Blog Post #7

As we approach the end of this semester I would like to take the time to tell you guys that this hobby of mine is very easy to get into and once you know what you need to look for and what is a good deal and what isn’t, you can make very very good money. I choose to do this as a side job and more of a hobby than even that but someone can easily make a career out of this if you devoted the time and effort to this hobby.  Everyone has their own type of hobby and stuff that they consider valuable and you will be knowledgeable on that particular item.  All you have to do is find the items that you think may be a good deal and purchase it, then put it for sale on a bigger market. So if you find a rare item a a garage sale that you think is worth money and the owner just doesn’t know what the real value of that item is, pick it up and then list it for sale where more people that are specifically lokking for that item or a similar one.

I always research the value before making the purchase, that way you a rough idea what the market value is for that particular item and also find out if you are buying the item at a price where you can turn around and sell it to make a buck or two.  One rule to try to always follow is to never get attached to anything that you buy to sell, I strictly like to do this to make money and constantly have new things, so always remember that you bought the item to make money on and not to keep it for yourself. If you do keep it you may loose out on making money and then the market may not be as high as it first was      

Blog post six

This past week I went a little bit outside of my comfort zone and spent the most money I’ve ever spent on a truck that I just had to have.  It’s a 2013 Ford Powerstroke F-350 one ton. This is a huge truck, it is lifted with an eight inch suspension lift and sitting on 37 inch tires. Whoever owned this truck before spared no expense when build it. It has the best of the best. For example it has a Rigid 28” L.E.D light bar mounted in the bumper of the truck, just to purchase the light bar its eleven hundred dollars. I would never spend that much just for a light but I will say it is extremely bright and it looks like daylight when you drive with it on during the night. Also all the emblems were taken off and L.E.D light were added on the back of them to light up at night.  This truck has the 6.7 international diesel motor and is hooked up with a SCT four stage power tuner that make the truck have 600 hp and a crazy amount of torque.  This ford has only 60,000 miles and is in excellent shape with no dings, dents, or scratches anywhere.  The truck is so tall that the bottom of the door is as tall as my hip, I am 6’4” just to give you an idea just how tall it really is.  The truck is for sure going to need a set of step bars installed.  I spent $34,000 on this truck and I like it so much I don’t know if I’m going to sell it or not. I often say im going to keep this for a while and then the next week they are for sale.  I believe if I put this truck for sale I could sell it for $40,000 and make a $6,000 dollar profit, however I have to find the right buyer because of how tall it is some people may not be interested.  Even with the truck being lifted with big tires it still gets 18 mpg and that’s what is nice about diesels.

Blog post Five

                Every Wednesday are the big auction days when my brother, dad, and I will go down to flint to purchase vehicles, Flint Auto Auction will have close to 4,000 vehicles every Wednesday and anything from vehicles with five miles and brand new to piles of junk that someone most likely traded in for the 2500 dollar push pull or drag.

                Some Tuesday night we will go down ahead of time and preview what will be at the next day’s auction sale. There are certain thing that we like to buy because we’ve had experience purchasing that type of vehicle in the past. Some vehicles sell better in certain areas than other like for instance we are able to sell trucks easier and faster than we would be able to sell cars. This is because out dealer lot is in the country and the majority either need a truck for work or would rather drive a truck than a car.  Lately ive been buying and selling a lot of Ford Powerstroke diesels, 2010 or newer because the years before then have a lot of known motor problems and I do not want to take the chance of something happening to me or the person buying it.

                Last week was a very good week for us at the lot, we sold four vehicles, one of the vehicles I had for sale for only one day and it was gone! I call them hot sellers. Tonight I will be going down to the auction to preview that will be there for tomorrow’s sale. I have a customer that is looking for a Ford F-150, 2010 or newer and has to be white. This customer has $20,000 to spend and I feel like I will be able to make at least $1500 and still be able to find him exactly what he wants.  

Blog post 4

This past week I have sold a few things on our dealers lot, and had a lot of people contact me on vehicles that I have listed for sale.  One of the biggest ways we sell things are to list them on Craigslist.

Craigslist is a free local site that will allow you to post things for sale or search for a particular item that may be in your area or in your surrounding area. We sell a lot of vehicles off of this site because you can have your item viewed from all over instead of just the people passing by the lot that may be looking for a car.  One negative thing about Craigslist is that some people will try to “lowball” you meaning they will offer you a price for your vehicle that is way below your asking price.  This is not only insulting but very frustrating because I try to price our vehicles at a reasonable price and always make sure that they are priced under the Kelly Blue Book (KBB) value.  KBB is a website that will tell you you’re cars value all you do is plug in the make, model, and how many miles it has and it will give you a ballpark price of what you should pay for it or sell it for.  I price my vehicles under what KBB lists for a price so the buyer feels like they are getting a good deal.  I also look at similar cars on Craigslist and try to price mine a little cheaper than the competitors on there because buyers are going to look for what the best bang for the buck is.  So when people give me a lowball offer it makes me angry. 

Another bad thing about Craigslist is that people constantly ask if you want to trade your item for whatever they have, sometimes this isn’t bad but other times the item they want to trade you for is either not worth the same amount of what you are selling. For instance, last week I had a guy interested on a 2008 for f-250 diesel pickup that I had for sale and he wanted to trade me for a 1986 ski-doo snowmobile and a 1998 ford pickup that was completely rust out! You can’t blame the guy for trying but if you’re going to offer a trade make sure that it’s in the ballpark price of the vehicle you want to trade for.

Blog post #2

This week I am going to share with you guys what I’ve bought and sold this week. This week was very busy! Busy is always a good thing because it either means I’m trying to sell things to make money or looking to buy something to flip it and make a dollar or two. This past week I bought a 2005 Polaris sportsman 800 Four wheeler, sold a 2007 Chevy Cobalt ls, and traded a 1988 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4 for a 2002 Ski doo MXZ 500 snowmobile. On top of what I bought and sold for this week I also had countless people look at other items and also these items I had for sale. My girlfriend often gets frustrated with the whole buying and selling thing because of the fact that it sometimes can take over my life.  Buying and selling is one of those hobbies/jobs that can take as much time as you can give it, the more time you put in the better the results you will have.  She also gets kind of frustrated when I buy something really nice and say that im going to keep it and then it goes for sale a short time later. I can understand why she gets frustrated about that because I often kick myself in the butt for selling something when I should have just kept it because it was so nice.

Buying and selling is a great side job and can have big rewards and is always nice to get something new for a change, but also could cause major problems and also cost you lots of money! For instance I bought a dirt bike in Wisconsin and drove nine hours to go get it, when I got there I checked it out and everything seemed to be in good running shape so I bought it.  After driving home I took the bike out of the back of the truck started it up, let the bike warm up took it for a ride and the motor had locked up.  After spending 800 dollars to get the bike fixed, I ended up losing about $600 dollars, so this goes to show that you don’t always come out on top and you have to be very careful what you buy. I am glad that this happened to me when it did though because I would hate to sell something to someone and have something go wrong with it as soon as they got it.

Blog post #1

At a very young age one of my first memories as a young boy was going with my mother, father, and twin brother to pick up a vehicle that my parents had purchased.  I don’t know where we went, but I remember being together in a car for what seemed like forever. Although I was restless, I liked it at the same time. These trips became more and more frequent to me and were like a new adventure. I was so fascinated with the new big shiny truck my parents bought, or the new loud motorcycle that dad bought to ride. I also remember my dad always asking me where we were, which also led to a great sense of direction.

My parents own a used car lot and are always buying and selling new vehicles that have caught my eye since I can recall. Buying and selling is in my blood, it’s who I am. As I grew up and learned the tricks of the trade on vehicles, it made me want to be part of the business. But since I couldn’t actually own a business, it became my hobby. At age fifteen I had already owned, bought, and sold over twenty vehicles.  I like to throw this fact in here because I couldn’t even legally drive any of these. I did this with all of my own money that I earned working on a farm since age 12 and saved enough money to buy a very cheap car at the auction. From that car I worked my way up and now own a 2011 Chevy Camaro SS. I learned to constantly buy and sell, making a couple hundred dollars here and there. Even though there were times I wanted to hold on to a nice vehicle, it was more beneficial to get rid of it to keep working my way on to bigger and better.

This to me isn’t considered a job or just a way to make money. This is a hobby of mine that can be very rewarding unlike other hobbies that only cost money and don’t pay off. I go to the Flint Auto auction every Wednesday and bid against hundreds of people on thousands of vehicles. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. I also have started buying and selling dirt bikes, snowmobiles, trucks, cars, four wheelers, and basically anything I can get into on Facebook pages. The benefit of this is that people will trade for things, unlike at the auction where you have to straight up buy it. I can go to the auction and get vehicles and trade them for other things I am interested in owning for a little bit.

The biggest benefit of buying and selling vehicles is that I am always driving new things and once I get sick of it, I sell it. I am glad I was born into this lifestyle because it’s not really something that anyone can do. I wouldn’t trade those long car rides as a child for anything.
 

Why do i buy and sell things

Hey guys the reason I buy and sell things is because my parents own a used car dealership.  Buying and selling is in my blood and it is one of my favorite things to do.