For those selling cars on the side how did you start?

A friend just bought a selfie stick for each table at her wedding and made a hashtag. Results were great and it was near free. With how common respectable cameras are these days, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see that business suffering.

We spent $0 on wedding photographers. It was worth it. I don't know that I would have ever looked at the pictures. We also spent $0 on a DJ. That was worth it as well.

On topic... ouch on the house in SD. I take it you are holding onto it to wait for the value to come back up? You've probably run the numbers on it, but if you havent... I would do so.

I was showing my parents recently how renting out their lake condo while they wait for its value to come back up about 30 grand was just costing them a ton of money and getting out as soon as possible was a much smarter move. (They didn't listen ). Of course, all that implies that you have the liquid capital to make up for the difference in value assuming there is a mortgage.

Well the issue is we had bought the place in April, we moved to Raleigh in October, the house appreciated about 30-40k in the less than the year since we bought it but because of realtor fees on selling we would need to sell at the upper end of its valuation in order to get our downpayment money back out and break even. This was not the case however when we moved we would have essentially lost about 10-15k at that time. So we used a property management company and have some decent tenants in there in a 2yr lease. So at this point I would have to break lease and manage to sell the house on the high side of its value.

So I will probably hold onto it another year at least. I am probably getting close to the negative pocket outlay monthly going towards the principal and thus my equity however so in the longer run I am probably "losing" very little as long as the house holds value.

It just keeps my credit/debt/cash in a less liquid state than I would like

Of course its never recommended or intended to buy and resell in less than a year

Honestly, I've made more money parting out and scrapping cars than trying to flip them.

I could see that but then you need a place where you can leave a car in pieces for an extended period. Not always doable with HOA rules etc in Suburbia

Jaynen wrote: Hehe, I think weddings would be one of the things I would least want to photograph just because of how picky people can be after the fact. @Prodarwin I think the flipping idea has more appeal because its cars and you might get to rotate through a few interesting vehicles more than practicality. @everyone Yeah budgeting is by far the best way to make things happen maybe I just need to invest in better negotiation skills regarding the impractical :) I agree I think the best way to really do it is with a truck and trailer, hell it might give you an excuse to buy one for racing :) TBH I am mostly just frustrated by being trapped in a house I am now renting in San Diego which doesn't leave the extra income to buy in NC and do some other things I want to out here. Since we "eat" about 900 a month on the house in SD rent-fees-gardener-mortgage I'm kind of kicking myself for selling my miata now

SD to NC? Marine?

Ah no not military but I move almost as frequently (Video Game Designer)

My Dad was the counter guy at a shop before he retired. The age old problem of diagnosing a car only to find it isn't worth fixing. Some people just abandoned the car rather than pay the diagnostic fee, others would at least bring in the title to the car to cover the shop time. Either way the shop's back lot looked like a wrecking yard with cars either signed over, or with a mechanic's lien on them.

Enter me. I struck a deal with the shop owner that I'd flip the cars myself, get him his lost money back, and I'd keep the difference. I cut a deal with a local wrecker driver to drop cars at my house for a flat fee. Any time an easy fix showed up, Dad would call, I'd call the tow truck, and it would be in my driveway by that night.

I'd fix what was wrong (mechanical and body), detail the car, market it, show it, then have the buyer meet me at the shop to get the paperwork sorted. I'd then take the "profit" once the shop recouped their lost money.

I paid for college doing this for years, graduated without ever taking a student loan.

So pretty much it boiled down to having an "in" with a shop to supply me with cars. Some cars I made a killing on, some I lost my butt on, but overall I made money. I was picky to choose cars within my abilities, or that I knew well.

Jaynen,

What specific aspect of video game design do you do? Are you capable of the whole package? Can you do small games on the side? Because that sounds infinitely more awesome.

I won't judge you for making a F2P game if it funds your racing

I wouldn't 'flip' cars unless I had a fully stocked shop, a body shop that hooked me up, and had a full range of diagnostic tools at my disposal.

Thousands of variables that can eat up any profits.

slefain wrote: My Dad was the counter guy at a shop before he retired. The age old problem of diagnosing a car only to find it isn't worth fixing. Some people just abandoned the car rather than pay the diagnostic fee, others would at least bring in the title to the car to cover the shop time. Either way the shop's back lot looked like a wrecking yard with cars either signed over, or with a mechanic's lien on them. Enter me. I struck a deal with the shop owner that I'd flip the cars myself, get him his lost money back, and I'd keep the difference. I cut a deal with a local wrecker driver to drop cars at my house for a flat fee. Any time an easy fix showed up, Dad would call, I'd call the tow truck, and it would be in my driveway by that night. I'd fix what was wrong (mechanical and body), detail the car, market it, show it, then have the buyer meet me at the shop to get the paperwork sorted. I'd then take the "profit" once the shop recouped their lost money. I paid for college doing this for years, graduated without ever taking a student loan. So pretty much it boiled down to having an "in" with a shop to supply me with cars. Some cars I made a killing on, some I lost my butt on, but overall I made money. I was picky to choose cars within my abilities, or that I knew well.

These cars were fixed in your driveway? I'm guessing you lived at home while in college and could take advantage of the tools and space your dad had? What types/brands of cars were these? What years? If it was an 'easy' fix, then why would the owner just abandon it?

If it was an "easy" fix why didn't the shop just fix it themselves and then sell it?

onemanarmy wrote:

slefain wrote: My Dad was the counter guy at a shop before he retired. The age old problem of diagnosing a car only to find it isn't worth fixing. Some people just abandoned the car rather than pay the diagnostic fee, others would at least bring in the title to the car to cover the shop time. Either way the shop's back lot looked like a wrecking yard with cars either signed over, or with a mechanic's lien on them. Enter me. I struck a deal with the shop owner that I'd flip the cars myself, get him his lost money back, and I'd keep the difference. I cut a deal with a local wrecker driver to drop cars at my house for a flat fee. Any time an easy fix showed up, Dad would call, I'd call the tow truck, and it would be in my driveway by that night. I'd fix what was wrong (mechanical and body), detail the car, market it, show it, then have the buyer meet me at the shop to get the paperwork sorted. I'd then take the "profit" once the shop recouped their lost money. I paid for college doing this for years, graduated without ever taking a student loan. So pretty much it boiled down to having an "in" with a shop to supply me with cars. Some cars I made a killing on, some I lost my butt on, but overall I made money. I was picky to choose cars within my abilities, or that I knew well.

These cars were fixed in your driveway? I'm guessing you lived at home while in college and could take advantage of the tools and space your dad had? What types/brands of cars were these? What years? If it was an 'easy' fix, then why would the owner just abandon it?

Yup, lived at home (paid rent to my parents from 18-22), but had my own tools. Dad was never a mechanic. Worked in the driveway and sometimes the garage. I worked full time at a graphic shop running a printing press during the day, went to school at night, and fixed the cars in my spare time. No girlfriend, no social life, so I was a loser with time on my hands.

The cars were mostly 80s models, some older 70s malaise era stuff. The shop owner had no interest in selling the cars because that took time away from the work coming in the door. Mechanics don't work for free, and asking the guys in the shop to work on a car that MIGHT sell and get them paid back was not going to work. Some cars already had parts thrown at them that the shop paid for (and couldn't return), some had hours of diagnostic time logged already. Most of the time the shop repair bill would have been equal to or more than the KBB value of the car. Before I came along the shop owner used to clear out his back lot by having a local junkyard come and pay him a set price per vehicle.

I say "easy fix" but that's because it was stuff I was comfortable doing that other people consider major. Swapping cylinder heads, blown transmissions, dead fuel systems, CV axles, etc. It comes easy to me. And frankly, it wasn't like I was going to make it worse, so I had no fear.

I thought about doing it again for side money, but without a hookup to supply cars it just wouldn't be worth it to me.