Estate Sale ??? in need of advice?? lengthy

[Hillbeans]

I know she had a bad experience, but if she has a ton of stuff to sell, she should still look into getting a reputable auction company out there to help make sure everything SELLS.

We had an estate sale when my grandfather passed away and it was a madhouse! My dad hired a company to help, but what we didn't realize was all the things that were stolen when people wandered around the house without supervision...most notably medications and other personal items in the medicine cabinet! That would be the one benefit of having the sale "off-property".

 

[LovesTimone]

Thank goodness they were caught!

Did she get her property back?

Yes she did, took a few days but its all back now.

 

[LovesTimone]

I would definately do something special for that neighbor that was able to call her in time to alert her to the losers.

Maybe offering them something from her estate?

Well my friend is divorced and they neighbor man who called her that day is single cowboy type, He has been coming round in the evenings, like every evening.. to check on things... He is even going to be helping with the sale, sending some of his ranch hands to help out as well, I asked my friend well... She said when she see him it hurts her stomach and she gets nervous. So I think that there could be a bit of romance coming their way. So maybe in all this she is due for her share of happiness..

 

[Pea-n-Me]

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Well my friend is divorced and they neighbor man who called her that day is single cowboy type, He has been coming round in the evenings, like every evening.. to check on things... He is even going to be helping with the sale, sending some of his ranch hands to help out as well, I asked my friend well... She said when she see him it hurts her stomach and she gets nervous. So I think that there could be a bit of romance coming their way. So maybe in all this she is due for her share of happiness..

They say God works in mysterious ways..



I'm happy that she got all of her things back and I hope she has a great estate sell.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We had an estate sale when my grandfather passed away and it was a madhouse! My dad hired a company to help, but what we didn't realize was all the things that were stolen when people wandered around the house without supervision...most notably medications and other personal items in the medicine cabinet! That would be the one benefit of having the sale "off-property".

At typical sales here (and again, we do auctions), the contents of the house are emptied out into a barn or the yard and valuables locked up in display cases (guns, jewelry, small collectibles, etc). Nobody goes into the house until it's time to sell the house itself, and anyone trying to take off with anything that isn't sold would stick out like a sore thumb.

edit: That said, you can do it off-site if necessary, but obviously it creates a lot more work.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Well my friend is divorced and they neighbor man who called her that day is single cowboy type, He has been coming round in the evenings, like every evening.. to check on things... He is even going to be helping with the sale, sending some of his ranch hands to help out as well, I asked my friend well... She said when she see him it hurts her stomach and she gets nervous. So I think that there could be a bit of romance coming their way. So maybe in all this she is due for her share of happiness..

It sounds like a Harlequin romance novel

At typical sales here (and again, we do auctions), the contents of the house are emptied out into a barn or the yard and valuables locked up in display cases (guns, jewelry, small collectibles, etc). Nobody goes into the house until it's time to sell the house itself, and anyone trying to take off with anything that isn't sold would stick out like a sore thumb.

edit: That said, you can do it off-site if necessary, but obviously it creates a lot more work.

I love going to auctions as well--And my experience has been like yours.

Everything for the auction is brought out to the yard. People mill around looking at everything and going thru the boxes (they will put a bunch of smaller items into boxes and sell it as a "lot" they will usually put one valuable item into the box to help run up the price)

Then the auctioneer will walk down the line auctioning everything off by number. (Lot 1 is a box of asst'd stuff--Lot 2 is a couch--Lot 3 is a washing machine etc) Someone will follow him with a clipboard and take down the bidders number and the price it went for. At the end of the auction you go back to the table that you registered to bid at and received your number to pay for the items you bought.

A couple of yard auctions set up a tent with the most valuable items inside and only allowed a few people in at a time. There was one person posted outside to limit the # of people going in and 2 people inside the tent. They had pictures of the valuables on the tables and the items were kept behind the table. If you were interested in looking at the item up close you pointed to the pic of the item you wanted to see and they took it out for you and stood there while you looked at it.

 

[LovesTimone]

It sounds like a Harlequin romance novel

I know, But if anyone deserves some happiness it's her. She has been through so much in the last few years. She went through a nasty divorce, then her grandmother passed away, then she had to fight her family over her grandmother estate, they tried to contest the will, which was a complete nightmare for her. She did not know her grandmother was leaving everything to her until they read the will, which shocked everyone. But she loves the farm/ranch and would never sell it, which is what the rest of the family wanted to do. Then this with the estate sale.So hopefully this is a fresh start and some happiness for her.

 

[goofy4tink]

I work for a company that provides this type service. We help mostly seniors move from their larger homes into smaller homes. Or, getting rid of stuff when a family member passes away.
We just had an estate yard sale....each one of our clients had some stuff but not enough for one sale, so we combined about 5 clients. Each client has a listing of what was being taken out of the home. They were also provided with a listing of what was sold and for how much.
We have also taken items to other sellers...we know who is going to pay the most for what type of stuff. Vast majority of people have no idea how this works, so we do it for them.

But, we have a contract that stipulates exactly what is going to happen. The client always knows what is leaving the house, and where it's going.
Man, it's no wonder we are finding such skeptical people out there....with stories like the OP's, it's not hard to understand why people are leery of using companies like ours.
I'm really sorry to hear these stories.