Bedroom Talk

My sister is offering to SELL her daughers furniture to my son...?

My niece is off to college and my sister has decided to update her bedroom furniture to a more adult set. She mentioned to me if my son would like to have the furniture for his two little girls...well, just the other day she called and left a message on my answering machine asking me if they'd still like to have it ...for $300. My son and his wife are a young married couple with a very tight budget and can't afford to purchase it from her. In the past we have financially helped them out, but had to put reality in place and not keep bailing them out when they needed something. My question is: would you sell something to a family member or would it be considered an insult?

Public Comments

1. I would not. But I would also not buy anything from any family member. No financial dealings in the family.
2. It is not rude to ask them to purchase it. After all, she paid for it and could probably sell it to someone else for more than $300. Furniture is a pretty big-ticket item to just be giving away.
3. Different families do things differently. In general, my family is all about give and take. We're always doing things for each other without counting the cost, assuming that it evens out in the end. On the other hand, my husband's family, especially his mother, is more likely to expect payment for things. That bothered me at first, but I learned to accept it long ago, and it no longer worries me. We do, however, continue to give things regularly to his mother; asking for money is just not how we operate. The bottom line is, it's her furniture, she can do as she likes. There's just no point in getting upset about it.