Do you think people should be allowed by the city fathers to have yard sales every weekend?

Doesn’t bother me.

I don’t think we should allow “city fathers” to interfere with the lives of mere citizens.

No, because when there are no rules, dealers sell directly out of their homes every day of the week and turn a nice residential neighborhood into a shopping mall.

@Pretty_Lilly The city councel is also known as the City Fathers. A little matter of respect. Nevertheless, we don’t have anything called tag sales nor do we have street flea markets. At this time there is no limit. But thanks for your tag information.

@UScitizen I can see where you are coming from. After all it is our
our property. But on the other hand, I can see what Yarnlady is saying. If my next door neighbor had stuff strewn all over their front yard and traffic coming and going all day, parking everywhere, I might be concerned too.

@Rangie DUH!
Garage sale,,,Tag sale same difference ! That’s what they are called in the UK,Canada and parts in parts New England!
City fathers is a term which refers to the town founders to refer to a city official in such manner is outdated !

@Pretty_Lilly Apparently you got my message. I never heard of tag sales, sorry, I have lived in California all my life. So my dear to the point, what do you think? Should they be allowed every weekend or what? Thanks for the correction of the proper use of City Officials.

They should be allowed every weekend, unless there is a noise or parking issue. If that is the case, they should be limited to 6 times a year.

Where I live, there are no rules at all about yard sales and we haven’t had any problem with them. Is this usually a problem?

I don’t think they would catch on in the UK. Here we have “car boot sales” which is basically where you take your stuff to some place, usually a big field, and sell your stuff out of the back of your car. They’re popular because everyone’s located at the same place, so customers can visit hundreds of traders just by walking round the field. I don’t think anyone would travel any distance just to see ONE trader. So if you’re selling out of your own yard you’d only be selling to your immediate neighbours, I don’t think that would work so well.

@downtide You’re kidding right,do you mean to tell me you have no knowledge of the concept of yard/garage sales or flea markets !! People can easily make between $250~$500 in one day ! Yes from your neighbors !! people put signs out by the curb and people come by the hoards !! even people driving BWM,Mercedes to buy junk !!

Our Car Boot sales are like flea markets and you can make a lot of money selling at those. Everyone trades together in the same place, like a field set aside for it for the day. I’ve never heard of anyone in this country selling stuff at their own residential property.

I don’t think it would bother me if my neighbours had a garage sale every weekend. If they seriously have that much junk lying around their house, it’s fine. It would become an issue if they turned it into a business and purchased/made items just to sell from their driveway, but that has more to do with the fact that they are running a business, not any nuisance to the neighbourhood.

From the garage sales I’ve held and been to, it’s usually busy in the morning, but quite sporadic during the day. I nearly always sleep in on weekends and we have off-street parking, so I wouldn’t mind.

The city fathers?

“Do you think people should be allowed by the city fathers to have yard sales every weekend?” <== NO!!! City Fathers shouldn’t have the right to “allow” me to sell something on my own property.

There is a point when it becomes a business instead of cleaning out the garage and getting rid of stuff you never use anymore. We had these neighbors that bought tons of shit off eBay and had “garage” sales every weekend. It was pretty damn annoying. We have flea markets if you want to do that stuff.

I lived in an area where they gave that a go. It worked out pretty well at first but after a couple months, when it became clear that it was just all the same crap over and over people stopped showing up. They eventually switched to a spring and fall sale and made an event out of it (bring your kids, food, games – that kind of thing) which worked out much better for everyone. It also helped that they moved it from “yard” sale to a nearby community center because it got everyone together in the same area rather than having to hunt all over the town for what you were looking for (though I always thought that had some bonuses too). Neither style ever bothered me except when you’d have a few dozen homes on a small road with no parking doing it, that made just made it too difficult to get around.

I think most city fathers have bigger issues to deal with. One city after another is declaring bankruptcy, soon the cities will be holding yard sales of their own.

@augustlan Not a problem for me, I think people should be able to use their property in many ways, as long as they are not abusive to their neighbors. I think there are too many restrictions on property owner as it is.

@thriftymaid Yes, City Father’s, Firstly(and most commonly) denotes a member of a municipal council over a city. Secondly it can signify the “Founding Fathers” of the city.

@Silhouette I think they are real close to that. My city is now trying to sell small parcels of land that they own to raise money. My city is not discussing this issue, we are pretty relaxed here, and I personally don’t see any abuse anywhere. The city south of us is talking about making a law, limiting yard sales to 2 a year. They are spending a great deal of time discussing this instead of more important matters from what I am hearing.

@johnpowell If you don’t mind my asking, in what way was it annoying to you? Or was it annoying to the neighborhood in general?

In order to have a yard sale in our town (population 3000) you need a permit. I believe it costs $10. We have an annual city wide garage sale that attracts people from several surrounding cities. I love this idea because the event is advertised which brings in more people and gives you a better chance at selling your items. The fire department cooks and sells pork chops and many children have lemonade stands. My only complaint is that the streets and yards end up with tons of litter.

The town just west of us has no restrictions, and I pass by a house that has a yard sale every weekend. Personally I would hate to live next door to someone that had a yard sale every weekend. I enjoy my quiet weekends without people constantly coming and going from the neighbor’s house.

@jonsblond That sounds like a lot of fun as well. Maybe more trash cans. I also would not like to live next door to a person having a yard sale every weekend. Some would say your right to peace and quiet take precedence over the weekly yard sale. But the yard sale people would say they have a right to use their property as they see fit. And to that I would say, but not to the imposition of your neighbors. Every weekend does sound like a business, therefore probably would require a permit.

I agree with @iphigeneia. It wouldn’t bother me if they did it for several weekends in a row in order to clean out stuff from their house, or trying to unload accumulation from a family downsizing (moving a parent to a nursing home, and getting rid of parent’s possessions). It would be problematic if they were reselling stuff that they were buying at other yard sales out of their garage on a weekly basis. In that case, they would be in the second hand business, and a retailer. Most neighborhoods have zoning regulations about what sort of businesses you can conduct out of your home, and setting up a retail establishment in a residential area is a no-no.

@jonsblond what you describe there, with the city-wide sale, sounds more like what we have in the UK.

@Pretty_Lilly Honestly…. here in the UK we just dont do yard sales. I suspect someone would complain to the council if you tried, altho those car boot sales are on pretty much every weekend somewhere!

Personally, I dont think people should be allowed every weekend. Maybe once in a while, but I’d get royally pissed off if there were crowds of strangers stomping up & down my street every weekend.

@JeffVader me too.