Mystic Caverns on ebay!

[L Roebuck]

Cavern owner seeks bidder to cave in to eBay sale

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Calling Batman: Cave owner Steve Rush has a deal for you.

Rush, 49, is auctioning off the Mystic Caverns in the hills of Ozark Mountains on eBay. The 28-acre property in Arkansas includes a gift shop and three caves, two of which are safe enough for visitors.

Full Article


eBay: tinyurl.com/6lpwvg

Mystic Caverns: mysticcaverns.com

[Azurerana]

I've been to Mystic Caverns. It's nice, but nowhere near the $899,000 asking price, even for two show caves and 28 acres. If the fellow can't make it pay: "It's a tough time in the marketplace to get a buyer I think for any real estate, and I don't think this business makes enough money" to make mortgage payments, Rush said. "However, if you had some money and you were not afraid of risk ..." how can anyone else think that they can? It's not anywhere near where the Google map puts it: (more in NW Arkansas, about halfway between Little Rock and Oklahoma E-W and US 40 and Missouri N-S). Scenic Byway 7 is beautiful, but bypassed by the interstate crowd.

The tourist attraction which closed was Dogpatch USA-- an Al Capp character themed park. No one but us hillbillies remember Lil Abner, Daisy Mae and their families anymore.

I found his other statement interesting: he wanted to get out of the show cave business to go into Christian ministries because he was "tired of entertaining people". Why not combine the two? There are enough overtly Christian attractions in that region: things like the the Christ of the Ozarks, etc. Most of the "Christian ministries" in Branson (not that far away) are also music shows. He's not going to be a successful minister unless he's got a way to bring 'em in. Why not a cave with a Christian theme?

[L Roebuck]

Oh dare I ask what you think of the initial asking price of $1.2 million?


On another note -- I kind of like the title of this article.

Caves flogged on eBay

EBAYERS are going underground – with a cluster of caves up for grabs on the online auction site.
Bidding for the 28-acre Mystic Caverns in the hills of the Ozark Mountains starts at $899,900 – slashed down from the initial asking price of $1.2million.

Article

[Azurerana]

Look at it as a business venture. Rush says the cave draws 15,000 people a year. Their website is down right now (too many clicks) but say an adult ticket is $12-$15. That gives a person a base income of $180,000-$225,000 a year (from which cave guides, cave maintenance and utilities have to be paid, as well as living expenses for the owners). Yes, there is the gift shop, It's hard to second-guess the profit from a gift shop, since the cost of goods, pricing for sale, and actual sales are hard to predict. Say every visitor brings an average of $3 of profit from gift shop sales-- that's another $75,000 of income. But you've got a million dollars worth of debt -- cost of the cave, plus financing interest. It's not possible. Say you are really really wealthy, make a big down payment, and you only finance half of the cave-- $500,000 of debt. That's $17,000 a year for 30 years or $25,000 for 20 years (before interest) to pay off the cave.
Now, complicate this picture, because you have two caves to run, not just one, though you only have one gift shop. You aren't typically going to have the same visitation to both; and indeed, may have a discounted "twofer" price. And you don't have a stellar location (like the Missouri show caves just off I-44). You gotta be crazy about caves to get into a situation like that, and expect to live modestly while you are doing it.

[L Roebuck]

Hummm so it looks like whoever hits the Mystic Caverns winning eBay bid either needs to be filthy rich to begin with or have a taste for bread and water.