When we left Warner Robins on Oct. 5th, we first spent 2 days in Savannah and Tybee Island. It was a beautiful area and if I ever make the jump to go to art and design school, I would definitely consider SCAD (Savannah Centre of Art and Design).

Next we stopped in Jekyll Island, a beautiful little island with a strong view to conservation. The highlight here was meeting a group that was doing shrimping over the beach and they let me have a go at it. I had to really control myself when I was constantly getting nibbled by curious little fish and rammed by panicked shrimp. I’m just glad I didn’t get nibbled by any sharks.

Next, we went to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island. This was a great little beach town and our hotel was right on the beach where we spent most of the time looking for sharks teeth. It is supposed to be a hot bed for all sizes of teeth. The only one I brought home was given to me by a regular visitor who found one in about one minute. The only disappointing this about Amelia Island is that most of it was for sale. They had not faired well in the real estate collapse.

From there we followed the Flordia coast south and had dinner on the beach in Daytona. I thought it was great to be able to drive right onto the beach. I guess it just makes sense in the birthplace of NASCAR. After dinner we headed to Orlando, where I spent 2 days at a commercial real estate course.

From Orlando we head to the Gulf and stopped in Fort Walton Beach near Destin. This was a very touristy place and also another area hit by the real estate decline.

After ripping through Alabama and Mississippi we stopped in New Orleans. A fantastic place to visit. So much history in the French Quarter where we stayed. We even walked Bourbon Street with the kids at night. Lots to see and surprisingly the kids didn’t even ask why there where so many scantily dressed women in many of the store fronts. For us, New Orleans was all about the food. We sampled everything that Louisiana is known  for and I fell in love with crawfish (not crayfish!!) and Amelia with Gumbo.

We had one more stop in Louisiana and that was for lunch in Breux Bridge, the Crawfish Capital of the World. I had the crawfish platter with crawfish prepared in about 10 different ways. I was all amazing.

Our next stop was in Houston. Unfortunately, I’m not sure this is a city I would return to, but we did have a great visit with some old family friends. The first time since we left Winnipeg in July.

Our next stop was in Frisco to stay with more family friends. This time we took a break and we stayed a whole week. With beautiful weather and great friends it was a welcome break.

Next up was Gurdon, Arkansas for another day with friends of the same family. That whole family is great which is why we planned visit more of them after stopping in Jacksonville, Arkansas to visit a few mobile home parks. Originally, we had planned to stay in Jacksonville for a couple more months, nursing our new mobile home additions to health, but they have not yet come through so we stopped, shook hands and sailed on through to Conway, Arkansas to meet the rest of the family.

Our last “friendly” stop was in Garnett, Kansas to meet friends from the mobile home park world.

After one more night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, we hightailed it back to Winnipeg. But not before getting hit by a nasty, slushy, slick snow storm. Luckily, we did not end up in the ditch like some many others we say and we got past Grand Forks (Super Target) and Canada Customs without incident and back into Winnipeg on Oct 30th, at 7pm.

Since we have been home, I have been get everything back in order. Going through mail. Updated Quicken. Filing. Banking. This next week I spent working on a plan for one of the parks we looked at in Arkansas and fired my mortgage broker. Now we are on our own and looking for someone to help us get another park or two.

Again, sorry I haven’t written for a while. Just needed to focus on the present as the present blew past.

I’m back.

I have been thinking of starting this series of blog entries for some time now. Problem is, I have been so busy focusing of getting ready for our road trip that I have kept putting it off. Yesterday, the apparent stress that has been building up finally got to me.

We are planning to leave on Saturday for a trip to Warner Robins, Georgia to attend the closing of the purchase of our first mobile home park. I say “first” because we plan to buy several over the next several years. It has been a significant learning curve getting accustomed to the world of mobile home parks, U.S. real estate and generally being out of my element.

People as us all the time, how did you get involved with mobile home parks and how did you find this one. The simple answer is, the Internet. As you may or may not know, our ultimate goal is to move to Costa Rica. When in Costa Rica, we are not able to work a regular job because we will not be residents of the country (at least not right away). So, in order to generate the income to live, we needed something that would provide us with a stable income in an arena that we understand and are comfortable with. Since I have been dabbling in real estate for many years, it was obvious that real estate investing was where we had to focus. Also, since we will be non-resident investors, we needed a solution that would work well over the Internet and telephone. A solution that fit what we already know – rentals.

Mobile home parks provide a means, using on-site management, to run the park without being on site. As well, the volume of parks in the U.S. is very high (buyer’s market) and the barriers to entry are relatively low for the amount of income you can generate (high returns). So why mobile home parks and not other types of income producing real estate like renting homes, apartments or commercial property. Well, having several single family homes can be a administrative nightmare, apartments buildings have low returns and high maintenance costs, and commercial…well…let’s just say that this is not the time to be investing in a market that is having one of the worst times in history (vacanies are visible all around). Mobile home parks do well in any economy. There is always a need for low income housing.

So today, I start planning the trip down to Warner Robins to see where we will stop and how long we will need to drive each day. We are travelling with our three young children, so planning is much more important. Lot’s of work to do.

‘Til next time.

So every night, we begin with our prayers. At the end of the prayers, we each say something we are thankful for and something we pray for. Natalie still gets these mixed up a bit, and the boys have a good laugh about it. Actually, this part came from a Marshall Sylver course we took. We had to give something to someone else for them to remember us by and each time we would look at it or touch it we would say what we were thankful for.

My gift was from Ryan. He gave me a flat, pink, polished stone that he had polished himself. Ryan, at the time, was a successful real estate investor at the age of 18. He was a great inspiration. Anyway, I walked around with that stone in my pocket for probably a year. Each time I touch put my hand in my pocket, I would touch the stone and it would remind me to be thankful for something. Anything. As I write this, I am remembering that I haven’t carried that stone with me for a long time. I will do that starting tomorrow (Maybe you could send me a reminder, okay?). Luckily, the “thankful for/pray for” that we do every night keeps me honest.

Some point along the way, Matthew added: “And now we shall live for Christ” to the end of this. He is very perceptive.

Next, as a transition between the prayers and the declarations, we all state something thing that Amelia added and that was:

Every day, in every way, it’s getting better and better!

Then we go straight into the declarations. We started out using the signature Peak Potentials laminated cards (I had created one card for each of the kids, each with their name on it). The declarations come from many sources, and mostly from the T. Harv Eker courses we have taken. After a few weeks, we didn’t need the cards anymore. This is how it goes:

Everyone loves me!
Because I love everyone!

I am beautiful!
I am perfect just as I am!

I always smile!
Smiling just feels right!

I am a master of my mind!
I see “awesome” in everything!

I am happy!
I choose to make it so!

I am here for a reason!
I add value to other people’s lives!

I am a child of God!
I make this world a better place!

I improve continuously!
I practice everything!

I am a warrior!
I succeed in spite of anything!

I am a champion!
I achieve anything I desire!

I am Kyle Edginton!

We end off the last part by saying our name (please replace my name with your own or that of your child) and giving each other a solid, energetic Hi-5. Okay, so not always energetic, but a Hi-5 nonetheless. It is bedtime after all. The point is that saying our own name and striking a Hi-5 afterwards, helps to imprint what you have just said in your mind and make it believable for you.

Has it made a difference? I think so. The kids fit over who gets to say their “thankful for/pray for” first. They have creative ways of giving Hi-5s…and 10s…and feet…and whatever else they can think of.  My kids are happy (generally). They care about other people (mostly). They are confident (nearly always). And they are beautiful (ABSOLUTELY!!!).

Has it made a difference?

I am Kyle Edginton!
I say it does!