Estate Sales - Advice Needed

[Old Guard]

I am a big believer in Craigs list for furniture and am very picky as well. I picked up a single pedestal Tanker desk for $200 and it is in great condition with original key and Formica top. I looked through a lot of desks over months and finally settled on this one though there are many other nice ones I would have been happy with.

If you know what you are looking for you can get some fantastic deals. It is generally a buyers market as most people are trying to get rid of furniture in a short period of time and there are only so many places for larger pieces to go.

[Jlyles]

Auctions on Main (Purcellville) will have someone come out to the house and meet with you, arrange pickup, etc. They hold weekly auctions, specialty auctions, etc.

[uhuru]

Thanks again for all the input and recommendations.

Are there any estate liquidators who would basically buy everything that is to be sold at an agreed price and they then get to keep the proceeds. I ask this because I read of this on another forum but it was a liquidator in another state.

What it does is offer the seller an assurance of how much will be netted as a result of the sale after all expenses. From what I have read of the experiences of other sellers who used the estate liquidator approach is their disappointment in the amount they finally netted. Perhaps it was all that the contents were worth but there seemed to be a sense that the liquidators main goal was to sell everything at any price that they could get without any concern about maximizing the return to the seller.

[Middlin]

Unless you have very desirable items, my guess would be that it would be even less. Their in business to make money and like you, not sure how long, or how much all items will net. They would try even more to maximaze their profit.

Quality items don't always translate to value. If there isn't a market, it's not worth as much.

[slduvall]

I would try the Great Falls area Facebook yard sale site. This is safer than CL from a sellers prospective. You have to join. But you can watch the pattern of sales and see what stuff goes for. Some sites are dedicated to furniture, getting away from clothes etc. There actually is a market for the old style furniture, for repainting and reselling. So they won't pay much. But if the idea is to move it out....

[Tyler Hold]

Originally Posted by uhuru

We own a house in Great Falls and are in the process of selling it and relocating/downsizing to a much smaller home.

We have tons of stuff - furniture, rugs, paintings, lamps, tools, oak filing cabinets, oak bookshelf, etc that we need to dispose off. We thought of putting it all on CL but that would be a huge hassle.

Our agent suggested an estate sale and I am wondering if anyone can offer any suggestions as to reputable companies that conduct estate sales. I don't even know how these estate sale companies are compensated.

Most of what we have is quality, high end items though some it is admittedly dated because it is somewhat traditional. But it is in excellent condition and people who are not looking for the Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn look would find it very attractive.

Would also welcome alternative suggestions as to how we might dispose off these items.

There is a model consignment shop called Consignment Solutions I think...they sell higher end furniture. They start at a price like $1000 then reduce it by a certain date every 2 months or so until they hit the agreed upon bottom price.
Check it out!

[Oldhag1]

If you have nice furniture I agree with trying Consignment Solutions in Leesburg. I furnished my basement using them. The prices seemed reasonable - not overly expensive or cheap. The price goes down as time goes by. Some stuff gets picked up the first month, other things get picked up at the 50% off stage.

Home Consignment Solutions

[uhuru]

Thanks for the Consignment Solutions suggestion. I was not even aware of this outfit.

It is certainly another viable alternative. What I have been doing at this point and it seems to be working is to price the items at a level that is more discounted than I intended. Basically, now that I know that the professional sellers typically take between 40 and 50% of the proceeds I have been discounting the items we are selling by about 25% and am finding takers.

I sold two beautiful oak filing cabinets which cost about $750 each new for $250 each. I'd normally not have considered selling them for less than $350 but it made sense to accept the lower price. They were 20 years old.