ANST - Land funds...

[Russell Kinder]

Martin, Brian wrote:
> 
> I think that the idea of a land fund, and indeed some day actually
> purchasing land, is an enticing one. However, I question just how
> realistic the idea is. Any thoughts?
> 
> -Pendaran

[warning, long!]

As I see it, fund-raisers and ear-marked donations are never going to
get you there. (Unless someone like Lady Vanora wins the lottery and
donates the money or the land.) So how would we get there, and would we
want to?

If we decide to really get serious about a land fund, then we would need
to place a surcharge on all site fees (say $1), which would be sent to
the Kingdom Treasurer to be placed in a special interest bearing
account. This would temporarily cause an increase in site fees, but it
must be looked on as an investment. Hopefully, when we have our own
site, we'll be able to drop our site fees down a bit.

Kingdom wide, there are about 100 events/year with an average attendance
of about 200. (These numbers are only educated guesses. Some events have
much more, some have less but it should average out. Sometimes there is
only one event in a weekend, but its attendance will be at least double
the average.) A $1 surcharge should net about $20,000/year.

So is this feasible? How much would we be spending? We want at least 40
acres (a square 1/4 mile on each side) in a rural wooded area. It needs
a water line. We want a hall that will seat 400 for feast or 800 for
court. It needs an industrial kitchen. We also want sufficient shower
and toilet facilities. Roads would have to be built around the site.
Gravel would be OK. Just as a guess, I'd say we're talking about
$400,000 to $500,000.

$400,000 on a 30 year note at 8% with a 20% down-payment (after 5 years
of surcharges) would be a $28,425 yearly payment, plus insurance. If we
were to simply save our $20,000/year in a money-market account, bearing
6% interest, we would have $400,000 saved in about 20 years. Of course,
in 20 years, it would cost lots more than $400,000. And we wouldn't have
the site for 20 years.

40 events/year at the site with an average of 250 people (optimistic?)
at $3/person would yield $30,000/year. That would be enough, but I am
probably being optimistic in thinking that any site would be used for 40
events/year. Maybe someplace halfway between Steppes/Elfsea, Stargate,
and Bryn Gwlad could be used that often, if all those groups in the
Central, Southern & Coastal regions would commit to it. In general, if
it's much more than three hours away from your group, it's too far to
have your events there. 

We could also rent the site out to other re-enactment and similar
groups, if we are not fully using the site ourselves.

All my numbers are just guesses, so a more researched cost-analysis
might give different results. 

Guillaume de Troyes
living in Mooneschadowe.
...
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