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Trading Up: Swaps Go Upscale

Jami Makan — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:47:47 GMT

Upscale furniture. Luxury cars. Even fancy vacation homes. After years of shunning the online trading market, owners of bigger and higher-end products are turning to the Web in search of swap partners. Indeed, a host of new sites have sprung up to connect would-be traders, and the action is heating up on popular swap hubs; online marketplace Craigslist.org, for instance, saw bartering posts spike by 80 percent over the past two years. But as always, buyer-er, swapper-beware. Our take on the most popular swaps:

Check out of the hotel. Home swapping, once a fringe option for affordable vacationing, is moving into the mainstream; a recent survey by travel Web site TripAdvisor found that 43 percent of respondents say they would now consider a house swap. Interested travelers can surf sites like HomeExchange.com and ExclusiveExchanges.com to browse listings, read reviews and (hopefully) find the right trade partner. The catch? Sites can charge as much as $2,500 to join and often do little to screen listings.

Ditch the extra car. Traditionally, getting out of a Car Lease has been "almost impossible," says Jack Gillis, director of public affairs at the Consumer Federation of America. But these days, people are beginning to go online to unload their leases-or to snap up a good deal from someone else. One caveat: Most sites require that both parties pay a fee; LeaseTrader, for instance, charges $90 for a listing fee, $40 per membership and credit check, plus $150 for the company to handle the paperwork.

Clean out the garage. When it comes to swapping household items, experts suggest starting with an appropriate niche site, like Zwaggle for strollers, cribs and other kiddie gear, or Swaptree for music, books and DVDs. The most popular online trades-and thus the best selection of stuff-tend to center around smaller goods that are easy to mail, says Mark Hexamer, Swaptree's VP of marketing. For bigger items like furniture, using local sites like Craigslist eliminates the hassles of shipping. But forget about being too picky: Traders may need to settle for "a couch rather than a 'brown couch,'" says Hexamer.

Ballin' on a Budget

Lauren Kawam — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:03:03 GMT

We heard it from the Geto Boys in '99 … "Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta," and we're pretty sure it feels good to be a baller too. But, does it feel as good to be a baller on a budget, something many might be forced to do in this time of a depressed economy and a weak job market?

That's where Evan Sneider, the PR manager for website LeaseTrader.com, steps in. Drawing on inspiration from his friends, girlfriend and her friends, the 27-year-old has created a to-do list, comprised of nine clever tricks in order to be a baller on a budget.

Some of the tricks Sneider offers include emptying your bank account on a Friday night and carrying all your cash around with you, or getting your passport stamped with fake destinations, so when you talk about "running with the bulls in Spain, catching the Cannes Film Festival, or dropping in on Carnaval in Brazil, pull out your faux passport with proof of being in each country and this should seal the deal," Sneider says.

He says one of the reasons he came up with this list was because of his understanding that there's a certain appeal to having expensive things, especially when you're young.

"Most young guys assume living in a nice house, driving the nice car and having a large bank account all help score with the ladies," he says. "I can't see many other reasons for calling yourself a baller on a budget besides trying to impress the ladies."
College Times caught up with Sneider, all the way from South Florida, to talk about his system.

College Times: How did you come up with this to-do list of how to be a baller on a budget?
Sneider: The story idea actually came from a customer who I'd recently spoken with. I asked him his reasons for taking over a 08 Mercedes E-class; he responded by admitting he was a "$30,000 Millionaire" or "faux baller." He began to explain the inflated posse, fake passport and driving a car he has no business driving are some tricks he was guilty of. The other two, I simply asked some friends and each told me something new - empty your bank account on a Friday night and always go out in a big group.

Any options for women to be ballers on a budget? Or is there a different term when referring to women?
I, sadly, am not familiar with this topic. So I asked my girlfriend what she's seen from her friends and other women in South Florida. She told me of course there are options for women to be ballers on a budget and her friend actually calls herself a "ballette." I'm told searching for deals on clothes and accessories and makeup and perfume are the best ways to be a ballette.

Have you yourself used any of these baller steps in your daily life?
I can admit to driving a car I have no business driving. When I graduated college a few years ago, I know personally I wanted to drive a nice car after graduating to establish myself as being a young professional and make good first impressions. I'll admit, I'm sure in the back of my mind I was trying to impress the ladies during my single days.

Why is it important to be a baller, especially in a time where "normal" baller things to do would be hard (i.e. buy a Yacht, and sail to the South of France, etc.)?
I don't think the economy will have an effect on guys being ballers on a budget. I imagine in good times or bad times it would be hard to use all of these tricks at once. I'm pretty sure being a baller on a budget is a one-shot deal. If you don't close the deal that night or on the next date you'd give up or come clean with her if you end up liking her.

Do you think a faux baller is really that believable?
I'll say living in South Florida, it's a pretty common occurrence to see faux ballers and, personally, I think they're pretty easy to spot in public. In my opinion, the guys with money are never dressed to the nines, bragging about their money or trying to bring a lot of attention to themselves in public.

Sneider also offered up these simple tips to live like a baller:

Inflated Posse - Get a group of 4-6 friends and take turns being the baller. Each night choose one guy and designate him as baller for the entire evening. Let him carry around all the money and purchase drinks throughout the night. Also you can hype his swagger by asking questions about his latest trip to Dubai or if he closed that multimillion dollar deal last week in London.

Getting A Car You Have no Business Driving - This was the inspiration to the story. Our customer wanted to get a sick Mercedes on the cheap. The secondary lease market lets "faux ballers" get a Mercedes or even a Maserati for pennies on the dollar with little financial commitment.

Sharing Payments - Purchase that sweet condo or house with a group of friends (the same friends that serve as your club entourage). You'll hopefully be making money on your investment and getting immediate satisfaction telling girls you bought the place as your vacation home when you're not traveling around the world. Just make sure your buddies are staying at their parents' place for the evening or sleeping in their car.

Nordstrom package in the mall - It actually still happens all the time. Guys going to the mall and making a small purchase at a high-end store like Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus. The trick is you get a huge shopping bag to put that one item in. Obviously it would look empty without other accessories or clothes, so you can actually bring clothes to the mall from your home. Just switch bags and you now have items from a high-end store.

Fluffed up bottle service - Every club has bottle service that usually charges several hundred dollars (even for the cheapest bottles) to sit in VIP. Make friends with the waitress and ask her for some discarded bottles from the back. Place the empty bottles around your full bottle to attract some attention. This gives the appearance that you're spending a lot of money and might be ordering some more.

Fake biz cards - If you're anyone of importance you have a business card. Now anyone can go online and find free business cards, but spend a little extra money to upgrade the matte, gloss, and make sure to get the cards on heavy stock. This makes you instantly reputable with anyone you meet as being the CEO of a new tech company or you can be the President of a Angel Investment firm.

Fake jewelry - If you live in a major city it shouldn't be hard to find a flea market that sells fake jewelry (Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton wallets, or fake diamonds). If you have some trouble finding fake jewelry you can find hundreds of websites online for you to purchase fake jewelry. The most important piece to any baller is their watch and earrings since that catches someone's attention as a first impression. We've also heard "faux balers" getting really ostentatious rings to resemble a college championship. Saying you were MVP 3 years ago of the Rose Bowl or you played professional basketball and won the NBA championship is sure to impress.

Survey shows more women are driving on dates

Angie Leventis Lourgos — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:00:25 GMT

Contrary to certain notions of chivalry, women are increasingly likely to drive to a date rather than be picked up, according to an unscientific survey by LeaseTrader.com.

The "Sex Drive" poll found that about 33 percent of women who were not in a relationship did the driving when on a date in 2009, compared with about 24 percent in 2008 and a little less than 14 percent in 2005. Of women in a relationship, about 28 percent said they drove when on dates in 2009, up from about 26 percent in 2008 and about 10 percent in 2005.

The automobile lease-swapping company polled roughly 1,500 of its customers — all unmarried women — across the country. Twenty-one percent of respondents were from Chicago, spokesman Ethan Goldman said.

Most of the women behind the wheel reported feeling safer traveling in their own car. Others said they didn't like their date's car, loved their own car too much to ride in another vehicle or thought arriving in their own auto would impress the other party. Some respondents surmised that driving their car would give them a better shot at another date.

Goldman said the poll was inspired by a customer who mentioned she would be driving to a first date. He was surprised and wondered if she represented an anomaly or trend.

"I guess I was brought up that men do the driving, kind of a chivalry thing," he said.
While the politics of who drives seem to be shifting, you should probably still open her car door, just to be on the safe side.

Ask Sid: Escaping a Car Lease

Sid Kirchheimer — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:39:46 GMT

Q. How can I get out of my Car Lease without paying thousands in penalties?

A. Check out lease-transferring services such as LeaseTrader or swapalease, which connect drivers who want to end their car leases early with those willing to take over the monthly payments.

It’s a move that can save both parties thousands of dollars. Sellers can end their leases without paying off the balance or paying penalties for early termination, while buyers avoid paying the lease’s down payment or dealership fees.

For a fee ranging from $100 to $250, the services post photos of the car and details of the lease and help with the transfer paperwork once an agreement is reached.

Before you try to escape from your lease, check your original agreement. Some contracts prohibit such transfers, require their own transfer fees, or hold you responsible if the new buyer stops paying.

Since the economy went south, there has been an 18 percent increase in this “secondary lease” market among drivers 55 and older—with three times as many people looking to assume car leases as those giving them up, according to LeaseTrader spokesman Evan Sneider.

Toyota's once-golden resale value gets dented

Tom Krisher & DAVE CARPENTER — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:38:59 GMT

CHICAGO — Toyota owners looking to trade in their cars have little reason to sing the carmaker's old ad slogan, "I love what you do for me — Toyota!"

Recalls and a bungled response to safety questions are putting a dent in the resale values of their cars. For years, Toyotas have been praised both for high quality and maintaining their worth. These days, the Toyota in your garage is no longer like money in the bank.

Some dealers are refusing to accept Toyotas for trade, while others are paying considerably less than they did just two week ago. Kelley Blue Book has dropped the value of recalled Toyotas by as much 3 percent. The auto research Web site Edmunds.com estimates resale or trade-in values could fall up to 10 percent in the short term.

The decline will likely continue as long as uncertainty and defects continue to shadow the world's No. 1 carmaker.

Toyota Motor Corp. has so far recalled more than 7 million cars in the U.S., Europe and China over a sticky accelerator and floor mats that can get caught in the gas pedal. Its prized Prius hybrid — which is partially powered by electricity — is under investigation for momentary brake failure. The company is expected to announce its plan for fixing that model this week.

Kelley, which two months ago named Toyota the best brand for resale value, says recalled models are now worth $200 to $500 less per car. Another cut of the same magnitude is planned as soon as the coming week unless the recall controversy abates and demand for Toyotas stops declining, Kelley spokeswoman Robyn Eckard says.

Similarly, since the first recall for sticky accelerator pedals on Jan. 21, Edmunds' estimate for the trade-in value of a 2009 Toyota Camry has fallen by 4 percent to 6 percent to $13,967 while the 2009 Toyota Corolla has declined 6 percent to $11,233.

"My advice to a consumer would be 'If you don't have to trade one in, wait,'" says Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for Edmunds. "Values will stay down for a bit. But Toyota's got really strong brand equity."

The news has unnerved more than a few consumers who had viewed Toyota as a bulletproof brand for quality.

Laura Benin, 34, of New York City chose a 2009 Corolla for her first car purchase a year ago because of Toyota's stellar reputation. Now she's reluctant to drive her car even after the potential acceleration problem is fixed, but knows this is a bad time to try to sell it.

"It's a little bit scary to think the car with the greatest reputation for safety is in the situation it's in now," she says.

Those who are anxious to sell without waiting for a value rebound can turn to the Japanese automaker's rivals. GM, Ford and Chrysler all have announced similar programs that involve offering $1,000 in incentives to Toyota owners who buy their vehicles.

Car dealers are also facing uncertainty.

At River Oaks Chrysler-Jeep in Houston, general manager Alan Helfman told his used car manager to knock 30 to 40 percent of the book value off any recalled Toyotas or Prius hybrids traded in.

"You've got to get them fixed," he said. "You've got to take them in at greatly reduced value."

Chuck Eddy, a Chrysler dealer in Youngstown, Ohio, said he's heard of other dealers refusing to take recalled Toyotas in trade, but said he'll still take them at reduced values.

Two auction houses, where dealers sell trade-ins if they decide not to keep them, have told his dealership that they won't take recalled Toyotas due to legal liability fears. Eddy says customers are nervous about buying Toyotas and the auction houses have further limited his resale options.

Despite the problems, many drivers appear to be sticking with the brand, however uneasily. Leasetrader.com, which acts as matchmaker between buyers and sellers of car leases, says that of several thousand people on a waiting list to take over Toyota leases, fewer than 30 have canceled.

American drivers pushed Toyota's reputation to an unrealistically high level and now a natural adjustment will occur that benefits Ford and General Motors, says John Wolkonowicz, a senior auto analyst for North America at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Mass.

"I don't think Toyotas are going to suddenly become undesirable on the used car market," he says. "It's just that they have been taken down from this lofty position that they couldn't possibly live up to forever."

Jack Fitzgerald, who owns 12 dealerships including two Toyota stores in the Washington, D.C., area, said he would buy every used Toyota he can get because he's confident they will retain their value.

Fitzgerald said the recall concerns are overblown and should pass quickly once Toyota gets the repair parts to dealers.

"I'm buying every one I can get," he said. "I can't wait for the village idiot to dump his Toyota for nothing. I can certainly make money on it."