Just Another Thread, Chronicling the Adventures of a Scrapper

**Mechanic688** · 10-04-2015, 11:20 PM

Looks just like our (partner- I) first big load of dealing with tv's but we forgot to charge back then.
Ours was a fully loaded 26' (might have been a 24') box truck. I'll never do that again.

**SteelMill** · 10-04-2015, 11:37 PM

Yup, this one is a good old 23*7*7.5 International 4700. It's an absolute beast. I went through the whole forgetting to charge process...... Never again.

**SteelMill** · 10-05-2015, 11:01 PM

So, I forgot to update you guys but, the trip to the mountains didn't happen. 20 odd inches of rain decided to get in our way. So i worked and then we went to a fancy restaurant so that I could pay 4 times what I ought to for food and wear nicer clothes than usual. Whatever, it made the wife happy and the seemingly endless rain has been getting her down, so it was easily worth it. We'll probably head up the weekend after this one. More of the leaves will be changing colors and I've been informed by the woman of the house that the trip will happen rain or shine.

I'm working on fixing up the old garage next to the house. We demoed the house that was here before because we wanted something more modern and that one needed a lot of foundation work that would've cost half the value of the house and kept the old garage. It just need rafters, tin, and floor joists for the upstairs. It needs a lot of cleaning too. It's right next to the house so the wife wants to put her cars in it. Says are yard looks like the circus is in the back with all of the cars in it...... I'll post pics as that goes along.....

**SteelMill** · 10-19-2015, 06:00 PM

My Garage plans got canceled for the most part. We went to the mountains and rode the Blue Ridge Parkway though, which is very beautiful this time of year. If you're within driving distance, I would definitely recommend it. My wife has a Mini Cooper that I had admittedly only ever ridden in once. I'm one of those guys that sticks to what they're comfortable with and that's my 2500 and my Mustang. I was really worried about space constraints because I'm a tall dude but those new Mini's are nice, the seat lowers and everything. It also had a surprising amount of kick to it considering it's a 3 cylinder,but, then again, it weighs nothing. The only thing I'm still unsure about is the quality of the parts. I've read that they don't last long, but, she's only got 1500 miles on it, so that's pretty far out.

I did patch the roof on the garage. I went everywhere looking for the aluminum roofing only to find out it hasn't been sold since the mid-80's. I was pretty down about having to roof the whole building, but, when I was at the farm, I noticed one of the old chicken houses has aluminum roofing on it of the same pattern, so you bet, i took a sheet off and used it to patch the garage.

I need to tear down the chicken houses. One collapsed last winter under all of the snow we got and the other one isn't much sturdier.

The farm is a whole 'nother subject. There haven't been cows there since 2009 and they were taken out because the fences were in poor condition and my Grandfather knew he would never see the money back from the fences. I got sick of seeing all of the property go to waste because not only are the pastures empty,a few hundred acres of hay fields have gone more or less unused, So for the past week, my friends and I have been ripping out fence and putting in new posts on one of the pastures. This pasture has about three miles of fence and all we have left to do is stretch fence and maybe install and electric wire. After we have this one down there's only 5 more pastures and 20 more miles of fence...... woo.

We've salvaged 4 tons of wire from old fences in this pasture. As is the case with so many pastures, it just kept getting fences laid out in it so at one point it was much smaller and then it was expanded, and again, and again. That means out in the middle of the pasture you can run across a line of 80 year old posts and get some wire wrapped around your four wheeler axle. It's happened to me twice already. so we had to pick up that wire, dig out, those posts, and fill the holes on those too. It's been quite a bit of work.

I'm going to have to drain, clean, and refill the ponds as well. I'm lucky we have a river that runs on the back edge of the property that I can pump from.

Once I've been using three or four of the pastures for a few years, I'll have to build a pole barn to store hay and equipment.

There's a set of 10 townhouses consisting of 20 units for sale in town that I'm going to buy, I just have to figure out how to tell my wife. I also saw some property for sale that is on a main road that looks ideal for the trailers that I removed from a job site a while back. I'd really like to expand on this part of my income because generating passive income is something my Grandfather always preached to me. I've read a lot of positives about having a property management service that handles, every aspect of renting except yaknow costs. I've read that they generally charge 15% of the rental price and with the limited amount of time that I have, I believe it's the safest bet. They even offer some kind of insurance to me in case their selected renter tears the place up.

There's a set of 4 66' by 600' chicken houses for sale down the road because the man running them passed and his son wants nothing to do with chickens but before I even consider that I need to get some of my projects done.

My Wife's PhD is on track to be completed in four years instead of the typical five and so long as her dissertation is accepted. NCSU has also offered her a job as a professor for the 2016-2017 school year and the school is only a 45-50 minute commute from the house

**SteelMill** · 10-19-2015, 06:01 PM

Sorry for the novel, this is what happens when I allow myself to think about things for a couple of weeks without writing anything down.

**SteelMill** · 10-21-2015, 07:22 PM

So, I talked to the wife about rental properties and she thought it was a great idea (to my absolute shock) and she went and talked to the real estate agent while I was working. That girl brought the real estate agent WAY down on the price, I need her to negotiate ALL of my deals.

So far as the property I saw that I would like to put mobile homes on, it's for sale under the same agent handling the town homes, so I'm hoping my wife will wear down the poor woman on that property too.

I talked to my wife about the chicken houses, but, I don't think I've got enough free time to look after chickens and it wouldn't be worth it to pay someone to do it.

We got the fence stretched over the last two evenings and the pasture will be ready to go as soon as I drain, clean, and maybe excavate the pond a little bit more.

This weekend, I'm having some guys who want to work Saturday help tear apart chicken houses and start tearing out old fence on another pasture since the subdivision they're building in doesn't allow construction on Saturdays (I HATE that.) I'm looking forward to a productive Saturday.

We have a few of the grain bins that sit beside chicken houses that are in decent shape and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about safely moving/selling them.

Thanks for reading guys! -Rob

**kbl** · 10-21-2015, 08:16 PM

grain bins? you meen silos?

not sure if you know about them, i didn't until my neighbor rented one, they make tow-behind man lifts.

it is like a bucket truck bed on a trailer, super nice for doing stuff like that.

they have outriggers that auto level the trailer, and if you are not on too much of a hill, you don't even have to un-hitch it.

**NatureRecycleFlorida** · 10-21-2015, 09:49 PM

If you get into real estate something to think about for better $ and less turn around could be lease to own .
same thing as renting ,but you make a sale for hundred plus thousand depending on area and the renters might not trash there/your house.
If you do rentals get a Real estate lawyer to help you do a renters agreement contract and brief you on your legal rights it will pay in the end .

**dsroten** · 10-22-2015, 07:12 AM

Originally Posted by SteelMill

So, I talked to the wife about rental properties and she thought it was a great idea (to my absolute shock) and she went and talked to the real estate agent while I was working. That girl brought the real estate agent WAY down on the price, I need her to negotiate ALL of my deals.

So far as the property I saw that I would like to put mobile homes on, it's for sale under the same agent handling the town homes, so I'm hoping my wife will wear down the poor woman on that property too.

I talked to my wife about the chicken houses, but, I don't think I've got enough free time to look after chickens and it wouldn't be worth it to pay someone to do it.

We got the fence stretched over the last two evenings and the pasture will be ready to go as soon as I drain, clean, and maybe excavate the pond a little bit more.

This weekend, I'm having some guys who want to work Saturday help tear apart chicken houses and start tearing out old fence on another pasture since the subdivision they're building in doesn't allow construction on Saturdays (I HATE that.) I'm looking forward to a productive Saturday.

We have a few of the grain bins that sit beside chicken houses that are in decent shape and I was wondering if anyone knew anything about safely moving/selling them.

Thanks for reading guys! -Rob

Those bins (assuming its a bin and not a silo) are worth money if the bottom isnt rusted out. Theres a lot of different styles of these things to. I've never messed with the huge ones that have augers and stuff. Poke around in that area with a screwdriver or something to make sure. People were bad to leave feed in them for years and years and it just eats them up. I've sold a couple of the things but if the bottom is rusted out I just mash em flat and to scrap they go. The best thing I found to take them down was a "Lull" as the locals call it, actually I believe the correct term is telehandler, though an excavator would work well also. I just tie a strap around the top, unbolt the bottom, and lower them down onto the trailer with the strap.

**MattInTheHat** · 10-22-2015, 10:45 AM

pictures of the bins would be helpful, there are many types.

also consider selling as is where is.

**SteelMill** · 10-22-2015, 11:21 PM

Kbl, Yeah, I was talking about silos, I was just drawing a blank. They're good silos, there small but, they are in very good condition.

NatureRecycle, My lawyer that is handling the acquisition of the property is also handling my renter's agreement and we have a meeting on the 3rd to discuss my rights as the property owner as well as their rights as a tenant. Lease to own isn't something I'm really considering, because, if I have children (if), I'd like to set him/her/them up with a source of passive income after I pass, so that I'd at least know that they would always have a little bit of money.

dsroten, I hadn't even considered a telehandler, I'll definitely borrow one from another contractor in the area. A crane would be a tad excessive not to mention that it's very expensive to move one. An excavator, I have onsite, but, I'm not exactly a pro when it comes to using one. I guess I could have one of my operators come out and do it and probably end up better than if I moved a telehandler around.

I'll definitely post pictures of them soon.

**Longhairboy** · 10-23-2015, 06:01 AM

One thing I was told by a relative, was always keep your rent modestly high, and you'll weed out a lot of the "trash" from renting from you

**kbl** · 10-23-2015, 05:50 PM

must be a market for those silos within the better homes & garden/martha stewart types, here is a link for a craigslist wanted ad from my neck of the woods.

https://morgantown.craigslist.org/wan/5255327326.html

and as far as the real estate goes, selling as a land contract deed of trust is the way my father in law does it.

its like the buy here-pay here car lots, they want you to default so they can sell the car over and over.

deed of trust puts the responsibility of property taxes, etc on them.