Can the exposure from having a garage sale help sell your house? (agents, sales)

[North_Raleigh_Guy]

The last three houses to sell in my neighborhood were all nice houses, priced in line with comps and listed with what I consider to be good area realtors. However, one other thing I noticed was that each homeowner had a garage sale the week after their house was listed on the MLS and the RE sign and Flyers were posted in the yard. I usually stop by to say hello to my neighbors when they are having a yard sale to wish them luck and they all expressed excitement that so many people were grabbing flyers and seeing the "For Sale" sign in their yard. In their eyes it was a lot of "free" exposure (people turn out in droves for yard sales in my area). I should point out that I live in a neighborhood priced between $140K-$170K so if the potential buyer pool is anything like me, they frequent yard sales a lot. I don't expect having a yard sale will help a person trying to sell a 1 million dollar home but who knows! Anyway, all of my neighbors sold their homes in less than 60 days. Some as quick as two weeks. I don't know if the exposure from the yard sale really had anything to do with it, but I wonder. One thing I can tell you, whenever I do decide to move, I wouln't have my yard sale until after the "For Sale" sign goes in the yard!

Note to Moderator: I intended to post this in RE Forum but posted it here by mistake...please feel free to move it there.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by North_Raleigh_Guy

The last three houses to sell in my neighborhood were all nice houses, priced in line with comps and listed with what I consider to be good area realtors. However, one other thing I noticed was that each homeowner had a garage sale the week after their house was listed on the MLS and the RE sign and Flyers were posted in the yard. I usually stop by to say hello to my neighbors when they are having a yard sale to wish them luck and they all expressed excitement that so many people were grabbing flyers and seeing the "For Sale" sign in their yard. In their eyes it was a lot of "free" exposure (people turn out in droves for yard sales in my area). I should point out that I live in a neighborhood priced between $140K-$170K so if the potential buyer pool is anything like me, they frequent yard sales a lot. I don't expect having a yard sale will help a person trying to sell a 1 million dollar home but who knows! Anyway, all of my neighbors sold their homes in less than 60 days. Some as quick as two weeks. I don't know if the exposure from the yard sale really had anything to do with it, but I wonder. One thing I can tell you, whenever I do decide to move, I wouln't have my yard sale until after the "For Sale" sign goes in the yard!

Note to Moderator: I intended to post this in RE Forum but posted it here by mistake...please feel free to move it there.

NRG,

That delay will also help you avoid the agents who prospect for listings at yard sales. And there are plenty of them...

[TampaKaren]

A customer of mine called me last summer and said, "Can you write up a contract for me?" She had a garage sale that Saturday to declutter before puting her house on the retail market. When talking to one of the "yard salers" about why she was selling her stuff, he looked at the house and made an offer that she accepted. I was stunned. I know it doesn't happen like that all the time, but in the end, it worked out for both buyer and seller.

Also, last month, my neighborhood had a community wide garage sale and I went for a couple of hours. I got to see inside all the FSBOs that I wouldn't have otherwise. It helped me to help my customers by knowing all about the competition. So far, all the FSBOs I saw are still on the market (along with a slew of others).

[palmcoasting]

Sure can. It's part of what we do as a company, although we do it on empty homes only because of the liability but we'd love to do it at all of them. It brings people to the house. The more people in the house looking around, the more word of mouth there is happening.

[SaraSatin]

My mother got an offer during a yard sale when she was selling FSBO. It wasn't the one she accepted, but it was her first and it really helped her motivate herself to get it sold.

[twinmma]

It can't hurt! Free exposure while making a little money...

[jimj]

I agree, definately can't hurt!! The more eyes on your house the better no matter where you are.