The Tradewinds and Mission Bell

Owners’ 2008 Welcome Newsletter

We would like to extend a warm welcome and a very happy New Year to all our returning and new guests that have come to stay with us at Mission Bell-Trade Winds RV Resort for the 2008 Season. When we purchased the resort in February 2004, we had one goal in mind: to provide a quality retirement experience for the lowest price possible. To meet that goal, we worked very hard to add quality additions to the resort and streamline operations. As a result, we are pleased to announce that we have reached our goal and are now officially and legally one resort. We are Mission Bell-Trade Winds RV Resort.

We are no longer known as two separate RV parks. We are instead one larger RV Resort whose residents can enjoy the shared benefits of being one big happy family with bountiful resources. This is a very important step because it puts us on par with larger corporate owned resorts to get discounts on goods and services due to our size. This helps keep costs down and allows us to work smarter instead of harder. We are able to put our employees where, when and how they are needed. We can buy in bulk. Our residents can share in all our facilities to enhance their retirement experience with us. We recognize this is a change for some of our long-time residents who were used to two separate resorts in year’s past. But, it is necessary to combine both sections of the resort to allow us to continue the same level of service and activities at reasonable prices. We look forward to our new elevated status and the advantages it brings.

It also allows us to use our resort facilities more effectively. We are now working toward providing more activities and fun for all. We intend to accomplish this by cutting down on duplicate activities at our two recreational halls and on competing entertainment on the same night. In a nut shell, it is counter-productive to have two different entertainers on the same night and too expensive and unnecessary to purchase "two" of everything for each facility. Most of the time, "one" activity at a time is enough. We can also use the extra space and savings to introduce new and different activities. It avoids small groups participating in activities in huge rooms when a smaller one would be more fun and cost effective and free up the larger spaces for bigger group activities.

We would like to earn the title of "The Most Active Resort in the Rio Grande Valley." Our shared-facilities concept allows us to offer our guests more recreational facilities per guest than any other park in the Rio Grande Valley. Mission Bell-Trade Winds boasts the largest dance and recreation hall in the area, measuring 20,000 square feet with a floating wood dance floor (bigger than a high school gymnasium!). But we also have a second 10,000 sq. ft. recreation hall to boot. We have two heated pools, two Jacuzzis, two laundry facilities, two woodworking shops and more. With only 750 spaces to share all those facilities, our guests can have non-stop activities without waiting in line or feeling crowded, except maybe when Bernie and Red entertain us and fill our "gymnasium" with 900 people or more! And we have a central location too! No other resort can match that.

We are striving to offer something for everyone. To meet that goal, we will continue adding new activities and amenities to enhance your retirement experience. Our philosophy is to develop a place for our customers at which we would be happy staying when we retire. We have that "if you build it they will come" mentality. We want to stay on the cutting edge of technology and activities for our guests.

We are very appreciative of our residents that have helped and encouraged us to meet those goals and have been so gracious in welcoming new residents to the resort. We have fantastic volunteers at the resort and we cannot thank them enough for their contributions in making us a great place to retire. Many of you are already using our shared facilities and getting to know your fellow residents located in all areas in the resort. You are the ones that are helping to keep our status as "the Friendliest Resort in the Rio Grande Valley." That is very important to us and our residents. We know many of you personally and get to know more of you every year during our visits. Our business model is personal involvement in the resort, which we believe sets us apart from the corporate owned resorts in the area. We will continue that personal involvement.

Our business philosophy seems to be working. We are pleased to report that this is our busiest season ever. Our online reservation services and websites that were launched last year have introduced our resort to dozens of new guests. As of this writing, our staff is being flooded with callers still making reservations for this season! All of our premium sites were booked by early fall and we have seen more of you make the move to annual sites to avoid the high cost of hauling your rigs back and forth. That makes good sense for many reasons.

The projections for the price of gasoline are between $4 and $5 a gallon by the year 2010. For those of you waiting for the price of gas to go down: "it ain’t gonna happen!" We may have temporary dips, but all economic projections are that there will never be a return to prices of $1.50 a gallon again. That makes this season the very best time to buy new park models before the cost of them rises significantly due to increased costs in materials and transportation.

While older park-models can seem like a good buy, they do not have good insulation, efficient air conditioning and heating units or the overall conveniences of a new unit. There are also very few older units left in our resort that will be permitted to stay in the resort when they are sold due to our policies on aging units. Before selling or buying an older unit, please check with management. While we are in a slight economic slow down, this does not affect most of our guests who want to retire in comfort. Thus, now is a great time to buy all big ticket items; park models included. For our Canadian guests, all I can say is you folks are "making out like tall dogs" with the current exchange rates. Now is your time to take advantage of the rise in value in the Canadian dollar to lock in a reasonable price for your winter retirement home. But make no mistake, by next year, prices will be higher.

Given that our rates are less than half of what you would pay in Florida and Arizona and a little more than half of what you would pay at the largest parks in the area, we are a bargain for what we offer. Our warm winters also help you save on the high costs of heating your homes up north in the winter. You can almost pay for your annual space by what you save in energy and hauling a rig back and forth. And besides, who wants to stay up north when you can enjoy a comfortable winter with us. If you don’t enjoy the money you have set aside for your retirement, your kids will!

If you are thinking of selling your RV and becoming an annual resident, now is the time to do it. Some of our guests are even keeping their "aging RVs" for shorter travel in the summer months and getting a permanent unit for the winter months. We offer great incentives for those bringing in new park models (a 2005 or newer model): a 6-month fixed rate for two years and a guaranteed 3% annual increase for the next 3 years after that with a signed lease.

We expect all of our premium sites to be taken this year by the end of April, even though they will be limited to stays of 5 months or longer due to the demand. If you want to be assured of having a premium site, you will have to reserve it early or someone else will. We will be adding some premium sites this summer and taking a waiting list for them at season’s end for those wanting them for less than a 5-month rental. That will help us determine how many additional premium sites we need to add. Those with the longest reservations will be given preference on the waiting list.

Given the rise in reservations, we also expect to have a waiting list next year for all of our spaces. We are nearly full this year and the reservations are still rolling in. If you have not heard it before: The baby-boomers are retiring in large numbers every year and they want to enjoy a warm winter just like you do. Several parks have also closed in the area for redevelopment into commercial space or apartments. A few of you already experienced not getting the lot of your choice this year by not making advance reservations. We will do our best to fit you in if you don’t reserve in advance, but we cannot promise you a space or particularly the space you want.

For those of you wanting to reserve now for next year, we have not yet finalized our rate increases due to the impact of the rise in energy costs. It has affected the price of everything we purchase at the resort from copy paper to toilet paper. We will not have final figures in until the season ends. However, we know some of you start returning home before then. To accommodate you as best we can, we are setting our interim prices at an increase of $10 per lot, per month across the board through March 15, 2008, for anyone paying in full with a check or in cash reserving a space for 3 months or longer. That means if you stay with us for three months, you will pay $30 more for your lot reservation over last year’s price; if you stay 5 months, you will pay a $50 increase, etc. Our lot reservation prices for those not paying in full or reserving for less than 3 months will remain at $200.00, fully refundable (less a $50 administrative fee) until September 30, 2008, and thereafter only for documented death or serious illness.

For those of you wanting to wait, we will likely have a second increase once all our accounting is in at the season’s end. We just won’t know until we have had a chance to tally the books at season’s end. We are just too busy to do it now. It is also possible that we could have a third price increase next November if energy prices rise any higher between season’s end and next November. To sum it up, we will not be posting official rates until about May 15, 2008, and may re-post them October 31, 2008, depending on energy prices. The bottom line is that if you want to lock in your price and your site, you need to do before March 15, 2008.

Because of demand for our lots, for those of you wanting to reserve a space for two months or less, we will try to accommodate you, but we cannot guarantee the space of your choice. Those making longer reservations get first choice on our lots. No reservations for premium spaces will be accepted for less than a 5-month reservation until December 1, 2008. If you reserve a standard space and pay in full by March 15, 2008, we will put you on a waiting list for premium sites, which if not taken will be released on December 1, 2008, if any become available.

We are pleased so many of you have recognized the benefits of our resort and superb central location that you now call Mission Bell-Trade Winds your "second home." Some of you have even taken advantage of our reasonable rates by purchasing rental units. We think that is terrific. We are pleased to allow you to supplement your income and help pay for your own lot rental while helping us to introduce our resort to newcomers. It is a "win-win" situation because 90% of those who try our resort return the next year for a longer stay. We could have rented 100 more units this season if we had them available. We stopped putting people on our waiting list months ago and they are still calling!

Monthly rentals have now climbed to $1,000 to $1,300 per month, depending on the quality of the unit and the length of stay. Our office will even help you rent your unit by forwarding your name and contact information to potential renters for the small fee of $50.00 until it is rented. That covers the cost of our office help and our website costs that advertise that we have rentals in our park. It takes away the need for you to advertise. We recommend you take digital photos of your unit to email to potential renters when they inquire. That gets your unit rented fast. The financial transaction and lease arrangements are done between you and your renter.

Looking forward, the future of the resort is bright and healthy, thanks to all our new residents, our faithful returning guests, the retiring baby boomers, the high costs of Arizona and Florida, and the large facilities we offer for a reasonable price. To make sure we make the most of our resort facilities and do not duplicate activities unnecessarily, we are forming a "think-tank" committee comprised of residents from each section of the resort to work with both associations to give you the most fun you can have! See Wally if you want to be part of this committee. We would like a group of 6-8 energetic volunteers who enjoy "thinking outside the box." While we like to leave the fun up to you, if we don’t get enough volunteers, we will make sure the job gets done.

To highlight our commitment to improve activities, this year we added salt water pool systems in both pools to give you the clearest, cleanest system on the market. We also upgraded our bandwidth at both sections of the resort to enhance your WiFi experience and improve the free long distance calling at both sections of the resort we added last year. While we cannot do anything about the disruption of our WiFi service in foggy or very rainy weather (until they improve WiFi technology) we can make it pretty darn fast the rest of the time. Our wireless representative at Time-Warner advises us that fog and heavy rain is like putting up a tree in front of our routers and there is nothing that can be done until the weather clears. But, for only $10 a month, the price is right. We are also the only resort in the area that has a technician like Julio that makes "house calls" to help you with your computers for a very cheap price. One trip to Best Buy or Circuit City to get your computer fixed will make a real believer out of you as to what other technicians are charging you to fix a computer you have to bring to them!

We also added two televisions in the bingo hall at Mission Bell for our sports fan to watch their favorite games. We have plans to add two more TVs in that room after the activities committees for both associations work together to better organize activities that free up that space. We are getting more residents each year that want to enjoy sporting events and other activities in that room other cards and bingo. Our facilities are huge we can easily do it all. All it takes is a little shuffling and a little sharing and everyone wins.

Each recreation hall has its strengths and weaknesses. Each is better suited for certain activities than others. For example, the Trade Winds hall has the best facility for larger card and bingo games, while the Mission Bell Hall is where we will conduct most of the dances and resort dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas that are park sponsored. The Trade Winds Hall is too big for TVs but the Mission Bell Bingo Room is ideal. You get the idea.

We continue to explore putting in an exercise room, if the residents want it and both associations participate equally. The targeted site is Trade Winds in the old ceramics room. We think it will be a fantastic addition to the resort and look forward to getting comments from our residents about it. We also had plans to put in a poolside bar at the Mission Bell pool this year like the fountain and patio that was put in last year at Trade Winds. The Trade Winds volunteers did a fantastic job of moving the palapa over the flagstone patio we had installed. While Wally’s shoulder will not allow him to do any building like that just yet, we will provide the materials if any of our residents get the "hankering" to get involved in that building project. We have two woodshops and some great woodworkers. We are standing by for that project. Wally also is committed to finishing the bathroom remodeling he started last summer that got delayed by his shoulder replacement surgery. A lot is and will be happening at the resort for next year.

Again, we want to work smarter; not harder, so we have more fun and more to enjoy. Our goal is to plan social events in which all resort residents can participate. We think it will be a lot of fun and very exciting to plan events where you can meet new friends and discover new ideas and activities. With the combination of the resort, we believe the possibilities of enjoyment are endless. As the young people say: Bring it on.

See you soon,

Bob and Christina Knoles