One of the savviest MIT professors whom I know turned some of his software expert witness consulting revenue into a lakeside Maine summer retreat. He was able to invite 10 friends at the same time, each friend accompanied by his/her/zer/their entire family. How? The vacation house had formerly been a summer camp and it came with a bunch of cabins as well as a prime location and a lot of recreational space.
Right now it looks as though summer camps in a lot of states are going to be forbidden by governors from operating (NPR, 5/17). So they won’t be able to obtain any revenue. But they will still owe property tax on their real estate, valued as if it could still be used.
Like any other labor-intensive business in the U.S., summer camps surely were already in tough financial shape due to rising minimum wages, rising employee health care costs, increasingly complex labor regulations, and exposure to employment-related lawsuits (imagine if two counselors get hold of some alcohol, drink it, and then have sex). Covid-19 should put the rest of the nails in the coffin, no?
Readers: What do you think? Is it time for people with money to swoop in and buy up these obsolete institutions?
They have to shift their fundraising focus to preserve the experience. A good fundraising strategy would capitalize on bigger-than-usual drives this summer to let them “hibernate” and stay alive for next year. So many people love the experience. I can imagine a lot of former campers (and parents of current campers) would be willing to donate funds in lieu of fees they would have paid, to make sure they can reopen in 2021. At least cover the expenses, maintenance and upkeep. That’s the optimistic take, assuming we can stop the spread of the virus!
It’s not a camp, but sort of: Plimouth Plantation is shut down, everything is virual. They have a pretty wide base of funding sources aside from admissions receipts, so I doubt they’ll go under. If camps are going to face the choice of offering a severely restricted, no-fun camp or waiting a year, their fundraising people should be busy right now getting campaigns going.
https://www.plimoth.org/
>imagine if two counselors get hold of some alcohol, drink it, and then have sex
What a tragedy that would be! Imagine, people acting like human beings!
I am reading reports that summer homes rentals are skyrocketing. There is an increased demand for country living. A summer camp is an ideal corona virus refuge: lots of outdoor space, physically separate accomodations.
Low property taxes are important for financial viability. Another issue is repair and maintenance. A property owner need to be a mason, carpenter, elictrician, and gardener. You’ve got to be handy, man, or hire sonebody that is.
A big issue is transportation. Can the property support an airfield, or is there a nearby accessible airfield?
Owning a summer property is good. Owning a summer property you can invite all your friends to is better.
Rewatch ‘the money pit’ with Tom Hanks before buying any dream property.
Ironically, at least out here in the west, most summer camps (boy scouts, girl scouts, campfire, YMCA, etc) got their start because rich people bought and donated them so that regular people’s kids could have camping experiences like rich people always could. (I believe that Hearst Castle was built as a replacement for the places the Hearsts would “camp” in tents with Persian rugs and chandeliers) Hopefully when this all blows over and owning a lake compound gets tedious, they can be re-donated.