westernrvparkow
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Re: Yellowstone Lodges and Campgrounds to open in June
Gulfcoast wrote: Maybe the nightly camping fees will come way down. Why? If business is off 80% to begin with, why lose even more revenue by cutting prices? Saving ten bucks on an RV site won't induce people to suddenly take a major vacation. Restrictions, closures and fear are are what has shut down travel, not RV site prices.885Views0likes0CommentsRe: Yellowstone Lodges and Campgrounds to open in June
cptqueeg wrote: westernrvparkowner wrote: bobsallyh wrote: westernrvparkowner, after reading your doom and gloom report, I thought early on that I read an article about the neighbors of those business's. Sure enough I did. https://www.ktvq.com/news/coronavirus/neighboring-counties-ask-yellowstone-national-park-to-close Yes,it is very easy to put someone else out of business. I don't believe the county health officials are missing a single paycheck. And I bet all the retirees and other posters on these forums advocating erring on the side of safety would feel a bit different about shutting everything down if the shutdown included draining their savings and retirement accounts. I'm not even a year into retirement and I've put off a remodel on my home, my stocks took a big hit, and my income from the sale of my business in NY is declining, perhaps never to return, and I'm fully behind whatever measures need to be implemented to reduce the first wave and eliminate a 2nd or 3rd wave. This disease is waiting for us to get complacent. I'm here in Idaho where we had the highest rate of infection in the US, #8 now, I think, so having people swirling around singing kumbya in yellowstone is a scary thought if I was a local working or owning in the tourist biz. Money is not worth dying over. If Yellowstone is close to empty and people feel safe I think you'll find many more people w/in 500 miles taking advantage. One thing I'm sure of is if we get a 2nd wave that will put the brakes on the entire season. Would love to visit there - last time for me was fighting the big one back in '88. When you see your net worth go from multiple 7 figures to possibly nothing in the span of three months perhaps your perspective would have changed. Currently less than 1/3 of one percent of the US population have tested positive for COVID. The death toll is currently just over 1/100th of one percent of the population. People are actually not dropping dead in the streets. The big national parks in the west are about the easiest places in the country for people to social distance. The big concern that shut down the parks in the first place was congestion at the entrances. For some reason the simple solution of suspending entrance fees and letting people just drive in didn't occur to the highly paid park officials.718Views0likes0CommentsRe: Yellowstone Lodges and Campgrounds to open in June
bobsallyh wrote: westernrvparkowner, after reading your doom and gloom report, I thought early on that I read an article about the neighbors of those business's. Sure enough I did. https://www.ktvq.com/news/coronavirus/neighboring-counties-ask-yellowstone-national-park-to-close Yes,it is very easy to put someone else out of business. I don't believe the county health officials are missing a single paycheck. And I bet all the retirees and other posters on these forums advocating erring on the side of safety would feel a bit different about shutting everything down if the shutdown included draining their savings and retirement accounts.719Views0likes0CommentsRe: Yellowstone Lodges and Campgrounds to open in June
jdc1 wrote: While it is a shame that seasonal businesses will be dealt a huge blow, I would be more apt to play it safe with employees and guests. A bank will understand the late or non-payments, the families of dead people won't forget. I really wish there was an alternative, a magic cure-all. If only it was as simple as the bank will understand. Unfortunately, the banks have to abide by banking regulations and those unpaid payments will put those loans into non-performing status, decreasing the banks reserves. If the bank has a large number of these non-performing loans, which is likely for the community banks in seasonal tourist areas, they run the risk of being declared a failed institution and have their assets (the loans) liquidated. Even worse, the value of those businesses are likely to have fallen by 25% or more, erasing the equity those business owners have in the business and making refinancing those loans impossible. Unlike retirees who really haven't lost anything but time in the shutdown, or employees who will either return to their job in a few months or will find other employment should their jobs not return, many seasonal business owners are likely to lose their businesses and their life savings. For those people that is a staggeringly high price to pay in the interests of possibly preventing the spread of a virus we still have no idea of it's actual morbidity.719Views0likes0CommentsRe: Yellowstone Lodges and Campgrounds to open in June
The shutdown is going to bankrupt many businesses in the Yellowstone area. West Yellowstone and Gardiner Montana are almost exclusively Yellowstone tourist oriented. With only a partial opening of the park beginning in mid June businesses in those towns are going to lose nearly the entire season. Even if the park begins to open June 15th, and that is not an etched in stone given, visitation is going to be very slow to return. A huge number of reservations have already been cancelled for the year. Yellowstone is not a spur of the moment vacation option, most people plan such a trip months in advance. A significant percentage of Yellowstone visitations are foreign travelers, it is doubtful any foreign visitations will occur this year. Many potential visitors will decide visiting the park when there is only limited services is not a good idea and will delay a Yellowstone trip into the future. Fears of the virus will keep still others at home. Businesses that operate in the Gateway towns make almost all their revenues during the 5 months of May thru September. A loss of a significant part of those 5 months means they have no hope of recovery until over a year from now. Yet much of their overhead will continue. Rent and loans will still have to be paid. Property taxes aren't going to be forgiven or reduced. And even looking ahead to 2021 does anyone really feel comfortable betting that everything will be back the way it was before the pandemic? How many people really have the financial assets to go an entire year without income and not even have the secure knowledge that things will return to normal after that year? For summer seasonal businesses across the country this shutdown will likely be a fatal blow.720Views0likes0CommentsRe: Gas Prices and Exchange Rates
romore wrote: Gotta love it as a consumer but the oil and gas industry is taking a huge hit putting many out of work at a difficult time. There is no free lunch. The change the OP is talking about is very BAD for the consumers in Mexico. He is benefiting only because his primary funds are in US currency. The weakening of the peso makes all items imported into Mexico more expensive for the locals.131Views0likes0CommentsRe: HOA says NO to temp RV for Dr.
A1ARealtorRick wrote: jfkmk wrote: time2roll wrote: jfkmk wrote: Maybe the HOA board is a thankless because they act like a bunch of nazis telling people how long they can have their door open. I guess the honeymoon is over. You loved moving in on that tree lined street clear of cars, perfect yards, garages closed, community pool and all the rest. Then you pull in your RV and there are ten complaints. What should they do? I live in a very nice and desireable neighborhood, but it isnt sterile. I couldnt care less if someones garage is open or if they park their car on the street. Perfect yard? Who cares! Kids playing on the street....super! Hey, if you want to live in a Stepford community, thats your business, but its not, in my mind, a desirable place to live, nor do i want to live where someone is breathing down my neck telling me to close my garage door or tell me i cant plant a particular flower because it doesnt meet their expectations. Thats crazy. OK, OK, I get it. The consensus of opinion on this forum is that HOA's are pretty much the work of the devil himself. I'm sure some of them....plenty of them...are indeed horrific. However, being in Real Estate since the mid-1980's, I've pretty much seen it all. The good and the bad. Believe me, there are plenty of both. For a small monthly fee, I personally love the idea that the entrance to my neighborhood and all common areas are meticulous. I like the idea that my lawn and my landscaping are perfect -- without me having to lift a finger. I love the idea that four doors down is a beautiful impeccably-maintained pool, again, without me having to lift a finger to maintain it. Yes, to each his own, and we can agree to disagree, because what's of value to some of us (especially those of us with physical limitations) is not valuable to others.....that's the beauty of it all :) I agree, in many situations HOAs are both an asset and almost a necessity. With many years of dealing with the public, I can attest to the fact that some people justify saying or doing anything if it serves their purposes. I can easily envision the HOA having a multiple homeowners wanting to park RVs under the pretense they are "medical workers". Fact is, people will lie to get what they want. Not really any different than the entitled people who pawn off their pets as "service animals" to take them to places they otherwise wouldn't be allowed. To the incident mentioned in this post, why does the guy have to park in his driveway? If he is actually isolating himself from his family, he can park it at a RV park. Maybe the hospital will let him set up in the parking lot. He really doesn't need to be in the driveway since he is isolating, which means not having contact with those in the house. We know nothing about the history between the HOA and the home owners. Maybe there has been ongoing issues either with this specific homeowner or another owner or two and the HOA knows it will open a huge can of worms if they now make an exception. Sometimes it isn't worth the risk to take even a peek inside Pandora's box.565Views0likes0CommentsRe: And Texas Caves In
wnjj wrote: free radical wrote: Lantley wrote: Cummins12V98 wrote: Those with underlying health concerns you know who you and they are. Keep them isolated til this blows over. Simple as that as those are the ones actually dying. So far we haven't managed to do that very well. Lots of people dying in nursing homes. I suspect the reason is,those places dont get any fresh air especialy in winter,just keep recirculating stale air full of viruses. One person gets sick and many others catch it too. Same thing hapened on those Cruise ships. All AC ducts are conected,just like in the house heating systems. one of my friends likes to go on cruise w his wife and he always complains how bad the air is in the cabin, the air conditioners must have some mold growing in the ducts most likely "Lots" of people dying in nursing homes is because lots of people in nursing homes are elderly and/or have underlying medical conditions which are exactly this virus' targets. Also, the ones with large death rates are the only ones making the news so it creates observation bias. My question is how many nursing homes are doing just fine with the proper precautions? Before COVID the average stay in a nursing home, not counting those in the home for recovery care for things like a hip replacement, is less than 3 years. Since long term nursing care residents don't generally recover and return home that means 1/3 of nursing home residents die each year COVID not withstanding. They are the one of the most likely places for people to die, probably only trailing Hospice facilities.243Views0likes0CommentsRe: How much off MSRP now?
The economics of pricing are much more complicated than just lower demand equals lower prices. First, sellers cannot a product for less than cost and stay in business. Vehicle sellers often finance their inventory and have to pay the balance owed on each vehicle at time of sale. That means a dealer would have to pay out of their financial reserves to sell a vehicle below cost. Second, sellers know that within the laws of supply and demand, there is elasticity of demand to consider. Some products are very price sensitive. People will probably buy a lot more pizzas if the price falls to $3.00 and very few if the price rises to $300. On the other hand, the price of insulin really doesn't matter. People with diabetes will pay whatever the sellers are charging, but cheap insulin won't get them any more customers so the price competition is only between the various sellers with no real concern for the demand from buyers. Within the RV sales business, both happen. Lower prices would certainly draw more customers, but the price changes needed to draw those customers may be too extreme for the sellers. Lowering the price of an $80,000 fifth wheel an additional 5 or 10 percent likely isn't going to motivate someone who is out of the market due to fear of losing their job. It is very likely the dealers are realizing the only people currently buying are those with a need to buy. Buyers such as a full timer who's motorhome had a catastrophic failure or a buyer who wants to flee a virus hotspot and really isn't concerned over the final $5,000 of a transaction. And don't forget the dealers know it is more difficult to actually shop for an RV. Travel to distant dealers is more difficult and may appear to be dangerous to many. They know that there are many people stuck at home with nothing to do, so they shop the RV world on the internet with no real plan to buy today. Dealers know that offering exceptionally low prices today may cost them profits in the future when things open up and buyers return. They won't want to be in a situation where the returning customers waive an email from the dealer offering to sell RVs at a price the dealer only wanted to accept during the shutdown. The dealers are likely going to adopt the policy of "good things come to those who wait".347Views0likes0Comments
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