Car Sale Question

[Matt F]

Hmm, so appraisal came back crappy for our refi (our 5yr old stand alone one story two car garage house appraised at 5,000 less than our community is currently selling 1 car garage 2 story townhomes with the same square footage and a huge HOA fee for).  I am assuming I can bring cash to the table to drop the loan back to 80% LTV or less?  That just leaves gathering up an extra few thousand bucks. 

I have been planning to sell my car (2006 350Z with 97,000 miles) since I just bought a new to me car (2004 Mazda3 hatchback with 135,000 miles).  Old car was pre-mustachian and pre-wifeispregnant.  So finally, my question is, how bad a hit would I take selling to carmax to get cash relatively quickly versus posting on craigslist and if I post on craigslist, how fast might I expect to sell the car? 

Sorry for the sorta open ended questions, but I am still trying to come up with a strategy on this myself.  Thanks for any help.

[Dynasty]

  So finally, my question is, how bad a hit would I take selling to carmax to get cash relatively quickly versus posting on craigslist and if I post on craigslist, how fast might I expect to sell the car? 

The easiest way to find out the first question is to see how much carmax is willing to give you. For the second question, advertise your car on CL. And then once the car sells, you'll know how long it took to sell.

[N]

go to carmax, and get a free quote that is good for 7 days (thats their deal).

research on craigslist what your car is going for. check every day. put up an ad for your car for more than the carmax offer.

see what happens. at least have your ad up a few weekdays and a weekend and see.

also, maybe post on fb or any other email lists you are on about your ad or that you are selling your car. that is how I sold mine. an acquaintance bought it. thats actually how I have sold all my cars, to people I knew. I just realized that.

if you dont sell it on CL, and you can live with the carmax offer, voila.

I sold mine for more than the carmax offer, btw.

use kbb.com and edmunds.com for comparables, too.

[the fixer]

FWIW I posted my car on CL on a Sunday, not even washed and with a couple crappy pictures just to get something up there. I had a deposit for the sale that Wednesday. And I sold it for the same amount I paid about 7 months and 10k miles ago.

I've also had a car that took a month to sell... but as I learned this time it's always worth posting the ad, maybe you'll get lucky.

[Matt F]

Thanks for all the input.  I think we will cash out some investments in the short run, but I will definitely finish getting it cleaned up for craigslist and try that first.  If that is dragging, I will get a comparison at carmax, adjust my CL price if necessary, try for 5 more days, then sell to carmax if still no bite.  I feel better now that I have a plan.  Thanks again.

[Starstuff]

I'm going to back up to the refi part. If your appraisal came in bad, get a new appraisal before dropping too much cash. You can always hire an independent appraiser, ask a local realtor for some extra comps and dispute the appraisal, or go to a different bank. Appraisals aren't perfect, so it's worth arguing rather than just dropping cash.