Katsmeow
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
- Messages
- 5,308
I thought I would give a post-mortem on the estate sale I did for my mom's estate. I posted beforehand on Midpack's thread and thought I would post as to how it turned out since others may need to have one done at some point.
I was very happy with the whole experience. My mom died and had a small house full of stuff. I don't think she ever threw anything away. She was very neat and everything was put away nicely but there was a lot of stuff.
DH and I did go through her house first. We did this for a few reasons. One, make sure we found any cash or valuables we didn't know about. Second, find items that I wanted to keep. Third, locate any items that I might want to point out to the estate sale people.
This took several trips to do because there was so much she had kept. For example, she had a closet that was full of blankets. There were probably over 20 of them. Ironic as my mom never used more than one. Or, the chest of drawers that had drawers full of unused towels and table cloths. I found towels DH and I gave my mom over 20 years ago. She was still using towels that she had when I was a child!
My mom didn't have a lot of super valuable stuff. Most of her furniture was old. She did have a lot of the Holiday Barbie dolls in boxes and also a lot of Madame Alexander dolls (but mostly from the last 30 years so not super valuable).
DH and I had moved recently so we brought over a few things to the house to add to the sale. Mostly stuff that we ended up not having room for in our new house.
The estate sale company would run a 3 day sale, discounting on the 2nd and 3rd days. What didn't sell I could either keep or a charity would come in a take it out. They would take 40% which I felt was very fair since I knew my mom's estate was not a high dollar estate. And the company (a married couple with help from their adult kids) did a lot of work getting ready for the sale.
They went through everything in the house and filled 20 large trash bags with unsellable stuff (they had encouraged us not to throw anything out before they came out). They then organized everything in the house. They brought in display tables and they put like things together. For example, they made the den a doll room and displayed the many dolls for sale. The dishes were together. The blankets were organized at another place.
They listed on the major estate sale websites and took very detailed photos which were on the websites. They identified the stuff that I knew had some collectible value plus other things that I had no idea had value. For example, they found a Jimi Hendrix blacklight poster that was in a closet. It had been mine as a teenager. It sold for $125. I would have had no idea it had any value at all. Or, my mom's ancient fan or an old roaster or her Pyrex bowls from the 50s. I would not have thought any of that had value but they recognized it and priced them accordingly.
I did know the Looney Toons Taco Bell glasses were collectible and that I had some collectible fountain pens from Disney. They recognized those as well. My mom had some costume jewelry from the 40s and 50s. Again, they noted in the listings the pieces that were from notable designers.
My mom had some fine jewelry and I had added a couple of pieces of jewelry that I had owned for years and didn't wear any more. All of the jewelry they took to a jeweler to look at and they sold all the fine jewelry as a lot to the jeweler. They said I would get more doing it that was than I would selling it in the house and they wouldn't have to worry about someone stealing it. Since my mom's house was not in a high income area I thought they had a good point.
So -- the sale itself. I didn't hover at the sale but did stop in each day. I know some estate people don't want you to do that, but they didn't seem to care that I stopped by. The first day they were happy to have sold some of my mom's furniture as they said furniture usually sells on the third day, if at all. My mom had a nice vintage sofa (recovered several times) and some vintage chairs that sole almost immediately on day one. One funny thing was that her not very nice kitchen table and worn kitchen chairs sold on day one. The dolls sold steadily throughout the 3 days. The most valuable Looney Tunes glasses sold on Day 1.
On day 2, I went by there and was told it had been a little slow. They said that the second day is usually the slowest. People who really want something buy it on Day 1. Otherwise, they usually wait until Day 3, hoping for the largest discount.
On day 3, we showed up at 2:30 (sale to end at 5:00). There were a lot of people at the house and a ton of stuff had been sold. People were really taking advantage of the reduced prices. At that point, DH and I started talking about what we might keep out of what didn't sell.
I had always known I could sell the more collectible stuff on eBay or NextDoor, etc. Basically the dolls, some of the costume jewelry, some old newspapers, the Hendrix poster. Also there was a table and a small curio cabinet that I had been on the fence about whether to keep. I would keep them if they didn't sell. Also a few more practical items (some bowls, a pair of my mom's gloves, etc.).
The guy running the sale said that at about 3:00 people would come in hoping to get the last minute discount and that that last two hours were usually very busy.
The next morning we came in to see what had not sold. I was stunned by how much sold in those last 2 hours. Every last doll was sold (I suspect someone came in and just bought all of them). The table and small curio cabinet sold. In fact, most of the furniture in the house sold. My mom's old refrigerator sold. I was so surprised at some of the stuff that sold.
I ended up keeping only a few things that didn't sell. All of the collectible stuff sold. My mom had a full set of Desert Rose dishes -- this from the original set from the late 40s/early 50s. Lots of the pieces sold, including the most valuable pieces. There were a few left, but not enough that I wanted to deal with selling them.
The charity came in and took away the stuff. Afterwards, I had about 20 bags worth of trash left (that the estate sale company had discarded) plus a few things that were broken down enough the charity didn't want.
Where my mom lives it is hard to get trash pick up of stuff like that. I didn't want to pay 1-800-got-junk prices to get rid of it. I took pics of the stuff and got quotes from some people on Craigslist to get rid of it. But, my mom's neighbor wanted to do and gave me a better price so I did that. House is now empty. Obviously moving stuff that had been in place for many years there was quite a bit of dust and dirt under some of the furniture and appliances so I am going to have someone come in and clean.
I ended up netting about $3800 from the sale (less the cost of the trash removal and cleaning which is not much). It was more than I expected to get and was well worth it.
Yes, yes, I would have made more selling stuff on eBay myself but then I wouldn't have recognized the value of some things. And, I could have run a garage sale for the more mundane items but neither DH nor I wanted to do it.
Basically doing the sale was no work for us. Even without the sale, I would have had to go through my mom's stuff. This way, I got some money out of it with no investment of time and energy by me and I ended up with an empty house which is what I wanted. The estate sale people did all the work and did it well and I just collected my money and didn't have to pay to get the house cleaned out. Win, win.
I was very happy with the whole experience. My mom died and had a small house full of stuff. I don't think she ever threw anything away. She was very neat and everything was put away nicely but there was a lot of stuff.
DH and I did go through her house first. We did this for a few reasons. One, make sure we found any cash or valuables we didn't know about. Second, find items that I wanted to keep. Third, locate any items that I might want to point out to the estate sale people.
This took several trips to do because there was so much she had kept. For example, she had a closet that was full of blankets. There were probably over 20 of them. Ironic as my mom never used more than one. Or, the chest of drawers that had drawers full of unused towels and table cloths. I found towels DH and I gave my mom over 20 years ago. She was still using towels that she had when I was a child!
My mom didn't have a lot of super valuable stuff. Most of her furniture was old. She did have a lot of the Holiday Barbie dolls in boxes and also a lot of Madame Alexander dolls (but mostly from the last 30 years so not super valuable).
DH and I had moved recently so we brought over a few things to the house to add to the sale. Mostly stuff that we ended up not having room for in our new house.
The estate sale company would run a 3 day sale, discounting on the 2nd and 3rd days. What didn't sell I could either keep or a charity would come in a take it out. They would take 40% which I felt was very fair since I knew my mom's estate was not a high dollar estate. And the company (a married couple with help from their adult kids) did a lot of work getting ready for the sale.
They went through everything in the house and filled 20 large trash bags with unsellable stuff (they had encouraged us not to throw anything out before they came out). They then organized everything in the house. They brought in display tables and they put like things together. For example, they made the den a doll room and displayed the many dolls for sale. The dishes were together. The blankets were organized at another place.
They listed on the major estate sale websites and took very detailed photos which were on the websites. They identified the stuff that I knew had some collectible value plus other things that I had no idea had value. For example, they found a Jimi Hendrix blacklight poster that was in a closet. It had been mine as a teenager. It sold for $125. I would have had no idea it had any value at all. Or, my mom's ancient fan or an old roaster or her Pyrex bowls from the 50s. I would not have thought any of that had value but they recognized it and priced them accordingly.
I did know the Looney Toons Taco Bell glasses were collectible and that I had some collectible fountain pens from Disney. They recognized those as well. My mom had some costume jewelry from the 40s and 50s. Again, they noted in the listings the pieces that were from notable designers.
My mom had some fine jewelry and I had added a couple of pieces of jewelry that I had owned for years and didn't wear any more. All of the jewelry they took to a jeweler to look at and they sold all the fine jewelry as a lot to the jeweler. They said I would get more doing it that was than I would selling it in the house and they wouldn't have to worry about someone stealing it. Since my mom's house was not in a high income area I thought they had a good point.
So -- the sale itself. I didn't hover at the sale but did stop in each day. I know some estate people don't want you to do that, but they didn't seem to care that I stopped by. The first day they were happy to have sold some of my mom's furniture as they said furniture usually sells on the third day, if at all. My mom had a nice vintage sofa (recovered several times) and some vintage chairs that sole almost immediately on day one. One funny thing was that her not very nice kitchen table and worn kitchen chairs sold on day one. The dolls sold steadily throughout the 3 days. The most valuable Looney Tunes glasses sold on Day 1.
On day 2, I went by there and was told it had been a little slow. They said that the second day is usually the slowest. People who really want something buy it on Day 1. Otherwise, they usually wait until Day 3, hoping for the largest discount.
On day 3, we showed up at 2:30 (sale to end at 5:00). There were a lot of people at the house and a ton of stuff had been sold. People were really taking advantage of the reduced prices. At that point, DH and I started talking about what we might keep out of what didn't sell.
I had always known I could sell the more collectible stuff on eBay or NextDoor, etc. Basically the dolls, some of the costume jewelry, some old newspapers, the Hendrix poster. Also there was a table and a small curio cabinet that I had been on the fence about whether to keep. I would keep them if they didn't sell. Also a few more practical items (some bowls, a pair of my mom's gloves, etc.).
The guy running the sale said that at about 3:00 people would come in hoping to get the last minute discount and that that last two hours were usually very busy.
The next morning we came in to see what had not sold. I was stunned by how much sold in those last 2 hours. Every last doll was sold (I suspect someone came in and just bought all of them). The table and small curio cabinet sold. In fact, most of the furniture in the house sold. My mom's old refrigerator sold. I was so surprised at some of the stuff that sold.
I ended up keeping only a few things that didn't sell. All of the collectible stuff sold. My mom had a full set of Desert Rose dishes -- this from the original set from the late 40s/early 50s. Lots of the pieces sold, including the most valuable pieces. There were a few left, but not enough that I wanted to deal with selling them.
The charity came in and took away the stuff. Afterwards, I had about 20 bags worth of trash left (that the estate sale company had discarded) plus a few things that were broken down enough the charity didn't want.
Where my mom lives it is hard to get trash pick up of stuff like that. I didn't want to pay 1-800-got-junk prices to get rid of it. I took pics of the stuff and got quotes from some people on Craigslist to get rid of it. But, my mom's neighbor wanted to do and gave me a better price so I did that. House is now empty. Obviously moving stuff that had been in place for many years there was quite a bit of dust and dirt under some of the furniture and appliances so I am going to have someone come in and clean.
I ended up netting about $3800 from the sale (less the cost of the trash removal and cleaning which is not much). It was more than I expected to get and was well worth it.
Yes, yes, I would have made more selling stuff on eBay myself but then I wouldn't have recognized the value of some things. And, I could have run a garage sale for the more mundane items but neither DH nor I wanted to do it.
Basically doing the sale was no work for us. Even without the sale, I would have had to go through my mom's stuff. This way, I got some money out of it with no investment of time and energy by me and I ended up with an empty house which is what I wanted. The estate sale people did all the work and did it well and I just collected my money and didn't have to pay to get the house cleaned out. Win, win.