Another week near the Huachuca! (bless you!) Mountains and a beautiful day it is!

June 9, 2021 (5:32 AM)

Ever had a time where it felt that while time stood still it was flying by? Well, it has been 4 weeks since we became owners of the Quality Inn which is now Thunder Mountain Apartments. 4 weeks! Wow! As the frog says, time's fun when you're having flies! And, it seems also to stand still. Read on. 

Today I will share the good, the bad and the ugly. To be fair, nothing is really "bad" nor "ugly". Getting the plans finalized, the bids in and applying for permits has become slightly behind their estimations. "We will make up time in the air!" as the pilot says. Here is the skinny: Remember last week when I mentioned the savings of doing the windows with the unit turns as well as changing the size of the aforementioned windows? Well, we had to wait to get the "cut sheet" from the window company before submitting to the architect for him to finalize the plans so he could apply for permits. What is a "cut sheet" you ask? I'm glad you asked! Basically, it's schematic drawings (is that the same thing?) of the window and its dimensions. Hey! We like pictures so I will include here:

As mentioned, the cut sheet is in and submitted to the architect. He will modify the drawings to reflect the window changes and hopes to submit the plans for permits this week!

Electrical. That was something I referenced in last week's blog of which I did NOT have an update at that time. Well, I have one now! The electrical engineer has been tasked to submit the designs to the architect. They are on the way. Our electrician said he is good to start once we have our permits in place. Since he is local and knows his way around I do not see this as a stumbling block. Once he visits with his team he will confirm timelines, payment schedules and downpayment required. 

Oh! And we have a mockup on how the studios will kind of look. We are supplying some furniture for some units and the residents will supply their own as well. This is a general idea on how they will turn out. How cool is that? We will have around 31 of these units. However, we won't have the enclosed patio. And, second floor units and units facing the parking lot will not have access to the outside. The ground floor units around the pool area will have sliding doors to bring them to the courtyard. These will likely be a premium and we can get a bit more rent for them. 

Pool. We are still awaiting pool bids. They were quick to promise dates for delivery of bids and slow to deliver on those dates. Let's hope their work isn't delayed!

And, a sprinkling of information on the sprinkler update from last week! We handed the project of working with the water company off to fire company installing the sprinklers. They will need to become friendly and negotiate to move the fire hydrant to our side of the property. The fire department requires easy access to the hydrant as they don't want to break through fences and stuff. I wonder why? 

Speaking of which: 

What is it with BMWs and fire hoses. Go ahead and google it and you will see this has happened in California, NYC, Boston and other cities. Maybe BMW stands for "Break My Window"? I wonder. That's what they get for parking in front of the fire hydrant! Anyway, the fire marshal said he isn't against doing this, but he will in order to save the building. 

The last update is one I have been holding out on. People may wonder how we are going to combine units. Well, here is a teaser:

To the left of the picture you can see a door. Many of us have seen these doors at motels for adjoining rooms. At least I am assuming we all have. If you open that door there is another door which is opened from the neighboring room. Instead of having a door here, or two as it were, we will remove these and we have a 1-bedroom apartment! Technically at this point we will have two bedrooms and no kitchen. Let's assume the above picture is no longer of a motel room but of a living area by the window to the back. Just next to this on the right will be the dining area. You follow? One unit will be a bed and bathroom and the other unit will be the kitchen and living area. Let's check out the picture below:

What you see here is a door on the right. Many of us have seen these doors at motels for adjoining rooms. At least I am assuming we all have. If you open that door there is another door which is opened from the neighboring room. Wow! This sounds like déjà vu all over again! To the left is currently the bathroom. This will be removed and therein will lie the kitchen. Don't worry. There will still be another bathroom on the other side of the aforementioned door above on the right which will be removed. In a future blog I will include a graphic representation on how this will look for clarity! Stay tuned!

And, we have bids coming in for the demo work and will update you when we get permits to begin the work. THEN we will have pictures of the changes in nearly real time. 

We submitted our first invoices for a draw against the loan and the lender says, "The check is in the mail." They really did. They said that. We will keep an eye out for it. 

And that is our project from my corner of the globe. ~Bruce