How to Have a Successful Neighborhood Yard Sale

 

Organizing a neighborhood or community yard sales in St. Charles County doesn’t have to be hard. With a few tips to help, a successful community sale is much more likely. In turn, you and your neighbors can have some camaraderie while getting rid of unwanted items and making some extra money. Here’s what to do when organizing this type of event.

 

1. Talk to Your Neighbors & Pick a Date

A neighborhood garage sale will include your neighbors. Reach out to your neighbors about the community sale. You’ll want to find out if they would like to be involved and check if there are any dates that definitely won’t work for them.

 

2. Check City & Neighborhood Rules

Does your city or neighborhood HOA have rules setup for yard sales? Visit your city website or swing by town hall to look for yard sale regulations, find any permits you need to obtain, or learn if any special signage is required to have the sale.

3. Advertise With Signage

Create signage for the upcoming community yard sale is important. Add a number to call if any neighbors would like to participate in the sale. This way if you missed talking to a neighbor they will be alerted and still able to participate. Also, anyone who sees the signage knows to save the date to shop the sale.

Signage can be hand made or printed. Put large signage at the entrance to your neighborhood or in front of your or your neighbors’ homes or in other high traffic areas of your community. Smaller signage like flyers can be handed out, mailed or put up on bulletin boards at your local grocery store, post office, etc.

Some great places online to create yard sale flyers cheap or free include: Canva.com, Adobe Express, PosterMyWall.com and VistaCreate.

 

4. Advertise Online

Some places to advertise a neighborhood yard sale online include: your neighborhood website or Facebook page, community Facebook group, your city website or Facebook page, a Facebook Event, Craigslist.org, your local area newspapers, or via email. Apps like Nextdoor, Garage Sales Everywhere, LetGo and OfferUp are also great for posting your sale.

5. Setup - Make it Easy to Browse

How your yard sale looks can effect how well your items sell. Be sure to have plenty of display space like tables or shelves to showcase your items. Folding tables are a great option but you can also create tables with boards and saw horses or similar items and cover the whole “table” with a tablecloth to hide its makeshift nature and make it look more appealing.

 

6. Price it Right

When pricing, an old rule of thumb is to price an item for a third of what it would cost new. However, condition is a huge factor in pricing as well. A new or hardly used item may get a third of its original cost, but any age, wear or tear will effect how appealing an item will be to a customer. Worn items will bring a lot less. Be ready to haggle too as this is something yard sale buyers love to do.

 

7. Have Cash Ready

Since yard sales are generally a cash sale, you’ll want to be sure you have plenty of cash ready for change. For security, it’s recommended to keep that cash on you at all times for security. An apron with deep pockets, a money belt or fanny pack will help.

 

8. Have Bags Available

Keep bags on hand for buyers that buy a lot of items.  This is a great use for grocery bags that you may have built up over time. Your buyers will appreciate your preparedness!

 

9. Donate Unsold Items

When the sale is over you can donate any unsold items. We recently wrote about Donating Household Items in St. Charles County. Check out the article for a list of area charities, resale and consignment stores that take donations of unwanted household items.

 

PRO TIP: FIND A SPONSOR

Get a sponsor to absorb many of the costs.  A good and organized sponsor will handle signage, marketing, maps, participating yard markers and maybe even provide some breakfast goodies! Realtors that live in the neighborhood are usually happy to sponsor. 

 

The Boehmer Team is currently preparing for a community yard sale at The Villages at Sandfort Farm in St. Charles on Sept. 17 and St. Andrews in St. Charles on October 8. We hope you save the dates and come out and browse the sales and say “Hi”. Also, we’re always available to talk about St. Louis and St. Charles County area real estate. Reach out and contact us anytime. We have years of experience in new construction and residential sales.