Ever held your own Estate Sale?

Bamabaskets12 · ‎10-25-2018

If anyone has ever held their own Estate Sale (instead of letting the pros do it for their 35% or more commission), would you please care to share any advice or information? I'm overwhelmed with my father's house that we must empty so that we can then do minimal upgrades to make it somewhat marketable. Thank you!

patbz · ‎03-10-2010

My Dad passed in MD and I was his executive and I lived and worked in CA. I reached out to my cousin and my Dad's "baby sister"(14 years younger) for advice. They volunteered to organize, donate, run multiple garage sales. The sales were very successful and they said they had a great time doing it. They took some personal items (after asking); one of those was the Christening gown that had belonged to my Dad's older sister, who died shortly after her birth around 1908. After the family home sold, I wrote each one of them a check for $2000 ( neither had asked for a thing). After my brother and I had travelled from CA to MD to select a few things to ship back to CA, I gave them each several nice pieces of antique furniture. Our goal was to dispose of their things as they would have wished. 21 years later, I still think I did it the right way. Btw, my cousin was the realtor who got their listing (win, win).

IdahoGram · ‎08-19-2010

If your over whelmed now, wait until you start digging things out of every nook and cranny, washing it, researching, pricing and stageing for a sale. Believe me it's worth more than the 35%. Unless you have unlimited time to prepare for a sale it is worth having the pros do it.

spiderw · ‎06-14-2010

Unless you have help and the time and effort it takes to put into an estate sale, it will be overwhelming. Of course if there isn't much to sell, than it might be doable.

When my best friend passed, her daughter hired someone to do the work. First she,the daughter, asked if anyone who was close to her mother wanted certain items and she also kept important items. The planner did the work as far as setting up the sale and being there to sell it all. Actually it was successful and my girlfriend's daughter was relieved and pleased with the results. It was difficult enough dealing with the loss of her mother and she needed help in order to put the house on the market. It worked for her and the commission worth it .

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

@IdahoGram wrote:
If your over whelmed now, wait until you start digging things out of every nook and cranny, washing it, researching, pricing and stageing for a sale. Believe me it's worth more than the 35%. Unless you have unlimited time to prepare for a sale it is worth having the pros do it.

I second that.

I really think the pros will get a better price for your items. They will make up for the 35% commission. If you have a yard sale everyone is looking to buy your stuff but looking to get the stuff for next to nothing.

Plus they will advertise and take care of things that you did not realise had to be done. Our neighbor down the street had a pro come in - it was amazing to watch. They did an excellent job and there were alot of people. So things were moving. And there was no haggling over a dollar or two for an item. They were getting good prices for the items.

queendiva · ‎03-12-2010

I used Maxsold last year for my downsizing sale. Totally worth the cost as they brought the buyers with their online auction. Minimal stress, organized, safe and I made good $ after paying the commission they earned.

ID2 · ‎06-25-2012

After my dad died and I was in the process of selling their home I had an estate sale. I had the sale at our place. Had TONS of people and sold almost everything. My parents weren't hoarders and lived their life very much on the lean side. The money I made I split with my only other sibling, my brother.

"Pure Michigan"

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

I would have someone do it,

most of them have contacts,they have the signs, to get the message out, I think some will do a clean out of what doesn't sell afterwards as well.

in your situation there is enough to deal with sometimes its worth paying an expert.

as someone said upthread "estate sale" vs. yard sale

godi · ‎03-09-2010

My DH kept his Mother’s stuff in our attic, after my Dad passed I had the sale. It was so time consuming going thru all the boxes of his mothers. She had so many antiques and paintings. My Dads stuff wasn’t as involved as his moms. After we figured out what was garbage and what to sell the research kicked in. She had a thermometer that came up priceless on the web. I was shocked. We called a local dealer and he gave us 800 dollars for it and it was broken! He also had first dibs of her stuff because we knew him and we knew he wouldn’t rip us. He bought a lot of it. So if you know someone like that give them first dibs.

We had the sell and put out Estate Sell signs. People lined up it was crazy. We had people yell at us for prices and then someone else would come along and say the same thing was too cheap we could get more. But DH and I just wanted to see the stuff go to good homes. Her art collection blew out the door all except a President Lincoln collection. These portraits are stunning but no one was interested. We still have them, I wish he would donate them.

Sorry rambling here, my advice do your homework on what something is selling for. Have change for people and be ready to negotiate. And best of all enjoy it. Good luck to you.

ripka junkie · ‎03-11-2010

Yes I had one a number of years ago. We were relocating wiith my job at that time. We moved from a Log home to the beach.

My Husband and I have collected antiques for many years. We had been to many Estate Sales, Tag Sales and Auctions. Most of the items we were selling we had purchase so we new our investment.

We advertized in all available newspapers and put sgns in our community. My MIL and SIL helped because had all over the house. Everything for sale was tagged before we opened the door.

It was on a Saturday and we made $25K !