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The brother of a friend of my wife has had to be put into an "assisted living" facility. Social security has told her that she has to sell all of his property to use to pay for the costs before SS will do what ever it is they do. He has several guns and was told that she needs to get quotes from 2 pawn shops and sell them for at least the highest quote. The only thing I know right now is one is an "assault rifle" (I'm guessing AR-15 style) and a "small" pistol.

What I would like to get an idea of, is what do pawn shops usually offer to pay for fire arms as a percentage? I know it varies with condition, etc. Just looking to get a general idea of what they might offer percentage wise of value.

I have let her know that I would like right of first refusal. If she is offered say, $200 for the "assault rifle" she could sell it to me for $250.

my guess is they will offer 1/2 or maybe less than the value of the items, as they like to make 100% on the investments.
I would suggest to get their quotes and then post on this forum or other selling sites and you can earn more than they will give.

doncb wrote:The brother of a friend of my wife has had to be put into an "assisted living" facility. Social security has told her that she has to sell all of his property to use to pay for the costs before SS will do what ever it is they do. He has several guns and was told that she needs to get quotes from 2 pawn shops and sell them for at least the highest quote. The only thing I know right now is one is an "assault rifle" (I'm guessing AR-15 style) and a "small" pistol.

What I would like to get an idea of, is what do pawn shops usually offer to pay for fire arms as a percentage? I know it varies with condition, etc. Just looking to get a general idea of what they might offer percentage wise of value.

I have let her know that I would like right of first refusal. If she is offered say, $200 for the "assault rifle" she could sell it to me for $250.

Pawn shops are not a good choice to appraise a firearm. The buy as cheaply as possible. Blue Book, Gun Broker or a reputable gun dealer would be a better choice.

OP... Is the guy going into assisted living married? Sounds like he's not. If he IS married, then his wife needs to seek out some elder care advice before selling off his property. The "community spouse" (the still-at-home spouse of an institutionalized medicare patient) would have different financial requirements and may not be required to sell off assets.

My Experience with Pawn Shops is typically something like this example:

New Gun $1000
Used Value based on Condition is 85% so gun is valued at $850
Pawn shop trys to sell the gun for $1000
They will offer you 30% of $850, so that's $255. ($595 less than value)

Summary: So they will offer you $255 for an $850 used gun and try to sell if for the new price of $1000

My advice to you is to try to get an idea of what the same item cost new at today's market prices. Then valuate the gun based on it's condition, rarity, etc. Once you have done this you can properly evaluate any offer. Google is your friend. You can get a good idea of a ballpark value.

You can also sell it on consignment to an FFL or gun shop, you set the price, they get a fee or commission for selling it for you. That probably works better that a pawn shop for getting the most money. Or try to sell it privately.

If you are simply trying to sell the guns to meet some social security rules, get benefits and move on with life, perhaps a pawn shop is the quickest way to get rid of them if taking a big loss is not a major concern, depending on the value.

Example:
New Gun is $400
Used Gun based on condition is 50% so thats $200
Pawn shop trys to sell the gun for $400
They will offer you 30% of $400, so that's $120. ($280 less than value)
Is $280 worth holding up getting SS benefits?

It's been my experience that pawn shops typically buy used guns at 25%-40% of fair market value,as determined by Blue Book of Gun Values. Buying a Blue Book is money well spent in determining the value of a gun. Cost for 2016 edition is $49.95.

http://bluebookofgunvalues.com/Products ... spx?id=659

Also, LSUTiger offers some good advice.

doncb wrote:
I have let her know that I would like right of first refusal. If she is offered say, $200 for the "assault rifle" she could sell it to me for $250.

If it's a friend that's going through a rough time, why not just offer her a fair price?

TXBO wrote:

doncb wrote:
I have let her know that I would like right of first refusal. If she is offered say, $200 for the "assault rifle" she could sell it to me for $250.

If it's a friend that's going through a rough time, why not just offer her a fair price?

Seems to me like that is taking advantage of a person, who needs the money desperately. That goes against my grain of fairness.

I have very little background in this but what I know is this.

SS won't pay anything until the persons assets are less than X amount and until that point they have to pay themselves. SS wants them to sell off the stuff and use that money until it is below X amount then they will start paying.

They don't want you to give away assets as that would result in SS having to pay more in benefits so they want them to get the quotes to be sure that they are sold for a reasonable price. A pawn shop quote will give the relative the most flexibility in selling price of a loved ones items.

So SS will be happy if the relative sells them at the quoted price even if it is not fair value price if it was sold person to person and not a pawn shop. I am not saying they should sell it for the quoted price. The bill of sale should be documented at least at the quoted price.

Kind of what I am saying if that the person in care can't have an extra bank account with money in for items not provided for by the care and that loved ones would be footing the bill for those items.

You could do a search on Gunbroker using the Completed Items option under Advanced Search - check the prices for any items that have sold with at least one bid - that's always given me a good idea of what a gun is really worth.

joe817 wrote:

TXBO wrote:

doncb wrote:
I have let her know that I would like right of first refusal. If she is offered say, $200 for the "assault rifle" she could sell it to me for $250.

If it's a friend that's going through a rough time, why not just offer her a fair price?

Seems to me like that is taking advantage of a person, who needs the money desperately. That goes against my grain of fairness.

Don't worry. I plan to offer her a fair price. The example I gave was just to show what she could do. She is the type of friend (she and my wife have known each other since elementary school) that would offer to sell for just over what she is offered by the pawn shop. I'm not going to take advantage of his or her situation.

He isn't married so she has guardianship over him. The person at Social Security told her to get offers from pawn shops. Weird, but that's the government. Personally, I think it would be better for her to find out what fair market value is and go from there. I figure that the pawn shop sees a female that knows nothing about guns come in they'd low ball. I'll see about going with her. I'm going to at least find out what he has and give her some idea of the value so she can have something to compare what they offer.

texas yankee wrote:You could do a search on Gunbroker using the Completed Items option under Advanced Search - check the prices for any items that have sold with at least one bid - that's always given me a good idea of what a gun is really worth.

This

What is the point of getting quotes beyond two pawn brokers? He/she doesn't get the money so whatever the amount high or low... the point is to liquidate the assets and hand the money over to the assisted living center. Once the brother is penniless it triggers Social Security. Best of all they have his sister doing all this leg and back work for them. If the assets belong to the assisted living center or Social Security anyway, they should deal with getting appraisals and whatnot.

warnmar10 wrote:What is the point of getting quotes beyond two pawn brokers? He/she doesn't get the money so whatever the amount high or low... the point is to liquidate the assets and hand the money over to the assisted living center. Once the brother is penniless it triggers Social Security. Best of all they have his sister doing all this leg and back work for them. If the assets belong to the assisted living center or Social Security anyway, they should deal with getting appraisals and whatnot.

Let her get the written quotes, then buy for the highest price. Take the time to get a better price and share the difference with her. No one is going to know there was more money exchanging hands. And she can use the extra money for things not provided to her brother by either the assisted living facility or,SS.

I never understood why the SS administration requires someone who has paid in their whole life to prove that they are completely destitute before they can get benefits.
You can always list the guns you don't want on here and get a fair price for them.JMHO