The Billionaire's Vinegar

My first book on the Nook and I loved it! A lot of my readings and research lately have been centered around wine and wine making. Naturally, this booked pulled me in and had me turning the pages (I guess "clicking" the pages) as quickly as I could. The primary focus is around bottles of wine from the late 1700's that Thomas Jefferson ordered. They went up for auction at a Christies wine auction and yielded the most money for a bottle of wine. I loved this book. It opened my eyes up to the facts about old wine, the history of wine, and how Virginia truly was the first part of the United States to start making wine. Thomas Jefferson was an amazing wine enthusiast and learning about his journey's all over Europe was fascinating. If you have a passion for wine, read this book.

About 2 years ago I rented my condo to a local. He needed a place for a few weeks. While sweating in the desert in Vegas I get a phone call. My house cleaners tells me someone busted down the door and broke into the condo. After a few more calls I found out the person renting my condo is the brother of my house cleaner. He was at the local bar, had an issue with another guy, and that guy drove over, kicked the door in, punched a hole in my wall, and had words with my guests. He calls his sister, my house cleaner, to help "clean the mess up". They call the sheriff to try to pass it off as something else so they wouldn't have to pay for damage. I ended up having the tenant leave, firing my house keeper for not being up front that her brother was renting it (she has a different last name), and ended up eating the bill to fix the door, wall, and changing the locks. What a mess. I remembered this because I was having a conversation with other VR Owners in a group I'm part of and she had a local tenant from hell that REFUSED to check-out. Lesson learned here, be VERY careful if you rent to locals ..

I love renting my properties and having guests stay, enjoy the vacation and come back. As I continue to grow the Weekend Oasis business I strive to have a diverse portfolio of properties. In doing so, I sometimes introduce sister properties that I manage for other owners. Recently, I introduced a beautiful cottage inside of a homeowners association. Long story short, all my thoughts about HOA's were once again validated. The HOA restricted putting canoes in the lake! Only the owner could do anything. I must promise myself never to buy a rental inside of a gated HOA community unless it is a condo!! Needless to say, this property is no longer able to be part of the Weekend Oasis family. Sad, but what can I do?

Project Hillside has a new bathroom:

Enjoy.

July 4th this year was a blast! It's been a few years since I blew up the sky with fireworks but I made up for it with the massive display I put on this year! Project Hillside was home to our little gathering. I think I was the most excited about the fireworks compared to anyone else. People don't understand how much I love it! Sure, it is a giant waste of money .. sure, I can lose a few fingers .. sure it may litter the ground a little bit .. but like I told everyone, "if fireworks don't put a smile on your face, nothing will!"

Mortar shells, rockets, ground displays, to 2 foot long sparklers we had it all. Here is one picture of my inventory:

Stay tuned for some video and more photos of the actual event.

Virginia Wine

Ok, I am biased! Virginia is my favorite region for wine. It is #8 in the USA for grape growing regions and as of 2007 has 2,400 bearing acres. The Shenandoah Valley is home to many of my favorite vineyards offering some of the best Virginia Wine. Weekend Oasis, my vacation rental business, has plenty of properties in the heart of Virginia Wine Country. I urge you to learn more about Virginia Wine and consider a trip!

Let's face it, the internet has been an important part of my life. My career revolves around on-line marketing and the dot com world. Naturally I use just about every single social media network. An interesting trend has emerged for me though. I find myself posting fewer tweets about what I am doing, posting fewer pictures on the web for others to see, etc. My use has really migrated to posting about my vacation rentals and marketing them. From twitter to face book, that is pretty much all I post about.

What a busy week I've had! I am now renting 4 vacation units. This year has been incredible with inquiries and bookings. I am spending my evenings after my real job replying to e-mails and processing guests. Of course with all good things, some bad things must happen. This past week my hot tub went out at Blue Mountain Oasis. Right when guests checked in and during a time period where we are at 100% occupancy for 6 months. Thank goodness my spa guy was able to get it fixed. The temp sensor went out, causing the jacuzzi to go into "watch dog mode".

UGH! It is that time of year again. When Amber and I must make a decision. Renew our current apartment lease at Port Imperial in Northern New Jersey (near Hoboken) or find another place. Since this isn't our primary residence, I try to ensure we get the best value and don't mind moving frequently. I ventured into downtown Hoboken today to look for some apartments that were smaller and cheaper than what we had. I was shocked. These places shouldn't be legal to rent.

The patio at Project Hillside is complete. This was one hell of a project, adsorbing me for 3 days. HGTV quotes the project at a cost of $4,000. I got it done for just under $1,000, roughly a $3,000 savings. Learn more about the project, click here.