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

Well, it looks like I will need to clear out my parents house in an unlikely time frame. Can anyone recommend folks on Long Island who could (and ideally would like to) help me deal with it? The alternative is the real estate agent’s tag sale lady and a dumpster.

ARE YOU A COWARD? This is not for you. We badly need a brave person. They must be over 21 years old, in reasonable health, well under six feet tall, weigh over 100 pounds, fluent in English, proficient in all weapons of cleaning, some knowledge of antiques, collectibles and carpentry essential, on Long Island or willing to travel, no breathing difficulties or problems with stairs, indomitably courageous and handsome of reputation. Temporary employment, good loot and decent pay, glorious adventure, great danger. You can’t apply in person, so message me please.

But seriously folks, I need referrals to people/companies that will help with a rescuing/salvaging operation. Most items are only 40 - 110 years old, but it is unlikely that there isn’t anything older.

We are keeping about 100 cubic feet. Everything else needs to go. I can’t start till the 15th, and I have to be done by the end of the month.

 

best of luck !!!!

 

That Google link doesn't seem to be working.

 

estatesales.net has a company search:

https://www.estatesales.net/companies/NY/Long-Island-City/11101

 

Long Island and Long Island City are not the same thing.

 

@pearlsnblume this is your neck of the woods.

 

Lon guy land!

 

I'm interested in hearing how it goes. My mom has so much stuff, and it's getting harder for her to deal with the house. She doesn't live on Long Island but I'm interested in how it is to hire that kind of company.

 

Hi
well I am from Lawng Guyland and have been to sales here for years.

I have never used any to do an estate sale, but I can say that Sisters In Charge has always been a good estate sale runner in all the years I have been going to their sales.

I could also recommend Diamond Estate sale runner. However she goes in asking top dollar for many things to buyers. But she is one of the nicest people I know.

Lastly there is Certified who does most of their sales in Brooklyn but may do some out here on LI. They are known for clearing a house and giving great prices to buyers so they attract a lot of people. I personally have never been to their sales because I don't go to Brooklyn, but my friend does and she as a reseller always leaves happy.

I think one thing you have to take into consideration is do you want to clear the house out or do you want to get high prices for your stuff. Some of the estate sale runners which I won't mention here price things way to high and they simply don't get much sold and a poor turnout. So you really have to make clear to the estate sale runner that you have to get certain prices or don't sell it, or you want to clear the house and be done with it.

Are you in Nassau County or Suffolk County?

 

Enough to pay for @daveydempsey to drop by?

 

Although no longer in the business... I did sales for years. Although you did touch on some "high points".... Ideally, you should find someone with experience in such things. Someone who has a crew - in as much as you have a large amount of "stuff" that needs to be dealt with.

*make sure that you have a contract with them; that stipulates what you want done. Sale by "date" and which days the sale will operate
*are they going to allow percentages off as the sale progresses (usually needed)
*how you want the building "left" (in otherwords - stripped clean? garbage bagged and removed? or just "as is")
*what you want done with items that didn't sell (donation to where? taken to another sale? arrange for someone to buy what ever is left?)
*of course, what percentage or fee they charge for services
*who carries liability on the estate company and buyers?
*are they going to research any items or just "guess" the market value?
*will the contents be priced as they lay; or will they arrange a nice walk through with the house in relatively tidy condition for a sale?
*will items be sold in reasonably clean condition? (I don't mean wash everything - but often the good glassware which hasn't been used in years - really does need a wash to recognize a fair price ... sometimes other items)
*will they provide staff in each area to guard against theft and help with sales? Will they plan a walk "in" and "out" with a clear check out area? rather than let people enter through any door?
*what sort of advertisement will they provide? What kind of advertisement do you wish? sometimes that may be an additional charge
*do they allow early sales (which sometimes means that "pickers" come in early and have an opportunity to buy "the good stuff" before the general public) - you may or may not wish that... just something to think about
*are they licensed and bonded?
*if you are dealing with ammo and guns; do they have a license to sell such?
*will they provide locked cases for high ticket items like quality jewelry or handguns?
*if the sale is large enough and they need extra space (ie: tent set up...) who pays for that??)
*if those stairs are steep; will they allow buyers up and down the stairs or remove the items to a safer level
*will they allow buyers in without restricting how many are in the buiding? or work on a number system? allowing a few buyers in at a time. (Much safer, and easier to control theft and checkout)
*be sure to ask questions
*what happens if hazardous waste or a very dangerous item appears in the contents (who is responsible for it's removal?) THIS is probably NOT going to be an issue - however, it HAS happened at sales. One company I heard of uncovered "radium" and the hazmat team had to be called....very expensive and I understand that the estate company was stuck with the bill). And another had a live hand "antique" hand grenade - the owner of the estate said that it wasn't "live" and just throw it away. Turns out it "WAS" live. The bomb squad was called and it was detonated (at another location). Fortunately, there was no charge for it's removal.

Each estate and sale is different; demands of the executor are different; constraints (like date of sale) are different (sometimes you have months - other times just a few weeks).

An estate company needs to factor in those things to work with you.

We had an older, HUGE 3 story home; downtown - which was just chucked full of "stuff"... most vintage and antique. We did a walk through and would have loved the sale - but they needed the house "empty" as it was sold already and they had till the following week to clear the house. That was NOT possible for our company. We suggested an auction. I don't know of any company which could have prepared that quickly! I also don't have a clue what they ended up doing.

As we were looking around, it came to light that the refrigerator was still full, we asked when "Mum" passed away. SIX months PRIOR! Apparently, the realtor told them "not to empty" the house before showing. This certainly, THEN, caused a real issue, in terms of trying to empty the house as they had about a week to hold the sale. What would have worked much better - would have been to hold the sale a few months AFTER Mum's death and empty the house (save a few pieces of furniture). Or at the very least; contract the estate company shortly after her death to allow them to have time to prepare and then hold the sale shortly before the house sold.

Perhaps some of these items won't apply to you (or anyone else pondering a sale); but they are food for thought.

Cheerio,
Leslie
and good luck!

 

I hope all of this works out for you. Good luck

 

Nassau. Price-wise, a little money would be good (and obviously a lot of money would be great, but I don’t expect that) but the main things are:
1. Clear out the house on time
2. Save things from the dumpster
3. Offer discounts to folks from this board who have been so helpful and friendly.

 

Wow! That’s super helpful! I really appreciate your time and expertise! I will probably print this out to have on hand when I talk to whoever I end up talking to.

 

When you decide to go forward and actually have it set and a date, perhaps you can come back here and let us know when and where. Some of us perhaps could attend.

Regarding some ammo and guns, best not to have it in the house during the sale as some are illegal to be sold here. One estate sale runner had the police tell him he could not sell the guns and gave him a warning, left and they came back undercover and he and the owner were arrested because they were still trying to sell the guns.

 

Glad to help! Like I said; not all those things may apply to your circumstance - but some may be applicable.... and certainly may be things you may need to consider.

I loved doing sales; but they are HARD work...dirty, grubby, time crunch, backbreaking labor!

If you don't find what/who you are looking for and have the TIME and desire to do it yourself... it can be done!

My sister and I had my Mums estate to deal with. Mum had moved into her mother's home (and although she had thinned out some of Grandma's possessions - many still remained along with Great Grandma's as she had lived with her daughter prior to her death).

Mum's situation was such that we needed to rent the house ASAP to keep her at a senior facility in MY community (400 miles away from her community). This was in May. My sister lived in California - and had fortunately, the good luck to be able to work remotely.

Mum had a LOT of small valuable items which we figured were at risk if we left them in an unattended house... so I took a car load of those items home with me immediately. My sister returned to Michigan asap and just "coincidently" had "sight unseen" purchased a home in a nearby community to Mums. Mom didn't even know, as they had only remotely signed the papers the week before.

Once my sister and her hubby arrived (2 weeks later) - the 4 of us (my hubby included) literally "packed up the house and the garage" - in 4 days! Anything we knew would take some time to go through, we packed to be moved to sis's new "empty" home (a storage building would have worked also).

We had boxes labeled for her and for I and also boxes for "donation" and for "garbage". We started at the top of the house; methodically sorting every item. We had agreed that everything was negotiable - but made split second decisions as to who got what...regardless of value. Drawers of things we left in the drawers as they all got moved to sis's house. Things we both wanted or that we figured needed to be researched - got packed in the boxes to be moved. Items that no one wanted - we left in piles in each room. Our husbands did basically the same thing in the garage.

At the end of that Thursday through Sunday weekend - we called "Two Men and a Truck" - who came and moved all the "to be moved boxes and my sis's boxes" and some furniture to her new home. Two men emptied the house in 2 1/2 hours! A couple hour drive to her new location - we drove behind them... and they then emptied the truck + all HER boxes and any furniture she wanted into her new place - in 2 hours!

The remainder of the summer - (her hubby returned to California) we worked 3 days from my home (researching items, and continuing to sort things that I could get in my car) and then 4 days at her location (we'd set up the beds at her place) and we lived a spartan existence commuting back and forth to Mum's those 4 remaining days. We priced items for a garage sale, cleaned the garage, my husband did repairs (including putting the stairs back together as Grandma had an upright Concert piano against the knee wall of the stairs to the second floor which had literally pulled the stairs right off the wall! We had to jack up the wall to repair the stairs!). We had a sale at the end of the summer and cleared it to the walls. Had the house cleaned and painted. I ordered appliances.

My sister returned to California after the sale. In September I rented the house; and signed the papers TWO days before Mum unexpectedly passed. Mum didn't want us to sell the house; I think she finally felt at peace that we'd "rented it" and she knew that we weren't just "dumping" everything in the house...

So, the work continued. Boxes of "stuff" that ended up here - I researched; conferred with family - decisions were made - and I must say with no arguments between any family members. (I'm so proud of everyone)!

On occasions when my sister could come for a visit - we'd work on boxes that had been stored at her place. We prepared for a sale at her house. The following summer both of them retired and they moved from California. Shortly after they moved in, we had the sale with the last of Mum's stuff and Mum's furniture that my sister and our kids no longer needed or wanted.

Mum was into genealogy (big time) and I hauled (probably close) to 50 banker's boxes to a genealogical archive that was thrilled with every scrap I handed off to them. They have agreed to accept her old family photos - which our kids don't want - if they have names on them. So that's where most of my two remaining totes will end up. Perhaps the letters too - as they date from the late 1800's - early to mid 1900's and are all from family.

The bulk of her estate was behind us at that point... but I still had 40+ crates of "stuff" to deal with. As my sis and I have had time to get together; we would crack another crate. Researching, dividing, selling, offering to family. We had agreed NOT to do the jewelry until the very last - the "carrot" at the end of the drudgery!

We had another weekend together... as there was a lot! Again we agreed to be negotiable with each other. She got a jeweler's scale and put a current scrap market value on each item - I researched fair market value ... we each added our values to a paper with each item. The few items that we couldn't determine - ie: valuable stones or what kind of metal; we took to jeweler who would do a "bag and tag". He did 12 items in an hour and charged $50. Since we were not planning on selling any of the valuable family items; we figured we didn't need a formal apprasial). At that point, we took each item - with scrap market value and fair market value and together came up with what we thought was a fair price.

The day to divide was upon us. We had decided that after we had made our choices - that we wouldn't consider that they were "ours" until after we had slept on it. If we were happy; great - if not; we'd renegotiate until we were satisfied. If at any point - we felt differently - we should discuss it. If at some point, any item in the entire estate was not wanted... it would be offered back up to family before being sold. (This was in re: to items of value or historic family items.)

We each made a secret list of the 10 items of jewelry that we each wanted the most. Much to our surprise - her top 5, weren't my top 5. She got hers - I got mine. The five additional; I got to choose one item first, as I was the eldest and executor. And so it went. We would put several like items on the table and taking turns; who ever got to choose first - did. We made a "loose" running total of value and sometimes someone got a second pick to bring their column total up a bit.

Items no one wanted - we offered to the kids and sold what they didn't want.

This probably won't work for everyone as this DID take time! We finished the jewelry 9 years after Mum's passing. I still have several boxes of "stuff" mostly old family portraits (cabinet cards) and letters. My sis will want a few photos - but mostly isn't interested.

We were lucky in the sense that we had all important TIME to do this and she had jewelry experience and I had estate experience. I had periodically photographed much of Mum and Grandma's stuff ahead of time and HAD done some research - including asking Mum about family "stuff" - where it came from and what she knew of it. So much of it was already done. It doesn't matter how much was done - LOL... there of course, was LOTS more!

All that was probably waaaay more than you ever wanted to know...
Again - good luck! Daunting task!
Cheerio Leslie