Featured Estate sale people/company needed in Long Island, NY

What a great story Leslie, thanks for sharing.

I only wish all families could be as civil as yours.

 

Thanks again! I’ve been trying to do advance research, and I spent around 10 days cleaning up and boxing things up. Part of the problem is the place wasn’t lived in at all for a couple years, and only visited occasionally for a year before that. So almost everything is/was in desperate need of cleaning. Luckily we only need the place to be “broom swept” and otherwise the sale is “as is”.

 

Here is a suggestion just from my years of going to sales.
Don't throw stuff away before you have the sale. I have been to so many sales where I ask about items and they tell me they threw them out as they thought no one would want them. Like cook books. Of course, if the items are something that is a danger to the public than that should go to the dump before anyone walks in.
I was at a sale and there was an old fridge that had not been plugged in for years. Someone opened the door and the smell that came out was hideous.

If you have anything there you or your family wants to keep, take it out before the sale photos go up and out of the house. That way no one is disappointed.

Some of the estate sale runners do clean before the sale. Some don't.

 

charge up yer camera......take lots o' shots....
maybe we can help price some things 4 u ....

( this coming from the ........ who sez we don't do values...)

 

You were and are so organized! Wonderful story.

A family friend has been taking care of her mother's estate for some years now. She lives across the country from where her mother lived, and is very busy in her job. She has one brother who collaborates with her on the estate when she comes back to town. I don't know their whole process, but I heard they are almost ready to put the house up for sale, as just about all of her mother's possessions are finally taken care of.

 

@Figtree3
Thank you! That is sweet! I hope our story can encourage others to do the same!
Your friend sounds like they worked it out also! Kudo's to them! I hope they have a great sale!
Leslie

 

@pearlsnblume
You bring up some great points! Yes, that is so true! If people "don't" know what they are doing - sometimes they pitch great stuff! One thing I've suggested if they really _don't_ know which route to take is to ask someone who is in the business if they are willing to come in and advise them. I have done that myself; walked through with them (perhaps charging a nominal hourly fee) and giving them general info... what is worthless, what has value, how to set up a sale, day of info. Sometimes they decide they want to hire you after all - or if it really is a case of a glorified garage sale to do it themselves.

And definitely YES - if family wants something - get it out asap! We also had sales where we signed a contract to sell "entire contents" and as soon as we started cleaning and sorting the mell of a hess... the next day we'd come in and all the "good stuff" we'd found the day before was missing! She wouldn't stop the practice! So after a week we cancelled the contract and charged her for "housecleaning" for our hours put in! Zees! and THEN she bounced the check! Some people!

Cheerio, Leslie

 

Great posts Leslie.
I remember about 2 years ago I saw something in the photos that I knew I wanted to buy. I got to the sale really early and when I got inside the item was no where in sight. I asked the estate sale runner, where was it and she told me they pulled it from the sale because they thought the owner's daughter might want it.

This is after they told me that the family had been thru the house and took what they wanted already. I came to find out that one of the workers for the estate sale runner put the item in her car for safe keeping till they could ask the daughter. I think that was BS, the person just wanted it for themselves. I never went back to that estate sale runner again.

 

Oh I just want to mention, around here on LI, 90% of the estate sale runners do NOT put prices on the items in the homes so buyers know how much they want for items. So that may not be what others here are used to but is the way I have always known it to be here And many have the sale for one day only and then it ends. A few have them for more than one day. So the best thing is find what you want as a buyer and then ask for the price for the total of all your items. They call it make a bundle.
The estate sale runners also do not give out receipts to the buyers except one or 2 that I can recall.

I always find it interesting what other people buy at estate sales... some buy plants, some buy left over laundry detergent etc. These are folks who are not reselling for the most part.

And about the numbering system to get in... that is different with every estate sale runner. Some let the people waiting who came to the sale set it up, others do that and then give us their own cards with that number on it (don't ask me why), others have sign in sheets so you can sign in rather than get a number. I await the day they ask for a blood sample. LOL

 

@pearlsnblume - yes that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth doesn't it?

That is interesting re: not putting prices on things. Everything is sold as a "bundle" then - and no set prices. Where is it that you are located?

The closest we come to that is some "garage or yard" sales are unpriced; and you make a bundle sort of deal. But I've never been to an estate or tag sale that did that.

I think I was at one sale where they had a list you signed; rather than a number. If you weren't there when your name was called - you missed your place in line.

Interesting how things can be the same; yet different!
Let's hope they don't ask for blood - OR your first born!
Leslie

 

LOL Leslie.

I am in Nassau County on Long Island. I find making bundles often is the best thing for me, unless there is only one thing there that I want and then they can hit me with a bigger price cause it is just one item.

the other rule here is that some estate sale runners won't let us bring in bags or totes, then some say bring your own bags as we no longer can give you plastic bags or they give us a basket which holds nothing and is not easy to walk around with.
They are trying to prevent stealing which does happen at these sales.

Most of the sales are controlled chaos when they are filled with customers. LOL

 

I promise not to throw anything away that can be saved - and coming from someone who makes found object art out of stuff she finds on the ground, that’s a pretty broad category.

As soon as I get there, I will take and post a plethora of pictures- and will try to save pictures of the stuff we’re keeping for after the sale.

Stuff we want to keep will have to be removed early in the process, but some things are buried so deep we will have to move a bunch of other stuff to get to them. I’m determined to get Daddy’s yearbooks that he wants, but they’re on the far wall from the basement stairs, and the basement is FULL. As in, a path for a svelte man about a yard from the outer wall, that goes most of the way around.

I suspect that an offsite sale will be necessary. I can’t imagine trying to display half of what will be left after we take what we can keep in such a small space.

 

This is a great insight into how US estate sales are held, so much useful information!.

 

@pearlsnblume I might have to send you my shopping list if you visit the sale

 

Pearls' rundown may not cover other areas of the country. Out here on the other coast I rarely see unpriced items in professionally run sales. Even for sales being held by the family, they have a figure in mind and tag things accordingly. Signup sheets are common practice - again for professional sales. Haggling for a bundled price still happens, though.

 

Another option would be local auction houses. I work at one here in SC that has sales every Tuesday & Friday. They basically sell everything including the kitchen sink. Most weeks it is a mixture of single & multiple consignments together with large estate consignments.

They use people to pack up everything or you can pack it up yourself & then have them transport it to the auction house for a per hour / per mile fee.

They sell everything then take a 20% fee if it is sold on Tuesday night or a 15% fee if it is sold on Friday night then send you a check minus the moving costs.

Here is a link to his auction site.

https://www.auctionzip.com/SC-Auctioneers/10428.html

Here is a link to some auction companies in New York.

https://www.auctionzip.com/ny.html

I know nothing about these companies but you can likely use some of the same tips @Northern Lights Lodge gave you to check them out.

 

Bakers, I think when I started going many moons ago, some of the estate sale runners put prices on some things. Then over time, they just stopped. These are all professional estate sale runners. The only time I see prices on items, is if the item is rare or they think it is worth a certain amount and then there is a price sticker.
Like a set of fire king jadite bowls had a sticker on it, but nothing else in the house did.

Many of the estate sales I have attended have so much stuff, that it would be nearly impossible to get all of it priced. Family run estate sale sometimes have price tags on the items. It is still like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. And mostly filled with nuts. LOL

I will do my best KSW if the sale is near me.

 

Our local Michigan auction companies (to my knowledge) all sell on the estate site rather than box it up and take it somewhere. Perhaps there are some that will do it downstate. More commonly, I think people have to box it and take it to THEM!

For instance; I offered to go through an estate for some friends that were faced with clearing the property. I told them; I'd just give some suggestions as to what had value and I wanted nothing in return. I wouldn't have even offered to buy anything nor expected payment. They declined. They ended up with an Amish auction as they did have a lot of farm equipment. The deal with the Amish was that they didn't do any of the house set up. That had to be organized and set up by the heirs.

The property was pretty isolated and it was gated. Their uncle (our dear friend) lived back to back and we often travelled between the two properties for pleasure. It was berry season and I did go out to see how the progress was being made. The heirs had the biggest dumpster they could get and had dumped everything on the upper floor into the dumpster. It had been "patted down" by the front end loader by the uncle to "make more space".

AGGGH! SO MUCH sellable stuff in there! I did end up asking permission to dumpster dive. Vintage Christmas ornaments, vintage fabric, statuary ($$ which unfortunately had been broken by the pat down), local collectible stuff, vintage children's toys, even a couple musical instruments! Heartbreaking! I don't think they "saved" anything from the upstairs...

Alas... it happens!
Cheerio, Leslie

 

Ouch Leslie, all that good stuff in a dumpster.

I not too long ago went to an estate sale. This particular estate sale runner is not one of my favorites but the sale was not far from me.

Anywho, she always has a dump truck at her sales because when the sale is done, and sometimes even when it is not done, her guys who help, start moving the stuff out of the home. It is very disconcerting because her sales are usually only from 9:30 am to 12 pm which means the guys are waiting and ready to start clean up.
She does clean out the home and will do staging if asked. But it also means while I am looking they are grabbing stuff to throw in the dumpster.

Last time I went to her sale, the guys went into the garage and brought out those hard plastic Christmas blow mold things and threw them in the truck. I thought she has lost her mind as people buy them. A lady went over to the guys and asked if she could have them as they were getting ready to be dumped. They gave them to her.

On that same day, they also threw out about 4 MCM desks. Everyone who was standing there waiting to get in was shocked at what they were throwing out.

I like her sales as a buyer because she prices things ok, but I would not recommend her because I think her way of doing business is not the right fit for many who want an estate sale runner.