All Forum Posts by: Page Huyette

Eric Krust thanks for the link to rinks for sale--very helpful.
Going to look at a potential location this week.

I got a quote earlier this year for about about $700 per unit installed from this vendor:

http://www.submeterstore.com/

Billing service was quoted at $50/month which seemed high, but I've not looked into it more than this.

Some great thoughts Eric! No rinks closer than 2.5 hours to visit, being Montana and all. But I like your idea of visiting/observing others and researching ones for sale. Also looking into why there are less nowadays. Food for thought...

Jon Klaus there's already more or less a church on every corner in this town, so that market is pretty saturated :)

Steve Babiak I certainly agree about the difference, but innovation often comes from blurring lines, no?

I appreciate all of your responses, gut reactions and advice--thankyou!

Yes I know what you mean. Similar to managing your own rentals or having someone do it for you. We were considering a food truck and even had friends willingly offer investment money, but the thought of sitting in that truck all day killed the deal for me.

If we go for the rink, my spouse will be running it :) We have the opposite of your hot summers here, looooong white and cold winters, with not much to do for those that don't ski or hunt. Still researching....

The thought was to eventually purchase the building the rink would be housed in. Right now the biggest obstacle seems to be the high rents that large spaces like this command, but I'm still looking into it.

Karen Margrave yes, I didn't see any other posts on this one :)
There is a lot of info on the web, and I'm doing my prelim research. Will post updates.

My spouse and I have been bouncing this idea around for awhile. There's a local supermarket in town that is vacant--right smack near downtown, high school and the college.

Wondering what it might take to get it up and running as a roller rink. Without getting into the structural aspects of the building, I'd love insight from anyone who owns something like this. Let your imagination fly!

If there is another good tenant applying for the property, why not just rent to them instead? I suppose this depends on how difficult it is to fill a rental in your area. My hunch is that if they are already trying to customize a property that isn't theirs, perhaps they are unclear on the concept.

A few years back I had a tenant that asked if they could put in a garden. Got a neighbor to come over with his tractor to prep the beds, brought in good soil, etc. They paid for all of it. It wasn't anything fancy, but by a renter's standards, they felt it was a big deal. I'd say they put a couple hundred dollars into it.

Surprise! Two or three months down the road we are having problems with them paying rent among other things, so we give them 30-day notice to terminate their monthly agreement. An argument ensued, with them demanding to either be reimbursed or get help moving the garden. I'll leave the rest of the exchanges to your imagination.

I also like Matt Devincenzo's suggestion, if you have to go with the fence. I'm also saying this as a former renter many years ago who poured love and money into little beach bungalows, replacing flooring, adding fencing, gardens, paint, you name it. But if you are viewing your properties as a true investment, then that's what they are.

It can be hard to straddle the line sometimes, but I've been burned by other tenants as well (painting, extra roomies with paid utilities, spraying cats) so in my opinion if its a fairly easy place to rent, why stress over someone who is already causing you angst?

LOL, yes I meant $8.00!

Thanks for the nudge Bill Gulley I did overlook that. My local bank that does seller refi of an income property after six months ownership is American Federal Savings.

I've also been given the six months thumbs up from local lender Stockman Bank.

For local third party servicing, if you don't go the online route, my local servicer is First Security Bank. Monthly service charge of $800 plus original origination fee, which would be $375 for a loan of about $275k. I have also been told that some local Title companies in the area do servicing, but haven't researched that.