Fireplaces

What are these people talking about fireplaces in June, you ask? Well, a good friend (Sailor) suggested that fireplaces were a good addition to a home when purchased correctly. In January Lowe's has a sale on all its electric fireplaces still in stock.

Jim went to our local Lowe's and bought every fireplace they had - 21 of them! We own them in cherry, oak and white. These fireplaces cost us $134 each, regularly about $200. They were also having a "buy $x and finance it free for 12 months" deal on their consumer cards. Since we own one of those, it was a no-brainer. (They will be totally paid for before the accrued interest kicks in.)

So, we have now put six fireplaces in homes before we showed the homes to prospective tenants. We have sold all six of those fireplaces @ $10/month for the duration of the lease portion of their home. They were not willing to have us REMOVE the fireplace they had seen in the house they were buying, and totaly understood the "only $10/month" idea since they use it regularly for other items.

We showed two homes with no fireplaces, and were not able to upsell. Since then, Jim spends the 1/2 hour it takes him to assemble one of these before we show the home to anyone. What is the yield on these with no money paid for the fireplaces but we are currently receiving $60/month for them? (I think the calculators will show ERROR.) Each fireplace will be paid for in a little over a year and the rest of the time will be pure profit.

Would anyone else like to buy fireplaces next January?

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