Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Gonna Go 4 Wheelin


Whenever I go to an auction, garage sale or house call, I go with the attitude that I will buy anything that can possibly result in a net profit to me. Sometimes its antiques and collectibles, sometimes its tools and other times Honda ATV's. This fine piece of machinery was sold to me at a garage sale last month. They initially asked $500 for it. I ended up paying $250. Why such a high discount? I'm not really sure. All I did was acted like it was too much. They actually reduced the price without me saying a single word.

Apparently they really wanted to sell it! Five hundred dollars really was too much, but when they almost immediately reduced the price to $250 I just couldn't resist. I've never taken one of these things for a ride before so my dog Ekho, took it by the reigns to show me how. She raced around in circles for about 1/2 hour in my back yard. Although she really enjoyed the ride, in the end I had to break it to her that we just couldn't afford to keep it right now. Disappointed, she asked for a photo to remember her day with.

The photo taken it was now time to sell the ATV. Onto Craigslist it went and it sold in less than a day. Don't be afraid to buy it just because its not an antique. Because a $200 profit on an ATV is just as good as a $200 profit on a set of sterling flatware...and just think of the memories that your dog will have.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Ooops!



Went to the antique show. Had a chandelier. A women saw it. She fell in love. "Are all of the crystals there?". "Yes, they are.". She made the purchase. Took the chandelier and walked away. An hour later I looked down at the ground. Oops!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

iS it tRaSH Or iS IT TReaSuRE?

We went to an auction today. No real surprises there since I go to multiple auctions almost every day. What was special about today's auction? Absolutely nothing. But on the other hand I haven't been very diligent about posting lately so I might as well tell you about what I did today.


It has been crazy busy. It seems as though the number of auctions that have been being held is just phenomenal. I can literally go to auctions from the time that I get up (well not quite, it seems the rest of the world thinks that 5:00 am is a little too early) until the time that I go to bed (another lie, since I'm tired from getting up at 5:00). So why all the action?


Its really simple, auctions are the easiest way to get rid of a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. No other method of selling can get you results as quickly as an auction. In our area auction prices seem to be going wild. Partly because of the influx of stuff (from the multitude of auctions happening) and partly due to the extreme overabundance of television shows depicting the massive amount of money that everyone is making by going to them.


Today for me was fun. My wife Stephanie got up early with me on her day off and away we went. It was a 60 mile drive to the auction that was held in West Virginia. The town located along the Ohio River, contained two old buildings full of antiques (junk). Kiko Auctioneers from the Canton,Ohio provided the auction services. West Virginia provided the scenery. The local people provided the competition. The seventy year old wearing a purple thong provided the sexual tension (it was like a car wreck...you just had to look). I just spent money.


My purchases included a Hire's Root Beer barrel dispenser, a 12 gallon decorated stoneware crock, porcelain signs, an old oak alarm system box, an oak candy dispenser and 30+ metal storage containers. Will I make some money on this pile of junk? I think so, but there are no guarantees. I took a few photo's of the truck filled with this stuff because I thought you might find it interesting. Oh yeah, we stopped off to deposit a few quarters(pennies) in the slot machines at Mountaineer Casino's on the way home. We should have kept on going.


Anyways the antiques (junk) will be for sale at the Springfield Antiques Extravaganza (flea market would have been enough) this Friday. So if your in the area, stop on by and take some of these antiques (junk) off of my hands.











Saturday, September 3, 2011

It Doesn't Have to be Gold to be Scrap!


The world has gone gold and silver scrap crazy! Virtually everywhere that you go someone is either buying or selling scrap gold and silver. Don't get lazy. Gold and silver aren't the only metals worth something in the scrap market. You want to be looking for any type of scrap. In this case I purchased 50 pounds of aluminum at a garage sale for $10. Scrap value? About $40. So don't fall asleep at the wheel by just looking for gold and silver. I purchased this at 9:00 am and had my money by 10:00 am. It was a two mile ride from the garage sale to the scrap metals buyer.