How to Make an Estate Sale Work for You
Inheriting a Kenai house and belongings can be a difficult thing. You are already dealing with the emotions from the death of a loved one and now you have to add in the stress of handling what to do with all of the belongings. That’s where an estate sale can help.
What is an estate sale?
An estate sale is very similar to a garage sale, only instead of picking and choosing a few items to sell, you are selling most of the belongings that are from the house, garage, barn, or any other building on the Kenai property. The key to a good estate sale is having a lot of items of value that you are selling.
How to hold an estate sale
If you are interested in having an estate sale, you have a decision to make. You can either host the sale yourself or you can hire a company to do the work for you. The right decision depends largely on what types of items you have available to sell.
If the estimated value of the items total to less than $10,000 you will want to consider hosting the sale on your own. If you have some items that are of significant value in the mix or a high dollar estimate of the total estate, then it’s worth having a company host all or part of the sale.
Professionals are a benefit because they know the value of the items that are being sold. That saves you time in figuring it out and can also help you not sell something for a price that you shouldn’t. Most experienced professionals don’t want you to do any work before they come in because many people throw out things that are of value and miss out on the opportunity.
The thing to keep in mind is that hiring a company means that you will pay between 25 and 50 percent in commission of the total of the sale. If you don’t have the time or don’t want to worry about the headache of holding the sale, this can be well worth the price.
What to look for in a company
If you decide to go with a company to hold your estate sale, do not work with any company that asks for money upfront. This is not the way the reputable companies work. If they charge for a consultation, move on to another company.
You need to find a company that handles the costs of the sale themselves upfront and then takes their commission when the sale is over. The company should also take away any items that are not sold, handle marketing, and when they are finished, the house should be clean and empty.
If you want to hold your own estate sale, focus on understanding the value of the items, marketing the sale well, choosing the right time, and having enough help to pull it all off. Whether you hold the sale yourself or work with a company, you need to be prepared, for it will be an emotional experience.