Twin Cities Business, Personal Finance,
February 2008, By Jeff Dekko
Stuff is stuff, right? Couches, chairs, beds,
dining room china cabinet.
No, stuff is not just stuff when it’s the dining
room you sat at for 40 years, each and every
Thanksgiving, or the jewelry your mom used to
wear when she’d take you clothes shopping.
That’s why an estate sale is anything but just
a financial transaction. “This isn’t just stuff,
it’s people’s stuff,” says Mary Beth Davis,
Minneapolis Campus Coordinator for Fairview
Ebenezer, which operates the Hands and Hearts
estate sale program as a fund-raising effort
support the organization’s long-term care and
senior housing facilities, primarily for low-income
senior citizens. “This is a very emotional time
for people.”
Whether brought about a long-delayed move to
a nursing home or assisted living facility,
or the death of a parent, selling off mom and
dad’s things can be a tough time for all.
“It’s the most difficult when there’s been
a death in the family,” said Tony Nucera, who
with business partner Michelle Follano operates
Minnetonka-based Piccadilly Estate and Moving
Sales. “People have a hard time letting go.”
An estate sale is more than just a really big
garage sale. While some people occasionally
approach them that way, more often than not,
say experts such as Nucera and Andrew Akmenkalns,
program director for Ebenezer’s estate sale
unit, people end up either overwhelmed by the
amount of things to sell, or not realizing the
full value of what they have – or both.
“It can be so overwhelming,” says Akmenkalns.
“We have people come to us and say, ‘I don’t
know where to begin.’”
Begin by interviewing several estate sale companies.
Ask questions: Is the firm licensed and bonded,
an important issue for liability reasons. How
do they arrive at pricing on the items for sale?
This is especially pertinent in cases where
the family has what may be valuable antiques.
Both Nucera and Akmenkalns, for instance, are
long-time antique experts. In addition, most
estate sale companies come armed with catalogues,
reference guides and specific product experts
to help price a sale.
Most estate sale companies will be able to
give you an initial idea of what your sale could
net after a walk-through of the home. During
this process, you will need to identify any
items you intend to keep. In fact, soon after
you decide to proceed with the sale, you’ll
be asked to sign an agreement not to take anything
else out of the house after a certain date.
Estate sales are often advertised with pictures
and almost always with detailed lists of what’s
for sale. If the family is carting off items,
then the estate sale company can’t deliver on
its advertising promise.
“We also generally ask the family not to be
there,” said Ebenezer’s Davis. “It can be a
very difficult time emotionally.”
Most estate sale companies have a minimum amount
for a sale. For Piccadilly, it’s $7,000; for
Ebenezer’s Hands and Hearts, it’s 30 percent
of the gross proceeds or a minimum donation
of $1,000. That works out to about $3,300 worth
of goods; if your sale only nets $1,200, Ebenezer
still gets $1,000.
Estate sale fees generally hover in the 25-30
percent range. If a person has a disproportionate
amount of small items to be priced, the fee
could creep up; for large estate sales, the
fee could be lower. Also check for add-on charges.
Ebenezer’s fee includes everything: set up,
pricing and an end-of-sale “pack up,” which
involves either donating to charity or disposing
of items that don’t sell, then cleaning up the
home once that’s finished. Other estate sale
companies charge extra for that. Make sure you
check.
How does the process work? Once you’ve decided
on a company and signed the agreement, a swarm
of people come into the home, sort through the
belongings, clean silverware, glassware, china,
organize and price. Most estate sale companies
will designate various rooms for certain things:
There’ll be a china and silverware room, a clothing
room, a bedroom furniture room, etc.
Once the pricing preparation is complete, the
sale is scheduled, generally toward the end
of the week. The vast majority of sales are
two days only, with a handful of the larger
sales running three days, says Nucera. After
the first day, the items that are left are marked
down for the second day. Before you know it,
you’re done.
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