Government Auctions
Let's
face it, government auctions are a great place to pick up good
deals on excess property.
but
how many auctions can you attend and how many piles of confiscated
merchandise can you look through before you find something you
want OR for that matter... something you can resell at a profit.
For
some reason all the Television infomercial guys who were pushing
Government Auctions are now behind bars. I think that the reason
for this has more to do with the fact that the government auction
as a business opportunity is so elementary that the people that
flocked to it were all of marginal character. It was not the
government auction that got them into trouble, but they probably
cut a lot of corners in their other dealings.
At
one point, Don Lapre was trying to convince us that we could
run out and agree to buy some stuff and immediately turn around
and sell it at a handsome profit. That's a big pile of baloney.
I have been in the real estate business for years and have seen
friends of mine do that with real estate... however... they have
had years and years of EXPERIENCE and they also have the advantage
of the drawn out inspection period of a real estate transaction.
Government
Auctions in and of themselves are not a bad deal. You can sometimes
pick up some good quality merchandise for a good price... but
be careful... there are people that go to these things on a regular
basis and know their business inside and out. They sometimes
have their own retail outlets... and buy in order to sell through
the retail store.
If
you are buying for your own use, you can probably do well...
but don't think you can turn it into a business unless you put
in a lot of study on the subject.
I
went to a government auction at a former Navy base last week.
There was a lot of stuff for sale and if you knew what you you
were doing, you could do quite well. However, some items were
bid up to more than they were worth. Also, it was heavy equiptment,
so you would need a place to store the stuff while you were trying
to resell it.