Help Veteran Get Reliable Vehicle
BLUF: My 2014 Warrior Mustang has been repossessed by USAA, I've no reliable vehicle when my farm truck breaks down to get to school.
This is humiliating. USAA repo'd my vehicle. I had to stop paying in December in order to pay my mortgage. My father said he would help save the vehicle by taking over the loan, then he decided he would not. I want to save this vehicle. It's my only reliable all-weather vehicle and I cannot qualify for another loan of any type at this time and for several years.
I have not been able to secure high-paying work since leaving the Air Force in 2015 and put a lot of money into my home which is on AirBnB and I started a small chicken farm in the same location on the land I live on (in a camper van down by the river) when my home is rented over 50% of the year. It's a little like being deployed year-round as far as the living conditions, minus the incoming fire.
The last month has been very hard. I'm behind 2 months of power bills $700+ and the dogs did not have dog food until someone purchased some on Amazon. I was cooking them rice and mixing it in with our eggs from the organic chicken farm in order to keep them full. I was eating very little and we had 1 gallon of gas left in the truck.
There are a lot of reasons why I'm falling short on keeping up on my loan. May 2017 was empty on AirBnB and forced me to not pay a month of my mortgage in June. I then have had to do "catch-up" payments by almost the entire monthly auto-payment for the last 5 months, raising my mortgage over $400 for those months. April is the last one and it's about $300 less than those previous, and then we're current. Hopefully the lender will give me some late fees back because I have made all my payments except June's payment and I contacted them in advance when I realized this was going to happen.
Here's my AirBnB, and yes, The Warrior is parked out front, in 2016.
May was also hard because my tenants gave a 30-day notice in my home in Arkanasas, so the home was vacant for almost 2 months with me paying that mortgage with no income generated ($1k/mo + utilities). The new tenants got a heck of a deal for the fully-furnished home and are looking at a Rent-To-Own contract with me next year, so that should significantly stabilize any uncertainty with my other VA-financed mortgage.
Besides the three-month hit between AirBnB and lack of tenants in early Spring, I lent money out to two individuals I met in New York State during 2015 through 2016 on promissory notes. I thought they really needed help and they would honor something with their signature. I'm almost $2500 short because these two individuals in Jefferson County and Lewis County NY have still not repaid me. One gentleman that owes over $1600 to me was kept out of 6 months of jail by me paying his fines on the first promissory note. Unfortunately they saw a veteran with a big severance package (1 year pay) and worked the friendship angle to get the maximum with no intent to repay. #GFY Yes, I've filed lawsuits against them, first is March 30th court date. The repayment isn't going to come fast -- it's likely going to be wage garnishments over a year, IF they don't work under the table.
In 2016 during my AirBnB preparations I had about $4K of damages caused by a contractor that walked off on 2 contracts (HVAC install and downstairs bathroom remodel) while I was managing the workflow and attending school at the same time. I was unable to manage going after him in court (I've filed against the other two aforementioned individuals and am going to court soon) before he skipped state and is now in North Carolina selling cars. His name is Rick Pitre just in case you meet him. I had to put up my first AirBnB guests in 3 separate suites for 3 days because that man walked off on two contracts and was utterly incompetent, throwing our deadline off. Those guests were 2-month reservations that I accepted in lieu of a multitude of 3-7 day type guests later in the Summer, so I had to bite the bullet there.
Here's Rick Pitre's Facebook if you want to know who to not do business in the Carolinas for construction or Volkswagon sales. BuilderRick is his facebook shortname -- it's really inappropriate. He's not even good at demolition projects.
In addition, my younger pup, Keshi, has gone through $2000+ in medical treatments for ear infections and unfortunately 2 porcupine incidents since 2016. Here's her first porcupine incident. Don't worry, she has completely recovered and did not lose any eyeballs, but fiscally it drained my reserves each time.
I've also had to repair the unreliable vehicle for the last 3 years non-stop. It's a 1992 F-150. I tried to qualify for a loan to replace it, but it hasn't worked out. Instead, I have repaired the engine (swapped), completed two transmission swaps, rebuilt both the front and back end suspensions, brakes, rotors, drums, springs, leaf springs, shock absorbers, electrical system, computer control module, exhaust and intake systems, central gear box, tie rods, tires, smog pump, starter, injectors, etc. It is almost a different truck in every way, but the mileage is now very poor (about 9-12 mpg) and I don't trust it for my commutes to Boston anymore for school (6 hours). The mustang is a huge boon to finishing my masters of science degree this semester in data analytics and web application development. I have done a lot of the work myself, and I've helped out the local mechanic as much as I can. It would have cost $10K probably at a shop to do what I did, but I put hundreds of hours in on the vehicle and I think my mechanic has done that too and he's probably charged me over the whole thing a whopping $1100 for all of his help. I've also had to buy about $4K worth of parts, but the truck now is effective for my farm operations.
Don't let the paint fool you, that was $4 of paint. All the hard work is taking everything off and fixing the gasket leaks and bad injectors and broken evap tubing. My mechanic had spare engine paint and wanted to make it look nice... I designed his website for him.
Speaking of farm operations, there are a lot of other unplanned costs. I've worked when I can -- AirBnB, developing an organic poultry egg farm (120 birds and growing), am working on starting a farm brewery to sell Australian ginger beer and am full-on hoping to serve 1000+ drinks at the 2018 Canadian-American Festival in Sackets Harbor this July. We're serving Butter Beers (Harry Potter, yes, made from ginger beer) in addition to our eggs and other egg products. We may have mead, a summer ale, and a stout also (working on it) for the event.
I'm a big Harry Potter fan and am excited Butter Beers Organica will showcase our organic eggs with the meringue frothe. The entire drink is going to be 100% organic in every ingredient.
Here's our facebook page for Sackets Harbor Organic Fed Eggs, free-range and cruelty-free. The organic certifcation should be filed for in June if things stay on course, but we are observing the requirements for organic certification and supplying the chickens with high-quality organic, soy-free Green Mountain Feed from Vermont.
Sackets Harbor Organic Fed Eggs
I've also applied to several hundred positions with few callbacks and botched interviews due to techncalities. For instance, my security clearance lapes to inactive over 24 months by the time Raytheon called me for an AMLO-qualified gig which would have negated my entire financial situation ten fold. I'm living on less than $30K/year and they literally offered almost 10x that to work for them as an air advisor, but my clearance was gone by about 5 months. I'm working for Robert Half Technology too, but this is a contractual IT job and I've made about $460 so far in the last year (I've another job from them next week, probably will make $120-$160 less taxes in 6-8 hours).
My farm currently can generate about $300/month when the chickens are not cold or out of 12+ hours of light. We have an infrastructure problem -- no electricity or water. I currently truck water to the farm from the AirBnB house and run a photovoltaic 600W system I designed for power. There are back-up generators too. It works great for Summer when there are no issues keeping the birds from laying, but it isn't enough for Winter to maintain a healthy egg production (learned that this Winter). I could have paid half my mustang payments from the end of December to March, but all of the birds would have died from starvation. I chose the birds to live, and now they're producing eggs again since it has warmed up and we've longer days.
I also applied to the Veteran Farmer's Coalition's start-up grant for new veteran farmers on March 1st, the day my Mustang was repossesed. I'll know in April if they accept my grant request and it will bring power and water (we have an artisan well flowing into a river that we can tap into) to the farm and improve operations, profitability, and the quality of life for the animals (and myself when living in the camper down by the river). So here's hoping to that help!
I want to say this isn't a request to just give me free money. Every single reward level can be a promissory note with 10% returned in the future. I will probably work through the rewards and smaller notes first, but I'm not going to drag out repayments any longer than necessary.
I have computer skills. I have agriculture products. Tell me you want something that's not listed on my rewards that you think I can deliver, and I will 100% accomodate your particular need.
Some of the rewards include having the mustang for a month, or two, or whatever. If you give me $2K and live in a southern state that doesn't get snow and ice, come take it for the Winter. I'll add you to my policy or we'll figure out how to keep you insured while enjoying a limited edition sports mustang.
If you're a very safe motorcyclist, you can opt to use my Harley for the Summer. I don't have time for it. It's available this Summer! It may go to Australia this Fall when I go to do tradie work to my friend, a private benefactor that has helped me as much as possible, so I can't promise the Harley beyond September 2018 at this time. However, my 2012 Fatboy Lo is heavily-modified and has the highest compression and toque possible now. It has a great detachable windshield. It has power points. It has a detachable sissy bar for luggage or a backseater. It's matte black -- I wish I had a picture of it right now in that configuration (it's in storage), but it's available too. This vehicle is paid off, it's not getting repo'd, but it doesn't cut it in upstate NY for getting around all year long. Here's Niras showing off her F-150 when it was more reliable (she misses riding in it), and the Harley before it received its substantial modifications in 2015.
I had until March 16th to get the mustang back from the repo. I may still be able to do it, but I may have to outright buy it which is why I'm raising $20K to secure this vehicle. It initially was $44K and I've paid down quite a bit of the vehicle's loan.
Some people have told me this vehicle is replaceable. Yeah, I'm not into most mustangs. The reason why I bought this mustang was not to pick up chicks and dudes or race other cars (although it can do both). It's a Warrior Edition and represents the culmination of my military service. I bought it when I knew the Air Force was likely going to RIF me and my last deployment with 10th Mountain Division would probably be my last. I bought it because I embraced the Warrior Ethos that General Jumper wanted every Airman to be instilled with in 2004, the year I was in BMT and went from trainee to Airmen First Class with a degree (my recruiter kind of sucks, but it's ok, he probably had someone else kick him in the junk later).
The Warrior is every single thing I did in that last deployment which resulted in a Bronze Star. It can't be replaced. It can't be refabricated. It is limited editon, #8 of 50. I could buy another 2014 or even a 2020 mustang in the future, but it wouldn't be this car and I would be hard-pressed to refabricate everything on the car. I don't want another mustang in my life. My next car would honestly be a Tesla if my finances are in order.
Please, take a look at the rewards. Consider it as a temp loan at worst or maybe I can offer my computer expertise at a significant discount (ie your contribution to saving my vehicle). I've got a lot of skills: nunchakus are just the first one.
If you're wondering what skills I've got, I'll shoot you a resume for my Web App Development & Data Analytics.
I can code. I can custom graphics. I can get your analytics working. I can provide custom real-time analytics. I can integrate analytics pulled from your database or excel sheets. I can pipe your information from the back end to the front for various logic ops. I can show your customers real-time information. I can integrate any media, video, picture, music into a website. I can program in java/javascript, R:, Python, SQL/mySQL/noSQL/PostGRESQL, HTML5/CSS, XML. I can hack any phone, image your phone, break a phone, extract lost files from your phone or hard drive. I can upgrade your router network, hardwire your house for protected ethernet, install and initialize ANY home security system linked to a wifi network and give you an optomized net and coverage feed.
I also know how to write well. I can execute paralegal and accountant type taskings including contracts, notes, leases, agreements, etc. My undergraduate minor focused on pre-law courses and journalism/marketing. Just tell me what you need and your timeline, I'll let you know if I can swing it. The next 2 months I'm focusing on the last of my graduate coursework; but smaller tasks I can knock out of the park, and larger ones I can at least start building a demo if I can integrate it into a classwork assignment.