Wednesday, September 12, 2012

a summer project...

Brent called me into his office one afternoon and asked me to sit down.   His mind always has ideas swimming around and his eyes are always open, watching for a new opportunity.  He told me how he was driving down a major road in a local town and found a sea-doo that seamed to be a good price.  His thought was to call the owner, see if he could get it for a good price and then sell it.  We mulled over the questions and possibilities, the what-ifs, and finally he made the call. 


He talked to the owner that day and surprisingly got the sea-doo for about half of what he was originally asking.  The guy was just super anxious to sell it.  We had to enlist the help of my parents and were soon parking it in our shop.  Brent and the boys cleaned it up, took it in to be serviced and finally placed it up for sale.  Within 48 hours it was sold.  That afternoon we sat down with the boys and drew up the numbers.  Here's what we paid for it, here's what it cost to have it serviced, here's the amount of gas we used... our time...  and, here's what we sold it for.  They each made a little something helping Daddy with all of the cleaning.  That was three summers ago.



Last summer found Brent searching for a project, hopefully along the lines of the previous summer.   We just couldn't find another good deal on a sea-doo or jet-ski and so his searching seemed to broaden. He looked in Arizona and finally (ha!) found a deal in Denver.  He looked at the RV and found out the man's bottom line.  He thought about, did a ton of research and we thought about it some more.  Finally, we decided we were brave enough to jump in.  We had to decide though, that if it didn't sell, we'd be happy keeping it and using it.  


One evening we made the trip down to get it.  It was the first time I had seen the inside and my-oh-my was it a mess.  On our way home we dropped it off to be cleaned but that only helped a little.  In the coming weeks we would spend over 50 hours cleaning it, fixing miscellaneous items, and cleaning it a little more.  We were able to take it on our camping trip in the middle of summer and as the last items came in to be repaired, we finally put it up for sale.  We were so tired of this vehicle, so ready for it to just be gone, but we quietly questioned if it would sell.  After it taking so much more work then we could imagine, it was now nearing the end of the camping season.  Amazingly though, we got a call within the first 24 hours of the ad being posted and it was sold just like that.  Again, we sat down with the boys and went over the numbers and they were paid for the hours they put into cleaning.



After the RV was gone, we weren't sure we would look again.  Yes, it was worth it and we made money but it was just so much work.  It's funny though, time passes and you seem to forget the pain.  Summer came and  Brent started looking, although, I'm not sure he ever stops looking.  :)  This time the deal was out of state and would require over 24 hrs of driving.  Somehow he roped my Dad into the trip and off they went.


Thankfully the unit came clean.  It smelled good, just like it was new, and I didn't mind being in it.  ha!  The kids were anxious to use it and so we let it sit in the shop until we could take it out in July.  Finally, it went up for sale and sat on the market for a while.  We just figured that again, we were at the end of the camping season and planned that we'd sell it in the Spring / early Summer of next year.  In the midst of the planning, our neighbor stumbled upon it and decided that it was exactly what they were looking for and just like that it was sold.  We'll sit down with the boys and Faith, drawing out the numbers, and paying them for their time and help.  They'll be thrilled. 


I beginning to think this is becoming a tradition.  I guess next year we'll know for sure.  :)