great thread!!!!!!!!!

when i was a plastering contractor i had a side job plastering a few rooms in this guy's barn.

i noticed a boat he had under a tarp and mentioned that i was looking for one. he promptly tugged the tarp off (he was storing hay in it) lol and it was a 19', 4 yr old bayliner with a complete motor rebuild.

one thing led to another and i swapped him the rooms for the boat. $800 in materials on my end plus some nights of my own time and i had a $4500 boat.

got my kid in on it too. took him to an auction and we bought two jetskis for $800. two months later and a few weekends in the shop we sold them for $3200 apiece.

i have a company that rehabs foreclosed homes. we never buy the home until we have a buyer for it. we're in and out in 6 weeks or less and the profits are around 30-35% each time out.

went to another auction recently and at the end they had a whole big room loaded with desks, file cabs, chairs, phones et.

got the whole room for $15!!!!!!! lol

there's money laying all over if ya know where and how to look.

Well, I have been holding off my recommendation until this day, as I did not want to fuel the competition, but the day has arrived. I now have a competitor, so I might as well share.

For the past 6 months or so I have been running a small classified ad in the "pennysaver" and now the large regional paper saying "I pay 5x face value or more for old silver coins, name, phone number". Simple as that. It generates a call or two every few days. Usually nothing huge, but at least once a month, I get a bigger one that more than pays for the ad.

Upon receiving a call I try and discern what they have and how much and make an appointment to go to their home and take a look. This allows me to make sure I have enough cash (always pay cash) and the resources I need to make a deal. I focus on junk silver, but have bought some gold coins and even jewellery. I do NOT buy any foreign numismatics unless I can get them for under scrap value or they are readily saleable.

You need only a few things to get started. Buy a Krause 1900-2000 World coin book (about $50), a Charlton price guide (which shows dealer buy prices, handy for showing the seller as the prices are about half dealer retail) and, if you are getting into scrap, a good scale that shows grams.

The scrap gold jewellery I have no interest in keeping and I usually sell it to a dealer within a couple hours of buying it, trying to secure a minimum 25% profit. The junk silver I save until I get a refinery lot and then sell it for 92% of value to the refinery. I sell at least enough to get my seed money back, take a little cash profit, and the rest is free silver.

I knew when I started this, it would only be a matter of time before someone else got in it. Low and behold, today's paper had a similar ad to mine, so I can see the margins beginning to tighten.

If you have the time, a little bit of a bankroll and do not mind a few evening trips around town visiting at someones kitchen table, it can be very rewarding.
Just keep out of my town

__________________

Hey Agnut

Great finds!

I often find real nice backpacks also, kelty is a top brand, I find them often for 5 dollars or so, what I do then is dress them up nicely with a canteen, a sleeping bag and a small 2 man tent, put it all together and resell it for 100 dollars. I have made a lot of money on backpack packages like that. I always stuff them full of old newspapers to really make them look nice, then strap on the sleeping bag and tent. It is yet another one of my big sellers. Of course I have kept a few very nice ones for myself also, to use as bugout bags. It is shocking how cheap people give away something like a kelty mountian climbers pack, those things can sell for 300 and 400 dollars new, sometimes more. Amazing!

Thanks for the recipe Beefjerky. We had it last night and my sons loved it. So simple and so good. I’m going to find some riblets and try it next time. Crock potting it in barbecue sauce may be a good idea.

I have had good luck with Lysander’s pork rub in the past but they don’t offer it here in local stores. I buy boneless pork and cut it up into small pieces and put barbecue sauce all over it and wrap it in aluminum foil and cook for about 45 minutes at 375.

Your slow cooking at a lower temperature made the meat fall off the bone. I’m going to change how I cook from now on. Thanks again.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. Was going to try the fasTTcar’s 7 Up pork rib recipe but the three bottles of soda disappeared. Have to hide them from my sons next time.

Hi Coffee. My interests are both in the superior analog sound as well as the value of a bargain. CDs are OK for background music but when I want to really hear all the subtleties, vinyl records are the only answer.

I don’t know if the 78 records will ever become valuable. I have little experience with them although I also have several 78s. Their sound quality isn’t as good as the 33 records but many older artists are not available on 33 records.

If you want to sell vinyl records you must first know which ones are valuable and desirable. There are price guide books for this. The earliest records of many artists are usually their most valuable. Old jazz seems to have good potential but they are harder to find. Thrift stores and garage sales have been the best for me. I usually ask the seller at garage sales if they have any records and they often will bring some in from their house to show me. If I didn’t ask, I would have never known. This asking questions is such a simple secret that I am almost embarrassed to mention it but it is also extremely important.


Many times when at a garage sale I will ask if they have anything else for sale and they will pull out all kinds of things. That’s how I got a professionally built 5’ X 8’ tilt bed trailer for $250 a couple of days ago. It was hidden away behind a fence and I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t ask. I just saw a homemade 4’ X 8’ trailer for sale for $500 and it was a piece of junk in comparison to what I got.

If you want to accumulate a record inventory for the future, you may want to buy them as cheaply as possible. No duh ! What I mean is that if you can get records for 10 cents or thereabouts, you could have a thousand records for as little as a $100 investment. And you can enjoy them in the meantime. I think silver and gold are great investments but to be able to enjoy your investment as well is a big plus.

Say these records become worth $2.00 in the future. In fact, I have seen many people selling them for that currently. Of course I don’t buy them at that price unless I can find some treasures among them. If you had a thousand of these records and could readily sell them for $2.00 each, you would have $2,000 or 20 times your initial $100 investment. A twenty bagger.

Vinyl records bought cheaply at garage sales may be a good item to sell at a swap meet. No harm in taking a couple of boxes of 10 cent records and putting a price of $2.00 for them and seeing what sells. If you take 100 records and 5 sell, you have your money back and still have 95 of the 100 records left for the next swap meet. The same applies to VHS prerecorded movies and anything else you can find for dirt cheap.

Vinyl records are a much longer running and larger market that a fad market like the 8 track tapes. There will always be interest in them and I feel that they are at the bottom right now and hold potential for the future. Have you checked what new vinyl records sell for ? And how few are available as opposed to the CD format ?

I also buy records and VHS movies as well as DVDs for the purpose of giving them to friends and family as gifts. They seem to appreciate this more than anything I might buy in a store. I almost feel guilty when realizing that I maybe bought the record for 10 cents and they are looking at it like it is pure gold.

This is another area that would be good to cover; finding gifts for friends and family. I do this throughout the year and when the date rolls around I don’t to have to frantically run to the store for some lame piece of junk that says I remembered. Besides, gifts should be personal and well thought out. With this, I also buy greeting cards throughout the year. They are on sale in various places and the savings can mount up over a year. Why pay $4.99 for a card when I can get one for a buck at the dollar store or on sale somewhere ?

A funny question comes to mind here. If someone gave you a few classic rock records rather than a new tie or shirt, which would you be more likely to remember years later ?

It’s not the cost of the gift but the message of what the gift says that is important.

And here’s a sneaky idea that I’m sure the Post Office and UPS won’t appreciate. Say you have someone across the country and Christmas comes around (Kwaanza, Festivus, the holiday season, whatever they want to call it.) Instead of sending a heavy package with the gifts, send a card with a check for the cost of the gift plus the shipping cost with an explanation that you are sending more money in their hot little hands and that they can get whatever they want and won’t have to stand in the long return line. I actually did this and was able to send an extra $40 to some family back east last Christmas. They laughed and appreciated the logic.

From the time I wake up to the time I fall asleep I am constantly aware of what I have to buy and the best prices available. I also stockpile goodies for the future. This is a mindset that had saved me a fortune over the years. And that’s in after taxed dollars too !

Best wishes,

Agnut

Hi bigdaddy40. Any chance you look like Burl Ives ? Like in “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” ? One of my favorite movies.

Great find, that boat. You sound dangerously close to the way I operate. I should be glad you aren’t living next door grabbing all the good deals.

See, you NOTICED. You had your eyes open for opportunities. Your last line says it all, “there's money laying all over if ya know where and how to look.”

The jet skis were also a great deal. Einstein said “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” You saw them and imagined what to do with them.

The room full of office furniture probably scared away most bidders because of the sheer volume. This plays in your favor if you have the room to store it as you sell it. I bought an electronics company’s inventory dirt cheap for the same reasons; it was too large to move and store.

You are so right; there are profitable deals all around us.

I don’t expect this thread to reach many readers and only some will act upon what they learn. But for the ones who decide to act, it will change their lives. The more deal making experiences that are posted like yours bigdaddy40, the more readers will feel left behind and want a piece of the action. I think this could have a snowballing effect. I can dream, can’t I ?

Best wishes,

agnut

hey ag,


nope....look like the guys in zz top as a matter of fact. too cheap to shave lol

i'm a firm believer in looking for deals. do it all the time. i've gotten pool tables, pools, air hockey etc just because the homeowers didn't want to move them. i especially love garage sales that people have right before they move

my kids wig out everytime we're out driving somewhere and the see a garage sale. they think it's treasuring hunting! it's gotta be scary for folks to see 9 kids pile out of our van and invade the sale lol. i've also noticed that lots of folks think it's cute to have a little kid bargain with them. they get deals i could only dream of. (hmmmm....light bulb going off!!!)

your son reminds me of a couple of mine wth the shylock thing. it warms my heart to see them haggle and the gleam in their eyes when they make a score. these lessons are, to me, way more valuable than any other education they'll ever get.

i once even got a new 2000 sq ft house from a builder. 20% off the price, nothing down, no credit checks. i gave him a good deal on his plastering and he mentioned he had this house..............lol

the cool thing that happened that he didn't realize is that he almost had to keep us busy.....he needed that payment. i hired a separate crew to handle his work so not only was it a free house, i made a few bucks on the work!

i'm starting to look into wrecked harleys offered by the ins companies. it's unreal how little damage there has to be for them to total them.

great thread!! i'm really enjoying it. there's so much wisdom and advice here that folks should pay extreme attention to imo

thanks again!

Hi Masonic Plot. Smart marketing to put a backpacking package together. I’m keeping my two backpacks for bugout bags but the next ones will be for selling later. There is a seasonality with some items and it is a good idea to know your merchandise. I knew of a guy in southern California who made a full time living trading boats in the fall for dune buggies and then trading dune buggies for boats in the spring.

Your post reminded me of something. I don’t know how much benefit it will be in the future but I think it is worthy of discussion.

While we are hunting and gathering (my sons and I laughingly call it raping and pillaging) at garage sales, should we also pick up some items that could be put away for the long term ?

Things like hand tools, garden implements, kitchenware, winter coats, blankets, sleeping bags, tents, hardware, books, etc.

Items that will be in higher demand that are available now. I know that when the oil price goes way up, the 1980 to 1994 or thereabouts, diesel Volkswagens won’t available like they are right now. I saw this when the last time oil spiked to almost $80 per barrel.

I guess it depends upon what we envision the economy will look like in the future. But there are probably items that are good to acquire no matter what happens.

Any suggestions ?

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. Only one local garage sale this Saturday morning so my son and I are going to hit the thrift stores in the next town.

Great thread, agnut.


Buying from online industrial surplus outlets and selling on ebay works for me.

I'm hooked on home built Renewable Energy technologies, I find the parts I need by reverse engineering their applications.

I think you need to be kind of a deviant to be a good wheeler-dealer.



h

Thanks Halophyte. It sounds like you are into some fascinating ventures. I would like to hear more as I can only dream of what you are doing with the renewable energy technologies. I’m sure there are some things that I hadn’t even considered.

In my scrounging around I found a heavy metal box (I mean REAL heavy; if it fell on you, it would probably kill you) on legs that looks like someone was using it as a trash incinerator. It is about 3 foot square and lined on the inside and has a heavy front door. They were offering it for free if someone would just haul it away. I gave them $5 to hold it until I could return with a truck. Why did I give them $5 for this box ? Well, I knew that if I had paid money for an item and gotten a receipt, they wouldn’t give it away to someone else. They even put a sold sign on the box. Remember this technique as you may need it when offered a freebie that you can‘t haul away immediately. Lock it down with a few bucks; it will be money well spent.

I want to use it to burn trash and other free combustibles to heat living quarters. Maybe a large holding tank with water and antifreeze that could be circulated into the house with radiators and fans to push the heated air through the house. Only a small pump and fan would be needed. The natural gas bill is almost $200 per month to heat our home in the cooler months and a workshop would cost about the same so it is worth the effort and should pay for itself in the first few months of operation. It would be a fun experiment to see how cheaply I could do it with discarded junk. So far, I’m into it for 5 bucks and have a 12 volt fan from a computer and another 12 volt fan from an old Volkswagen. I also have a couple of old car radiators. Hmmm… its starting to put itself together. A holding tank, maybe an old hot water heater or two and some piping and some fabrication and I’m in business.

Ponce has a large glass covered box that is painted black inside. It is leaned toward the sun and I believe that it sits on his deck. It has an opening in the bottom that takes the cooler house air and heats it and sends it through the upper opening with a solar powered fan that kicks on with a thermostat control. Sounds like a simple system that practically takes care of itself. He says that it works great when in mildly cool temperatures.

My sons and I live in a nice neighborhood but would like to move to a place with a few acres and a large workshop where we could carry out some experiments. Also I could have my business on the property and save the shop rent I am now saddled with. I feel the need to cut back on my expenses as soon as I am able. I see a difficult time coming and want to be positioned to weather the storm. To move to acreage is a winning situation all around. Fruit trees, a large garden and animals also a big plus. The only negative will be the tremendous work in moving both household and business.

I also feel that our world could change without warning and I may not be able to move in time. It is an uneasy feeling that I just cannot shake. So I put it on the back burner since I can only study the surrounding area and can’t act until after late April.

Your last line had me laughing. I guess I am a deviant and proud of it. It is so liberating to deviate from the norm. That is where the imagination can run free. Sharing our knowledge on this horse trading and bartering thread is one such opportunity that I feel will be crucial in the future. Having lots of gold and silver but not knowing how to maximize its purchasing power is incomplete, to put it mildly.

If people do nothing more than read this thread and hard copy it to paper, they may have this knowledge to put it to use when it will be needed later.

There have been several members who contributed to this thread and had nothing to gain except freely sharing their experiences. In my opinion, this sharing is the most wonderful thing about the GIM website.

Best wishes,

Agnut

Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in the future.
William Wordsworth

That best portion of a man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
William Wordsworth

Hi again Bigdaddy40. ZZ Top, huh ? We cut each other’s hair; no male beauty salon for us.

I’m laughing when envisioning your tribe piling out of the van and descending upon some unsuspecting garage sale owner. Hoard of locusts comes to mind.

And having the kids haggling warms my heart. The seller is at an immediate disadvantage but doesn’t realize it. Your children will have this ability for the rest of their lives as well as fond memories in which you played a major role. Priceless.

Doing things with our children is what they will remember long after we parents are gone. And this going to garage and estate sales with them is, in my opinion, one of the best bonding activities we can do. I see my children as part of a team but able to independently make up their own game plan when deal making.

Our garage sales are often different here with a large aging populace. They have already moved on but to their final resting place. And their kids just want to get rid of most of the items. Sometimes deals can be made for large groups of items. These are really estate sales but sometimes the garage sale ads don’t give a clue.

Saturday my younger son and I went to the next town to get the lay of the land. It is a wealthy community and apparently has a lot of world travelers. We first stopped into an antique shop. The first thing I noticed was that this was not an ordinary antique shop in that there were so many items that I had never seen before. The proprietor gave us the directions to a couple of thrift shops that were open. The first didn’t have anything exciting except a backpack for $4. It wasn’t a top brand and I passed on it. I wish I hadn’t but it is too late now. See, I make mistakes and have regrets too.

The next thrift store had a stack of classical records with a large tag that said $4 for all. I looked closer and there were 40 records of the works of Beethoven. The record label was Deutsche Grammophon, a German company that I consider to be the highest quality for classical vinyl records. As far as I could tell they were brand new, in 8 boxes complete with all the notebooks. Ten cents each for new records of the highest quality. Not a bad deal as long as I will play them or sell them for more. Otherwise, they are a bad deal. Can’t get emotional about this business of deal making, especially if it is something you want for yourself. There will be plenty of time to get excited after having left the sale.

Next stop was a used book/video/record store. There were a lot of jazz records there for $3 each but I wasn’t sure of what was rare and valuable and what was merely a mediocre priced common record. The only thing we got was an XBOX game for $10 that my son knew had a high review score. It is $55 new and not that easy to find. The used book prices were high and I got tired of looking for a needle in a haystack.

Our checking out this town was informative but not too profitable. We will be returning when the weather warms up and the garage sales are in full swing. There was only one advertised and it was at a restaurant. The seller had left an hour earlier than his ad said it ended. Probably in disgust as he had a lot of Beatles memorabilia and I suspect that buyers weren’t willing to pay the collector price. A garage sale in a restaurant ? A new one to me.

If you think of garage/estate sales as a fun activity, you will not be disappointed. Attitude is so important. Treat it like a party and converse with others. You will find some of the nicest people at these sales.

Attending garage/auction sales is not degrading at all. I’ll tell you what I think is degrading; paying high prices for new but inferior imported junk.

And garage/estate sales are patriotic. Say what, agnut ? Look at it this way. You are buying things that were often of American quality manufacture. Are you sending any money to foreign countries ? Countries that despise us and use their profits to build war machinery that threatens us ? No, you are handing your money to a fellow American and thereby not contributing to our foreign trade deficit.

Old American made cutlery lasts a lifetime and has a feel all its own. It is often for sale used for mere pennies. I just picked up a knife sharpener by Chicago Cutlery. It has a wooden handle and a fine steel surface. It must be pretty old and looks like an antique. I paid 25 cents. Even the smallest finds are fun.

Acquiring experience in the small deals is necessary before going into the larger deals. This is so that you don’t make mistakes with larger sums of investment money. We will talk about these larger deals as we go along but we must not get ahead of ourselves. These larger deals are so similar to the small deals that it is surprising that so few venture here.

Best wishes,

Agnut

P.S. Still thinking about getting that Jaguar XJ12 I heard was free if I would haul it away. Some good parts but I am running out of room. Wish I had an auto junk yard.

you and me both. i can't explain it but the urge to get set up on some land is getting stronger every day. i just hope i have time to get everything done that we'll need.

i too see a very difficult time coming and i for sure don't want to get caught up in it here in michigan.

Hi again Bigdaddy40. Two and a half years ago I moved from east county San Diego to the Pacific northwest. It was a huge move but well worth it. I will never go back to southern California. I haven’t even visited family there as I believe they are living in an illusion that will end in tears. They come to visit me since it is so much nicer here. California used to be a vacation destination but now it isn’t anything like when I moved there in the late 60s.

I’m in a suburban neighborhood and feel the need as you do for further pre positioning my family to a few acres where we can be more independent of the outside systems. I guess we will have to learn canning as my sons love to garden.


An anticipated move of one’s residence must be handled like a business plan. We have talked about this in buying and selling; deal making. It is just a much larger deal. All the positives versus all the negatives should be written down and weighed in the balance. Part of the equation includes what the scenario may be in the next years.

In my opinion, the trends indicate continuing inflation and therefore higher prices for things like electric, natural gas, heating, business rentals, food, city services such as trash pickup, sewage, water. I have purposefully listed these items because I believe I can cut down on all of these expenses with having a home on acreage.

The first, electric, will take some time to assemble alternate forms like solar, diesel generator. The return on investment will take years. My electric is cheap here (about $70 per month) and therefore the savings will be small.

Natural gas heats our home as well as the hot water heater. It averages about $140 per month. The stove is electric and I will want a gas stove where I move.

Heating will be a couple of project with some solar collecting whether it is forced air from a black box outside like Ponce has or a water heating solar system with the heated water being pumped into the house and run through radiators like a car heater. A wood burning stove will also be needed.

The business rental is the big one and will save me $1,500 per month. Additionally, moving the business on property I will be able to have more secure inventory and tools.

Food can be grown on acreage as well as having animals. I don’t see too much savings here but organically grown vegetables and fruit won’t have pesticides and are fresher.

City services cost about $100 per month. Most of the trash will become fuel for heating the house. A septic tank will handle the sewage. A well on the property will provide for both home and garden. I will also catch rainwater for this garden. Mustn’t forget to put away a monthly fund for long term maintenance of the septic and well.

Total monthly savings will be at least $1,700. That’s $20,400 per year. And I would have to earn an extra $29,000 in pretax profit per year. That is a lot of extra wear and tear on this old body. Besides I am anticipating slower times and would be better able to weather less sales volume if it came to that.

The advantages of living on acreage can’t all be put on a balance sheet. Some of them are priceless to me and my family. We will be able to experiment with all of kinds of things that may save expenses as well as make more money. Maybe a commercial mushroom farm or a fish pond.

Almost forgot; I am a junk collector. I need lots of room for spare cars and may need an extra barn for when I drag home some huge defunct business’s inventory. I owned 8 acres in east county San Diego and lived there for 14 years. I kept several cars there as well as bought inventories so this will be nothing new. Country living is not as easy as having all the conveniences of city life but I expect the balance to swing the other way in the future.

I hope I have laid out a reasonable example of how I would go about planning as big a venture as moving to acreage. It should not be taken lightly since a home is where you will spend most of your time, particularly if you have a business on the property.

Gotta go; my son has taken the doors, hood and trunk lid off the parts Jaguar. Next is the motor and transmission then the front and rear suspension. It will look like a skeleton by the time we call for the wrecker to haul it away. Boy it looks ugly but there are some valuable goodies there. Beauty is in the pocketbook of the beholder.

Best wishes,
agnut

P.S. Bigdaddy40, where do you want to move ? Locally or anywhere ?

Not sure if it has been mentioned here, but Craigslist has a category called barter. I'm sure its not on the same level as some of the strategies that you guys are discussing but its worth taking a look at every so often.

we've pretty much settled on mid tenn. narrowed it down between 2 parcels, 58 and the other is 62 acres. both all woods. more than likely going with the 58 due to the fact there's more flat building spots on it. it's also not very easy to get into which appeals to me.

sold the lake house last year and am renting a house my partner and i own. taxes on the lake house got waaayyy out of hand. $12k per year. given that tennessee has no income tax and the property taxes are so low as to almost not count, i'm saving about $35k a year just by moving.

i'm going to build the house out of cordwood and i'm planning a very large man cave (shop) to store all kinds of stuff and projects.

we fell in love with tennessee awhile back and can't wait to get down there

i never noticed that before.....thanks for the tip, i'll have to check that out

Craigslist is great. Last Saturday I bought a trailer load of tools from somebody going out of the remodeling business for a few hundred bucks. I kept a few items and put the rest on Craigslist. Somebody came within a few hours and bought most of it for the same amount I initially paid. By the time I sell a few more items, and figure the value of what I am keeping for personal use, I will probably double my money. Just a little time and some free ads. I probably could have made more selling piece by piece, but would have taken more time meeting additional buyers, so I feel pretty good about it. Not as great of increase as some stories here, but I knew going into it I would make money with low risk, and figured by the hour I made good money.

Well folks, I think I get the horsetrader of the day badge.

As I have mentioned previously on this thread, I have an ad to buy coins locally. Yesterday, I got two calls, purchasing $50 of junk silver at 5x face at the first one and I bought 25 Canadian silver dollars @ 6x face, some 1964 Kennedy halves, also at 6x face and 4 proof like sets at $11 each from a very nice lady who was scaling down and cleaning house. I thought that one of the sets was pretty valuable and after a little bit of research, it turns out it was worth a fair bit more than I thought at the time.

Today, I made a couple calls to local dealers and ended up trading the valuable set and two more common ones for 20 prospectors. I had $33 in the lot.

I also picked up a new (to me) minivan. I have always purchased vehicles in the past, but a few years ago, when our 4th child was coming, we needed a larger primary vehicle. I also did not relish the idea of 4 kids dropping juice boxes and crap all over my vehicle, so a lease seemed to make sense. I answered an ad in the paper from a GM employee who was a year into a 3 year lease and wanted out. I took over the lease, which was pretty cheap for what I got. The lease was due to run out next week and, when i started looking last month, I found a website (www.leasebusters.com) that matches people who want out of a lease with people who need a ride.

Long story short, I got a 2005 replacement for my 2003 with the same payments and he wrote me a $3000 check to exit the lease.

Life is good when you know how to deal.

__________________

Good catch RichyRich. Every resource of saving and making money is appreciated. They need to be saved and investigated for potential bargains. Notice that BigDaddy40 now knows about Craigslist because of your mentioning it. And handyman posted about his good dealing on Craigslist.

I have been buying and selling on Craigslist for about a year and a half. I have found cars and car parts. Some of the deals I would have never found otherwise. As I said earlier, I got 2 Jaguar XJ6 cars for $900 total and he even delivered them for free. One will be a family car and the other is already being taken apart for what I want as well as parts I will put on Craigslist. I expect that the parts car will pay for both cars’ initial purchase price and I will get a nice silver 1987 Jaguar for my efforts. My son already swapped the factory mag wheels onto my other gold 1987 Jaguar that I bought several months ago for $1,000. Silver and gold Jaguars; for a total investment of $1,000. I didn’t plan it to happen; it just fell into my lap and I couldn‘t say no.

In fact, I should tell you how I got the first Jaguar, the gold one. My younger son and I were out garage sailing and found a Bowflex machine that my other son had been wanting for some time. We got it for $100. We were excited for him and couldn’t wait to return home and tell him. I noticed this Jaguar sitting on the other side of the street with a for sale sign in the window. I didn’t think much about it as we were so excited by the deal we had just made. My son pointed it out as we left and something clicked in my head that this might be a good deal too. I returned a couple of days later and saw that he wanted $1600 for the car. I checked it out and drove it around and offered to pay $1000 but no more. He immediately took the offer and threw in 3 repair manuals and a new car cover.

What is the lesson here? Well, there is actually more than one. First, I shouldn’t have been blinded by the excitement of having made a good deal on the Bowflex machine. Second, BE HERE NOW. By that I mean that I wasn’t aware of my surroundings at all times. I wasn’t paying attention the first time I saw the for sale sign on the Jaguar. My son mentioning it to me jogged my senses. How stupid could I be ? I had owned 10 Jaguars in the past and had restored 4 of them. And third, I almost didn’t make the effort to meet with the owner and negotiate the deal. Other things were having to be done and I should have prioritized the Jaguar at the top of the list. The car could have been gone in the days I took to get my butt over there. I should have talked to the car owner right then and there. Good deals and screaming steals don’t usually sit around for long. Strike while the iron is hot.

If even a borderline moron such as myself can make profitable deals time after time, just imagine what you readers can do out there if you apply yourself. I may be overstepping here but I believe that if people are not deal making they are either too lazy or lack the confidence to try. I can’t do much for the former but this thread addresses those who want to change their lives. Complaining about the cards life has dealt you is a defeatist attitude. Instead you should be shuffling the deck. Take control of your life. If you don’t, others will. I haven’t had a boss in many years. Too often a boss is just a backward double S O B. Get it ?

That’s how people find deals; they are always on the lookout for bargains. We all know the saying, “if it looks too good to be true, it usually is”. Well, we are looking for what ISN”T usual. Anything from the good deals to the screaming bargains. They are out there but you have to be looking. They rarely come to you; you have to go to them.

I missed a deal a couple of weeks ago when an estate sale had several tables loaded with tools and hardware. The guy would have probably let me have it all for 20 bucks just to get rid of it. There were also many jars full of all kinds of hardware store goodies. Thousands of small items. I already have loads of this type of merchandise and wasn’t too interested at the time. I did buy some tools for $2 that would have cost me about $70 if they were new. I spoke with Ponce about this and he said that I should have scooped up the lot because there may come a time when these small items will be expensive and hard to find. A survivalist mentality. In looking back now, I think he is right. I did call back (always get their phone number) but someone came in and bought the lot for a song. He who hesitates loses.

Worth mentioning here is that in this estate sale, the seller’s attitude was to get rid of everything. Know your seller !

There will be other deals but it would be wise to be aware of the potential value of things, both present and for the future, as they appear in our search. It wasn’t a big deal (I am usually better on swooping on the bigger deals. Sometimes I feel like a vulture HaHa) but even the seemingly smaller deals add to our inventory as well as sharpen our deal making skills.

You have to imagine the items in your possession. What are you going to do with them ? Will they take up a lot of room ? Can you sell part of them right away to at least recoup your investment ? And is what is unsold valuable either for your own use or future sales ?

I believe that I could do well by putting an ad in the paper that I am buying estates. Those calling me could describe what they have and if interested, I could go out and examine their items and make a deal for the whole lot. One way of making the deals come to you. Some of you may have noticed ads like this in the newspapers. These people are making a full time living by doing this. It is not for everyone but has been running through my mind for some time. This is just another way of getting additional exposure to what is out there for sale. I wouldn’t even have to do it full time. I could put an ad in for a few weeks and see what happens. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

What I find intriguing about estate sales is that many of the sellers just want everything gone so that they can sell or rent the house in which the items are being shown. The items are in the way. Also, a package deal for everything can often be made at a great price.

You should understand that I am no different than you, other than I have a lot of experience with deal making. It is so simple that a child can do it. I’m nowhere near perfect and make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. But there is so much room for error in deal making that I still come out ahead almost every time. In fact, I can’t remember when I have lost on a deal.

1.By looking for groceries other necessities that are bargains, confidence is built. And money saved.

2.By going to garage sales, more confidence is built. And negotiating skills can be learned. Dealing with people and learning the value of items is the foundation for larger deal making.

3.The last step opens your mind to the realization that everything is up for grabs. It can be cars, houses, whole businesses. You are the dealer here and you decide how and when to place your bets. You will be at the top of your game and nobody’s fool. If you have read the many posters on this thread, you have seen that there are others who have risen to the top of their game. This is not bull; this is going on all the time and we will be discussing these larger deals in following posts.

Number 1 is like crawling. Number 2 is like walking. Number 3 is like flying.

Along the way you are going to make mistakes. Learn by them and above all, learn to laugh at yourself. This deal making and bartering can free you.

Best wishes,

agnut

Hi Bigdaddy40. I lived in Millington, Tennessee in the late 1950s. It was outside of Memphis. I think you have made a good choice wanting to live there. I have a lot of fond childhood memories from there. Maybe Tn…Andy will be in your area.

Property taxes can be a killer. However, with low taxes in Tennessee and over 50 acres, you may be able to make the land work for you. Cattle grazing, farming, trees for lumber, fruit trees, a lake, there are many opportunities. It sounds like it may be hilly country though and only parts of it would be usable for each of these.

Your $35K savings per year sounds fantastic. That’s over $50K in before tax money. And I thought a case of peas on ½ price sale was a hot deal !

Sounds like the perfect hideaway. You are fortunate, acreage is expensive here in the Pacific northwest. At least where I want to live. I’d be tickled pink with 5 acres.

A few years ago I found that I could get a used industrial steel building for about $3 per square foot delivered to my property. I believe the setup was included but I am not sure. A 50’ X 80’ for $12,000. These were being taken down in industrial parks in the city. They were Butler buildings or of similar high quality. High ceilings with a mezzanine level around the inside for additional storage. All I had to do was have a concrete floor laid and the plumbing and electric in.

There are pluses and minuses to a steel building and it may not suit your needs. I like that steel is hard to burn down ! But it can be cold in the winter. If I had one, I would insulate and partition off areas where I was going to work so that I didn’t have to heat the whole shebang. I did this in my last business which was an old wooden warehouse. And I mean old as in a real fire trap. I even rented it out to a film crew making the TV series the Renegade. We had Lorenzo Lamas around for at least a week with all the attendant workers. My crew got a big kick out of it. There I go, reminiscing again.

You might consider a sea container for extra storage. They may not be many around your area however. I had one for several years and it was fantastic. Some people use them for workshops. Just be sure where you want it located permanently as it is a beast to move.

Please keep us posted on your progress in moving.

Best wishes,

agnut

QWAK,agnut,Some very good stuff in your posts ,I am shure it can help a lot of people as we TRANSITION in to a very diferent ECONOMY and way of providing the things we want and need.

The world is changing and we got a front row seat, sort of like seeing that GALAGOR guy do his thing MASHING mellons and things with a huge mallet! TSHTF each time the hammer falls and IF you like FRUIT COCTAILES you got a GREAT DEAL!

I do miss doing Maxwell St. in Chicago and the Flea markets and Garage sales, truth be told MOST of the DUCK NEST was constructed from stuff I got that way or out right ALLY SHOPING and scrounging!

Independence from the SYSTEM and becoming LESS dependent on IT is REALY what gaining FREEDOM is ALL ABOUT!

Helping people to become MORE FREE is a GOOD (GOD) thing I am shure it makes you FEEL GOOD spending the effort to HELP OTHERS!

the DUCK

__________________
"ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

I AM, the DUCK

Hi handyman. Good deal ! The bottom line was that you made money, kept some items for yourself and got the deal completed quickly.

You decided to sell the lot for less rather than sell the items one by one. This is often a good idea because time is money and you could be off to another good deal much sooner. Deals are like busses; there will be another along shortly.

I also noticed that you had calculated the risk/reward against the hours involved. Basic to smart deal making.

I would rather buy a group of items for $200 and quick sell them for $300 than sit on them for months while trying to get maximum price. Included in these deals are usually some items I want for myself or to set aside that have a high potential profit. It’s all a balancing act in your mind.

The exception might be to hold items for a future garage sale of your own or selling at a swap meet like Masonic Plot does regularly.

Best wishes,

agnut

Do any of you know if renting out farmland is realistic?

I'm looking to get at least 10 acres, and would be quite willing to let someone else grow crops or keep a herd on it. Is that normal, or unheard of?

Hi fasTTcar. Your coin ad is really paying off. Sounds like you got about $270 value in the 20 prospectors for your $33 investment. An 8 bagger. Nice work if you can get it ! Congratulations.

My only reluctance to put a coin buying ad in the papers is that I wouldn’t want people to become aware that I was dealing in precious metals. I know, it is probably stupid to miss this opportunity but I am not yet ready to try with all the other things I am busy doing. If I do find the time I would like to try it. Just have to be careful though. I used to be a serious coin collector many years ago. There may also be some good profit in offering to buy them as well as the common coins. I have an old acquaintance who is a wholesale dealer in rare coins and he offered to front me whatever I may want to offer on Ebay.

Your minivan lease buyout is something I have never considered. Another way to save money for those who want to lease their cars. Thanks for the lease buster website.

I remember an old Volvo 544 I bought for $200 and sold for $400 within a couple of hours. Sweet and quick. This was back in the late 60s so a couple of hundred bucks was worth something then. I don’t do these deals as often as I would like. A used car lot can be very profitable but you have to be there all the time. These quick deals can be made here whereas a private party car sale usually takes much more time. It may be better to pick up a good car deal from time to time, use it for a while and resell it for a profit when you want. Most states allow one to sell about 5 cars per year before they get after you about requiring a dealer’s license. And we all have some friends and family members, don’t we ? I’m not telling you to do this but just what I have heard some people do. Bigdaddy 40 is probably reading this and licking his chops with his 9 kids in the wings.

We need to thoroughly cover the topic of car buying and selling since it can be a major source of profit/savings. Auto repair has been my career for 35 years and I know a bit of what to buy as well as what to avoid. I have also had two used car lots. But don’t hold that against me.

“Life is good when you know how to deal”. I like that. Sweet.

Best wishes,

agnut

Prototype built and tested - a three phase switching power amplifier for wind generators, enhances low speed performance of industrial standard PMAs.


- Keep it coming, agnut !

QWAK,With small amounts of land it is not likely to be praticle. When I got my 40, 20 was clered ,I let a local farmer run hes cattle on it for free because he said he would keep it bush hoged and clear. Some times he cut but mostly not. When I moved on to the land I spent months clearing out rocks so it could be a hay field,payed for LIME,and clover seed and fesque seed. I let him cut the hay which he sold for a fiew years but when I asked for 1/2 of the FRNs he got the coming year to help pay the taxes he said it was not worth it so I gave it back to nature. At least the DEER apreciate it!

the DUCK

__________________
"ALL is ONE" What we DO to and FOR others we DO "TO and FOR" our selves ultimitly!

People SELDOM look for TRUTH! What they look for is CONFERMATION that what they have chosen to believe IS TRUTH! This is why people will believe almost ANY THING and also WHY the WORLD is SO MESSED UP!

IT is never realy OVER -- things just CHANGE!

You can QUOTE me on ALL! It IS what I believe to be TRUE!

I AM, the DUCK

I remember when I was in high school I went to a teen actiity and we played a game called "Bigger & Better". The object was to send groups out in vans to trade their item (we started with pencils) for something bigger and better. It is amazing what some groups will come back with after just a couple hours.

Can the IRS tax you for trading items if you never actually "sell" (for money) or "buy" (with money)?

__________________

Sure they can, if we're stupid enough to claim it as capital gains.

Reminds me of that red paper clip guy. Maybe we can get him as a guest speaker some day

one red paperclip

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Jump to: navigation, search

The correct title of this article is one red paperclip. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

The website one red paperclip was created by Kyle MacDonald, a Canadian blogger who bartered his way from a single paperclip to a house in a series of trades spanning almost one whole year.

Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Trading timeline 3 Background on MacDonald 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

The first trade, of the paperclip for a pen, was on July 14, 2005. MacDonald announced July 5, 2006 that he had traded a movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan. On July 7, 2006 — almost exactly one year after MacDonald began his experiment — the deed to the house was signed. In the following September, at the housewarming party where 12 of the 14 traders were present, he proposed to his girlfriend and she accepted. The wedding ring was made from the original red paperclip he got back from the first woman to have agreed to trade with him.^[1]
MacDonald got the idea for one red paperclip from a childhood game called "Bigger and Better", and announced his quest on July 12, 2005 with a post on Craigslist.^[1][2]
The website was followed online by nearly a thousand people, according to bookmarking data provided by del.icio.us^[3] Several of the trades were covered by news channels like CNN, ABC News^[4], and the BBC^[5], among others.
The Hour on CBC Newsworld in particular followed the trading with some interest, especially when MacDonald remarked that he would not go to Yahk, British Columbia for a trade. The village protested and MacDonald said that The Hour would have to broadcast a show there before he makes a trade. In February 2006, the show took the challenge and had a special episode shot there which covered MacDonald's latest trade.^[6]

[edit] Trading timeline

Timeline, based on the website and as summarized by the BBC^[5]:

• On July 14, 2005, he went to Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.
• He then traded the pen the same day for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington, which he nicknamed "Knob-T".
• On July 25, 2005, he traveled to Amherst, Massachusetts, with a friend to trade the Knob-T for a Coleman camp stove (with fuel).
• On September 24, 2005, he went to San Clemente, California, and traded the camp stove for a Honda generator, from a U.S. Marine.
• On November 16, 2005, he made a second (and successful) attempt (after having the generator confiscated by the New York City Fire Department) in Maspeth, Queens, to trade the generator for an "instant party": an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the beer of the holder's choice, and a neon Budweiser sign.
• On December 8, 2005, he traded the "instant party" to Quebec comedian and radio personality Michel Barrette for a Ski-doo snowmobile.
• Within a week of that, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, in February 2006.
• On or about January 7, 2006, the second person on the trip to Yahk traded Kyle a cube van for the privilege.
• On or about February 22, 2006, he traded the cube van for a recording contract with Metal Works in Toronto, Canada.
• On or about April 11, 2006, he traded the recording contract to Jody Gnant for a year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona.
• On or about April 26, 2006, he traded the one year's rent in Phoenix, Arizona, for one afternoon with Alice Cooper
• On or about May 26, 2006, he traded the one afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe
• On or about June 2, 2006, he traded the KISS motorized snow globe to Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.^[7]
• On or about July 5, 2006, he traded the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan.

[edit] Background on MacDonald

This article or section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since July 2006.
MacDonald (born October 3, 1979) is a Canadian citizen from Belcarra, British Columbia. He has a bachelor's degree in Geography from the University of British Columbia.
MacDonald has traveled to over 40 countries, on every continent but Antarctica. Some of his travel adventures include delivering pizza by scooter in Sydney, Australia; sheep herding by dirt bike in Western Australia; modeling as an Italian soccer player in Bangkok, Thailand; firing rounds of ammo from a machine gun in Cambodia; delivering several hundred post cards at one time to the Galapagos, Ecuador^[8]; and moving to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, for three days just so he could get NWT polar-bear-shaped license plates for his car.

Actually, it was a little better than that, as I am in Canada and the 5 and 6 x face is in Canadian funds, currently about .85 to the $1. It was a little better than a 10 bagger.

I am also very aware of the target I set on myself and have prepared accordingly. First rule is that I do not meet people in my home, i go to them or meet them in a coffee shop. Secondly, as you do spend some time speaking with the sellers, I do interject some fear into the idea of someone coming to my home by mentioning some of my unspecified protection, which really does happen to be customized, elaborate and unseen. Thirdly, even if someone did come through, they would find nothing more than my office safe that contains a few maples and my insurance and identity papers. The rest is safely stored elsewhere that is only known by myself and in a letter held by my lawyer, who has instructions to pass them on to my wife if I am no longer around.

__________________