Can Your Clutter be a Pot of Gold?

Humble Abode or Mansion: You Can Still Have an “Estate Sale”

Lately I’m finding myself in homes where someone has passed away and the adult children have hired me to help them figure out what to do with everything in the house. Usually the rooms are overflowing with all your typical household items and furniture and the grown children don’t want much of it. When the volume is extensive, I suggest hiring an estate sale company to host a sale and what’s leftover we deal with afterwards.

Unfortunately there are lots of estate sale companies that are not quite on the up and up. Please contact me directly for my preferred recommendations. In the meanwhile if you should run into a home and need to clear the contents for whatever reason, here is a questionnaire and information about estate sales that I suggest reading. I’ve copied it here from www.estatesales.net to help you interview and navigate the process.

I’ve learned that a home doesn’t necessarily need to be in a high-end neighborhood for a good sale either; it just needs to have lots of things in it that people would buy right down to gift wrapping paper or saran wrap. It really is amazing what people will buy at an estate sale. Don’t let the name, estate, fool you. Whether the home is worth 100,000 or 1,000,000 it doesn’t matter.

1. Learn About Estate Sales
   This will enable you to ask specific questions about the process to the companies.
2. Interview More Than Two (POSSE actually suggests 3)
   Look over the complete list of companies in your area. Call as many as possible for information about the services they offer.
3. What Do They Charge?
   Don’t let the percentage charged be the only criteria when choosing a company. A lower percentage does not necessarily mean you will make more money. For example, if a company with more experience knows that you have a collection worth a lot of money, they could possibly make you more money even while charging a higher percentage.