Discover treasures at Hall & Hunter estate sale

There are sure to be lots of new and wonderful treasures to be discovered this weekend at the annual Hall & Hunter Realtors Estate Sale which benefits Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County, to be held Saturday, September 22, from 9 am to 4 pm in a tent in the parking lot adjacent to Hall & Hunter Realtors, 442 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham.

Now in its 14th year, realtor and organizer Gillian Lazar explained that the event initially came about in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005; now, in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, its relevance remains.

“It was the brainchild of a couple of realtors who felt they had a responsibility to put people in homes,” Lazar said. “During the course of the years, we get calls from clients, friends, and agents all over the place, that they have furniture, furnishings and lamps.” These donated items, which are picked up and transported by partner Changing Places Moving, a Waterford-based, woman-owned moving company, “who since the beginning, has donated all the labor, storage, transportation, everything,” Lazar said, in order to provide items for the estate sale. Throughout the year, items are stored at Changing Places warehouse, and then they transport everything to the Hall & Hunter offices in downtown Birmingham just prior to the sale.

The advice of regular salegoers is: come early to discover the best treasures, which includes everything except electrical appliances, clothing and bedding. Lori Stefek of Stefek’s Auctioneers & Appraisers donates her expertise and time to accurately – and fairly – market, merchandise, and price everything. Other sponsors include Bank of Ann Arbor, Equity Title and Downtown newsmagazine.

Each year, the Estate Sale raises approximately $23,000 to $25,000 for Habitat for Humanity – to date, in the past dozen years, the sale has raised more than $250,000 to assist local families achieve their dream of building/owning their own affordable home.

Habitat for Humanity is a grassroots organization dedicated to the elimination of poverty and substandard housing. Habitat builds or renovates homes in partnership with qualifying families who pay a no-profit mortgage held by Habitat. Since 1996, Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County has built or renovated homes for more than 160 families.