Knowing exactly what you want to achieve with your estate sale will help you decide on a definitive estate sale company. If BIG cash is your main objective, the success of your estate sale is based on the quality of your personal property, which may not be worth as much as you think, and any reputable estate sale company is good enough.
What are your criteria? Do you have an amount of money in mind that you want to get from your estate sale? Do you want to hire a company that collects taxes? Is a contract required? Are they licensed and bonded? Does the estate sale residence have homeowner’s insurance? Do you want to remain on the premises during the sale? Do you want to participate in pricing? Do you want your items sold at high prices?
In answer to the title and above questions, read through an estate sale company’s website, and focus on Services, FAQs and About pages. Then, ask yourself questions about your goal and what you are willing to comply with or not, in terms of the company’s standards or professional business practices.
There are many professional estate sale companies to choose from, and they all want to help you solve your problem, which is to launch and manage a professional estate sale.
When selling for you, a professional estate sale company is doing their best to help you solve your problem.
Professional estate sellers are aware that you are unsure about how to do an estate sale on your own, and that is why you are enlisting their services.
When you contact an estate sale company initially, it is their responsibility to educate you as to why its service can assist you in reaching your estate sale goal — if you have not reached that conclusion from reading through their website.
An estate sale company’s main goal in responding to your inquiry for service is asking and answering questions to clarify the estate sale process to efficiently meet your objective — if your questions have not been answered from reading through their website.
In terms of who is the best service to do your estate sale, or how do you decide whom to do your estate sale is left entirely to your judgment and trust.
An estate sale company’s website should be your first stop to get a feel for the owner’s personality.
Does the information on their website raise your awareness of what you actually need?
Does it explain how they can help you fulfill that need in an intelligent and practical way?
If the website helps bring clarity to your thinking about doing an estate sale, then the decision to hire an estate sale company or review other websites mean you are on the right track.
Warning: Beware of hard sales or pushiness.
Focus on questioning to allow an estate sale company to address your needs, as well as other services required to manage your estate sale.
What Do Estate Sale Clients Really Want from An Estate Sale Company — Besides High Prices?
And with those high prices, the bulkiest furniture and appliances will remain to be donated after your estate sale because no one will pay the high prices you may want.
Some estate sellers are so anxious to do sales they will acquiesce when clients want to set prices beyond what the current market will bear.
In this economy, with all types of sales going on, and a market saturated with too much stuff to sell, we are all missing sales because of unrealistic goals. When an estate sale is extended — guess why?
As clients, you need honesty about the consequences of overvaluing items.
In my professional opinion, estate sales are basically about resale and liquidation value because the goal is to sell all items in one to three days.
From this perspective, if there are two or heaven forbid three sales on the same street in the same vicinity of your estate sale, the pressure to move your property full of possessions and cars is a daunting task for any estate sale company, in this economic climate.
If you consider auctioning it off, you may still get liquidation value proceeds, in addition to fees.
Yes, estate sales are booming, but an estate sale has three human components that want to benefit from it: the client, the seller, and the buyers.
I am not suggesting that your things be given away, but there are advantages in setting a fair price, to avoid donating it.
As many of you do, I too, visit many community garage sales, yard sales, and flea markets. Yet, I am amazed at their prices too, but you can’t tell them that an item that they perceive is valuable or spent a lot of money on won’t sell!
The point is: We all need a pricing reality check!
As you know, estate sales are not garage sales, but they’re not Christie’s or Sotheby’s either.
Estate sale companies are doing their best to sell high-quality items in a used item environment.
I understand why it is so difficult for estate sales clients to decide who is the best service to do their estate sale, but what I don’t understand is the unawareness of the depreciation of personal property.
Finally, estate sale clients must know exactly what you want to achieve with your estate sale and trust the judgment of the estate sale company you hire. Read through several websites and decide on one that has the potential to liquidate the bulk of your estate *(notwithstanding antiques, expensive collectibles, fine art, jewelry, etc.). That is how you decide whom to do your estate sale and sell out to the bare walls!
*Make sure that the estate sale company you hire is qualified to secure and sell your valuables.