The thrill is gone. 7 7

[lordbyroncomics]

I think that harkens back to accessibility. Captain Underpants etc. are really available and accessible and affordable compared to comics. Again, I'm kind of breaking away from the main topic but I believe that comic book professionals have long had a kind of inferiority complex and chip on their shoulder about comics being accepted by non-fans- which, if you think about it, is kind of bewildering- and this, as much as anything, have moved comics from being widely accessible. It's all trying to compete with film and television (calling a comic series "Season 1" and "Season 2", in my opinion, is kind of laughable) and trying to be "adult" and such... perhaps that's just me. And the comics that ARE a joy for all ages just, again, are not that easy to find.

[Buzzetta]

13 hours ago, shadroch said:

Today is my birthday and I get a  call from my sister who wishes me a HBD and tells me she dreamed something special will happen today.  I get to my building today and there is someone waiting for me.  As I've gotten to know the local building inspectors far too well, I know he is not  was one of them. He introduces himself and asks me if I'd be open to selling. He pulls out a paper that has an offer for the building, with 25% down, 36 payments and then a balloon payment at the end. Says he wants to make it a residential three unit, with a professional office in the back. He says he makes his best offer first and it will never be higher. He will use a third party title insurance company as the " trustee", but i'm not sure that's the right term.   I like the idea but have to run it past a local RE attorney.

Tough decision... if you feel that Bisbee is the Arizona version of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, consider whether or not you want to be the first person that sells.  Because if you say no he will indeed build it somewhere else, however the gamble is that others will follow and offer more than he is.  I remember certain families celebrating an offer of $400,000 for their Williamsburg home only to find that thr neighbors they left behind were offered $1.5 million a few years later.

NY board members that know the area won’t be surprised by these numbers.  For those that are, take a look at Williamsburg Brooklyn real estate even in this market. 

[blazingbob]

14 hours ago, shadroch said:

Today is my birthday and I get a  call from my sister who wishes me a HBD and tells me she dreamed something special will happen today.  I get to my building today and there is someone waiting for me.  As I've gotten to know the local building inspectors far too well, I know he is not  was one of them. He introduces himself and asks me if I'd be open to selling. He pulls out a paper that has an offer for the building, with 25% down, 36 payments and then a balloon payment at the end. Says he wants to make it a residential three unit, with a professional office in the back. He says he makes his best offer first and it will never be higher. He will use a third party title insurance company as the " trustee", but i'm not sure that's the right term.   I like the idea but have to run it past a local RE attorney.

This is where having a large customer base that you have relationships come in.  To make a better decision I would call one of my contractor business friends and go over his proposal/cost/value estimate.  Compare to the offer and I would then know if the offer was fair or not.  Sometimes you need another opinion to see the things that a property can become versus just what is in front of you.

Edited December 6, 2020 by blazingbob

[Sweet Lou 14]

3 hours ago, StreetPreacher said:

I just find that most people seem to list their RAW books for too high a price, so I just skip most of the listings.  I mean, I guess that Infinity Inc. is worth $20, but I'm not paying more than $2 for a book that most people have never heard of, and that relatively few people are shopping for it..

Live I've watched this same issue of Infinity Inc #21 on sale for $20 for a few months...  I guess it'll sell eventually, so it's not worth it reduce the price?

I can't speak for anybody else's sales thread.  I've tried to price my raw books below what I see on eBay and other online sites, and I've tried to make it clear that I'm open to offers especially if someone is buying in bulk.  If there's any sort of pattern, it's that the people most interested in buying raw comics from the 1990s or 2000s are those who were collecting then and trying to piece back together the collection they once had or wish they had.  Even for very popular characters like Batman and Spider-Man, there don't seem to be too many younger collectors who want to reach back and buy that stuff.

[shadroch]

4 hours ago, StreetPreacher said:

Although all of that stuff will likely be old, falling apart, and need repair or replacement in 10 years.  While your comic book collection would likely be worth more than it is now

I will have gotten ten years of use out of them. If I'm alive in ten years, I'll still be 72 and unable to enjoy life like I can now.

[lordbyroncomics]

21 minutes ago, shadroch said:

I will have gotten ten years of use out of them. If I'm alive in ten years, I'll still be 72 and unable to enjoy life like I can now.

Exactly! I'm not trying to enforce a view on all of my peers here but shadroch nailed this on the head: live in the present, enjoy what you have, it's just like anything else. We can't take it with us! But we're here NOW, and we've got one life to live. Fill it with the things that bring you joy and fulfillment. And shadroch, you'll be alive in ten years! We need ya!

[spracknetch23]

On 12/4/2020 at 5:56 PM, Ryan. said:

First, from one Turtles guy to another, congrats!

When I was expecting my first I took a break from buying and started selling off chunks of my collection, mostly due to a crippling paranoia that children would lead to instant poverty. While that ended up being somewhat true, my collecting sickness eventually returned, probably from staring at these forums and ebay at 2am on my phone whilst waiting for a newborn to fall back asleep*. One thing that did change is that I found having a stricter comics budget let me focus my buying much more and, I think, made my collection stronger overall. 

 

 

 

*4 years later and I'm still waiting for him to sleep. No, seriously, get your naps in now. Like, right now. Go! 

Thanks! It's changed my views on a lot of things for sure. I've left comics before (left my ASM run hanging for 10 or so years), then came back in 2012 to finish it off. I'm having those same thoughts of selling things right now, plus I'm working overtime to save up money because I'll definitely be taking some time off of work (and sleep). I'm sure I'll get back to comics in the future! You can't just quit for good. 

[alexgross.com]

3 hours ago, KCOComics said:

I think your right about this. Comics have shifted to an older demographic.  My son and all the kids

I can't buy my kids a Batman or superman comic book these days.  They are really violent and marketed to older kids. Graphic novels are huge. My kids read Dog Man and captain underpants. I can't transition them to comics because it's not marketed for them. 

 my 6 yr old son also is into dogman and capt underpants. luckily he also loves comicbooks. we read old richie rich, some of the marvel adventures (for little kids) and even Canto, which is for older kids. i'm always trying to nudge him into the better stuff and not capt. underpants, which is funny, but grating. maybe it's cause i'm a collector, i feel like he will be too. he loves collecting all kinds of things- shells, stones, toys, whatever. i cant speak for hus generation though.

[WolverineX]

I remember a co-worker telling me that it doesn't matter how much a man has in the world, he  will always end up finding some junk to collect.  

Edited December 6, 2020 by Wolverinex

[lordbyroncomics]

13 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

I remember a co-worker telling me that it doesn't matter how much a man has in the world, he  will always end up finding some junk to collect.  

And that co-worker wasn't wrong. It's all subjective. I'm sure people would be flabbergasted to know what I've spent on Golden Age books. To me, it was worth it. By comparison, if I saw someone spending a grand on (for example), an original Mama's Family set prop or something I'd be totally bewildered. It all depends on the individual and what value they imbue something with in their own lives.

[batman_fan]

For myself, I find the stuff I enjoy the most are the various piece of original artwork I have hanging on the walls.  I get to see them often and still stop to admire them.  Comics just don't get looked at as much as they once did but trimming the collection and re-organizing it could make things more accessible.  I will 100% admit and acknowledge, I do pull out my Batman 1 at least a few times per year to look at.

[batman_fan]

18 hours ago, shadroch said:

Today is my birthday and I get a  call from my sister who wishes me a HBD and tells me she dreamed something special will happen today.  I get to my building today and there is someone waiting for me.  As I've gotten to know the local building inspectors far too well, I know he is not  was one of them. He introduces himself and asks me if I'd be open to selling. He pulls out a paper that has an offer for the building, with 25% down, 36 payments and then a balloon payment at the end. Says he wants to make it a residential three unit, with a professional office in the back. He says he makes his best offer first and it will never be higher. He will use a third party title insurance company as the " trustee", but i'm not sure that's the right term.   I like the idea but have to run it past a local RE attorney.

If you hold on to the business will that bring you happiness?  If you sell it, do you have a plan for what you will do?

About 2 years ago I sold a business I owned.  I was pretty conflicted about selling but we were at a point where we needed to do a big cash investment to grow it further.  I was working about 80 hours a week but I loved it.  We got a real good offer and after some agonizing took it.  I may have been able to sell for more had I actively tried to sell but zero regrets.  In hindsight it was the best decision of my life.  I can't imagine trying to manage it through this Covid and the free time I have has enabled me to relax a bit more and focus on other things in life.

[Poekaymon]

3 minutes ago, batman_fan said:

If you hold on to the business will that bring you happiness?  If you sell it, do you have a plan for what you will do?

About 2 years ago I sold a business I owned.  I was pretty conflicted about selling but we were at a point where we needed to do a big cash investment to grow it further.  I was working about 80 hours a week but I loved it.  We got a real good offer and after some agonizing took it.  I may have been able to sell for more had I actively tried to sell but zero regrets.  In hindsight it was the best decision of my life.  I can't imagine trying to manage it through this Covid and the free time I have has enabled me to relax a bit more and focus on other things in life.

Sold my business 15 years ago to go back to school.  I went to work straight out of high school and regretted not getting the 4 years (ended up doing 7 years) on campus, fooling around with the youngins.  Felt like I had missed out.  And it was pretty enjoyable, but now that I'm a working stiff, I sometimes daydream about having that business back.   Probably not viable to start that one again because I spent some time building up relationships.  Might try something else in a few years.  Too bad everything I'm into is waning in popularity.

    

[shadroch]

I'm happy now. Will selling my building make me happier? Maybe. What will I do next? I've not a clue. My thoughts are to get a 40 foot shipping container, load my stuff into it , get my vaccine and hit the road. Never been to Yellowstone, or the remote parts of the Grand Canyon, or Monument Valley, or Deadwood. Take some time off and then go back to sellin stuff on the internet. I still believe my business plan will prove successful, although it needs some fine tuning. 

[Poekaymon]

1 hour ago, shadroch said:

I'm happy now. Will selling my building make me happier? Maybe. What will I do next? I've not a clue. My thoughts are to get a 40 foot shipping container, load my stuff into it , get my vaccine and hit the road. Never been to Yellowstone, or the remote parts of the Grand Canyon, or Monument Valley, or Deadwood. Take some time off and then go back to sellin stuff on the internet. I still believe my business plan will prove successful, although it needs some fine tuning. 

I've been looking at these

See a lot of people having success with them just pitching up around Death Valley and Zion, etc.  Not quite as extreme as shipping container life.

Edited December 6, 2020 by Poekaymon

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 12/4/2020 at 3:01 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

My point is that something new will have to happen to once again boost up the market.  CGC brought new life to the existing raw comic market.  When the slabbed market started to stagnate, along comes the movie hype machine. 
 

What could possibly come next that would not only sustain current prices, but increase them?

There are no guarantees.

[1950's war comics]

17 minutes ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

There are no guarantees.

yep comic books could very easily go the way of stamps and stamp collectors,.. and stamps even has an intrinsic value going for them

 

[SkyJuice]

At different segments of your life, the priority changes. Last time, I would skip meals just to game WoW. Now I would skip meals just to change diaper and get enough sleep. 

[wilbil]

1 hour ago, 1950's war comics said:

very easily go the way of stamps and stamp collectors

philately has not experienced the eternal rest the funeral procession thought. in fact, it would surprise a number of people that lazarus was even shocked at the continuing hidden interest in little paper squares.

[Poekaymon]

3 hours ago, SkyJuice said:

At different segments of your life, the priority changes. Last time, I would skip meals just to game WoW. Now I would skip meals just to change diaper and get enough sleep. 

We seem to be on roughly the same path.  (Former High Warlord here.)