Home Rental Services

Garage sales are a popular solution for spring cleaning.  We have been seeing a lot of signs for garage sales lately and thought it would be a good topic for our blog!

How To Have A Garage Sale

It’s not hard to host a garage sale at your home, but it would be a good idea to review your local city’s rules and regulations for garage sales.  Be sure to look at guidelines for signs to advertise your garage sale.  Here is a link to the guidelines for garage sales in Overland Park, Kansas.

For an extensive checklist for how to prepare and host a garage sale, check out this article on wikihow.com.

Here are the basic guidelines for garage sale signs in Overland Park:

You are allowed one sign at the location of the sale for each street frontage on that property. This type of sign can have a sign face up to eight square feet in size and can be used during the days of the garage sale and up to three days prior to the sale.  In addition, you may place signs in other locations pointing to your garage sale provided that these signs are located on private property and that you have obtained permission for placing the sign from the property owner. To be on private property, signs must typically be one foot behind the sidewalk or approximately 11 feet back from the curb of the street. These “pointer” signs are limited to three square feet in area and are allowed only during the days of your garage sale. Signs are not permitted in street medians, in public parks, or at highway interchanges. No garage sale permit is required.

Where To Find Local Garage Sales

Some people enjoy going to garage sales to see what kind of treasures can be found on the cheap.  You would be surprised at the kinds of things that people want to get rid of to make some space!  There are lots of ways to find out where garage sales are going to be held… here are a few to try:

Craigslist (this link will take you to a search for Garage Sales in Kansas City, MO)

YardSaleSearch.com (this link will take you to a search for Garage Sales in Overland Park, KS)

Good luck if you are going to host a garage sale, and happy hunting if you plan on shopping local garage sales!

We manage quite a few houses at Home Rental Services, Inc.  Every month, we replace between 5 and 10 central heating and air conditioning units for our owners.  It is important to know that you can receive up to $500 worth of tax credits when you install approved energy efficient units.  If you are doing any home improvements, there is a good chance that some of the work will be eligible for tax credits, especially if you are replacing key systems or working on the exterior of your home.

Types of things that are eligible for these credits are:

• Water Heaters
• Furnaces
• Boilers
• Heat Pumps
• Central Air Conditioners
• Building Insulation
• Windows
• Roofs
• Circulating Fans (used in a qualifying furnace)

Maximum Incentive

Here is a quote that talks about the maximum incentive (in aggregate) you can be eligible for:

For purchases made in 2011, 2012, and 2013: Aggregate amount of credit is limited to $500. Taxpayer is ineligible for this tax credit if this credit has already been claimed by the taxpayer in an amount of $500 in any previous year.  For purchases made in 2009 or 2010: Aggregate amount of credit for all technologies placed in service in 2009 and 2010 combined is limited to $1,500

For more information, please visit the DSIREUSA.org website.

Our good friends at Bank of Kansas City gave us tickets to the Kansas City Sports Commission’s 40th awards banquet.  The event was last Friday, April 19th at the downtown Marriott.  Coach Bill Snyder was the keynote speaker for the event, and spoke for about 40 minutes (uncommonly verbose for coach Snyder.)  Nationally recognized sportscaster Gary Bender and Kathy Nelson of the KC Sports Commission were the Emcees.

Caitlin and her husband Brad attended the event and really enjoyed seeing coach Bill Snyder and other award recipients.  “I thought it was really nice to take the time to honor people who are making a difference in the Kansas City local sports scene. The life story of Colin Dougherty was especially touching and inspiring considering he plays on the varsity squad of his high school basketball team while suffering from autism.”

List of Award Recipients

Waddell & Reed Executive of the Year: Robb Heineman – CEO of Sporting Club, parent organization of Sporting KC

Sprint Community Champion: John Denison – Metro Sports

Kansas City Life Sportswoman of the Year: Kelly Dippold – Lockton Companies

Kansas City Downtown Marriott Sportsman of the Year: Colin Dougherty – Leavenworth High School

Burns & McDonnell Coach of the Year: Bill Snyder – Kansas State University

There are a lot of things to do this month in Kansas City!

International Auto Show This Weekend (March 6th – 10th)

This week is the annual Greater Kansas City International Auto Show at Bartle Hall downtown.  There will be more than 500 cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans and crossovers on display from dozens of manufacturers.  There will also be attractions and events throughout the show.  For complete information, check out the official website.

St. Patrick’s Day Run (March 9th)

This will be the 35th annual Saint Patrick’s Day Run in Westport.  The run begins at 10am on March 9th in the Westport area.  For more info on the run, go here.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade (March 17th)

March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day, and it is celebrated in a big way in Kansas City.  There is a big parade on the 17th from 11am – 1pm.  It is in the Midtown/Westport area and begins at Linwood/33rd Street
and goes south to 43rd Street.  For detailed parade information, check out the official website.

Even More Stuff!

For a more complete listing of March events, be sure to go to VisitKC.com.
This link will show you upcoming events in the next 30 days.