A mechanic repairing a car. - FILE
MECHANIC PAUL, WHO has been in the business of fixing cars as well as organising motor vehicle sales for well over two decades, always has one piece of advice for customers who are considering parting with their rides.
"Try not to let the car have any fault too obvious that a man can bawl down easy," he said. "If you have to fix up, fix up and know that what you going to ask for the car you going to make back the money and even make a profit. Even if you lose a little, you have to consider that without the improvements you might not get the sale at all."
"Plus, when you fix it up you might just see the real value and don't sell it at all," Paul said - and he has seen it happen before.
Annette has recently decided to sell her station wagon in order to move to a three-row seater car to accommodate her large family. "It really don't make any sense that when we are going to country my boyfriend has to drive and me behind him," she said. So her Nissan station wagon is going up for sale, but before advertising it she spent nearly $19,000 on new brake drums.
"It was making this sound that somebody could use to tear down the price and I wasn't selling it too dear already," she said. Plus, when I sell something I want it in good condition so that nobody call me back or come to my house".
While Paul concedes that those who are selling on the 'as is' basis can absorb the loss of potential profit for a quick sale, Desmond, a carpenter from St. Thomas, takes the 'fix to sell' approach as a hard and fast rule. "House is not like car," he said. "When people come to buy a house, how it looks is everything. And remember them coming to live; they don't want to come and have a whole heap of noise and workman and delay around them."
In addition, he says that whatever value the house currently carries, in better shape it will go up significantly. "A little paint, changing two sheets of zinc, even fix up the gate. When somebody look at the house it must be ready, it must attract them right away so they say 'yes'," Desmond said.
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