Around the DFW Metroplex here in Texas, you can increase your take-home by doing some homework. The majority of the time, we find a wider assortment to look through in your higher income neighborhoods. Googling your ads' addresses help arrange your morning's route.
There's two more things to consider in answering your question. Since my wife and I go SALES together, another pair of eyes can see more than one person can see.... I can let her out while I go park. She knows what she looking for, but while getting to her interests, she can help me by pointing to the area as I walk up or just picking up an item until I can get there. Plus, I run across items she likes as I'm going through the sale and will hold them until our paths cross to see if it's something she wants...
The other thing happens at those
"Special Garage Sales" where there are many worthy finds
at the same sale....and the prices the sellers give just
thrill you down to the heels! Last week, we went to a family operated estate sale that opened at 10:00 a.m.. We were early. As we entered the house we asked if there was any costume jewelry. He pointed down the hallway. In one of the bedrooms was a 12"x12"-4" deep cardboard box full of jewelry sitting on the dresser. The chief family member came in behind us. As I looked through it, my wife opened a small white box about half way down the depth, I saw a ring with a 14kt marking.... I said "The whole thing for between $25 and $35, and I left the room. My wife asked and he quoted
"$30 for the whole box". so she bought it. She paid for it and I took it straight out to the pickup....and went on my way. Ten minutes passed and she walks up to me with a small 4x8" single layer jewelry box that nobody had taken the time to look through. Inside it would be a pair of diamond/gold earrings. With my finds of a "Morris-Starrett" wire rope cutter that sells new for over $200, a small new plastic trash can I put some scrap copper tubing and a 8" brass bowl in, along with a banding machine and a new 7" metal grinding wheel, we headed for the pricing chief. I held up and tipped over the trash can, and the smaller wooden jewelry box, and pointed to where I left the 1" wire cutter on the floor and offered $15. He said, "That sounds great to me."....
In a new post I'll put up later this week, you'll see that out of that
$45 total, we found an actual 4.9gr gold nugget made into a pendant, a quarter carat diamond white gold ring, 14kt and 8 small diamonds in white gold pair of earrings, 10kt,
thirty grams of 14kt., even three small bands of 18kt gold, and 95gr. of sterling jewelry. All totaled, there's conservatively $1,100.00 in PM's....if the 5 gram gold nugget tests 22+kt, it's closer to $1,300.00 dollars.... There's enough costume jewelry to resell at our garage sale to cover at least half or more of the $45 cost.
All from one sale. So a low percentage of garage sales with good finds may not be the true measurement of how "lucky" you are by looking at a higher percentage of hitting profitable sales per day....
By bringing a partner, going early,
ALWAYS ASKING FOR WHAT YOU COLLECT THAT YOU DON'T HAPPEN TO SEE, and hitting your middle and upper level income neighborhoods may reduce your number of garage sales but raise your Percentage of Profit....
Bill
