Gun's E-Z Own: How do I Stage a home for sale?

Are you in the processes of selling your home? Or maybe you are a realtor and need to chow your clients what the home for sale would look like with furniture it. Or you are Stager for hire by realtors to help sell a home. Gun's E-Z Own can help.

One of our Living Room stagings in a
model home in Lake City

Now we don't offer feng shui. We wouldn't even begin to know what to be for that. Heck, I don't even know if I spelled the thing right. But one thing  Gun's E-Z Own does and we do it very well is supply furniture to those who wish to stage a home that is for sale. We have staged homes in cities like Red Wing,  Hastings, Cannon Falls, Lake City, Minneapolis, Rochester just to name a few. We have staged million dollar homes down to $100,00 homes. Large, small, new and renovated. And we have been doing this for over 15 years.

The whole purpose of staging a home is to help your potential buyer envision what the home would look like with furniture in it. Some people just can't envision this in their heads without the props. We feel that keeping it minimal is key. If you put too much furniture in a home it will look small and cluttered.

In the LIVING ROOM,  a sofa, love seat or chair (depending on the size of the room), three piece occasional table set (not too big), and two lamps.

In the DINING ROOM only needs a four place dining set. What we have used in the past is a glass top table set to keep the dining/kitchen area looking open. Don't go with a big fancy dining set. It will take up too much space and shrink the room considerably.

Bedroom staged in a  model home.

For the BEDROOM we would suggest a full or queen mattress set, headboard, one night stand and either a dresser or chest (not both). And don't use a king mattress set either. It can make the bedroom appear small.

We do NOT offer items like bed spreads, plants, pictures and so on. Only the furniture.

Don't want to drive all the way to Red Wing to see what we have? You can go to Gun's E-Z Own, click on PRODUCTS, then click on IN STORE to see what we have in stock.

Neutral colors seem to work best. You want the house to stand out, not the furniture. The furniture is only a prop to help sell the home.

Not sure of the color scheme? Take pictures of the rooms you wish to stage and e-mail those pictures to gunsezown@gmail.com attention Marcia. Marcia is excellent at putting items together for staging and keeping the color schemes simple, which is what you want. The guy writing this blog is just a guy. Color schemes seem to escape me. I just do the deliveries.

If you would like more information on rentals and staging you can go to gunsezown.com and click on RENTAL . There you will find forms needed to begin staging a home. For our staging package pricing, e-mail us or give us a call at 651.388.3951. Staging prices are different from rental fees. For a brochure you can e-mail us as well.

I hope these little tidbits will help you in the future.

From the cold of Minnesota, thank you for reading today. Have a safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own: Should I purchase the product with payments or rent the product?

One the questions we often get, "Should I purchase the product with payments or rent the product?"

This question we get most often when a client is trying to get temporary accommodations for a elderly loved one. This is a very tough question. Clients have thought it would be 6 months and ending up being two years. Then after two years it might be longer yet and decided to purchase the items rather than paying more rent on the items.

Today I will point out a couple of pros and cons for each.

If I rent the furniture.
Pro
-I save money if it a 3-6 month rental.
-It can be returned and I don't have to worry about moving the furniture. Gun's E-Z Own will do that.
- If there is a problem with the rental items, Gun's E-Z Own handles the repairs or replacement.

Cons
-If the rental goes for over 16 months I will have paid enough in rental fees that could have purchase the items.
-If I want to buy it out right after the rental period, Gun's E-Z Own CAN NOT use what rental fees I paid on the items towards the purchase. I will have to pay the original retail price. (Because of Minnesota regulations)
-I don't own the furniture


If I purchase the furniture
Pro
-Once paid for I completely own it
-Once it is paid for I can re-sell it if I don't need it any more
- I don't lose out on any money spent on the item if I purchase it.

Con
- I am responsible for repairs of the items.
- I can still return the property if the "rental" ends up being short term, but I will have paid interest on
- Now what am I going to do with it.

Even though most of our rentals are only short term, every great once in a awhile a rental goes on much longer than anticipated.

Here is a rule of thumb I hope helps. If you think that the rental may be 12-24 months, consider purchasing it under loan contract. Yes, you will be paying interest on it, but at least once the 16 month loan is paid for, you own it.

If it is for sure to be 12 months or less, rental is the way to go for a temporary solution to a temporary situation.

We are more then happy to rent to our clients for the long term. But we also want to be fair and make sure you have the the information to make an educated decision.

Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day.

Gun's E-Z Own: The Holidays and the Winter Clearance Sale

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Gun's E-Z Own hopes that you all had a safe and blessed holiday season.

I had two Christmases. One with the in-laws which is quiet and laid back. Only seven people. And we don't say much in conversation.

Then for the 2nd Christmas I went over to my dad's place to spend Christmas with my family. This is a completely opposite experience. We are loud. Very loud. Extremely loud. 16 people, ages 5 to 77 all trying to over talk each other,  kids running around, Everyone unwrapping presents and singing Christmas carols. If we are lucky we might get a game in and argue over the results. Oh, yes, we eat a huge meal sometime in there as well. And Yes, it can get quite loud. But it was enjoyable. A little red wine certainly helps.😉   With this crowd, we almost need two days for Christmas. You may have heard of the Seinfeld holiday, Festivous? Maybe we should go with a two day celebration and call it, Christgunhusmas . More wine would be needed. A lot more.

Then for New Years Eve my family of 16 did it all over again. We all try to see who can talk the loudest. I won one round and conceded the rest. We play games and watch the football games. Of course this was the evening to stay over night so partaking in some Jamison and coke was definitely on the radar.  I stayed up until midnight and crashed at 12:05. I'm such a party animal.  I survived the holidays, the bitter cold and slippery roads.

Ok, enough about my holidays. When the family reads this blog they may ask, "What do you mean we're loud?" But hey, it's an annual tradition.

Gun's E-Z Own Winter Clearance 2017

Now to business. Currently Gun's E-Z Own is having a Winter Clearance Sale. This is the biggest sale we've ever held. Even under the old ownership. We have over 100 items on sale. Prices are slashed to make this SALE, to quote some famous person, "HUGE!"

A Sofa & Love seat went from $599.99 and slashed to $299.99. A Night Stand that was $149.99 is now $69.99.  And there is so much more on SALE. I left the pricing up to my Assistant Marcia. I'm often cringing, "She priced it at WHAT?!!!"  So if you want to save some money on your purchase, you need to take advantage of these low prices now before I come to my senses and change them. Our Winter Clearance Sale ends January 31, 2017. (Ha, You thought I was going to put 2016 didn't you?)

Our Price board with Sale Prices

It is best to stop in the store at 816 Main Street, Red Wing, MN 55066 so you can see and touch the furniture. You wouldn't be the only person who does this. There are a lot of people who prefer the be able to touch the furniture then to just trust a photo.

And there are those who are okay with a photo. Look at how popular online shopping is. That is how the original E-Z Own business got started, with people ordering via a catalog. If you would like to see what we have on clearance click on the links within this blog and you will find those pictures. There is a lot there to see.

One more thing, Please Find or like us on Facebook. I do post photos of what we have in stock on Facebook as well. Maybe some funny memes or the like.

Once again thank you for reading. There is no guarantee that I won't solicit sales in my next blog, but stay tuned and find out.

Have a safe and blessed day. Until next time.

Gun's E-Z Own: Winter Safety for Deliveries

Greetings all.

In 2008 we placed a delivery policy that stated that our delivery people have the right to refuse delivery if they feel it is unsafe. How and why did this policy come about.

Today I am tackling a subject that is one of my pet peeves. People who ask Gun's E-Z Own to deliver a product to their home, but they don't shovel or spread ice melt on the path we would take for the delivery.

Let's go back in time when I was a mere regional manager.

One winter we had a rental furniture delivery to a gentleman from Texas. The day before the delivery there was an ice storm and this gentleman was not prepared for a Minnesota winter. He did not have ice melt or a shovel for that matter. While I was checking the path we were going to use for the delivery, I stepped on a patch of ice that cause my feet to slip right out from under me. Like you would see in a cartoon. I fell on my back and hit the back of my head hard on the concrete driveway. Fortunately I had a stocking cap on that was folded over and gave extra cushion. I came out okay, but still got a headache. Two days later, I heard on the news that some guy slipped on some ice like I did, He did not have extra cushioning on the back of his head and died from severe brain trauma from the fall.

During another winter after the previous paragraph, 2008 to be exact. I had slipped and fell three times. Once hurt my back, another hurt my hip and third one, well the third one I will tell you about.

The third time we were delivering a sofa and a recliner. The main side walk going to the customers sidewalk did not have ice melt on it and was slippery. The customer's sidewalk was not shoveled. Now some recliners, the backs come off for ease of delivery. I had the bottom part of the recliner and my assistant had the top half. Well I slipped and fell with the bottom part of the recliner landing on top of me. I was fine. We then carried the sofa, We both slipped a little and the sofa got a little snow on it from the piled up snow bank. We got the sofa into the town home.

The customer then started to complain that we got a little snow on the sofa. This was just a little bit towards the bottom. Like 3" wide by maybe 6" long. It was all I could do not to snap. I told the customer that if he was not happy with it, we will take it back and refund them their down payment.

Now for my tirade. Really, dude. You were too lazy and too inconsiderate to shovel the sidewalk for an appointed time for a delivery and then complain that we got a little snow on the product, that would not do any damage to the product. In which, from the fall, we could have done a law suit for improper maintenance of your sidewalk. That with us falling, could have done severe physical damage. Just dust the snow off and carry on.

That was the last straw. I had enough. I don't need any of my delivery people to get hurt. I got permission for a Delivery policy from the owner of the business and he agreed.

This policy reads:

DELIVERY POLICY

Gun’s E-Z Own Staff Reserve the Right to REFUSE DELIVERY if they feel there are safety issues.

Customers are asked to:

1.    Make sure the furniture purchased will fit down pathway and through doorways of their residence.

2.    Keep possible delivery pathways clear of snow, ice, toys and any other items that may cause an E-Z Own staff member to slip or fall. During the winter make sure pathways are sanded and/or salted.

3.    Stairs must be deemed as safe and not rickety.

4.    Have vehicles moved out of the path if furniture may have to be lifted over head to clear vehicle.

Gun’s E-Z Own staff will inform the customer of the safety hazards. If the safety hazards can’t be cleared immediately the delivery will be cancelled until the safety hazards are cleared.

The customer may chose to pick up the purchased items themselves and have a portion of their delivery fee credited to their account.

#   #   #   #

So what is the moral of the story? Please be considerate of service people who are coming to your home. Have the sidewalk cleared off, have a path to where the service person is going cleared. Yes, They are being paid for their service but you may end up paying a lot more if that service person slips, falls and does severe damage or death because a path was not cleared.

But the business has workmen's Comp. Yes, True, but the workmen's comp will go after your insurance to get repaid if they find that it is the fault of the customer.

And to avoid this process, Gun's E-Z Own reserves the right to refuse delivery.

Phew, I said my peace. Now I will need to go zen and settle down.

Thank you for listening today.

Have a blessed and safe day.

Gun's E-Z Own: What NOT to do around your TV

You may have heard the Jim Croce Song with the lyrics, "You don't tug on Superman's Cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim."

Well today I have three stories of what you shouldn't do around your TV. Another title could be: Kids, don't do this around the TV to anger your parents.

Story 1: 

One our customers came into the store very upset. We asked what happened? Her 11 year old son was playing with his BB gun. (Oh, yes. You already know the ending) He was cleaning it and pretending to shoot it. He had thought it was empty. (Of course it was empty.) He had moved to the living room and placed the BB gun down. 

While placing the BB gun down on a table, the BB gun was pointing towards the TV. His finger got stuck in the trigger and bang. Cracked TV screen. A TV that was less than two years old. 

Needless to say, BB guns are now banned in the house*

Story 2:

An family member recently went to a local home improvement store, who were handing out helium filled balloons to all the kids. To help weigh the balloons down, the balloons had a washer tied to the bottom of the string.

The daughter got home and was so excited about her new balloon, she was swinging it around and around in, . . . you guessed it, . . . the living room. Her father told her repeated times to stay away from the TV with the balloon. She lost hold of the balloon and it floated over the TV cabinet. Now the TV sits in a TV cabinet where the doors can close over the TV.

Thinking the daughter couldn't get to the floating balloon, the father who had a broken foot in a cast at the time, decided to take a long hot bath. Being as that it was easier than taking a shower.

After the bath, he entered the living, hmmm, the ottoman was by the TV cabinet and the TV cabinet was closed. Odd, but ok, He opened the cabinet, sat down, used the remote to turn the TV on and HOLY CRAP, there was a rainbow colored, spider web patterned crack in the TV screen.

A loud, "Get over here now!" to the very upset and nervous daughter was called out to found out what happened. She pushed the ottoman to the TV cabinet, that was open, climbed up to get her balloon. In the process she banged the washer into the TV screen. She got scared, closed the TV cabinet to hide the damage and ran away to her room. 

Moral: Never assume that your determined child CANNOT do something. Especially when it comes to cool balloons.

Story 3:

A customer's daughter enjoys the scented candles. On this particular day, she had lit a candle on the TV stand. Of course the TV is sitting right by the lit candle. What happens to candles when lit? They melt and while still warm there can be a puddle of wax. 

The daughter was being responsible, didn't leave the room while the candle was lit, but when she was ready to leave the room, she picked up the candle to blow it out. She lifted the candle up, in front of the TV, took a deep breath and (Yes, she did) blew the candle out and blew a bunch of hot wax onto the screen of their new TV. The hot wax melted spots into the screen and the spots that didn't melt, left a mark from cleaning it. 

Moral: Wax on not so easy to wax off.

At the time of the incident it's not so humorous but these are memories that we can look back on and smile about.  Remember that time when . . . broke the TV? Yea, how did that happen again?

Ladies and gentlemen, I am more than happy to sell you TV's, but if you like to save some money you don't play with a loaded BB gun, you don't swing a balloon with a washer on the end, you don't blow out a lit hot candle into your new TV and then you don't have to visit Gun.

*Just a side note for Story #1. A few months later, That boy's older sister, by 4 years, decided to play with the BB gun in the house and blew out the glass window of there stove. Face palm here.

I hope you enjoyed today blog. Please remember to view our Facebook page and visit our website at gunsezown.com.

Have a safe and blessed day. And if I don't blog before then, Have an awesome Thanksgiving.

Gun's E-Z Own: Doing Collections - Door Knocking

Here at Gun's E-Z Own, because that we are giving loans out for our customers to purchase furniture and using that furniture as collateral, we must do collections. That is we call customers, we send notices and letters to customers, we door knock customers and we take customers to court and get Sheriff's replevins (legal term for repossession).

We do have a matrix that we follow, and we are not looking for Neo either. With this matrix listed below, it helps keep customers payments timely and losses down:
Courtesy Phone Call
Letter / Phone Call
2nd Letter / Phone Call
Door Knock
Final Letter
Door Knock for Repossession
Court

I have been doing this for almost 20 years. (20 years in Feb of 2017) and dealt with all types of customers when it comes to collections. Today, I am going to do an overview of what Gun's E-Z Own does when out and about door knocking.

You may have noticed that I said Door Knocking. That is the phrase we use when we go to a customer's place of residence and, wait for it, . . . knock on their doors.

In the great state of Minnesota, there are laws that allow finance companies to do "self help" repossessions. Which in turn means, we are allowed to go up to customer's doors and ask for payment or the property. This does NOT mean we kick the door down and break in. Which, to be honest, I would like to at times. But I don't and won't. First off let me say that we reserve door knocking for those customers who refuse to call us back or make a payment. So if a customer has been contacting us we don't go to there doorstep unless they just have not come through with their five broken promises to pay us.

And when we door knock, it is not nearly as exciting as what you see on TV. If the customer can't afford their payment any longer, they are more likely to give up that Sofa. Those guys on TV repossessing a car if a different story. Take away a person's car and you pretty much take away their lively hood.

When going to a customers home, I always look at (not into, because that would just be creepy) the windows to look for curtain movement and listen for sounds for someone moving around or maybe a TV on. We look at the surroundings to make sure someone is still living there. Why is that? Because we have people move on us and we want as much information as we can get.


We also have to look out for mean dogs. Most of the dogs are friendly and I can get them to settle down and maybe pet them. Maybe.

From there I have a little carrying case that has my notices and envelopes in it. I knock on the door and listen for movement. I love it when the dog inside goes off on protecting the home. Then I know if the customer is home, they can't say they didn't hear me, because that dog will wake them up and/or let them know someone is there. If I don't hear anything, I will knock again and begin writing out what I need to on the notice. As you can see we use two different notices depending on how far behind the customer is. We have created a fill in the blank notice that makes it quicker and to get the legalize wording correct every time.

So then if there is still not anybody answering the door, Like Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory, I knock a third time. At that point I will leave the notice in an addressed envelope on the door knob or something that will hold the envelope.

Now if you are using this blog for help hints, DO NOT leave the notice in the mailbox. That is a Federal Offense. Just don't do it.

Once I hang the door notice, I just go back to my vehicle and head off to the next door. But what if someone answers the door?

If someone answers the door, I politely ask for the person I wish to speak to. If they are not home, I introduce myself and leave the door notice in an envelope with that person.

Now if the customer is home, I have a cordial conversation with them, and let them know why I am there. (They already know) Sometimes I get a payment, sometimes I get the property, sometimes I accept a promise of payment. Each situation is different.

The key to face to face collections is to treat people with respect. Everyone has a bad month. Bad things happen like car accidents and surgeries. If you poke the bear, all you get is a big load of nothing, and angry customer who is still delinquent and now you are in a upset state. Life is too short to go down that street.

Just talk to the customer with respect and explain to them what the next step is if they don't pay you. There is no reason to get all up into someone's face. If things do escalate, remember DO NOT BREACH THE PEACE. If you feel you are going down that road, Just listen to Kelly Clarkson and Walk Away.

Once again I just gave an overview of how I handle door knocking for collections. I live in a small town and this works for us. If I were to write everything down, this blog would be about 10 pages long and you would have lost interest before the end of page one.

I hope you found this interesting. Remember to find us on Facebook and visit our website at www.gunsezown.com for specials and see what we have in stock.

Have safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own: Cleaning your TV Screen.

Hi, there everyone. I know its been a little longer than usual from my last blog. I took some time off from the business side to try and rejuvenate the old noggin. I'll let you know if it worked.

Today, I am going to discuss about cleaning your TV Screens.

This topic came up recently when a customer was telling me about how his sister used a glass cleaner on her flat panel TV screen and put a haze on the screen. Her husband had noticed and had asked what happened. Since the TV sits by a window, she told him that the sun did it.

So some of you already may know this but I'll use this opportunity to remind people what not to do.

In your old tube TV, the screen was made out of glass. That was easy enough to clean. Any good glass cleaner would work.  Spritz a little glass cleaner on the screen and wipe it down with any rag or paper towel and your done.

For today's TV's, the flat panels, you can't do that. The screens on the newer TV's are made of a plastic. Have you ever sprayed Windex on a plastic item and afterward you have a haze on that item. WHY? you may ask.

DO NOT use glass or multi-purpose cleaners to clean your TV Screen. Glass Cleaners have chemicals in them that are not meant for plastic, only glass. Those chemicals in your favorite glass cleaner will slightly melt the plastic and that slight melt causes the haze.

One more thing, DO NOT use a paper towel to clean your screen either. What are paper towels made of? Well paper, of course. What is paper made of? Wood. There are small wood fibers in the paper towels. Those small wood fibers will scratch your TV screen. You people wearing glasses out there with plastic lenses. Were you in a pinch and used a paper towel to clean your lenses? How did that work out for you. you got at least one little scratch didn't you. Same thing with your TV screens. You get little scratches on your screen.

So what can you use? If your screen is just dusty, you can simply use a feather duster to dust it off. Or a micro-fiber cloth will work too if you lightly dust it.

You know how we try to put our TV's up high enough so that our little ones can't reach the screen and get there dirty little fingers on the screen. We all know how that works, right? Finger prints!! How do they do that!??

If you are looking at finger prints or the like, You have a couple of options:

1) Use a micro-fiber cloth. Spray some water on the cloth or the TV screen and wipe down your screen. Make sure your micro-fiber cloth is clean before using it.

2) Don't have a spray bottle you can use for water? Moisten your micro-fiber cloth with you tap water and is that on your screen. The cloth just needs to barely be wet. Remember you don't want water to accidentally drip into your TV and create a short.

3) You can purchase a cleaner made specifically for cleaning today's TV screens. We sell the Monster Screen Cleaner at Gun's E-Z Own. You can spray it on the cloth or the TV screen and wipe the screen down. No Scratches, No melt, only clean.

The argument for purchasing these glass cleaners specifically for your TV Screen is that there are no harmful chemicals in them that would hurt your TV screen. Water does have chemicals in it to keep the water clean and bacteria free like chlorine and the like. But the screen cleaners don't have any of that.

We use the Monster Screen Cleaner to clean, my glasses, laptop screens, the laptop casing, TV screens and anything else we don't want to use glass cleaner for. We don't use it for our windows though, it gets a little tiring pressing that little pump for a 8 foot by 4 foot window.

I hope you have found this to be another helpful idea.

Thank you for reading my blog today. There will be more to come. If you like my blogs, please send the links to your friends. And remember you can find us on Facebook.


I hope you have a safe and blessed day.