Garage sales

The City of Humble regulates garage and estate sales under Article 5.04 of its Code of Ordinances.¹ A permit is required, and the limits are real.

Getting the permit

Apply at the Building Department, in City Hall at 114 W. Higgins St, 281-446-6228.² The code says an application has to be in "at least 24 hours prior to the sale", so this is not a Saturday morning decision.¹ The fee is $10.³

Limits

• No more than four garage or estate sale permits per location in any twelve-month period.¹
• Each sale runs no more than three consecutive days, and sales at the same address must be at least four calendar days apart.¹
• The permit "must be prominently displayed on the premises" for the whole sale.¹
• No more than five signs per sale, and every sign has to show the permit number.¹
• No signs in public rights-of-way, and none on utility poles, trees, public buildings, street signs or traffic-control devices.¹
• Signs go up no earlier than 5:00 AM the day before and come down by 8:00 PM on the last day.¹
• Everything visible from the street, tables included, is off the yard and driveway by sunset on the last day.¹

Selling five things or fewer does not need a permit. The code exempts anyone advertising specific items "which do not exceed five (5) in number", so listing a mower and a couch is not a garage sale.¹

The stated purpose is that "perpetual, prolonged and extended yard sales" in residential areas "tend to become retail businesses in residential areas and neighborhoods".¹

A neighborhood-wide sale

Several houses selling on the same Saturday draws far more traffic than one house alone, and the four-per-year limit makes a coordinated weekend worth more than a scattered one. The Notices carries a garage sale type for exactly this.

There is a catch here that does not apply elsewhere. The code lets a homeowners association pull one master permit for a community sale, and exempts that sale from the four-per-year cap.¹ That route is written for associations only, and Timberwood has none. So every house in a Timberwood block sale pulls its own permit and spends one of its own four.