[Milsurplus] Re: Radio Estate Math--WAS: Belton Swapfest

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

In 99.9% of the cases, Don is absolutely correct.  John's friend's widow is 
the 0.1% exception, in that she has someone around with at least some interest 
in the junk her husband left who are willing to spend their time trying to 
sell it at market rather than wholesale value.  But the majority of us, by the 
time that we die, will have outlived our ham or radio collector friends.  Or 
they will have moved away and gone into nursing homes.  Or...

So don't castigate the dealer or two who (if the familiy is lucky) show up 
and offer 10 or 20 cents on the dollar to haul the whole mess off in a few days. 
 You really don't know what you're talking about.


In a message dated 10/8/2007 7:33:02 PM Central Daylight Time, 
n3rht at yahoo.com writes: 
> I hope we all understand this from another direction. For most families, 
> everything we leave behind as part of "our hobby" is a burden to them. OK? 
> Agreed? So let's "do the math."
> 
> They don't love this junk. They don't know what to do with it and they don't 
> have time to deal with it. Heck, they don't even live in the same city as 
> our junk. We die and we drop this load of "shit that has to be dealt with" on 
> them. And we, with no small egos, think "this is great--I am leaving them 75 
> collectable radios and pieces of equipment plus 600 pounds of parts and tubes 
> that I estimate is worth [--pick a number-- ] say $40,000. I am so glad I am 
> leaving them with that money."
> 
> Wrong, wrong, wrong. What you are leaving them with is the incredible, 
> time-consuming hassle of sorting through it all and selling it over a period of 
> what? [--pick a number--] say, a year. The "junk in the basement and attic" may 
> delay them selling the property (worth what?--pick a number, say $200,000) 
> for that length of time, during which they have to pay utilities, upkeep and 
> taxes on the property which would otherwise be sold immediately. Meanwhile, 
> they have to take off work, travel to our junk, and spend their precious free 
> time trying to figure out and collect the difference in value between an R390A 
> and a Hallicrafters S40B. Isn't that lovely?
> 
> So here we are, captains of generosity, leaving this mess for our families 
> to deal with so thay can collect the $40,000. In the property scenario, 
> utilities, taxes and upkeep on a $200,000 property for a year could easily be 
> $10,000. Plus, the family loses the interest they would have collected on the 
> $200k for a year, another $10,000 lost. Oops, now the value of our great estate 
> is down to $20,000.
> 
> And THEN a SHYSTER comes along and says "I'll give you $10,000 for 
> everything upstairs." Recognizing the facts as I've laid them out above, WHO is the 
> bigger jerk? The shyster for offering 1/4 of what we thought the junk was worth 
> and bailing the family out of that ridiculous mess? Or US for sticking our 
> families with it in the first place?

Robert Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
<wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
<wa5cab at comcast.net> (Backup email)
   
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