An estate sale is more than just your average garage or yard sale. An estate sale takes place when the entire contents of a house - or most of them - are being sold, usually because the owner(s) moved somewhere far away or died. It is also a great way to draw attention to a home that’s for sale, since a lot of bodies will be walking through it. Holding an estate sale before selling a home for one of these reasons is a big undertaking. If done right, you can make yourself (or the beneficiary of the estate) a lot of money; if not you will waste time and energy and get a poor return. Here’s a guide to holding a successful estate sale.
Create an Action Plan
First of all, decide whether you want to hold the estate sale yourself or have an outside company come in and take care of business for you. It’s important to weigh the pros and cons. On one hand, professional estate sale dealers will not only take care of the (extensive) dirty work of prepping for, running, and cleaning up after an estate sale, but their professional staging of the items and knowledge of specific items’ value will often garner you higher profits. On the other, the pros will generally collect a percentage of the estate sale take, a figure around thirty-five percent. If you are choosing to have your estate professionally liquidated, read no further.
Assess the Items
Before you can open the doors of a home for an estate sale, you need to take stock of your inventory. If the house is not your own and/or it has not been updated and organized in many years (think of your grandparents’ house), this can be a HUGE undertaking. Items have to be organized, cleaned or dusted, and priced. This, in and of itself, can take days or even weeks ahead of the event. If the house contains antiques, collectibles, or other special items, you may need to consult with experts to get a good idea of what you should price the items at. As people generally come to estate sales looking for a great bargain, you might find it advantageous to remove any truly special items and sell them privately for greater profits.
Prepare the House
Next, get the house ready. Take up any valuable carpets so that they don’t get dirty, and also so you can display them for sale. Place welcome mats at all entrances and exits, if they aren’t there already, to collect dirt. Consider consolidating items for sale in as few rooms as possible, so you have fewer areas to monitor, and also because having more items for sale in one place looks more attractive than just a few tchotckes straggling about in a big empty room. Shut (and preferably lock) doors to rooms that are off-limits, and hang signs saying “no entry” or something similar. Decide in advance whether you will allow customers to use the restroom.
Market the Estate Sale
Once you have prepared for your estate sale, it’s time to advertise. Craigslist and Nextdoor are great, free ways to advertise for your sale. Start with a well-edited ad several days before your sale, and repost it daily until the day of the event. Mention the address (obviously), the starting and ending times, and a brief listingof the contents. Make sure to mention those antiques or collectibles, or any big pieces of furniture, as these tend to attract more buyers. If you are selling clothing or shoes, be sure to say what kind and list the size range. Take well-lit, high-quality pictures of some of the “highlight” items, and post them. You should also consider posting ads in your local newspaper and any community newsletters as well.
Run the Event
On the day of your estate sale, try to have as many friends and family members as possible on hand to help you out. The size of the house you are dealing with will determine how many people you need. Realistically, you want to situate one person in every room, or at least in every major area of the house to answer questions, direct traffic, and keep an eye out for theft. Of course, one person should be designated to deal exclusively with the money. Before the sale, make sure that you have plenty of change and small bills in case your customers bring big bills. Keep an eye on the money at all times! At estate sales, you are usually dealing with big-ticket items, and your proceeds will be greater than at a normal yard sale. One inattentive moment, and your money could disappear… a truly devastating thought.
With a little work and planning, you can run a successful estate sale!
