Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere Over the Rainbow was Originally Posted on April 3, 2004 by

Many people have wondered where I am and why I’m so quiet…

As the IZ song goes, I’m “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. I am hiding out at a secret location in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Here are some details…

I got an offer on my house in Marietta Georgia and after some negotiations, came to terms with a husband and wife who are new home buyers. In the midsts of the “give and take”, I probably gave more than I got, but walked away from the sale not having to fix anything else in the house and carrying a nice tidy check to the bank. I would have prefered to have made more money from the sale, and might have been able to if I had more time to put the house in better shape. Howevere, it is water over the dam as they own the house and I own the check :)

All the furniture is out of the place and either here at my secret location ready for yet another yard sale, at an auction house or at an antique shop awaiting sale.

You kinda have to pick your poison with the sales. Yardsales cost you little but you generally get little for your items. You can display antiques and hope a dealer comes by and makes an offer, but I think they may pay pennies on the dollar. An auction sale could cost you 15 or 20% of the sale price and there is no telling what the sales price may be. If you get a good day and good buyers, you could make lots more than the item is worth (look at Ebay for example). Unless you set a minimum, you item will sell to the highest bidder on the auction night and you get paid pretty soon thereafter.

An estate sale could offer you lots of foot traffic and you may get a decent price soon for your items, but they usually sell, are taken to an antique store or disposed of (if not) or taken elsewhere after the sale. I was quotes 30% went to the estate sale people to hold the sale at my house.

Antique places gave me two options, to take the item, try to sell it and reduce the price each month until it sells (taking 35%) off the top. If the item does not sell, I would arrange to have it removed from their shop or try again. That process could take months to get a price and you may get a high price for an item. Maybe not! The other option was for the antique shop to buy the item and 1/2 the appraised price and they would try to sell it for whatever (maybe making lots of profit if it sells for alot).

See why I took so long to clean stuff out of the house and decide what to do with it? See why decisions like this drive me crazy? I have some items which antique dealers quoted me prices 50% more than another.

After the sale, my friends and I took their RV over to Tunica Mississippi to do some gambling. I refrained from taking the proceeds check from the house with me. However, don’t think the idea didn’t seem appealing to put it on an 35 to 1 spot on the roulette table and become a multi-million-dollar winner in one roll….. OR NOT! The “NOT” is more accurate! No matter how hard I tried, I could not win at any game I tried. Sitting at the $3 blackjack table at Hollywood Casino, I saw some amazingly stupid bets from people who had no clue how to play. Luckily I did not fall i9nto their trap. I cannot imagine who told them they should split 3’s against a dealers 8!

In the weeks I have been here I was able to go to my old office and show my old co-workers my coffee. At the last minute before taking the flight here I was able to bag and seal my first 5 pounds of coffee. The labels are not the way I want them and the text is not spaced properly, but bring them I did!

I also have sold all but 1 bag of coffee. I’m holding ontot the last bag for now to show people.

BY the way, on the trip to Mississsippi, we just missed the repeat of the E.R. episode in which Dr. Greene dies in Hawaii. The music played is IZ’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” Medlay. Yes, that is the same song used in the movie “Meet Joe Black”, “Tempted”, “Finding Forrester” and others. Quite touching.