<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0">In a message dated 10/9/2002 9:39:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Kdivad@aol.com writes:<BR>
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I don't know, I've been out of the wholesale purchasing business for over a year. Are older M's bringing $10 - 12,000 these days? That sounds awfully high to me. <BR>
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Wim </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SERIF" FACE="Times New Roman" LANG="0"> Wim<BR>
Rebuildable stwys of any condition are hard to find. I purchased 2 M's in the last year. One for 5k and the other for 4K. Right place right time. I did not replace the boards in either piano. They got blocks and strings, action and one got finish. I made money on these but I don't even look for basket case M's any more because I can't come out on them. <BR>
On problem is that folks who have a stwy for sale think it's worth more than they are. When I calculate whether to buy a spec piano I figure my regular rebuilding fees, the cost of the piano, financial holding costs and whether there will be a profit above costs and labors. If there's no profit all I've made is an extra job without payment till the sale is made. If no profit then you're right the money would be better off in some other investment (Not the stock market)<BR>
I'm hoping since the retail prices have come down it would be nice to see wholesale drop as well. As long as people,techs, etc. are paying too much at wholesale level then this will keep the market inflated.<BR>
Dale</FONT></HTML>