Thumper
05-21-2016, 09:54 AM
There was an estate sale today advertised by a private party on Craig's List. It sounded interesting, so my buddy and I decided to get there an hour early in case there was a line. (the ad said no early birds) Well, due to no traffic on Saturday, we actually arrived an hour and 15 mins. early. As soon as we pulled up and parked, we recognized a lady we knew carrying stuff out of the garage (we see her at most of the sales we go to ... she's a buyer and we many times stand in line talking with her). So, we jumped out of the truck and said something along the line of, "Hey, we thought the ad said 'no early birds" and here you are stacking stuff up already!" Turns out, she was a friend of the family and was just there to help them out because they were overwhelmed with all the stuff. The old couple who had lived there had been close to hoarders (never threw anything away) and the garage was crammed from floor to ceiling with stuff. You couldn't even walk into the garage. We offered to give them a hand and they said if we saw anything we wanted, just pile it up someplace and they'd give us a deal. So, we tore into that garage!! They had so much stuff, they're having the sale three weekends in a row. Today was just the garage, living room and kitchen. This is an old 1920's house, so we were digging all sorts of stuff out of nooks and crannies that hadn't seen daylight in many years.
There is another building attached to the garage that he has blocked off and we asked him (the deceased old man's son) what was in there. He said it is PACKED with old tools and hasn't even been opened in at least 30 years! Our eyes got as big as saucers and he told us he'd be opening that building up for next weekend's sale. Anyway, we practically filled the truck with some cool stuff and when we asked for a price on everything, he just asked us what we wanted to pay for it. (I HATE when they do that! Then again, I LOVE when they do that!) I explained we resell and we need plenty of room for a profit. He said he didn't care, he appreciated us helping him out earlier, but we're also helping him get rid of the stuff. We made our offers and he didn't even hesitate! As we were loading up, he walked over to my truck and asked if we wanted to come out later this afternoon and dig through that building full of old tools? I said, "Heck yeah!" We exchanged phone numbers and he said he'll be shutting down around 1:00, then he'd give me a call and if we want to come back out, he'll let us pick through everything and take whatever we want, then he'll hold the official sale next week.
Cool beans man! My buddy and I came home to unload the truck and we'll be heading back out there in a few hours for another load! (can't wait to get back out there to do some exploring) Fun day ... AND, it should be a profitable one! :D
There is another building attached to the garage that he has blocked off and we asked him (the deceased old man's son) what was in there. He said it is PACKED with old tools and hasn't even been opened in at least 30 years! Our eyes got as big as saucers and he told us he'd be opening that building up for next weekend's sale. Anyway, we practically filled the truck with some cool stuff and when we asked for a price on everything, he just asked us what we wanted to pay for it. (I HATE when they do that! Then again, I LOVE when they do that!) I explained we resell and we need plenty of room for a profit. He said he didn't care, he appreciated us helping him out earlier, but we're also helping him get rid of the stuff. We made our offers and he didn't even hesitate! As we were loading up, he walked over to my truck and asked if we wanted to come out later this afternoon and dig through that building full of old tools? I said, "Heck yeah!" We exchanged phone numbers and he said he'll be shutting down around 1:00, then he'd give me a call and if we want to come back out, he'll let us pick through everything and take whatever we want, then he'll hold the official sale next week.
Cool beans man! My buddy and I came home to unload the truck and we'll be heading back out there in a few hours for another load! (can't wait to get back out there to do some exploring) Fun day ... AND, it should be a profitable one! :D