As the sun set, I was able to turn off the A/C and head out on the scooter again for a late sandwich over at my favorite restaurant.  W.......

Usually I don't ride after dark, but tonight it seemed fine, as I had changed my helmet face shield to the clear one.  Still I came back almost immediately.  The last time I rode at night, was back in KC in the rain storm after the ham club meeting.  I was really wet that night!

Retired Rod