Has anyone ever had a whole house sale? I live in a 3rd floor condo that I'm selling and I'm getting rid of pretty much everything I own. It is not feasible for me to take stuff down to the parking lot. How do I get the drive by people to come in and how do I convince people to carry large pieces of furniture down all of those stairs? Also, I plan on putting everything I want to keep in my walk-in closet that I'll lock. How do I keep an eye on everyone in all of the rooms and be available for questions? Ask friends to help out? Thanks!

Sasharenee I'd have a few friends come over and help with watching the customers so you don't "lose" things, they could potentially help carry the heavier items down too!

Have LARGE, EASY TO READ SIGNS posted by the road. I hate seeing a sign that looks like a yard sale sign, but I'm not able to read the info fast enough to decide whether to turn off the main road and find it. Use big, dark letters, and test your signs by driving by and seeing if it's legible. I want to be able to see the date and time quickly, and an arrow telling me which way to turn.

We had a hugely successful yard sale a few months ago. One tip, on all of our clearly marked signs we wrote "FREE DONUTS" and offered the first few couple dozen folks a glazed donut. Worked like a charm. We also organized all of our items by grouping them such as household, decor, children, electronics, etc. We made big bucks.

Free doughnuts is an awesome idea. Definitely have friends come by to help you out, because you have no idea just how busy you'll be.

I second the suggestion for LARGE signs, with arrows pointing unambiguously in the correct direction. Also, if you're advertising your sale in the local paper or Craigslist, please give a full address (no cryptic abbreviations), complete with zip code that can be pasted into Mapquest/google maps to yield a route map.
Sasharenee, it sounds like you want to hold an estate sale. Definitely have friends come by and do guard duty in your rooms. If your items are priced appropriately (low enough!), your buyers will be perfectly happy to lug those heavy items down the stairs.

Thanks for the input! I had planned on posting on CL but I never thought about donuts. That's an awesome way to get people in. Our Dollar Store sells mylar balloons so I thought of attaching a couple to each sign. Also, aside from the couch and dining room table, there will be nothing priced over $50. That might be a good attention grabber.

@mike....I hardly think that my crap constitutes an estate sale. That made me chuckle a little. And I'm pretty sure the cats are cracking up as they sharpen their claws on the sofa :-)

Have LOTS of small bills and even coins. Having change immediately on hand will make the sale.

I'd also say to steel yourself to what, at times, will seem like outrageously low "bids" on your stuff. Especially given the economic clime.

And be prepared to have stuff you'd never dream of being the hot tickets flying off the tables first, while stuff you think are great scores still being there at day's end.

And have an immediate plan for the leftovers.

Attract lots of customers by organizing a neighborhood yard sale. I made detailed flyers and distributed to all houses on my street, about two blocks in either direction of my place. I got about 5 neighbors to participate in the yard sale and to split the cost of advertising in the Recycler and Penny Saver, plus the materials to make signs. I offered to do all of the leg work and to get the yard sale permits from the city.

One of the neighbors had a nail gun, so I had him help me with making the directional signs with poster board and on wood stakes, written on with jumbo permanent markers and paint. I made the signs generic (no date) with arrows so they would be re-usable, and one of the neighbors kept them after the sale. I added a smaller piece of paper below the poster board with the date on it.

I advertised the sale as a neighborhood yard sale in all the publications, and posted a few pictures of some of the valuable stuff, plus on craigslist I described a large number of the bigger items, in case people were doing searches by item.

When we set up i the morning, there were early-birds waiting in their cars all up and down the block! Some came in asking for the items I had posted pictures of on craigslist.

The antique settee that didn't sell, I took to a consignment shop and got more than I was asking for it at the yard sale, once it sold.

The more valuable stuff that was left, I packed in bankers boxes to give to a friend for her yard sale and the rest I set out on the curb and posted them on the free section of craigslist. What was left on Sunday morning, I took to an Out of the Closet thrift store nearby.