Die Judicii wrote:As the subject/heading says, I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't pay to look after your belongings.
Regardless of whether said items be sporting gear, tools, machinery or motor vehicles.
For the better part of my life I've always strived to buy the very best quality gear that I can, even to the point of many times putting off purchasing
until such a time that I could afford what ever it may be.
And, once purchased,, look after it and keep it in tip top working order.
This conclusion has come about due to making the decision to wind down, and sell a lot of gear, especially equipment & tools that I now never
or rarely use.
Because I have always looked after my gear really well, I now find that is precisely what is working against me.
I find that so many prospective buyers get suspicious because,,,,,, It may be old in years but is in as new condition.
They always presume that there is something wrong with it, or I've fudged figures, or hidden some defect.
Even when you can demonstrate that is in fact pristine, unmolested and original, there are so many that just cannot accept that fact, and walk away
thinking that,,,,,,,,,, "They're so lucky they didn't buy it,, because there must be something wrong with it."
You just can't win cos those types will also turn their noses up at something that's been worked to death.
We are in the final days of selling the adjoining property to our main homestead block.
In preparing the sale brochure, we did due diligence:-
We detailed how we consider the house to be derelict,
And there is currently no option for power at the homestead,
And the fences are on the tired side(though not an issue with quiet livestock).
On the plus side, the property is VERY easy to manage/muster with minimal people, as it doesnt have many trees on it, and no scrub.
It has a decent cattleyard on it; configured to work around 700 head at a time.
It's located in the tick-free zone, and so no quarantine of cattle when sending to market.
It has a cracker of an artesian bore, drilled in 2007, and able to deliver water to anywhere on the place under pressure(no pump).
About 90% of the piping infrastructure was done in 2013, and the cost of adding the remainder would be well under $30k, and relatively easy to do.
It has practically no invasive weeds, and we've done regular inspections/cleanups for any Prickly Acacia or Parkinsonia that come up.
And we have babied the country the past few years, and especially so since we elected to sell it over 12 months ago.
So, there is over 2ft high grass, with excellent ground cover to retain any rainfall.
Of the 20-odd inspections, well over half of them were fixated on how the house wasnt liveable at present, and how there's no power.
Now, firstly, I'm not sure why they didnt READ that in the brochure before wasting our time with an inspection.
And I know the agent went to great lengths to ensure they knew exactly what was on offer, and what wasnt.
And secondly, MOST of the inspections were by people whom we know are desperate for grass for their starving cattle, and yet seemed to ignore they were standing in 2ft high green Mitchell grass while complaining about the lack of freshly painted mansions and white picket fences..
Yeah; I'm done with Tyre-Kickers, and I dont know how you can draft them off before they waste your time..
The people who have bought the property, have since commented that we were offering far, FAR more than any of the other properties they had looked at in the district, and are pleasantly surprised/impressed/appreciative that we have spent the past few weeks before handover tidying up the homestead complex and clearing crap out of sheds.
It took well over 20 inspections, but I think we finally found a decent buyer.
I just wish I knew a way to easily draft off the half that were a waste of time...