How to Make Money from Home Part 4

Here is an idea, if you're handy with something, like refinishing, painting, mechanics and have a couple bucks (like that tax return you are NOT going to spend on a new TV) then you can buy something that has a small problem, fix it, and resell it for a lot more than you invested. It's called flipping. Ever heard of someone flipping a house? Same concept. So here is what I am doing today- Our tax return came in. $3,000 thanks to some refundable child tax credits. We recently paid off some debt from selling our most valuable car and bought a clunker (Thank you, Dave Ramsey. Listen to him. Live it, Love it) so we have this money that would go into savings otherwise. Since I need to make money, I decided to try this, very, very carefully and if it doesn't work out, I simply sell the one vehicle I purchased and put the money away like I should have to begin with.

 There is an abandoned car auction tomorrow, most of these cars are being sold because their owners couldn't afford to get them back out. There was a list of 120 cars with VIN numbers. I don't know anything other than the VIN, so I went on to the DMV and checked their "presumed value". Meaning the average of what that particular make and model is being sold for right now in the state. Once I had that, I figured I wouldn't pay more than half that at the auction, to make sure I have lots of wiggle room just in case it's in need of more repair than I originally thought. Next, I assumed we would invest an additional 10% in repairs into the vehicle and from the initial bid, TTL and repairs, figured out the profit. This is where you make friends with a mechanic to do work in the driveway for a couple extra bucks. If you have to take it to a regular mechanic for repairs you're going to lose your investment, so unless you can do the work yourself or you have a friend is a VERY GOOD mechanic and will do some side work for you, don't do this. Stop reading. Go to the next post.

My current bid budget is $2,000. Each and every car I am interested in because I think it will sell because of the year, the brand or model reputation or another good quality, I have a maximum bid price (meaning where I stop with the auctioneer) so I don't get caught up in the bidding and get in over my head, and have enough to pay for EVERYTHING when I walk out that door. I made sure I did my homework. If it was a "cool" car, I went to a VIN decoder and looked up the engine. If it was a cheaper brand, I passed (no one wants a 10 year old Kia. It's falling apart like an old sandwich). If it was a luxury brand I passed (parts cost is important to figure in). If it is a gas guzzler and gas prices are skyrocketing- I passed. Get it? I have my spreadsheet with 21 vehicles that I whittled down complete with numbers. I will go an look at each of these when they allow the viewing, get the mileage, look at the condition and try to channel my psychic abilities to see if the car actually runs. I will look at the cars as if I was buying them as a personal vehicle. If I wouldn't drive it, I won't buy it.

Let's assume I come home with a 1999 Honda Civic with a fairly good body, no rust, and it needs an O2 sensor. I bid and won at a $1800 total investment. I have $180 budgeted for this O2 sensor. They run about $20. Even I can change an O2 sensor so we swap it out. $1820 invested. I keep Mother's in the garage along with wax, febreeze, armor-all and magic erasers (you'd be surprised what a magic eraser can fix.) A deep detail later, the car looks great, I used the kit to make the headlights shine like new again, and a $5 steering wheel cover from Big Lots covered the worn steering wheel. It sells for $3000. $1825 invested. That's a profit of $1175. You can only have up to 10 titles go through your name in a particular year in Texas without a dealer's license, but that's 10 for me and 10 for my husband. 20 cars. If it works for us, then we can go the route of a dealer, or we can stick to the 20 cars and just use this for a fun way to make money. To illustrate this, that's $23,500 a year, or a full-time job paying $11/hr.

Am I giving all my secrets away? Yep. Am I hoping that I inspire another mom out there to use every available resource she has to be supermom and really make a difference? YES! Think outside the box, light a fire under your tail. With enough determination you can do ANYTHING. Just do it carefully and do your research first.