primitives discuss estate sales

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10261112

Oh my.

no_hypocrisy (25,754 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 07:14 PM

My father died. I have to liquidate his house.

59 years of stuff that shouldn't be arbitrarily put into a dumpster but I don't need.
 
What do I do as far as knowing what I can sell and what I can donate?

I *could* donate everything but what if there's something that's valuable? And who do I contact to sell something like a Persian rug?
 
I can't do a yard/garage sale because I'm alone and can't find anyone available for this event to help me.
 
Any and all advice would be welcome.

flamin lib (5,927 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 07:21 PM

1. Contact a professional estate sale service. They know how to price, promote and display

estates. Every thing from fine antiques and collectibles to the brooms and mops. They will charge a hefty % but it's worth every penny to not deal with the emotion, work and dealing with the public while you're in grief.
 
Been there and done that.

NYC_SKP (61,044 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 07:30 PM

2. Caveat emptor, they are not all legit. I was screwed by a "reputable" service.

Well known established business.

They sold items they were told not to, they removed items before the sale, switched out other items.
 
They preyed on our grieving family.

Service is provided, but if I had to do it over again I'd look for references before deciding.

^^^Skippy.

brer cat (2,752 posts)    Sun Sep 7, 2014, 08:02 PM

3. +1

Absolutely get references. A good estate liquidator is worth the cost. They will know what is valuable and how to price and advertise to get you the most for your treasures. It can also help to remove you from the process, which can be quite emotional.

safeinOhio (8,204 posts)   Sun Sep 7, 2014, 08:20 PM

4. I'd contact a person that conducts estate sales and

then watch them like a hawk. Remove coins and jewelry as well as firearms first. Have a family member present for the day or two before the sale to watch and ask question.
 
Most estates I look at don't have that much of high value. There is a lot of value in the combined estate and it takes a person that deals in that answer your question as to the best road to take. If you'd like to get a hold of me to send photos of anything, feel free to pm me.

Vinca (22,211 posts)    Mon Sep 8, 2014, 07:54 AM

6. I'm sorry for your loss.

If you suspect there are such things as Persian rugs or good artwork or other things of significant value, find a personal property appraiser and have them do a quick peek at the contents. (A reputable appraiser WILL NOT offer to buy anything at the time of the appraisal.) If it turns out there are valuables, you might contact an auction house to sell the contents of the estate. "Estate" sales usually bring out the buyers and it would be a way to dispose of things quickly without you doing all the work.

REP (19,990 posts)    Mon Sep 8, 2014, 08:44 PM

7. I'm sorry for your loss and I have more bad news

My mother died unexpectedly a few months ago, and I'm still dealing with her estate.
 
There is NO market for antiques, not even very good ones. I now have a real, made-by-Duncan-Phyfe Duncan Phyfe* sofa in my bedroom because I just couldn't sell it for the paltry sums that were being offered - but no one is buying antiques anymore.
 
What will sell is precious metals, some records (LPs), exercise equipment, some coins.
 
What won't sell: books, furniture (antique and modern), most everything else

You can hire an estate saler, who'll take 25-30% of the profits. If you don't know what's valuable, hire an independent appraiser, otherwise the estater will cherry-pick the value for him/herself.
 
*three appraisers confirmed that yup, it's real

[Carl]

They sure do spend a lot of time fretting over the value of estates they claim in other threads an heir has no right to.

[vesta111]

They sure do spend a lot of time fretting over the value of estates they claim in other threads an heir has no right to.

 

I went to an estate sale years ago and learned the hard way just what crooks were running it. 

This is more clear to me then what went on 2 weeks ago as I was so angry it stuck in my head for years.  Now this has been brought up it all comes back to me with the anger and helplessness I felt  at the time.               

Old time family up the road decided to empty the home of  their great grand parents, sell it off and then sell the home and property. 

The family hired a company out of Mass. to come to N.H. and auction off the goods.

Not so smart as they did not read the contract or have a Lawyer look it over, it gave the company Picking Rights, in other words the company had the right to bring in experts to appraise the items and  the company then had the right to buy these things for 1/4 the value or less.  All else of lower value was to go on the auction block.

I saw quite a bit of wonderful old time things as I wandered about, but then on a small table I saw something Amazing, a knife in a doe skin sheath covered with Masonic symbols sewed into it.  WOW--------  Before I had the chance to examine the knife some big thug came up to me and grabbed it out of my hand and told me the company had bought it.   I wanted to buy this for my Dad so he could donate it to his Lodge.

This thug was the one to tell me how his company worked as I grabbed it back and would not let go and he threatened to call the police on me. 

Today when I go to an estate Sale I just look for interesting items, seldom bid more then $20.00 on anything, anything of value has been bought up by the Auction company  but occasionally things do slip by------same as things sold at Goodwill.

One has a better chance of heading out once a week to Goodwill to find treasures then to attend Estate sales .   

 

[JohnnyReb]

I went to an estate sale years ago and learned the hard way just what crooks were running it. 

This is more clear to me then what went on 2 weeks ago as I was so angry it stuck in my head for years.  Now this has been brought up it all comes back to me with the anger and helplessness I felt  at the time.               

Old time family up the road decided to empty the home of  their great grand parents, sell it off and then sell the home and property. 

The family hired a company out of Mass. to come to N.H. and auction off the goods.

Not so smart as they did not read the contract or have a Lawyer look it over, it gave the company Picking Rights, in other words the company had the right to bring in experts to appraise the items and  the company then had the right to buy these things for 1/4 the value or less.  All else of lower value was to go on the auction block.

I saw quite a bit of wonderful old time things as I wandered about, but then on a small table I saw something Amazing, a knife in a doe skin sheath covered with Masonic symbols sewed into it.  WOW--------  Before I had the chance to examine the knife some big thug came up to me and grabbed it out of my hand and told me the company had bought it.   I wanted to buy this for my Dad so he could donate it to his Lodge.

This thug was the one to tell me how his company worked as I grabbed it back and would not let go and he threatened to call the police on me. 

Today when I go to an estate Sale I just look for interesting items, seldom bid more then $20.00 on anything, anything of value has been bought up by the Auction company  but occasionally things do slip by------same as things sold at Goodwill.

One has a better chance of heading out once a week to Goodwill to find treasures then to attend Estate sales .   

 

Been to many heavy equipment auctions and agree all auction companies aren't on the up and up. Some will jack up the winning bid with proxy buyers and other devious ways. There is one auction company that I used to love to attend their sales. They were straight as an arrow and didn't nickel and dime the crowd for every penny they could get. They didn't mess around, they SOLD EQUIPMENT fast. The first 2 or 3 pieces usually went cheap until the crowd understood they meant business and had come there to sell equipment, not party. I saw them sell 92 bulldozers ranging from a few thousand dollars to half a million in less than 90 minutes. Less than a minute per dozer. That included the auctioneer giving the serial number, age, general description and then the auctioning of it. Other companies would have taken several hours.

....and then 40 years ago there was Joe Bailey Auction Co. out of Dallas Texas. He had beautiful young girls in miniskirts running around climbing on all over the equipment. I kept my hands in my pockets that day for more reasons than one.