Live Real, Now

The no-pants guide to spending, saving, and thriving in the real world.

Search Results for: slow-carb-diet-how-to-avoid-going-bat-crazy/three-alternatives-to-a-budget/what-happens-when-you-save/brown-bagging-your-way-to-savings/ignore-your-budget/budget-lesson-part-5/quit-smoking-my-first-frugal-move-ever/INGDirect/living-the-xbox-life-on-an-atari-income/how-to-complain-the-squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease

Selling Your Car

Finance

English: Jalopy car in Joshua Tree National Pa...

English: Jalopy car in Joshua Tree National Park in Hidden Valley Campground (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When it’s time to replace your car, most people focus on the new car, instead of the old, but that is ignoring real money.  Your old car–unless it has disintegrated–still has value.  Sometimes, it’s just time to ask yourself, “When should I sell my car?”

When you’re looking to sell your car (like with We Will Buy Your Car), you generally have several options:

  1. Tow & crush. If your car has been wrecked, doesn’t run, or is just old and beat up, you may be stuck with calling a junkyard and accepting $50 for them to pick up your car and crush it for scrap.
  2. Trade it in. This is probably the least hassle, but–other than #1–doesn’t pay well.  Dealerships are willing to pay something under what they will get at a wholesale auction, which is quite a bit less than the blue book value.
  3. Sell it yourself. Now you’re thinking, “He’s going to buy my car! Oh, bother.”  It can be a pain, but it’s also the best way to get a decent price for your wheels.

When you sell your car, there are a few things to keep in mind, much like when you sell something on Craigslist.

  • Don’t be alone. There are bad people in the world, but they don’t like witnesses.  Bad things are much less likely to happen if you have company.
  • Know your price. Specifically, know three price: your dream price, the price that would make you happy, and the absolute lowest price you are willing to accept.  Make sure you figure these numbers out ahead of time.  Know what you are comfortable with before it comes time to close the deal.
  • Check IDs. The buyer is going to want to test-drive your car.  That’s fine, but you want to make sure you know who is driving off in your car.  “Officer, Sumdood took my car.  He was wearing jeans.”  That won’t get your car back.
  • Clean it up. Get the car detailed before you show it to a potential buyer.   A sparkling-clean car will almost always bring in a few hundred extra dollars.  It’s well worth the expense.

Following this plan should make the sale go as smoothly as possible and bring you the most possible money.

Readers, what have you done to dispose of an old car?

This is a sponsored post written to provide some insight into the world of used car retail.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

30 Day Project Summary – January

Misc

This month, I had two 30 Day Projects: Get up at 5am and read to my kids before bed every night.

Getting up at 5 wasn’t as hard as I had feared. I’ve never been a morning person, but this was nice.  I got a chance to wake up slowly, catch up on the world, make breakfast and get to work without feeling rushed.  Those are all good things.   I missed twice.  The first time, I rolled over to get out of bed and didn’t make it.  Somehow, I got stuck halfway through rolling over.    The second time, I was up until after 2AM talking with my wife.  I won’t give up that kind of quality time.  When the alarm went off at 5, I gave myself two more hours.

The really interesting part, at least to me, is that I didn’t go to bed earlier most nights.   This actually added an extra 90 minutes to my day. I’m going to keep this habit up.  I may not be as firm about it every day, but it’s going to be my regular habit.  No more snooze alarm, no more wasting half of my day in bed.

Reading to the kids was harder.  Wrestling season started this month, which means we spend a lot more time chasing around to get our 10 year old where he needs to be.  After the first week, the bedtime requirement went out the window.  I decided to read to the girls whenever there was time, which made it work better.  We chose practicality over strictly adhering to the letter of the goal.  Over the course of the month, I missed 5 nights which isn’t too bad.

“Get a book” has turned into one of my girls’ favorite things to hear.  They both run giggling for the bookshelf.  It’s quiet time.  It’s quality time.  It’s teaching them to enjoy one of my favorite activities.    Never turn down an opportunity to read to a child. It may be the only time they sit still all day and the experience will stick with both of your forever.   The little things matter. A girl’s head on each shoulder and a book in front of us is something is something I will treasure forever and something that I am going to work to continue.   I only have a few more years before they are reading on their own and won’t need Daddy for this anymore.

Saturday Roundup

Life, Misc

Jack-o-latern
Image via Wikipedia

Don’t miss a thing! Please take a moment to subscribe to Live Real, Now by email.

Day 18  of the 30 Day Compact.  We’re doing well, but not perfect.  My cousin is getting married next week, and I’m not going to buy used for that.  That makes it 1 purchase so far this month, not counting food or consumable hygiene items.   That’s not too bad!

The Best Posts of the Week:

Yahoo put 1000 computers to work for 23 days and found that the 2 quadrillionth digit of pi is 0.  Just for the geek of it.

If you are habitually late, you are rude and selfish.  Don’t leave other people waiting for you.

Just letting my inner survivalist out for a minute:  Always watch what’s going on around you and don’t put yourself in a situation that makes you an easy victim.   I strongly recommend a “Refuse to Be a Victim” class for everyone, especially–to let out my inner chauvanist–women.

For Halloween this year, I think I’m going to go as sexy Big Bird.

And finally, how much of your weekly 168 hours are you wasting?

Finally, a list of the carnivals I’ve participated in:

Nada.   I forgot to submit any posts to any carnivals last week.  I’m a sad clown.

Becoming a Landlord

Business, Finance

For those of you just tuning in, my mother-in-law died in April.

Since then, we’ve spent nearly every available moment at our inherited house, digging out and cleaning up.

My mother-in-law was a compulsive hoarder.   I’m not going to get into the details of her compulsion, but we have–so far–filled a 30 yard dumpster.  For perspective, that’s big enough to fit our Ford F150.

Now that the house is approaching the point where we can begin updating and remodeling, I’ve been looking into the requirements to rent it out.

In my city, I need to get a business license that costs $95 per year.   This comes with a requirement to allow the city to inspect the property every two years.

Before they will issue the license, I have to take an 8 hour Minnesota Crime Free Multi-Housing Program class that covers tenant screening, lease addendum, evictions, and “etcetera”, followed by a physical audit of the property to ensure minimum security standards.

The lease addendum basically reads “If you are loud, obnoxious, threatening, criminal, intimidating, or doing/dealing drugs, you will be evicted.”

The actual costs to become a landlord are going to be:

  • Something under $100 for my wife and I to take the landlord class.  The price varies from free to $40, depending on the hosting city.
  • $95 per year for the privilege of using our private property to conduct a private transaction with a private individual.
  • The remodel.  I don’t know what this is going to cost, yet.   There’s an unfinished bathroom in the unfinished basement.  I’d like to finish both of those, though the basement will never hold a 3rd bedroom, due to code.  The entire house need to be painted and have the trim replaced.  The dining room and hallway have hardwood floors, hiding under linoleum that was never properly put down.   We may need new windows.

If possible, I’d like to keep the project under $20,000.   Since we’re not adding a 3rd bedroom, or tearing out the kitchen cabinets, it should be possible.

In the meantime, expect to see a bunch of remodeling and renting related posts coming up.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-03

Misc

Sunday Roundup: Workaholics Anonymous

Misc

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks at work.  Starting on July 5th, I worked 10 days in a row and put in 97 hours to finish a major project.   I’m not an hourly employee.   I totally got screwed out of my paid holiday with that schedule.   The worst part?  When I told my boss I needed the 11th day off because the major project was done and I was feeling burnt out, he tried to talk me out of it.

Carnivals I’ve Rocked

Family Bed: How to Make It Stop one the Best of Money Carnival.   Crystal rocks, and I’m totally jealous that she transitioned to a self-employed pro-blogger this weekend.

Make Extra Money Part 1: Introduction was included in the Carnival of Wealth.  I’m really happy with this series and I can’t wait to finish it and hear about how everyone is using it to make money for themselves.

Annual Fees: Scam or Service? was included in the Carnival of Financial Planning.

Getting Back on Track was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Thank you! If I missed anyone, please let me know.

Get More Out of Live Real, Now

There are so many ways you can read and interact with this site.

You can subscribe by RSS and get the posts in your favorite news reader.  I prefer Google Reader.

You can subscribe by email and get, not only the posts delivered to your inbox, but occasional giveaways and tidbits not available elsewhere.

You can ‘Like’ LRN on Facebook.   Facebook gets more use than Google.  It can’t hurt to see what you want where you want.

You can follow LRN on Twitter.   This comes with some nearly-instant interaction.

You can send me an email, telling me what you liked, what you didn’t like, or what you’d like to see more(or less) of.   I promise to reply to any email that isn’t purely spam.

Have a great week!