Wow...Someone in Houston is offloading their collection....I'm guessing this has got to be someone on here. This person bought sets recently enough to get 4 Jor-El minifigs, now they are selling it all...

 

 

http://austin.craigslist.org/tag/3923230407.html

I'm just a couple hours out, but I'm way too small time for something like this. There's definitely money to be made, but given these sets, it's going to take a little bit of time and effort. If I had that kind of capital to burn, though, I'd probably just reinvest it into principal on my house, as this kind of deposit on my principal would significantly reduce my interest on the back end of the loan. If not that, I would probably be putting it towards some other form of real estate investment.

I've found it much more beneficial to not prepay the mortgage and invest my extra cash each month that I earn from stocks, lego, rentals, and other investments. The ROI % I earn on those far exceed my low refinanced mortgage rate. I agree though, I would pass on the lot as well.

Now whoever this guy is if he bought all these sets as investments I think he know's he screwed up, Now if he would of used all that money to buy these sets alone he would be very very happy right now. And I am sure there are Lego Investors are doing the same thing, buying sets that are going to be a dud. as a matter a fact I just figured how many of the 5 sets I just listed that I got and I spent about $20,000 or so on them, Thats why I say the Big sets are where the big money is. Ed

1-10212 Shuttle

2-Black Pearls

3-Queen Revenge

4-Harry Potter Castle

5 Harry Potter Diagon Alley

I've found it much more beneficial to not prepay the mortgage and invest my extra cash each month that I earn from stocks, lego, rentals, and other investments. The ROI % I earn on those far exceed my low refinanced mortgage rate. I agree though, I would pass on the lot as well.

 

It all just depends upon what your goals and plans are. If you found something more profitable than buying down more principal on your house, I would believe you, as I'm sure there's other ways to invest. My current interest rate is 3.7% which is pretty good, but I still feel like buying down extra is good because I plan to live here for quite some time.  

 

 I obviously wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't know where they will be in five years, career or living-wise. Not the greatest idea to bank equity if you don't plan on sticking around. But I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, so buying a few months extra now can still turn into a few years shaved off the back end. If I were extremely aggressive about buying down my place, and made some lifestyle sacrifices, I could probably pay this thing off in the next 10-13 years or so, and that's an exciting prospect for me. Realistically, though, I have about 17 years left and would like to get it down to 15. That's just my thing, its kind of like an investing hobby for me like Lego.

It's too humid to drive to Houston.  I like the dry heat.

It all just depends upon what your goals and plans are. If you found something more profitable than buying down more principal on your house, I would believe you, as I'm sure there's other ways to invest. My current interest rate is 3.7% which is pretty good, but I still feel like buying down extra is good because I plan to live here for quite some time.  

 

 I obviously wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't know where they will be in five years, career or living-wise. Not the greatest idea to bank equity if you don't plan on sticking around. But I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon, so buying a few months extra now can still turn into a few years shaved off the back end. If I were extremely aggressive about buying down my place, and made some lifestyle sacrifices, I could probably pay this thing off in the next 10-13 years or so, and that's an exciting prospect for me. Realistically, though, I have about 17 years left and would like to get it down to 15. That's just my thing, its kind of like an investing hobby for me like Lego.

 

Definitely agree. Mine is 2.75% and a 15 year. I refinanced to save 70 grand in interest. I don't care for prepaying now.

I see Quacs is right on top of it and creating a blog article to chronicle this and figure it all out

 

http://community.brickpicker.com/blog/7/entry-248-houston-lego-lot-value-worth-20k-part-1/

 

 

Maybe someone can figure out how much you can make if you part out all the sets. 

Quacs came up with a nice blog on this issue...

 

http://community.brickpicker.com/blog/7/entry-248-houston-lego-lot-value-worth-20k-part-1/

 

Edit: Jeff beat me to it!

I hear ya. It definetly makes sense for some and is a great piece of mind to have no mortgage. Just for myself though I just can't justify paying any extra cash on my mortage rate under 4% when my investment returns are significantly well over that. There of course is no right or wrong way as its up to whatever works best for each individual and what their comfortable with. It would be nice to have no mortgage though :-)

He has a 2nd entry planned, so he might be addressing the parting out of the sets as an option. (Talking about Quacs blog)

Really sad to say the least. There is definitely quite a bit of good stuff mixed in there, but like others have said, too much "not so good" to make it worth while. Looking at it from a Canadian POV I see a substantial discount and a good price. That said, I wouldn`t go for the lot either just for the sake of the small stuff. I buy small sets, as I`m a small investor, but too much work for me here regardless. Like emazers said, best bet for those with the capital is to buy up a bunch of the good stuff (Orc Forges or Tower Bridge anyone? etc). 

 

Still though, it`s a shame that this guy is selling all the stuff he has invested so much time and capital into. There is money to be made here; I don`t think he screwed up, but the lot isn`t everyone`s cup of tea. It was intended to be his after all. Most everyone buys sets that could be considered duds every once in a while, but overall, I think this is a decent collection 

 

One last note is that if I had a large Bricklink store, I`d be all over this. Huge boost in inventory and capital overall going that way. I`d just need a Uhual. Always wanted to take a road trip to the south. Of course, I`d need the money available 

Curious to see who buys it all and for how much. I`ll be staying posted on this, like many I`m sure. 

I hear ya. It definetly makes sense for some and is a great piece of mind to have no mortgage. Just for myself though I just can't justify paying any extra cash on my mortage rate under 4% when my investment returns are significantly well over that. There of course is no right or wrong way as its up to whatever works best for each individual and what their comfortable with. It would be nice to have no mortgage though :-)

As long as people realize that this is unique to your situation. For most people, because of compound interest and how interest is dispersed among the payments it is almost always better to make extra payments than put money elsewhere from a strictly ROI perspective. The question isn't "can I make more than 4% on the money I have extra", it's "can I make more money than the interest I will pay". Your amortization schedule will tell you this. Roughly you have to be 2/3 or further into your loan before it starts to make sense investing elsewhere.

As long as people realize that this is unique to your situation. For most people, because of compound interest and how interest is dispersed among the payments it is almost always better to make extra payments than put money elsewhere from a strictly ROI perspective. The question isn't "can I make more than 4% on the money I have extra", it's "can I make more money than the interest I will pay". Your amortization schedule will tell you this. Roughly you have to be 2/3 or further into your loan before it starts to make sense investing elsewhere.

 

Agreed. I plan to pay down extra principal until my monthly principal payment is significantly higher than the amount of interest being taken out. 

It a big collection but the sets he chose were terrible, of the few that actually have retired almost tall of those were flops. He has no rhyme or reason to any of his collection, just looks like a buy one of everything strategy, that doesnt pay off with LEGO, not one bit.

Thought I'd just leave these here...

 

Lot of 99 Lego Star Wars sets,100% complete, 10123, 7662, 10195, 10144,much more:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290931506257&item=290931506257&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466

 

LEGO HUGE castle, Kingdom LOT 19+ sets, 300+ Minifigures lot, Trolls, Orcs, LOTR

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-HUGE-castle-Kingdom-LOT-19-sets-300-Minifigures-lot-Trolls-Orcs-LOTR-/151079429935?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item232d09272f

Thought I'd just leave these here...

 

Lot of 99 Lego Star Wars sets,100% complete, 10123, 7662, 10195, 10144,much more:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290931506257&item=290931506257&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466

 

LEGO HUGE castle, Kingdom LOT 19+ sets, 300+ Minifigures lot, Trolls, Orcs, LOTR

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-HUGE-castle-Kingdom-LOT-19-sets-300-Minifigures-lot-Trolls-Orcs-LOTR-/151079429935?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item232d09272f

That Star Wars lot has been on ebay for around 2 months. 6 grand is a lot to ask when you're showing pictures of incomplete MTTs and Republic Cruisers...

Would not touch either of the deals.

The SW one is such a lazy listing as well, which won't help.

Update - He just re-listed the collection, so I guess it still hasn't sold yet. He still says the price is "firm" so I wonder how long this will take.

The problem is I doubt alot of people can shed out 13k bucks for LEGO at just some random day lol

 

And anyone who can will want a slightly bigger discount probably.... 11k might sell.

He really should OBO it. People go to eBay to look for a bargain.

I am of opposite mentality. If I want a bargain I look on Craigslist. I go to ebay when I have little to no alternative.

I am of opposite mentality. If I want a bargain I look on Craigslist. I go to ebay when I have little to no alternative.

 

I guess by "looking for a bargain" on eBay I meant looking for a price that's lower than other places. In terms of "bargaining" on CL I would mean the back and forth between buyer and seller to get to a price they can both agree on. Am I confusing the terms?

 

I always overprice a little when I sell off my old furniture on CL. Nearly always the buyer will say "So would you consider X amount instead?". The only time someone didn't bargain was when I was selling off my old window a/c units during a heat wave and I got nearly a hundred responses from people who would pay anything for relief from the heat at that point!

He claims the collection is worth 20,000 and I think in Quacs article he added it up to like 19K something. If the seller needed to get 13K for it, he probably should've listed at 15K and allowed for the price to be flexible. In my experience alot of buyers don't like being told that a price is "firm". They want to feel like they are gettinga deal. Allowing them to talk it down to the price you wanted anyway is a good strategy sometimes.

He claims the collection is worth 20,000 and I think in Quacs article he added it up to like 19K something. If the seller needed to get 13K for it, he probably should've listed at 15K and allowed for the price to be flexible. In my experience alot of buyers don't like being told that a price is "firm". They want to feel like they are gettinga deal. Allowing them to talk it down to the price you wanted anyway is a good strategy sometimes.

 

You said that much more eloquently than I did. 

I wish he'd decide to move some of the more popular sets separately. I'm in his area and I've asked him about it, but he is firm on selling the whole lot. I just don't think I want to buy some of the less viable sets he has. But I'd take all his UCS and modulars if he was willing to bargain a bit considering the bulk of the sale. Basically he needs money and he has sets I don't have yet, so it'd be win-win. I understand the allure of the bigger sets will encourage buyers to pay for the duds to get the whole shebang, but the effect is that the duds are artificially inflating the price of the collection with little or no ROI for the buyer. Selling the sets people want would help him move product faster and put money in his pocket to help deal with whatever emergency prompted him to sell so soon. Either way, I wish the guy luck, and he's probably right, eventually someone will come along witn an offer for the whole collection.