Two weeks ago I purchased an item listed on Craigslist that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t use.  I was sure that I could resell the item for about 3-4x the purchase price.   I wasn’t looking for a flip opportunity; I just happened across it.  There it was: a great deal.  It was so great, in fact, I didn’t haggle with the seller.  I paid the price, loaded up the item, and walked. 

After making the deal, something inside me felt a bit…cold.  And that gives rise to this post.  I wanted your take on being on each side of a deal where one party is going to flip the item for profit.  So I came up with these questions.  My answers are at the bottom.

#1: Would you buy something on Craigslist, a yard sale, or equivalent just to flip it? 

If you answer “yes” to #1:

#1a) If the seller asks you what you’re going to do with the item, do you tell them you’re going to resell it? 

#1b) Do you feel guilty about flipping the item? Why/why not?

#1c) Would it be any different if the seller was selling in distress (e.g. foreclosure)

If you answer “no” to #1:

#1d) Why wouldn’t you buy something to flip it?

—–

#2 If someone flipped something they bought from you, would you be upset about it?  Why / Why not?

Here’s my answers.  I hope you’ll comment so I won’t be the only one…

#1: Yes (obviously, I just did it).

#1a: If asked, I would tell the seller it’s part of how I make some extra spending money for fun things our family enjoys.  If the seller doesn’t ask, I’m not bringing it up.

#1b: Well, I felt a little guilty this time.  Since I didn’t tell the seller, I was a little bit nervous about listing the item on Craigslist just because that seller might be offended…

#1c: It depends on whether I feel like the person is at a real negotiating disadvantage… In other words, if someone is selling a diamond engagement ring for $50 because they need to buy food, I couldn’t do that deal - clearly there is a negotiating power difference.  If, on the other hand, someone really wants something moved quickly but they aren’t particularly disadvantaged, I might feel like I were doing them a service by taking it.

#2: I don’t think I would be upset if someone flipped it.  I *would* be upset if someone lied to me about whether or not they were going to flip it if I asked.  I feel like if I’m not smart enough to price an item at market value, and another person is willing to take the risk of buying it for resale, I’m ok with that.

What do you think?  I hope you’ll weigh in…

This weeks Before and After is brought to you from my first floor hallway. I’m preparing to lay hardwood floors in about 2 weeks time. And there is a lot to get ready.

To prepare, I’m removing all the quarter-round, baseboards, carpet, carpet pad, and existing hardwood. It’s slow going but I hired Bryan to help (and it was well worth it).

The carpet was the easiest. I just took a box-cutter knife and cut it into strips. Then rolled them up and secured with tape. You wouldn’t imagine how much dust came up out of the carpet. It reminds me of Freds post about not installing carpet. The pad came up easily and I bound that into rolls too. But the installers sure used a lot of staples. We went over the entire area with pliers removing them one by one.

Before yesterday, I had a hardwood floor in my hallway. I debated keeping it and trying to integrate the new floor with the existing. In the end I decided to scrap it. Here’s my rationale. I wanted a seamless look and that would require removing a few boards and replacing them with new boards. Not the easiest task. The next obstacle would be to match a stain or refinish the boards. Either way I be applying the finish myself. And that is another job I’d much rather avoid.

I don’t feel like the pictures really do it justice but check em out.

Now it’s your turn! Link in your Before and After project here. Make sure and leave a comment.

Another weekend is here. And I thought I’d put together a few things that I’ve come across recently that are worth checking out.

Tire Check

I’ve seen a few posts recently reminding people to check their tire pressure. It’s important that all your tires are set to manufacturers’ specifications. Low pressure causes poor gas mileage and noone wants to pay more for gas these days. Setting your pressure too high is also a bad idea. Aside from potentially blowing-out a tire, friction is what keeps you on the road. I went over to a local Shell station this morning. They have a free air station equipped with a pressure gauge. I check the recommended psi on my tires and pumped them up accordingly. It could be in my head, but my car definitely seemed to be moving around better.

Rug Giveaway

Another blog I frequent is hosting a rug giveaway. This caught my eye because when the hardwoods are installed we’ll need to cover a few spaces with area rugs. And winning a rug is much more fun than buying a rug. Check out all the details at Aimee’s blog here.

Better Homes & Gardens Contest

Better Homes & Gardens has a full page ad about an annual contest. It reads, “Considering a home improvement project? Now is the time to put those plans into action and enter to win”. The grand prize winner will receive $40,000 cash and their project featured in BH&G. They have several categories like kitchen, bath, renovation, green improvement, and many more. Each category winner will also receive a cash prize. For more info check it out here.

Well that’s all for this week. Hope your projects are going well. Adios!

Hope your Memorial Day holiday is going great so far.    Here’s several Lowes Coupons that’ll give you a great cost break off your next home improvement project.

1.  LowesMoving.com will e-mail you a free printable coupon (and mail you a copy) for 10% off any in-store purchase up to $5000.00.  Just follow that link and fill out the form on the main page. 

2.  Also, as I wrote about in a prior post, Lowes and Visa have teamed up to offer $10 off a $25 purchase when using your Visa card. 

3. Finally, Mary over at NotBefore7 found a site where you can purchase 10% off coupons for Lowes for $4.00 each.  As Mary notes, you can use these coupons at Home Depot and other  home improvement stores that honor their competitor’s coupons.

What do you think?  Do you have any other coupons we can share with the community?

This weeks “Before and After” comes to you from Virginia. My brother-in-law (S) and his wife (L) recently purchased a beautiful home in a suburb of Richmond. Jocie and I made the drive to help them move and get a few projects done. The ladies painted the nursery. And the guys worked on some drywall.

Adding Drywall

Their new house had a great spot to for a TV above the fireplace. Not wanting to dampen the decor, S and L decided to hide the TV when it was not in use. The only problem was finding a way to mount some doors. And so we went about the process of adding drywall to frame out the space.

We took a trip to the local big orange to pick up supplies. This was our shopping list: drywall, 2 X 4’s, joint compound, corner bead, screws and drywall tape. S and I began by framing out the new area. We located the studs and screwed in the 2 x 4’s. Next, we cut our drywall to fit and screwed that in with drywall screws. We took care to sink the screws just below the surface. We taped all inside corners and secured the corner bead on the outside corner. We got the first layer of joint compound on and had to wrap up for the night.

S finished up several more layers of joint compound on his own. When he was satisfied, he sanded it smooth, primed and painted. Check out the pictures!

And now it’s your turn! What project are you working on? Link in your “Before and After” post then leave a comment.

This week’s Before and After is brought to you from our old and new home office. 

When we looked for a house three years ago, one of the criteria for our purchase included the home having at least four bedrooms… One for us, two more for kids or house guests, and the remaining one for a home office.  We had a home office in our prior home and had grown accustomed to sitting in it for hours working on our computers (which both happened to be desktops).   This year, I upgraded my 7-year-old PC to a new Dell Vostro 1400 laptop, and all of the sudden Kim and I found ourselves trading the laptop back and forth on the first level.  Rarely did we walk upstairs to use our desktops.  In fact, we only did when the other person was on the laptop and we were forced to.  This led to the purchase of a second, identical laptop for Kim.  The office started seeming more like Siberia.  There’s were still great resources there, but who really wanted to visit.  We’d much prefer to sit in front of the TV with laptops on … laps.

At the same time we began to find our home office too confining, we received news from friends, BJ and Kimberly, that they will be moving back to the area from Scotland so BJ can pursue a Ph.D. (Congrats, bud!).  They are planning to stay with us for a few weeks/months while they shop for a place in this area and get established in jobs, etc.  Since Lori is already living with us due to the house fire and we’re not sure when she’ll be able to move back into the townhome, it seemed like the signs were all pointing in the same direction: downsize the home office to make room for more people.

Kim and I had talked about moving the computers to the first level of our home once the kids were big enough to use them, anyway.  The catalyst of more house guests just sped up the move.  We started combing Craigslist for a computer armoire that would house all of the computer stuff in one place, and would fit in with the rustic/country look we like.  Since we like using our laptops on the couch, and the kids can use them sitting at the dining room table, we didn’t need to be able to work at the armoire sitting down.  We found a woman about 30 miles away in Crofton selling a Pier 1 Imports solid pine armoire in very good condition for $50.00.  We contacted her, met her at her storage unit, and hauled it away in our minivan on the same day.  (This armoire retailed on clearance for $300.00.  Yep, we LOVE Craigslist).

The pictures below show the result.  We’re still in the process of cleaning out the office upstairs and Craigslisting lots of things we no longer need.  We’re also still looking for where exactly to store our file cabinet, the only other essential thing from the office.  Our master bedroom closet is one option for the short term.  Once we finish the basement, we’ll either build or buy a pine file cabinet to go with the armoire.

Before (the Home Office):

After (Office in an Armoire):

Now it’s your turn!  If you’ve had any great Before and After successes recently, link in your posts below (and be sure they have a link back here).

Kim spent many (many!) hours this week pressure washing our deck to prepare it for sealing sometime next week.  We had the deck installed last year, and the contractor recommended we wait 6-8 months before pressure washing and sealing it.  Unfortunately, some of the wood has cracked over the winter (we’re now questioning his advice).  Perhaps it would have been better to seal immediately.

This picture shows how even 8 months of weather on an untreated pine deck can begin to grey the pressure treated wood.  Fortunately, a power washer with the right tip and right technique can take the grey right out of the wood without damaging the boards.

The complete details of how to properly pressure wash a deck will be in a later post, but for now, here’s a side-by-side before and after picture of Kim’s hard work:

Before and After:

Now it’s your turn!  Link in your Before and After pictures here, and then leave a comment below. 

(Note, if you link in a B&A picture on your own site, please ensure that post has a link back here).

I’m taking the weekend round-up this time to highlight a few cool things I’ve come across recently. They are definitely worth looking into.

Custom Art Gift Certificate

Modernemama@Beach House is running a nice little post about a contest sponsored by Artaissance. All you have to do is leave a comment about what inspires you and you could win a piece of custom art. For the full scoop, check out her post.

BGE Discounts

I’m not sure how long it’s been in effect, but I just found out. Baltimore locals can take advantage of a few discounts BGE is offering when you purchase CFLs or install energy star appliances. Here’s the link for more details.

Free Books

Jocie and I are giving away some books. We’ve read them all and now want to pass them along for someone else to enjoy. Look at the pictures below and see if anything catches your eye. If your willing to pay shipping / handling, I’ll even send them to you! Click on the pictures for larger images.

We are still running the Before and After posts. It’s an easy way to link back to your site and show off the projects your working on. That’ll be up tomorrow so stop on by.

Cheers!

This weeks “Before and After” comes to you from my neighbors back yard. This is the same friend with the large stump that needed to be removed. He’s working hard to transform his backyard and part of that is addressing the dingy looking fence.

The fence looks to be about 20+ years old and has taken that grayish tinge. The fence-posts have been set in concrete which makes removing the fence that much harder. An easier (and cheaper) option was to use a pressure washer to remove the dirt, mold and years added by weather.

He borrowed Fred’s pressure washer. It’s a Troy Bilt, gas powered, pressure washer. One important feature is adjusting the pressure level. High enough pressure will damage the material you are washing. Low pressure will be ineffective. Make sure you set the pressure to the appropriate level. Generally, 1500 PSI will do the trick for most wood surfaces. Try this setting on an unseen area beforehand.

Check out the difference! Next he will clean up any rough spots, seal and stain.

And now it’s your turn! Link in your “Before and After” post and leave a comment below. Thanks.

Well, like I said two weeks ago, if I tried to commit to a round-up every week, I’d certainly fail.  Good thing I didn’t, ’cause I didn’t get to post one last weekend.  This week I did get some time, and here’s three things worth looking at over your weekend:

Number 1:  Todd @ Home Construction Improvement is giving away a free set of Malibu Solar Lamps.  All you have to do is leave a comment on the post to enter the sweepstakes.  Our entry includes aliens

Number 2: Jim @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity ran a funny article on House Pooling - something we might all have to do if energy costs keep skyrocketing.  The consensus of most of the commenters was that Jim’s version of the idea might not save too much money, but the idea is interesting - and we all might need to employ strategies to save on home energy costs in the future.

Number 3: Last but not least, the coolest home project I saw this week was Jennifer’s outdoor firepit at Tiny Old House.  The whole fire pit area looks very inviting!  Makes me sad that our firepit is on 6 red brick squares on our deck…

Ok, that’s it for this week.  Stay tuned for more!