One step closer to FL (Spring Hill, Pine Lakes: gated, showings, for sale)

[nomoresnow]

Since Faithful Frank is among the missing and hasn't given us his latest installment in a couple of days, I thought I'd let you know how my adventure is going.

As you regulars know, I live in Northern New York (not to be confused with Upstate) , and March can be unpredictable, weather-wise, anywhere from -20 (just 3 or 4 days ago) to +45, blinding blizzards or brilliant sunshine. (NAH, you'd have loved it here today - mid 40's, sunny, just gorgeous.) But (sorry, Blue Grass, had to do it) we had to bite the bullet and get rid of some of our "treasures" before the realtor arrives a week from Monday, so we planned an "Indoor Yard Sale".

Got all of our goodies gather together and placed them as strategically and attractively as possible in our downstairs family room (house is a raised ranch). Went online and wrote up our ad for the classifieds and got it all scheduled.

We then spent a couple of sleepless nights, worrying about how nasty was the weather going to be, how many will show up, do we have enough stuff, is it priced reasonably, etc.

Yesterday was the big day. DH was in a panic mode. "Nobody's going to come. We planned this too early; it was stupid to do this." We had made signs to stick outide - one on either side of the mailbox that said "moving sale", one on the garage door that said "sale inside house", one on the outside door coming into the house that said "please walk in, go down stairs" and a couple that we put around that said "ask us about..." and listed the goodies that were too big to haul downstairs.

The hours we put in the paper called for 8 a.m - 5 p.m. Luckily, I waited till a few minutes after 7 to put the signs out - after we'd eaten breakfast and all that fun stuff. Good thing. I swear somebody was lurking around the corner, because within 2 minutes, people were walking thru our front door! Tell me, is there a network of yard salers where someone hangs out in the neighborhood with his/her spyglass and announces on walkie-talkies "target in sight. Signs are up. GO IN - NOW, NOW, NOW!"????

It was non-stop from 7:15 till 10:30. Within 5 minutes, we had sold the recliner and a really ugly "collectible" statuette that we thought would never go. We sold all but two or three "big" items and made a decent amount of $$ for all of our jun...I mean treasures. Added bonus - there's more room in the house than we had before. We even had one fellow come back this morning (the sale was only yesterday) to buy the china cabinet that didn't go yesterday, and for $25 more than I had decided was my low price!

I am always amazed by people, though. We've had a couple of sales (one last summer) to get ready for this move, and I usually put out a box marked "free". People usually take a couple of things and buy some other stuff. Yesterday, I had my free box with a bunch of towels, dishcloths, that sort of thing, and a woman just picked it up and put it with her pile of purchases. The whole box! Oh, well, It did say "free" on it. Not "take one or two!"

All in all, a decent sale, and we got rid of almost everything. The funny thing is, we now have no sofa or recliner in the living room, so we're sitting on lawn chairs! Don't worry, tho, it's only temporary. This week, we'll clean the carpets, then move the small sofa from the den out there.

Next step - realtor.

[hiknapster]

I am so glad that it went well! Yes, those are people that buy for consignment shops and such. They always wait to the exact minute. They did the same thing in New England.

Thanks for posting that!

[nomoresnow]

Oh, we definitely had a couple of dealers. After a yard sale or two, you start to recognize them. In fact, the fellow who came back today admitted to it!

[Floridasunshine]

I had old blond dining table with 6 chairs and matching Glass Hutch I bought for 400 total from a couple who were moving north my son knew about 6yrs ago. It was in excellent condition, The man I gave the money to had heart attack that nite and never moved to Colorado with his Family, Sad.

I loved the set, but when we moved here it did not match my new home.
I was going to take it to goodwill, but my son said put it in paper for 250.00. the add is free for 250 and under.
I was willing to take 100. After one day in paper a couple called and picked it up that nite and gave me 250, said they should pay more. I just laughed and said just take care of it. They were happy. I was shocked. For 2 weeks people called about that darn dining set. So I guess I will advertise when we sell this house.
My FatherinLaw,retired 80, goes to the flea Market and buys junk and puts add in paper and sells this stuff for 2 times the price, amazing.
What part of FLoria are you moving to?

[Jammie]

Alright Nomoresnow!!!That's a big step forward and you really are a lot closer to moving now. Oh and talk about rummage sale junkies......my husband is one. He'd probably have a lot of fun with your father-in-law, sunshine.

Your lack of furniture is what we'll be living in for a few weeks after we move down there. It's really no problem and you can just pretend you're out on your patio sitting on your furniture.

My husband does a bit of the rummage thing as a hobby. He has often bought storage units that were abandoned and makes a bit of a profit after doing a lot of fixing and cleaning things up. He has his "regular" customers and you can bet if his sign says 8am, some will show up at 6 sharp. Oh and about the box of free stuff~that's what DH does and it is unbelieveable how people can be. Some people insist that they should give him something for what they take. Yet, we've encountered others who complain that there's nothing good enough to even take. And the best rummage sale story of all was when DH got called away in the middle of a sale and I had to come outside and take over. My first customer was looking at things and wandered to the back of our shed. DH had a few lawn mowers there, an antique baby bed, etc. Well, my wonderful first customer and I got in a spat and I shut the rummage sale down for the day. She insisted that since the ad in the paper stated that everything was a dollar, it should include the things that were in her view. She got really nasty and threatened to sue me for false advertising. Later, I found out that she likes to run around town and torment others, too.

[nomoresnow]

Wonderful stories, you two. Thanks for sharing!

Sunshine, we're moving to N. Ft. Myers. Bought a house in a gated 55+ community called Pine Lakes where my dearest friend lives. Went to visit her, ended up buying a house. Hubby won't even see the house till we move in!

Jammie, it takes all kinds, doesn't it? We put signs on the piles that we're for sale so there'd be no question. Sister-in-law is threatening to come in with a pile of sand and a sunlamp so we can "practice" living in FL!

[hiknapster]

Nomoresnow:

Pine Lakes should be nice. Good luck in your retirement. Keep us posted!

[firemed]

Pine lakes is very nice . Good luck and have a safe trip down here.

[Minniemom]

nomoresnow - where in northern NY are you from. I'm moving to Spring hill in May from LI. We did the 'declutter' thing before we put the house on the market too. I watched so many HGTV shows about selling homes,that my realtor thought I was nuts and told me that I watched TV too much because things don't go that way in real life. Well, we showed her! I didn't even make it to our open house date. Four showings and three offers later, the house was on the market for less than 3 weeks. Now we are in contract and awaiting a closing date. (knock, knock on wood).

I had to laugh when you said that your hubby wont even see the house till you move in. We are in the same situation. I haven't seen our new house yet either. My hubby had to go down early for his job (transfer). I have seen the development before and he knows what I like, so like a crazy person, I left the decision up to him. But I have seen a video of it and it looks nice.

Today WAS a beautiful day. As I was driving down Main st, seeing all of the people outside taking walks and shopping, it really made me appreciate the spring weather. It's like the calm after the storm kind of thing for me. I just hope that moving to FL dosn't make me lose that feeling.

[momix5]

Hi minniemom I am from LI also and have just started to research Spring Hilll, Is that part of Pasco County? I know this sound so strange but I watch Supernanny every week, and on a recent episode there was a house from Pasco county, and someone said it was Spring Hill! The house was gorgeous, it had like this staircase and it looked like it went into an octagon shaped landing on the second floor, did you ever see such a design? it was stunning! What part of Li are you moving from?