posted on February 5, 2002 03:34:47 PM
There are companies that make hosting estate sales their business but the people that hire these companies usually have big $$$ and the things that are for sale are pricey. I've been to advertised estate sales and they turned out to be a "tag sale done by a child of an elderly person who just passed away and wants to get rid of all the stuff accumulated in the attic" as well as estate sales that are WAY out of my league. Sometimes you can get VERY nice sellable things just going to advertised tag sales in prodominantly wealthier areas.
posted on February 5, 2002 03:42:17 PM
Do you mean to host them? or to go to them?
To host. Try advertising in your local paper, but you really have to be up on almost everykind of item there is from tools to linens, glassware, etc. If you know someone who works at a bank and has axcess to the person in charge of deceased accounts. They look for people to host estate sales. Register at your local antique mall, that is if they don't do them. Now to find out when there is one it is usually in your local paper under either Rummage, moving or estate sales. Anything else you would like to know. I hope this helps.
I personally think estate sales are hard to do because of prenumbers, rude customers that shove and push and customers that always want things cheaper. You need to stick by your rules because if you change them for one everyone else will find out about it and want the rules changed for them. Have a good reputation and you will do good.
posted on February 5, 2002 04:28:48 PM
Unsure what you mean. If you mean go to them to see what you can find, check out the newspaper under estate sales and just go. That is the only way you will learn the ropes. Then it becomes an instinct thing, but try and stick to buying things that you know and learn about other items by writing them down and going onto ebay and Yahoo and see how they are selling and for what prices. Then if it seems to be a good thing to pick up and sell, do it.
If you are going to be the Estate Seller, and interesting thing that one of our local sellers does instead of numbers is a lottery. You put your name in a hat and they pull names at the beginning of the sale. It works well for that seller.
Good luck in any case,
<br />
bp
[ edited by barparts on Feb 5, 2002 04:32 PM ]
posted on February 5, 2002 04:57:33 PM
I live in a small town, the estate sales here do not give out numbers. They are run just like a garage or yard sale.
We have a local auction barn that does household sales every other week. These items are mostly from estates and defaulted storage sheds. No one digs through the boxes to pull out the good stuff like they do at an antique auction. There will be hundreds of box lots and if no one bids on a box they just keep adding more boxes to it until somebody bids.
posted on February 6, 2002 12:31:23 PM
Frequently estate sale people start out as antique dealers, establish a reputation as fair and knowlegable, then start selling estates. It is a dirty, messy business. Involves cleaning up other people's messes, getting a house presentable, or at least enterable and then get run over by hordes of buyers. Good luck at it. Remember cleaning out a whole little house (350 large trash bags full) before we could even begin to price. Did all this and the heirs swooped in and took everything good. Dale
posted on February 6, 2002 05:20:21 PM
meridenmor
With better planning and a good agreement you would not have been taken advantage of by the heirs.
I have held many estate sales and the first thing I do is get a signed agreement, from that minute forward everything is under my commission. If an heir wants something, they pay me my percentage.
Estate sales are a lot of work, though. When I was younger and had my children to help I did quite a few sales. We still tell "war stories" when the kids come home about the crazy customers and the fun we had.
The money is made when you sign the agreement. All sales are hard work, only the profitable ones are fun.
posted on February 7, 2002 07:12:19 AM
Go where the old people are! When I lived in Tucson there were estate sales every weekend all over town. Look in your newspaper for advertisements, same section garage sales would be mentioned. Definitely not handled by real estate co's. These are companies that specifically come in and take over to help sell it all quick. Check the phone book for them too. We got a great bedroom set for cheap- with the mattress and all the sheets and blankets! Always wondered if the person died in their bed......
posted on February 7, 2002 07:14:02 AM
One more thing, these sales were actually at the person's house, just a weekend thing, so it was pretty cool to have a house tour and buy whatever you wanted.
posted on February 7, 2002 10:53:19 AM
<Sometimes you can get VERY nice sellable things just going to advertised tag sales in prodominantly wealthier areas.>
I've found that tag sales (or yard sales as we call them in Arkansas) in wealthier areas are not as good as those in more middle working class areas. The wealthier people, in my experience, have nice things but also charge nice prices, based on the name brand (they have more money so they think they should get more money for it). People in working class neighborhoods tend to have some of the same things (especially name brand clothing) but they just want to get rid of it and charge less. I can make a lot more money off of their items. I've seen name brand shirts that sell new for $100 at wealthy sales for $15 (a good price if you want it for yourself) but the same shirt in another sale for $2.
posted on February 7, 2002 04:16:32 PM
shawnb1, shhhh! don't tell secrets. in our area the dealers all run to the rich part of town and I run to the other side. I get the best deals because the people in the poor section of town also had grandparents who passed everything down and I get first choice before the other dealers arrive.
last year my hubby and I passed up a yearly neighborhood sale to go to a country sale. the sale was for a woman in her 90's who had lived in the same house since she was married at 14. well, the house was unsafe to live in and her son was moving her to a new house they had built on the property and they were cleaning out the old house that morning. we made 3 trips to get all the stuff I bought home. on the last trip the other dealers in the area were finally starting to show up.
moral of the story, always look first in the unlikely places.
