The Yard Sale

In nice weather, I love to go and explore yard or garage sales. You can usually tell from the most prominently displayed items whether this is an excellent stop to try. If I see, for example, a load of baby items, I pass it by.

About fifteen years ago, my daughter was looking for furniture for an apartment she was about to rent. She was about to go through a divorce and felt the need to relocate quickly. My two grandchildren were about seven and five at the time. They were staying with us.

One of the neighborhoods near us had a yard sale that weekend. There were maps indicating on what streets you could find a participating house. It was a coincidence that we abandoned the map and drove around. One house had furniture contents strewn all over the front yard. We got out, and my daughter started making a pile of the things she was interested in. There was some furniture outside, but looking in the window, I saw that much was still inside. We had been there for about 10 minutes, and I had to use the bathroom. Usually, I wouldn’t ask if I could use the bathroom in someone’s house, but she was buying a lot, and I thought it would be alright.

The house owner looked at me suspiciously, but he let me inside and showed me where the bathroom was. Walking through the house to get to the bathroom, I looked at the rooms and thought, "This would be a lovely home for my daughter and grandchildren, and it was only 8 minutes away from me."

I exited the house, double-checked with the owner that it was for sale, and inquired about the price.

He thought I was a loon, but I told him I was serious about the house. He told me the price was reasonable. He also said he hadn’t signed with an agency to sell it yet, and I was thrilled because I knew I could negotiate a better price. I asked him if my daughter and I could look through the house because we were very interested. He took a chance and showed us around.

The house reeked of cigarette smoke and was quite dirty, but the rooms were great, the setup was perfect, and yes, of course, it was near me.

We both loved the house, even though it would take a lot of work to make it liveable.

That day, we went to a yard sale and ended up with the house and yard! The owner wanted out as soon as possible and left a lot of furniture behind when he moved. The transaction was made between two lawyers, and shortly after, she moved in.

I never had so much fun as I did, pulling off smoky wallpaper almost everywhere and pulling out smoky rugs and carpets. It needed a good airing out. It wasn’t until we had every room painted that the smoke stench finally disappeared. As for the furniture he left, my daughter sold almost all of it and had the money to buy her style of furnishings.

It's been a long time since that was her house. The kids are on their own but still occasionally return to their old rooms. Everything has been redone; the rooms serve different purposes from the original layout. Like any house, it is always a work in progress, but this was the perfect house in the ideal location and has been recreated in her style.

I still like going to yard sales, but I don’t think I'll ever end up negotiating for another house again!