I love a good gate sale. It’s not about the money. It forces me to clean out some clutter and lets me catch up with my neighbors - the people I see almost daily, but rarely have time to stop and engage in a good conversation.

A gate sale is urbanspeak for what suburbanites call a garage or yard or jumble sale. The front yards of attached rowhouses on my block are adorned with iron fences and gates that double as places to hang things.

Merchandising is key when selling your stuff. Sales also work best when multiple families do it together because a bigger variety draws more shoppers.

Kid items positioned strategically at a youngster’s eye level draw in parents when their child stops to play with them. Ancillary lemonade stands run by your own kids can get people to stop and shop.

I especially enjoy haggling with the “professional gaters” who swoop in for first dibs on the best wares, then come back intermittently to check in. Sometimes they return at day’s end when you’re desperate and they can sweep clean the leftovers for next to nothing. Other times you won’t see them again and are left holding something you wish you’d lowered your price on when you had the chance.

I teamed up for a sale last weekend with my California-transplant neighbors. He’s a composer and jazz guitarist. She’s a former ice hockey coach and artist.

They’re thinking of selling their 2-family house to cover tuition for their daughter, who starts college in Boston this January. I like them, so I’m selfishly hoping they just downsize to the ground-floor apartment and rent out the top 3 floors of their house.

But the economy makes that look increasingly undoable. He’s thinking of taking side jobs playing local Sunday jazz brunches. She’s looking for her first job in the “real world” - one she hopes comes with benefits.

My neighbors on the other side might be the last people on the block to get out whole before the great credit crunch.

With a second child on the way, they bought a house in the burbs and sold their duplex in just 45 minutes back in the spring - for more than their asking price. That deal collapsed when the buyer lost his job at Bear Stearns. It took two more attempts for a contract to close. The buyers got a mortgage, although it seemed  touch and go for a while.

It rained on and off all day long, but we still had fun and a chance to break out the vino around 4:00 as the sun stuck and things started to wind down.

My daughter and I made about $100 on our sale after subtracting the cost of the portable garment rack we needed for all the clothes we unloaded. Nothing like a gate sale to remind you of your own spending weaknesses. I counted 7 never-worn garments still carrying their sales tags. I got rid of them all at the average price of $2.

Still, I couldn’t resist the temptation to buy two of my neighbor’s button-down shirts - one with a great ‘60s print and the other an Italian black silk adorned with orange fish. Great for a Pisces, he said. I’m a Virgo, but it spoke to me anyway - especially at $2!

Besides, Halloween’s right around the corner. Funny that the pumpkin candle holders didn’t go.

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