Homeowner Selling Precious Items To Stay In Home

North Texans are taking desperate measures to try and make it through these desperate times.

More and more people are holding garage sales, sometimes selling treasured family heirlooms. From some, it truly is a matter of survival.

It's breaking Linsey Duvall's heart to part with some of the things she's selling.

"I'm being forced to sell my furniture, my home items, my grandfather's record collection that he loved," she said. "My grandmother passed away in September and we're having to sell her things, and I haven't really even gotten to look through a lot of her things."

But she says she has to do it to save the Fort Worth home that's been in her family for 49 years.

"By a miracle we were able to raise up enough money to stop the foreclosure on Christmas Eve," she said. 

The single-story house in the 1900 block of Milam Street has already been on the auction block once. If Duvall's family misses one more mortgage payment, it's gone.

That's why Duvall's opening her garage and her home to strangers this weekend, trying to sell anything she can.

The hardest to give up is her deceased grandfather's extensive vintage record collection. "Because he loved music so much, it's hard for me to let it go," she said. 

Duvall isn't alone. Garage sales in Fort Worth are skyrocketing.

The number of garage sale permits filed with the city jumped more than 44 percent over the last five months compared to the same time a year earlier.

It's a trend being witnessed across the country.

"I look at things and think I could get five dollars for this," said Kathy Beaman. She and her daughters are having a joint garage sale in the 1100 block of Briarcreek in Arlington this weekend (Feb. 19). 

"We've got everything from baby items to house wares," said Linda Beaman, Kathy's daughter. 

For them, it's a matter of cleaning out the clutter and making a little extra spending money.

For others like Duvall, it's more like the antique she's selling. "It says I want to surrender, but I don't know where to go to give up," she said. 

She said to her, giving up means, "We're gonna have to leave this house I've known all my life."


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