Builds Poppy- '84 FJ60 (1 Viewer)

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Well guys, I'm here in Spokane (since last Thursday) I had an appointment to sign all my lease paperwork on a shop and when I got to the brokers office today they said it had been leased to someone else. I'm just beside myself. I had an approved application and the broker had my $9K deposit for over 7 weeks. I even called earlier last week to verify that we were on tract to finalize all the paperwork today.

So, not sure when I will get moved now. There are very few shops that will lease to a fabrication/automotive company in Spokane.

I spent the rest of today and will continue tomorrow to look for land to buy and build what I need. If this is the case it may be as late as next spring before I get to fully relocate.

So, once my back starts feeling better I will start building some products. Probably racks, mounts and maybe a few front bumpers.

Jason

 

[red66toy]

Bummer! I can't believe they did that to you! I wonder if the owner got greedy and got a larger lease offer? Best of luck finding something else.

 

[mongoose2231]

What the crap bro, sorry to hear! Hope u get off the ground again soon.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Bummer! I can't believe they did that to you! I wonder if the owner got greedy and got a larger lease offer? Best of luck finding something else.

What the crap bro, sorry to hear! Hope u get off the ground again soon.

It was a real hit to me. 3200 sq ft, fully paved, office and showroom area, 1/2 acre fenced yard.... etc.. Oh well, it happened for a reason. It'll all work out if its supposed to.

J

 

[mcguirejohnson]

Man sorry to hear about the casa Jason. I should have stopped by the other week in the cruiser, drove it to the Winds and I passed through Rock Springs there and back..

 

[60Works]

Sorry to hear about the shop set back, J. Hopefully another, better option will present itself. In the mean time your back can heal and allow you to fab up some more Cruiser Awesomeness for us to drool over!

 

[Bear Lake Cruiser]

Realtors and Brokers.........might as well be politicians

 

[gregnash]

Damn dude that is some shizty shizzle... But like you said, happened for a reason. Best of luck finding what you need, whether it be purchased land and build or something to lease/rent..

 

[MANUCHAO]

It'll all work out if its supposed to.

^^ Yes
J, that bites eh....!!!
But yah..... It'll all pan out.....
This is an opp to heal up and find an even better shop place.....

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Found a couple pieces of land today, 10 and 17 acres. I like the 10 and Andrea likes the 17. But, wouldn't pass on the 17.. I have to leave for Minneapolis tomorrow and Andrea is going to stay another day to talk to the owners and pull records at the county office.

SHOP---- My attorney called the broker today. They said that the listing agent,for that shop and a few others, quit and cleared his pending accounts records before he left. We got the deposit check back this afternoon. AMAZING how they had that on file but not my application and file of insurance documents they required. What a bunch of crooks.

J

 

[MiyamotoMusashi]

Damn...in every walk of life it's the 1% that screws things up for the rest of us.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Damn...in every walk of life it's the 1% that screws things up for the rest of us.

Unfortunately, I honestly feel that the % is much higher these days.... I'd venture to say 30-40%... All people care about are themselves. Makes people like me and others always second guess our decisions to help on a regular basis.

We (the family trust/foundation) privately donate to over 30 organizations around the US and Canada. We meet a few times a year to vote/discuss what funds get allocated to which organizations. There are only 7 on that list that we have donated to yearly since we started the foundation 12 years ago. I'd have to double check this number but IIRC we have donated to 135 organizations in 12 years. We do all we can to research the recipients, but things are hidden easily in the upper management. I call it the one hit wonder list.

The way I have started performing my research is I go to the place and talk to the patients/users, volunteers and employees. See what the real scoop is. Happy or unhappy employees/recipients will always divulge their thoughts. I never step foot in the directors and managers offices (that job is for my sister). They are more often than not used car salesman with their hands out. Its quite a shame.

J

 

[NCFJ]

Bummer on the shop Jason. Something will reveal itself

Realtors and Brokers.........might as well be politicians

When I was building houses we referred to a real estate license as "The Divorced Woman's Diploma"
I've met two real estate professionals in my life that I somewhat trust

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Bummer on the shop Jason. Something will reveal itself

When I was building houses we referred to a real estate license as "The Divorced Woman's Diploma"
I've met two real estate professionals in my life that I somewhat trust

Stan, I like it!!

I of course am in a somewhat of heightened bad mood..... and the other realtor that had been showing us houses made a snarky comment about Canadians today... It went all over me and she was fired on the spot in the middle of a living room during a showing.

 

[NCFJ]

We were extremely fortunate when we found this place. Heather's boss buys and sells a lot of real estate and hooked us up with his agent/broker and he was our buyers agent. Our deal was beyond complicated and he hung in there and between he and Heather made the deal happen. 415 days from first offer to the settlement table. I would work with Dennis again in a heart beat.

The seller's agent was a buffoon and was fired and Dennis did the whole deal.

 

[lcwizard]

It was a real hit to me. 3200 sq ft, fully paved, office and showroom area, 1/2 acre fenced yard.... etc.. Oh well, it happened for a reason. It'll all work out if its supposed to.

J

You're right about lenders avoiding fab/metal and auto related. It seemed to happen in a big way after 2007. Every credit line and account I had was either cut back severely or eliminated. It wasn't just me. Even Man-a-Fre who was in business since the 60's saw his credit lines
disappear. This in turn affected his ability to carry inventory which meant he couldn't buy product from me like he once did. A steady 8
years of 20-25,000 every month dried to 7 or 8. Banks had decided that places like myself and select market vendors were too risky. My banker told me I needed to look into outsourcing to Mexico, India or China. They were "special" lenders for that. Great, more US jobs out the window.
You're pretty much on your own in this business. Unless you focus on servicing big corps or the government a fab shop isn't going to attract the banks

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

You're right about lenders avoiding fab/metal and auto related. It seemed to happen in a big way after 2007. Every credit line and account I had was either cut back severely or eliminated. It wasn't just me. Even Man-a-Fre who was in business since the 60's saw his credit lines
disappear. This in turn affected his ability to carry inventory which meant he couldn't buy product from me like he once did. A steady 8
years of 20-25,000 every month dried to 7 or 8. Banks had decided that places like myself and select market vendors were too risky. My banker told me I needed to look into outsourcing to Mexico, India or China. They were "special" lenders for that. Great, more US jobs out the window.
You're pretty much on your own in this business. Unless you focus on servicing big corps or the government a fab shop isn't going to attract the banks

That shop wasn't meant to be and it was huge for what I needed. Just thought it would be nice to have the extra indoor vehicle storage.

I think this ordeal is telling me to take more time to relax and heal up and really decide what I want to continue to pursue on the fabrication side of things.

Credit lines and banks are a PITA and other than a couple of maintenance credit cards we use for air miles, I just write a check for what we need.

When I had my code shop we'd run from 90-200k a month during busy times and slow was 40-85k. Sold it during a high time and never regretted it for one minute. 2008 cut me by about 38% but now back over 17% on the portfolio.

I have things spread all over the place now so hopefully if things tank again one day it won't be such a struggle to recoup.

 

[TLC Norway]

Ooh, crap. You're the kind of guy that will turn this mess into something positive, so I'm not worried.

Poppy looks fantastic, keep busy!

P

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Ooh, crap. You're the kind of guy that will turn this mess into something positive, so I'm not worried.

Poppy looks fantastic, keep busy!

P

P,

I'm back home. Spent some time in Spokane, Golden, BC and Minneapolis, MN area. Andrea did the due diligence on the land and we pulled the trigger this morning and signed the contract on the 10 acre plot. Closing is next month and then we will go through the building and planning phase. We've already been playing with house floor plans, so that is almost set in stone. I'll play with the shop floor plan (approx. 2400 sq ft indoors and another 1500 sq ft of carport/covered area) Then the barn Andrea wants, another 1200 sq ft building.

The property has a previously assigned landing strip easement on it. Which will be nice for a couple of our friends with 150 and 172s.

J

 

[gregnash]

For the love of god Jason!!!! Are you really Bill Gates or someone and just acting like you're not!! Looks like beautiful property there and congrats on the new find. Planning is always fun to do.