Tuesday, December 21, 2010

bought stocks for Macon road

20-Dec-2010



Sold Vanguard total bond fund (VBTLX) and prime money market (VMMXX) and bought Vanguard S and P 500 (admiral shares) and Vanguard Small cap (admiral shares).  Split the money 50-50 between SP 500 fund and Small cap fund.

Sold Total bond fund (VBTLX) -- approx $530,100
Sold Prime money market VMMXX -- approx $288,884

Bought Vanguard S and P 500 (VFIAX) - $115.31 -- 3554.39 shares  -- approx $409,856 total
Bought Vanguard Small Cap (VSMAX) -  $34.97 -- 11,747.78 shares -- approx $410,820 total

Monday, December 13, 2010

Bought stocks for NBC

In mid December 2010 bought about $100,000 of each of the following stocks for NBC
Amerigas Partners LP -APU - $48.3299-- 2070 shares
Conoco Phillips - COP - $64.48 -- 1550 shares
Johnson & Johnson - JNJ - $61.818 --1617 shares
Kraft - KFT - $30.65 -- 3263 shares

Altria - MO - $24.57 -- 4070 shares
Merck - MRK - $35.98 -- 2779 shares
ATT - T - $28.76 -- 3477 shares
Walmart - WMT - $54.28 -- 1842 shares

Google - GOOG - $591.81 -- 169 shares
McDonalds - MCD - $77.13 -- 1296 shares
Proctor & Gamble - PG - $63.65 -- 1572 shares
Autozone - AZO - $264.70 -- 378 shares

Bought about $100,000 of each

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Tracy Caldwell Dyson - astronaut, russia


A Soyuz descent module carrying Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Korniyenko, and NASA's Tracy Caldwell Dyson came back to Earth September 25, 2010 from the International Space Station and landed safely in Kazakhstan, a day after an initial attempt to return was aborted after latches holding the Soyuz TMA-18 craft to the orbital station failed to open.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Why are companies bulging with cash and should gov borrow more or less?

From Jason Thomas article in National Affairs.  There are 2 theories about why companies have amassed so much cash right now and are not spending it.  One is that there are no customers right now and so why build new plants and shops?  The other is a David Ricardo theory that when businesses see an increase in government debt, they start to save more because they know taxes will rise in the future.

Which is true?  If the second one is true then the almost $1 trillion stimulus program by the fed gov is bad because it will make things worse because gov had to borrow more to get the money for the stimulus.  So instead of stimulating, the stimulus will cause businesses to invest even less in new projects and save more. This is because the businesses will see that they will have to pay even higher taxes in future due to the higher gov debt.

Also, even more borrowing by US fed gov could finally exhaust the willingness of bond holders (like Chineese gov and others) and make them demand higher interest to keep buying US bonds.  Interest rates are very low right now (fall 2010).  If rates go up enough it will cause recession and crush US economy.

But others say that US gov should continue or even increase US gov debt level because to start to balance the Fed budget (by lowering gov spending) as was done between 1936 and 1938 will cause a massive slow down and drop in output that will cause an increase in unemployment.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Bought International stock fund for GTNC

TOday I bought $45,000 of VGTSX Vanguard Total International stock fund for GTNC.  We had too much cash and bonds, so I bought some stock. Share price was $16.09.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

sold intermediate bonds for GTNC Vanguard account

Todat I sold 250k of intermediate bond fund VFIDX and bought short term bonds VFSUX.  I did this because I still anticipate interest rates going up at some point.

Bought Ivy fund and more municipals from John Snowden

Yesterday John Snowden called me and told me I had 100k in cash in account due to sale of longer term municipal bonds.  I told him to buy 30k of Ivy New Opportunity fund (INOAX) which he had told me about, and 70k of municipal bonds less than 5 year maturity.  This is in Morgan Keegan non IRA account.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Bought VEUSX today for Macon road

Today I bought $50,000 of Vanguard European Stock index fund (VEUSX).  That fund follows the MSCI Europe Index.  We need more stock (as opposed to bonds and cash) in the Macon road portfolio, and we already have some US large cap and US small cap.  We also already have some Pacific and emerging markets index funds.  I picked the amount of $50,000 because that's the amount of the money I recently sent to Vanguard that came from the Macon road CD at Cadence.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Wired 250k from T Rowe Price Hacks acct to Regions acct

Today wired $250k from T Rowe Price Hacks Cross account to Regions Hacks Cross account.  I did this so we can then transfer the money into the Shamrock account at Regions to rectify debt service coverage ratio problem.  Robert Clark at Regions called me about this last week.

Bought VEUSX Europe fund today

Today I bought $25,000 of Vanguard's Europe fund VEUSX in my personal vanguard account.  It follows MSCI europe index.  I got the money from my Vanguard money market account VMMXX.  I read in Ken Fisher's book that you should invest by following a benchmark.  I need to have more money invested in equities and also more invested globally, so I bought this fund.

Monday, October 25, 2010

possible investments

USO - pure oil commodity fund
CNDA - canada small cap --- expense ratio 0.69% according to IQ site
EWC - canada large cap --- expense ratio 0.55% (yahoo finance)
KROO - australia small cap
EWA -  australia large cap --- expense ratio 0.55% (yahoo finance)

Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Investor Shares (VWSTX) (municipal bond fund)

Vanguard Short-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares (VWSUX) ($50,000 minimum)
VWSUX has an average duration of about 1.2 years.

Vanguard Limited-Term Tax-Exempt Fund Admiral Shares (VMLUX) ($50,000 minimum)
VMLUX has an average duration of about 2.5 years.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Bought TRP and Encana

Today I bought $10,000 of TRP (transcanada corp) and $10,000 of ECA (Encana) in my Fidelity personal account.  Encana is a good company to buy if you want to be invested in natural gas.  TRP was reccommended by Ken Fischer in 25-Oct-2010 Forbes column.  They have natural gas pipelines.  I want to be invested somewhat in Cananda and also in commodities, and natural gas is a commodity.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

macon road partners - bought short term bonds

Today I sold $517,145 worth of VFIDX (intermeiate term bond fund) and bought VFSUX (short term bonds).  I did this because interest rates appear to be so low that they have no where left to go but up.  And I think there will be inflation.  The fed is talking about doing "quantitative easing".

Friday, October 15, 2010

Bought ConocoPhillips and Altria

Today in my Fidelity account I bought 167 shares of COP at approx $60 per share.  That's about $10,031 total.  Commission was $7.95.  I might have bought more, but the price is at an all time high it looks like to me.  I bought COP because it has a PE ratio of about 9.5 and a dividend yield of about 3.7%.

I also sold $150,000 of VFICX (Vanguard Intermediate term bond fund) that was in my Fidelity account because I am worried that interest rates will go up (and there will be inflation).  I had approx $200,000 of VFICX and so I'll only have approx $50,000 after this trade.  I might buy VFSUX (Vanguard short term bond fund) with the money.

I also bought 400 shares of altria (MO) at about $24.95 per share.  That's about $10,000 total.   Fidelity.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Sold intermediate bonds bought pacific stock

Tayloe's personal account  ---  Today I sold $30,000 VFICX (intermediate bonds) and bought $20,000 VPACX (pacific index fund) and $10,000 VMMXX (money market).  I think interest rates and inflation may be going up, so I sold out of some of my intermediate bond fund and bought into Vanguard's pacific stock index fund and put the rest in money market.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Went more short term for Macon Rd at Vanguard

Today I decided that Macon rd partners has too much invested in the Vnaguard Intermediate term bond fund VFIDX and I sold $500,000 of that fund and bought the following:


$250,000 --- VMMXX Prime money market fund
$250,000 --- VFSUX short term investment grade bond fund

The average bond maturity for the intermediate fund is 6.9 years.  The average maturity for short term fund is 3.1 years.  I think interest rates may rise and so I wanted a shorter maturity.  I am apparently now restricted from selling any more of the Intermediate fund until 7-Dec-2010. 

Friday, September 24, 2010

Canada Australia and commodities

EWC - MSCI Canada Index Fund - has lots of big canadian stocks in it.  According to yahoo financial, the major categories are:
26% - Industrial materials (I assume this is commodities like oil, gas, metals)
7% - energy

10% - consumer services (???)
44% - financial services (banks)

VGENX - vanguard energy mutual fund with a bunch of oil companies in it

KROO - smaller cap australian companines (not nearly as much emphasis on financial companies).  This fund was started in March 2010 by Index IQ.
CNDA - smaller cap canadian companies (not nearly as much emphasis on financial companies)  This was also started by Index IQ in March 2010.  According to Benzinga.com This fund has 50% of its money in materials and about 19% in energy.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Estate tax notes

from Jim Dilley

Say a man dies with a $10 million estate. At time of death, he has $2 million left of his lifetime exemption (unified credit as it is known) and $900,000 left of his generation skipping tax exemption. He could leave all to wife, but then he's wasting the $2 million lifetime exemption. He could put $2 million in trust for kids and and then leave the other $8 million to wife. Then later when wife dies, she can structure her will to take advantage of her lifetime exemption and GST exemption as she wants.

But maybe he wants to leave money to grandkids too. He could leave $8 million to wife and $1.1 million to kids and $900,000 to grandkids. This would get at least some money ($900,000) to third generation without paying any estate tax because $900,000 was the amount of his GST exemption.. And it uses all of his lifetime exemption.
-------------------------------------------
Met with Lytle Nichol 24-sep-10

GTN will.

Assume that estate is $10 million at death and that GTN gave $1 million in gifts during his life.  So his lifetime exemption (unified credit) which started at $3.5 million is now (at death) down to $2.5 million.  2009 GST exemption was $3.5 million so we'll use that in this example. He has not used any of GST exemption at time of death.

First, add $1 million in lifetime gifts back to estate so estate is $10m + $1m = $11m.  Subtract lifetime exemption from total estate $11m - $3.5m = $7.5m.  So $7.5m goes into marital trust for Sarah.  The other $3.5m (really $2.5m because the $1m added back to estate is really not there) goes into residuary trust for children. 

Marital trust:         $7.5m
Residuary trust:    $2.5m

But to use GST exemption, make all of the $2.5m in residuary trust GST exempt.  That leaves an additional $1m of GST exemption leftover.  So use that to exempt $1m of the Marital trust.  To do that, split the marital trust into two trusts, M1 exempt, and M2 non-exempt.

So now it looks like this:

M1            $1m (GST exempt)
M2            $6.5m (nont GST exempt)

Residuary trust    $2.5m (GST exempt)




Monday, September 20, 2010

Land on Stinson just east of Knox in Fayette County

Talked to agent Jimmy Morrison (cell 489-9806) today.  He is an agent with Banyan Tree.  He has 13.78 acres for sale for $329,700.  That's about $23,925 per acre.  It is on south side of Stinson about 600 feet east of Knox.  He said that Buck Clark (Nick Clark's dad) has the land across Stinson (on the north side) and that he used to own this land and that he put restrictions on this land.  It cannot be divided and you cannot put a trailer on it.  The current owner paid abut $60,000 more for this land than the asking price.  The owner doesn't want to build big house on it like he was going to because of the intermodal rail yard going in about 1.5 miles to West.  Jimmy lives right behind (to south of) this land.  His driveway is on Knox.

Looked at this land with Margie 19-sep-2010.

Also talked to agent Andrea Folda (cell 849-0405) with Prudential Collins-Maury about lots on North side of Stinson near Frazier.  The 2 lots are about 5.4 acres each and are priced at $140,000 and $150,000.  She will email me covenants.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Fidelity annuity info

Dave Dettmer (800-343-2431 ext 62038) at Fidelity called me today about annuities.  He is in Cincinatti. 
He said there were two basic types:  Deferred and Immediate.  Deferred were more of an IRA product and you could not draw money out until you were at retirement age and seemed to have other restrictions too.  An immediate annuity allows monthly payments after you pay Fidelity a lump sum.  If I am 53 years old and I pay Fidelity $646,313 up front, they will send me $3000 per month ($36,000 per year) until I die.  If I want to have them guarantee that the payment will be made for at least 10 years, even if I die before that, then the up front payment goes up to $652,796.  On the "plain" (no guarantee) annuity, the rate of return is 36,000 / 646,313 = approx 5.57%

If GTN at age 79 were to give them $321,000 then he could get a monthly payment of $3000 ($36,000 per year) until he died.  His up front fee is much less because he will die sooner.  If he wants the guaranteed 10 year payout, his up front payment goes up to approx $396,000.  The increase to his up front fee for 10 year payout guarantee is much greater than Tayloe's because he will die sooner than a 53 year old.  Girls will get a somewhat worse deal because they statistically live longer.  On plain (no 10 year guarantee) annuity the rate of return is 36,000 / 321,000 = 11.2%.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Meeting with Mac McGowan at McKee and Mcfarland

25-aug-2010  Met with Mac McGowan at McKee and McFarland yesterday about Bachelor farm (509 acres - price $1,030,516 or $2025 per acre)) in Haywood county TN, and Feathers Chapel Rd farm (370 acres - price $1,333,800 or $3605 per acre) near Somerville.  Got a lot of info from Mac and from Terry McFarland.  Terry said that the 2 row picker which came out in 1946 changed everything.  Whereas there used to be 1,000 people living on 5,000 acres of farmland, and they were all needed, now there needed to be only about 200 people.  So 800 people were "kicked to the curb".  He said farmers did not want to pay to retrain these people (white or black) and said that it was not their problem.  But the problem came back to haunt them and their children in the form of welfare society, high crime, and blighted areas.

According to McGowan, annual farm rent for Bachelor farm is $16,000.  Hunting rent is $3,000.  So total annual income for Bachelor farm is $19,000.  Bachelor farm has 114 crop acres out of the total 509 acres.  This rent sounds a little high because Bill Carwell told me that farm land rents in the range of $85 to $135 per acre per year.  At $100 per acre, the rent for Bachelor farm would be 114 acres x $100 = $11,400.  

Feathers Chapel farm has 162 crop acres out of total 370.  McGowan said farm rent income for that farm was $16,000 to $18,000 per year.  Hunting rent income was $3700 per year.  This farm income is more in line with what Bill Carwell said (162 acres x approx $100 per acre = $16,200).


Terry said that a farmer needed to farm at least 5,000 acres to be able to justify the purchase of all the equipment.  If you farm less, you would have to get by with old used equipment.  So a farmer that leases 100 acres from someone would probably be leasing another 4900 acres or more from other landlords.

Terry said that the new technology allows planting to go 24 hours per day, because light is not needed anymore.  This takes a lot of risk out of farming.  If it rains during planting, you cannot go into fields to plant.  You have to wait.  So in the old days, rain caused delays.  It still causes delays, but since you can plant around the clock, you can get your crop planted much quicker so chance of rain delay is much less.

Mac said that perhaps the best irrigation method is "flood" irrigation.  You grade your field to have a slight fall and then you roll out tubes of plastic which are almost like garbage bags in appearance and thickness.  Tubes have holes in them to let water out all along distance.  You run the tube on high side of field and water runs down entire field to irrigate it.

Terry advised me to buy only farmland east of Crowley's ridge and south of what he calls the "second shelf" which is the big bluff which can be seen near horn lake.  He said this area has good water at around 80 to 100 feet deep.  Other areas have water problems.  The water at this depth comes from aquifers which are ABOVE the artesian water which memphis is famous for.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Partnership percentages

G & T --- George 49 Tayloe 51
Hacks Cross --- George 50 or less Tayloe 50 (Nancy has either 2.5 % or 5%)
Shamrock --- George 50 Tayloe 45 Nancy 5
(I had Shamrock at George 40 Tayloe 55 and Nancy 5 but I think that was a mistake)

Shelby Drive --- George 49 Tayloe 51
Macon --- George 50 Tayloe 33.34 Nancy 16.66
Nickey Getwell Mini --- George 79 Tayloe 10 Nancy 10 Nickey Inc 1

NBC --- George 79 Tayloe 15 Nancy 5 Nickey Inc 1
Big Horn --- George 25 Tayloe 75
Nickey Inc --- George 100

Medicine Bow --- George 49 Tayloe 51

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sarah Smith Nickey Trust

The 4 assets put into Sarah Smith Nickey Trust by GTN were:

Half of Walloon Lake house
49% of G and T Development
49% of 33 acres on Hacks Cross - Medecine Bow
50% of Shamrock Investments Partnership

space based solar power

Microwave radiation is non-ionizing.  This means that it will not strip electrons off nuclei which would cause ions to form.  Ions damage DNA.  Light waves and radio waves are also non-ionizing.  Therefore if solar power is transferred back to earth from space based solar collection satellites, ionization will not be a problem.

Monday, July 19, 2010

253.8 acre farm in Chicot county AR

Called Bill Ayres (cell 901-487-8774) Friday about this farm.  Bill works for Keith Morris at Farmer's National.  Price is $600,000 or $2372 per acre.  Farm is on Bill Young road.  Bill Ayres said that land like this could be rented out for $140 per acre per year. That sounds high.  This farm was being used for catfish ponds, but there was too much foreign competition, so it is being converted to rice.  About 2/3 is in rice now.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Farmland

Last night after tennis, Bill Carwell said that in Arkansas, farmland was renting for a low of $85 per acre per year and a high of $135 per acre per year.  These are rough numbers.  He said there was some really high quality farmland that had recently changed hands at $4600 per acre.  Bill said that there were all different deals, but that one fairly common deal was to rent land for a low flat rate and then take some percentage of the profit (if any).  That way the landlord gets a guaranteed minimum and a chance at more, whereas the farmer only has to pay the low flat rate if it turns out to be a bad year.  Bill rents land for 25% of the profit and no base rent.  I can't remember if he meant that he leases land TO other farmers or if he leased land FROM other landlords.


He said that it would be hard to buy farmland and make more than 3 or 4 percent on your money.  His land is extremely flat.  It is either dead level or it slopes 2 tenths of a foot in 100 feet ( I think).  It is irrigated.  John Brewer's land has been rented to the same farmer for 20 years.  It is apparently rented on a percentage-of- profit basis.  John would like to rent it for a flat rate, but does not know who to talk to about it.  Apparently his current renter does not want to rent for a flat rate.  John's land is not flat and is not irrigated.  It would be too expensive to flatten John's land.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Calorie counts in beverages

Pepsi   150 calories in 12 ounces or 12.5 calories per ounce

Propel 10 calories in 8 ounces or 1.25 calories per ounce

McDonalds sweet tea 230 calories in 32 ounces or 7.2 ounces per ounce

McDonalds nutritional facts PDF says there are 90 calories in 12 ounces of tea or 7.5 calories per ounce

Generic sweet tea (data from livestrong.com) 5.6 calories per ounce

Dietbites.com says there are 91 calories in 1 cup of sweet tea, which is about 11.4 calories per ounce
1 cup = 8 ounces

Monday, May 10, 2010

Trip to Oxford - 7-May-2010

Went to Oxford (Lafayette county) on Friday and saw 3 properties.

First was DeLa Vine II, right off of highway 6 as you come into Oxford from the West.  Two story with commercial space on bottom and condos on top.  14,960 sq ft.  Asking price is $2.2 million.  David Hollinger 662-934-9148.

Next was a big warehouse at 927 Whirlpool drive which was vacant.  It is near Ole Miss and whoever was in this before has moved out.  Some sort of manufacturing company.  Agent is Jones Lang LaSalle company.  422,000 sq ft on 58 acres.  Price was not available.

Last was warehouse at 13 Industrial drive off highway 7 south of Oxford.  68,000 sq ft on 5.5 acres.  List price is $1.5 million or $22.06 per foot.  Colliers Wilkinson Snowden.  Preston Thomas 375-4800.  Talked to Preston by phone.  Last tenant, Toro, was paying rent of $3.5 NNN (triple net). Preston Thomas said that was too high.  He said that some one has the building under contract to turn it into a sports workout gym.  That person has gotten approval from Oxford authorities to do the conversion.  I don't know what taxes, insurance and property maintenance are on the property, but surely they are at least $1.5 per foot per year, so that makes total rent around $5 per foot which is what we used to get at NBC for small spaces.  So I agree rent of $3.5 NNN is too high and that owner could only probably get ????? maybe $2 per foot??  At $2 per foot NNN, it shows a much less attractive return than at $3.5 per foot NNN.

Preston also has a retail center for sale in Oxford.  It is 100,000 sq ft and is at hwy 7 and University.  Asking price is $5.5 to 6 million.

He also mentioned that the "EC" building (Exact Commerce) on South street in Collierville near Shamrock is still for sale. It is 40,200 sq ft total with 5,270 sq ft being office.  Price used to be $2.2 million and now it is $1.75 million and owner wants to sell and might go lower.  There is a brand new tenant in building who signed a 3 year lease.  The new lease provides $3 per foot NNN to owner, which is approx $10,000 per month free and clear.  

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

De La Vine II - Oxford MS

14,960 square foot 2 story building with commercial space on bottom floor and condos (now for rent) on top floor.  Owned by David and Deanna Hollinger.  Deanna's office number is (662) 234-1234. Address is 101 Ricky D Britt Blvd, Oxford 38655. David (662-934-9148 cell) said that there are 4 commercial spaces on ground floor which are approx 1870 sq ft each.  He has one rented to a lawyer now for $2000 per month which is $12.83 per foot.  There are 8 upstairs condos and they are built to be converted easily to commercial space if and when time is right.  He is leasing these condos now because they are hard to sell.  He is leasing for approx $750 per condo.  So potential income right now is 4 x $2000 = $8000 downstairs and 8 x $750 = $6000 upstairs for a total monthly revenue of $14,000.  That's $168,000 per year.  $168,000 per year minus 8% vacancy and collection loss ($13,440)  =  $154,560.  If expenses are 40%, then NOI is $154,560 - $61,824 = $92,736.  So at a cap rate of 9%, building is worth $1,030,400 or about $69 per foot.  It is priced at $2.2 million or $147 per foot !!!!!!!

Hollinger has the original De La Vine off Jackson (??) near an Applebees and some hotels.  It is only one story.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Funds I learned about on Morningstar

VPCCX - Vanguard Prime Cap Core
VDIGX - Vanguard Dividend Growth
HABDX - Harbor bond fund - bought $100,000 of this today (12-apr-10) for Nickey Getwell Mini

Monday, April 5, 2010

sold vanguard total bond fund

5-April-2010

Today I exchanged the approx $77,000 that I had in the Total bond fund (VBMFX) in my personal account into two new bond funds.

VFICX - Intermediate term investment grade bond fund
VWEHX - High Yield Corp bond fund

I did this because I discovered that VBMFX is heavily invested in US Government securities and US mortgage backed securities. I do not want to invest in the US Government and also want to get a higher yield on my money. 40.1% of the VBMFX fund is invested in Treasury/Agency funds and 31.4% is in Government Mortgage-Backed funds. That's almost 72% of the entire fund!!!!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Redeemed shares at T Rowe Price and Bought JNK at Fidelity

Today redeemed $100,000 from US treasury fund at T Rowe.  They will send check to office.  I will distribute to myself and GTN.  I anticipate getting a total of $300,000 out of Hacks Cross TRP account so partners can invest it on their own for more yield.  So there is $200,000 more to redeem after today.

I also bought $50,000 more of JNK (SPDR Barclays high yield) for my personal acct at Fidelity. Money came from money market account at Fidelity.  There was $59,000 in money market fund, so after this trade there will be about $9000 left.

Friday, March 12, 2010

spots on skin

Nancy Curran emailed me this link today.

http://dsap.net/

LAST UPDATED: 7/21/09

Hit "reload" on your browser to view most recent updates

DSAP is such an uncommon skin disorder that there is very little information available on it. I am not a doctor, but I've learned that amazingly (and sadly) the majority of Dermatologists either haven't even heard of DSAP or just plain can't recognize DSAP!  ...General practice doctors? Forget about it!!!  I found this out the hard way, learning 6 years later that I had some of these genetically predisposed spots that are brought on by sun and/or ultraviolet exposure (and in some cases possibly by some sort of relaxation of the epidermal immune system). AMAZINGLY I had visited 1 family physician and 4 dermatologists over the years before I finally got the correct diagnosis. These various doctors MISDIAGNOSED it as a fungus, "nothing", seborrheic keratosis, folliculitis, actinic keratosis (AKA solar keratosis). One of my dermatologists amazingly even did a biopsy for cancer before concluding that my skin condition was "nothing".  Dermatologists most commonly misdiagnose DSAP patients as having actinic keratosis. In my case the one doctor who finally correctly diagnosed me was actually unsure whether I had actinic keratosis or DSAP or a combination of both. It is a major error for a doctor to misdiagnose DSAP as actinic keratosis because AK is a more serious condition. After having misdiagnosed or even after having correctly diagnosing a DSAP patient, doctors will often put the patient on a topical medication called Efudex (AKA Fluorouracil, Fluorouplex), which only makes DSAP look horribly red and irritated for many weeks or months, while really doing nothing to improve the skin condition. After reviewing many emails and guestbook posts I have concluded that Efudex is an aggravating waste of time when it comes to "treating" DSAP. This medication was designed for Actinic Keratosis - Not DSAP. Based on email reports from patients, I am of the opinion that you should also avoid any other medications that cause a harsh reaction (such as Levulan or "Blue Light"). Based on years of feedback from patients I have concluded that at this point in time there is no medication (topical or oral) that improves this condition.

Once DSAP has been diagnosed, the best thing you can do for improvement is to avoid further sun damage hopefully by using the strongest sunscreens and avoiding direct sunlight as best you can. Over time there really is improvement. Current "treatment" for DSAP is only suppressive or palliative (to try to make appear less offensive) rather than curative. Most patients (especially myself and those with light complexions) will argue that these harsh "palliative" treatments (like Efudex, lasers, freezing, and others) are a waste of effort and will worsen your appearance short term and may even worsen your long term appearance. I have however read and received reports of people's varying degrees of improvement from deep freezing and from using laser treatment, but for every positive report I get a negative report from patients who tried freezing (but wound up looking worse). Accordingly I suggest trying only test spots to start if you decide to venture down the freezing or laser treatment route. Read ALL of the guestbook posts BEFORE trying any treatment. Email as many people as you can with questions. Again, people with very fair skin might be best suited to just avoid freezing or laser treatment.

Getting rid DSAP spots (if at all possible) is certainly not as simple and easy as burning off a common wart.  DSAP appears to be rooted in sun damaged DNA in your skin (dermis) and therefore it just keeps growing back. So I take any claims of DSAP "clearing" with skepticism. Is it possible to at least cosmetically get rid of DSAP spots (like pulling up a weed by the roots)?  The guestbook post (below) are helping us get a clearer picture of this everyday. My gut feeling is that the only real DSAP treatment that will ever really work will emerge from an off label use of medication or combination of medications intended for psoriasis and/or actinic keratosis, or emerge someday from proteonics (protein expression) or stem cell therapy. Hopefully some of you visiting this page have the time and energy to try to get a University research fund under way. One of the first hurdles in getting research under way is finding patients to donate DNA samples. Fortunately as a result of maintaining this page for several years I already have contact info for many DSAP patients. I would expect that a good number of these people would be more than happy to help in research studies if one ever materializes.

DSAP is considered a rare disorder so most dermatologists have little (if any) experience with "treatments". Therefore it would be wise to do your OWN foot work and second guess your doctor's "treatment" advice, especially if they want to put you on a harsh treatment like Efudex, or chemical peel or extensive freezing treatment without trying test spots first and waiting several months.  When first diagnosed, DSAP patients are often desperate to "try anything", and doctors feel compelled to at least "try something", however the best path may just be to simply make an effort to avoid the sun, wear strong sunscreen and take no medications at all, or maybe try "test spots" with various medications and/or freezing. Ask your doctor how many patients he/she has worked with. Just how knowledgeable is he/she? Does your doctor even know what DSAP is? It is YOUR OWN responsibility to find a knowledgeable doctor! Based on my experience there are very few who know their field inside and out. I believe that you might be best off finding an older (experienced) doctor who has practiced a long time and works out of an office with perhaps other dermatologists from whom they can get 2nd opinions.  DSAP mainly effects people of European decent (white people) so perhaps you might get better diagnosis from a Caucasian doctor. There seems to be too little knowledge on the disorder. Much of the knowledge that IS out there is clouded and confused. But after reading this page YOU might become more knowledgeable on DSAP than the vast majority of dermatologists! I have sorted through the mess (by scouring the net, talking to some doctors and many patients) and finally created this page to share my experience, and for all of us to gather info from around the world about DSAP. Bookmark www.dsap.net and periodically check back for the latest DSAP news.

The combination of sun avoidance, wearing the strongest sunscreen (if you must go out in the summer sun), and wearing long-sleeve shirts (if you're outside for a prolonged time) can actually help reduce redness over months and years of time, and then with the combination of concealers you can actually look pretty good! When patients first notice DSAP, the redness usually looks pretty bad.  Trust me you have a lot of improving to do once you stop hanging out in the sun. I believe that some of the redness of DSAP is maybe a bit like the knees you scarred as a kid. It can take months and years for that redness to improve. DSAP redness doesn't go away but it makes a difference to avoid the sun and wear SPF 65 or SPF 75.

I am trying to assess the effectiveness / ineffectiveness of various drugs that DSAP patients have tried. In particular I am looking to survey LONG TERM effect, as some patients may claim initial "success" but later lapse back to their previous condition or worse.  Please contact me with your stories so that I can form better opinions to report on this site regarding "treatments".

Trip to Starkville MS and Koscuisko 11-March-10

Went to see:

Pine Grove apartments in Starville owned by Dwayne Brazil.
University Villages apartments in Starkville owned by Regions
Hickory Hills Mobile Home Park in Kosciusko.

Pine Grove - 59 units (39 and 20) --manager Daniel Allen (cell 662-418-2889). Daniel is paid $2500 per month and owner also gives him $500 per month with which to do maintenance at Pine Grove.  Rent is $400 per month if appliances are furnished and $375 if not.  They are going to a policy of not furnishing any appliances.  Tenant has to bring own refrigerator and stove and washer dryer.  Units are approx 600 sq ft.  They are putting in nice looking tile that looks like hardwood in all units instead of carpet.  They don't do credit checks on tenants.  Daniel does maintenance himself except for heat and air, carpet & tile, and major stuff.  They need a $30,000 asphalt job and coverting all units to tile floor will cost approx $1000 per unit or $40,000 to do remaining units.  Daniel has only about 3 vacancies right now.

Daniel told me the Sugar Shacks were in forclosure and available for sale.  They are 10 small houses (16 x 26 I think) next to Pine Grove.  Bank wants $165,000 for all ten. They rent for $350 per month.

University Villages are nice.  They are at Blackjack road and Hearst.  I will call Jerry Harrington 684-4731at Regions for more info.

Hickory Hills Mobile Home Park is a pretty bad looking trailer park in Kosciusko.32 units I think.  Brant Ratcliffe at Nancy Lane Commercial told me about these after I met him last week at magnolia trailer park in Vicksburg.  Hickory Hills has 27 park owned trailers and according to Brant, 5 more are coming.  Rent collected for a recent month was $13,600.  Park is on city sewer and water.  Asking price is $800,000.
There was a house in the back that seemed to be somewhat a part of the park.  I don't know status of that.  How many acres??? probably about 3 or 4.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Memphis trailer park rents

Canada Trace (388.3053) - $330 per month for single wide.  Must also pay monthly amount to Canada Trace for water, sewer, and prop taxes.  These are less than $50 per month according to Michelle who I talked to today.  I can ask a person who is selling their trailer what it is for sure.  I assume you must pay electric bill to MLGW directly.

Allentown (388-0046) - $377 per month rent for single wide according to VP of sales Chris.  Manager was not there but her name is Regina Beasley. Must pay utilities to MLGW directly.  Must pay your own prop taxes which are about $200 per year according to Chris.  They are 5 star community - the top rated community in Tenn!! Regina called me back.  She has a 1999 cedar ridge 2 bedroom home for sale for $12,000.  Utilities would be around $80 something per month to MLGW she said.

Kingsway Green (358-5277) -Chris Halloway is manager.  Rent is $360 per month.  Garbage fee is $19.50 per month. Pay utilities directly to MLGW.

RV park at Agricenter = $400 per month, but cannot stay permanently; no more than 3 months I think.

Mobile Home Park

Collierville Trailer Park

Sent letter to  Jean Cooke about trailer park on Rowlett St in Collierville.  Her son in law Tim Clay (home 756-4853 office 842-1019) called me back a few days later.  Tim works for Cornerstone Systems which is a transportation co of some kind.

He said Jean Cooke has Alzheimers and her daughter runs the park.  They turned down an offer for $1.1 million a couple of years ago he said.  He did not know how many lots were in park but I counted approx 34.  He said that all but 2 trailers were owned by the occupants.  They got the 2 when occupants left.  He estimated that the average lot rental was $200 or $220.  He said that due to economic downturn they thought park was worth around $1 million.

I called Canada Trace Mobile home park (388-3053) today and talked to Michelle.  She said lots are $330 per month for single wide.  You have to pay them for water sewer and property taxes each month too.  That's probably less than $50 per month.  So I would think the residents at the ColliervilleTrailer Park could be reaised to the same $330.  ??????

Tim said he would get his sister in law to call me to tell me more specifics about property.  Here name is Gail Cook Akey.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

22-Feb-2010

Ms. Jean Cooke
1697 Halleford Circle
Germantown TN 38139

Mobile Home Park on at West and Rowlett in Collierville

Ms. Cooke:

I am writing to ask if you would consider selling the mobile home park you own on Rowlett St. in Collierville.  I am a local real estate developer and my office is down the street from your park.  I drive past it often and decided that I would contact you.

I am a 52 year old native Memphian.  My father, George T. Nickey, and I have developed lots of local commercial real estate, so I know a good bit about property management.  I have a good relationship at a couple of local banks, so I think I could get a mortgage on that property.  I have enough money to make a down payment without having to look around for partners.

I'd like to talk to you about the property if you care to discuss it.  Please contact me at the number or address below.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Goal for next 18 months

Buy or start new business that generates cashflow of $50,000 or more. This will substantially pay for living expenses. Deadline: 12-Aug-2011.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Memphis college of art designers

James Hart (318.286.5752) (jamey22@gmail.com) did design for "For Lease" signs at Cotton Plant. Mark Waguespack (markwag123@yahoo.com) is another student from MCA who emailed me. I liked his work. Also Shumyla Jan emailed me. poster below is by Mark Waguespack.





Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Senatobia - Small mobile home park

Scott Madison (662-562-5238) called me today about a park in Senatobia I had called him about yesterday. I saw it on the Internet. He has 17 spaces and 5 or 6 existing park owned homes. They are in bad shape he said and only one I think is occupied. He and his dad own 3 other mobile home parks. He said you could move some more homes in and rent them for perhaps $350 per month.

Park is on highway 51 across from the Church of Christ. Go down I-55 and get off at Senatobia. Go west and go thru town and hit hwy 51. Go south for 2 or 3 blocks and there it is.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Garisson Estates trailer park - Tupelo MS

Robert Merchant 209-996-4075 is owner. Asking 1.2 million. total of about 105 pads. 7 trailers owned by occupants. 47 trailers owned by park. 25 of the 47 are rented at average of about $450 per month. Manager is Don Reeves 662-386-5552. Call Don to go look at project.

Bradford Trace Mobile Home park

Hernando MS - agent is Steve Woodyard ((901) 842-5320). Asking price is $1.8 million. Address is 485 E Commerce Street, Hernando, MS. 74 pads and 43 homes owned by park and 6 homes owned by the occupant. Total land area is 8 acres.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Market timing

This article (excerpts below) was on Real Clear Markets 2-Feb-10

Stock market's real return? Paltry

by Anthony Mirhaydari

I'm not saying all this just to scare you; any investment return is subject to inflation, and stocks still beat most other investments.

But these studies lead me to an alternative investment approach that does much better than the conventional buy-and-hold wisdom and helps boost returns over these meager averages. There is a better way.

Use the simple 10-month moving average of the S&P 500 to time exposure to stocks. This calls for you to buy stocks when the S&P 500 crosses over its 10-month average and sell when it crosses beneath, investing the proceeds in safe, defensive assets such as cash or bonds.


MSN Money offers a 12-month overlay (which will reduce the sensitivity of the trading signal and help prevent false triggers). You can find the landing page for the S&P 500 Index here. You don't have to check on it every day. Just spend a few minutes looking at the moving average during times of market unrest. If you want to monitor the more sensitive trigger used in the study, Faber also maintains a collection of charts on stocks, bonds, commodities and real estate at his Web site.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Farley Place subdivision - Barton MS

This is on Farley off Byhalia road just south of Goodman road. Talked to agent Sam Edwards about this 7 lot subdivision. SamEdwardsRealtor.com. 6 of the lots are 1.5 acres. The 7th is more about 7.5 acres. He said that you could probably buy one of the 1.5 acre lots for around $50,000. Minimum house size has not been determined, but will be in the range of 1800 to 2100 sq ft. Sam is one of the partners doing the subdivision and is going to build his own house on one of the lots. The lots have electricity and gas but you have to get water from well and install septic system. Well would cost around $2300. Septic system would cost around $3500. He said the lots were too small to keep a horse on.

He also has Cypress Gates subdivison nearby which also has 7 lots. Lots there are much bigger and they cost $8000 per acre. Smallest lot is 16 acres I think.

Steve Montgomery - convenience store consultant

Talked to steve today (847-295-2418). His website is b2bsolutionsllc.com. Dean Dirks contacted him after I called Dean looking for a consultant. Steve can do a "due diligence" on numbers received from a potential c store seller to see if the store is worth buying or not. That's on an existing c store. If the deal is potential development of a new site, he has a partner who he can work with for a feasibility study. Steve told me about a c store website called CSPnet.com. It stands for convenience store petroleum.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Landen Circle - 2 acre lot with horse barn

Barton MS in Marshall county. Agent is Angela Reed (413-9629 cell 662-895-8300 office) with Crye Leike. List price is $65,000 but agent said they are going to drop the price. They will remove old silo at their expense. Minimum house size is either 1400 sq ft or 1800 sq she can't remember which.

Now she says minimum house size is 1200 sq ft. Lot size is supposedly 195 x 475. But flyer says 1.97 acres. Angela told Margie that city water was available to the lot. But you have to install septic system.

Monday, January 25, 2010

house for sale on 194 north of Rossville

House on East side of 194 a little north of a street called Tanasi Drive. Probably about 5 miles or more north of Poplar (HWY 57). 3 bedrooms 1 bath. 854-5175. Owner said that he is asking $125,000 but he is very flexible on price. Small horse barn behind house. 1 acre of land.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

5.58 acre lot on stinson in Fayette County

This lot is West of Frazier st about maybe a block. It is on North side of stinson. It is 5.58 acres and dimensions are 300 x 800 approx. 300 feet frontage on stinson. Owner wants $165,000 for lot. That's $29,570 per acre. Owner is Wolfgang Staus (901-488-5111). He said there is covenant on lot that says minimum house size is 3000 sq ft and no trailers. He said this lot is NOT in Rossville city limits.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

25 acres - Barton MS - Byhalia road

This is just North of Goodman road on east side of Byhalia. Margie talked to owner Charles Ingram (901-674-1537) today. He wants $650,000 for entire 25 acres which is $26,000 per acre. It is zoned residential. Just north of Barton Mini Storage.

Rossville - corner of poplar and 194

1 acre with yellow block building on it. List price is $850,000 or $19.51 per foot. Agent is Marla Pennington (258-2998) with Prudential Collins Maury. Their office is right next door to Collierville Marketplace storage at Market and Civic Center drive. Marla also has 2.5 acres directly behind the one acre. It has a different owner. It is for sale for $500,000 or $4.59 per foot. The combined average price per foot for the entire 3.5 acre tract is $8.85. Marla said land was zoned commercial.

Rossville 5 acres with horse barn

On West side of 194 about 5 miles north of Poplar and 194. Asking price is $79,000. Agent is Gloria Jones (233-2696) with ReMax. When I called her about it yesterday, she said she had sold it this past weekend. It is 240 x 900 feet with 240 feet of frontage on 194. She said you could not put a trailer home on it because it was a registered subdivision. Apparently you CAN put a trailer on land that is NOT a registered subdivsion.

Brad Halbrooke told me that you had to be zoned R1 or R2 to be allowed to put a single wide trailer on land in Fayette County. A double wide has less restrictive zoning.

laundry prices

Eastgate cleaners
shirts $1.59
pants dry cleaned $3.85
pants laundered $5.50

Germantown Cleaners
shirts $2.44
pants dry cleaned $5.55
pants laundered $5.55

Cavalier Cleaners on Exeter
shirts $2.51
pants dry cleaned or laundered $6.01

Bensinger on Farmington
shirts $2.55
pants dry cleaned $6.15
pants laundered $6.30