Among Friends

[Posh Poodle]

@Shanus I hope everything works out smoothly for you and will alleviate any stress.

[katie1859]

Question 

Do you have to pay to attend an estate sale?

[Shanus]

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@jannabelle1 wrote:

I had an Estate Sale some years ago after my divorce and right after I sold my house. I used a smaller husband/wife company who were local and I thought they did a great job. I had everything from what I considered junk to some nice smaller pieces of antique tables and desks and a lot of china, luggage, etc. If you have really expensive things, then an estate sale isn't for a smaller, local company. But if you have general items then they usually work just fine. I paid a percentage of the total sales (can't remember how much), but it was well worth it to me because I needed to get rid of things to downsize and not necessarily make a boatload of money. Plus, they marked all the items and handled the entire sale. I did nothing but accept their check for my share at the end. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

If you have true Tiffany bowls, you need to get them authenticated with an appraiser or auction company that deals in items like that. The real Tiffany pieces can be worth a small or large fortune.

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@jannabelle1  Are you Janna? Trying to catch up on names. Anyway, there are companies here, too that take the more expensive things and also take about 60%, but what else to do? We just can't take it ALL. We do have a Tiffany bowl (& the original box) and it's signed...not too fancy and I keep my apples in there. The same with several Steuben pieces signed and kept the boxes when given as gifts. I do have  sets of dishes... 16 full place settings of each and can't put it out at a yard/garage sale fearing someone would want just the mugs or bowls and break up the sets. My good china was sold to a company here called REPLACEMENTS that purchase china to fill in sets they sell to other customers who have broken or lost pieces to their sets. If they have a demand for certain patterns, they buy it from the seller. All silver pieces have  already been sold and gold jewelry I will no longer wear, too.

Thanks for asking and giving me this important info.

[Shanus]

@Posh Poodle   Oh, this is more stressful that I could ever imagine. I figured my kids would take a lot of things, but nope. 

[Shanus]

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@katie1859 wrote:

Question 

Do you have to pay to attend an estate sale?

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@katie1859   I assume your name is Katie? A friend sold a lot of antique furniture at a public auction which isn't really an estate sale handled by a company who comes over and appraises and then buys your things. She didn't attend the auction because like me, it'd be painful to see your loved thing going for a fraction of what you paid. She's moving to a retirement community with medical care on the property. She's had bouts of cancer and now serious back issues. Thank God we're both healthy so far.

[50Mickey]

When we downsized and moved about 6 years ago. We had a moving sale. Our real estate agent said so many people have caught on to esate sales being nothing more than garage sales. We advertized on Facebook Market place with pictures of furniture. We sold a lot of our furtinure. The sale lasted about 4-5 hours and I had friends come in and help me. We made about $1000.00 Like other people have sad silver plate is pretty worthless. It is sold in Goodwill now along with nice sets of bone china. Most people do not want anything that has to be polished or cannot go in the dishwasher. My kids didn't want any of this stuff. I invited my friends to come in and take what they wanted after I decided waht I was going to take. Anything left over I boxed up and took to the animal shelter thrift store. By the time that I was though packing and taping boxes i was ready to throw out everything. Good luck with your move

[Posh Poodle]

@Shanuswith what my parents have and what we'll have to do after they're gone, I'm already looking around our house "pre-planning" on what to get rid of someday. It makes me think ahead and hope me and the hubby will be proactive. But neither us nor my parents are pack rats. And then I think, what's wrong with enjoying what you have when you have it? The only thing I won't get rid of is my grand piano and violins with music.

[ellaphant]

I had an estate sake for my parents items. I made $10,000.