As the title suggests, we are now at the estate sale question. I struggled with this question myself for close to a year. It was hard to think of someone else outside of the family going thru all the family items that I didn’t want or know what to do with. This is not an easy process to adjust to. I will admit, as time went on and I got to the end of all of this, it made more sense to do it this way. It would probably take months to try to do this as a garage sale or estate sale ourselves.
Some tips in choosing the right company. First of all, don’t go with a company that says they serve the whole state, their rates will be higher and they may rush thru the process. Second, meet with the company and show them what you’ve got. Hear what they have to say and really listen to WHAT they are saying. The first company I met with didn’t seem real interested in going thru the items. Gave me the impression that most of it was junk and I should just hire “temp” workers to help me throw it away. Said he could tell in about 1/2 an hour what was sellable and what was junk. He wasn’t even in the running for this job! The next company never bothered to call me back after several attempts to contact them. The third company was it. We met with them, showed them around, they spent probably and hour and a half with me and actually told me not to throw anything else away, said that in a few of the rooms I thought were junk had some good saleable items in there. They were no pressure at all. When I decided to use them, we met again to go over the contract, they looked again at what was left after we moved everything out that we wanted and seemed really excited to start working. Told me how long it would take to get thru everything and set a sale date. I have been up to the house after they have been there a week going thru things and setting them up for the big sale and they have done a great job so far. They have been in contact with me on a few things instead of just assuming what we wanted. They are setting things as they go instead of doing it all twice, this way they are ready to go to sell it all. They also explained what type of people come to estate sales and what they are looking for. They actually seem pretty excited to get the sale going.
I was pretty nervous when we started this wondering if I had left something there maybe I shouldn’t have or wondering what they would do with things once they took a look at them but it really has been fairly easy to do. I like they way they have set things aside and organized it by items. Most of the stuff really needed to be cleaned and gone over to look a lot better and they have done that. I’m really surprised that things I thought would end up in the dump are clean and look good enough for someone to buy them. Mind you, not all of the stuff that they have been thru has made it to the sale, but quite a bit more than I thought.
Estate sales are probably the best way to finish off going thru and getting rid of items of no interest to you. Someone else can enjoy them instead and will probably look great in someone else’s home or restaurant or shop then in does in your own home or boxed up for the next generation to go thru. Leave items of sentimental value or that have money value to family members and let go of the rest of it. Not everything is meant to be saved forever, believe me, I have found out the hard way. This process has taken about a year and a half and I’m ready to enjoy the items I’ve kept, pass along some I think others with enjoy and let the rest be sold.
And don’t worry over what you’re keeping or selling that belonged to the family. If they had the heart to do this before you, they probably would do the same things and know that they are passing along some great family memories and history. Enjoy that part of it and know that years down the road generations long after you will understand their history a bit more and be happy to relive those memories.