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

@Born2it
It sounds like you have a plan anyway! So that's good! Yes, of course, posting photos for us to "help" with - is always a good plan! It does sound like a monumental job! If you are going to try and do it yourself - it might be good to try to hire a couple "friends" to help. They can pack boxes if you give them some general pointers and suggestions as to what 'goes' and what you want to keep.

Not only is taking photos good for id work... but when you are in the thick of it and feel overwhelmed... you may be able to refer to "before" and see your progress!
I honesty don't envy you any! LOL! This is why I'm not in the business anymore!
Mum's was our last estate!

Cheerio, Leslie

 

@pearlsnblume
OH that is just wretched! No, I'd be like you and go to her sales - but not hire her. She's doing a big disservice to her clients by not trying to sell everything she can! That's crazy only being open that few hours!
Gulp!
Cheerio Leslie

 

Yikes! I understand not mentioning the name in an open forum, but I definitely don’t want to hire them; if I put them in the truck I suspect it would not go well for me.

 

You can always ask to make sure. Like I said he charges labor & mileage but will do it. You definitely save money doing it yourself but if you are physically not able to do it or geographically unable then it is an option.

 

@Born2it
The estate sale runners names I mentioned previously does not include the one who dumps stuff in the dumpster.

I think we have some auction houses out here on LI, but I know little about them. Most people I know go to estate sales to get their stuff.

There are more bad estate sale runners it seems, than good ones, so I tried to pick out ones that were nice people and had a good following with buyers and attendees.

Many estate sale runners lost their following because of high prices and nasty customer service. I have a few I no longer go to because they price things sky high and their attitude is terrible.

 

There is always the option of moving large pieces to an auction house or listing them for local sales in some way. Then renting the smallest storage unit you can to store boxes where you can go through them more thoroughly.

If you can have one at your home you could rent one of the Pods type units. That way it is not so much out of sight out of mind.

When we moved out of our last house 8+ years ago I was into this whole eBay stuff big time. I had stuff in a huge attic, a storage unit, in my office & storage room (actually my youngest son's old bedroom) that was to be put into a 2+ car garage. My husband was pushing me to get everything out of the house ASAP & kept balking when I said I needed more time. I wish now I had kept my storage unit for a few more months so maybe it would not have taken me almost 7 years to get it to the point where I can work in the space.

 

I’ll definitely be printing that wonderful list of basically do’s & don’t that Leslie had, to save in a great spot for our executors to access someday, hopefully way down the road!!!!

AND, BEST of Luck, @Born2it !!!!!

 

@Aquitaine - I'm glad you think it may be helpful WAAAAY down the road!

Honestly, the best thing - if possible - before you think they may need to break up housekeeping... is to get either a video walk through or hard paper copy with photos that hits at least the high points re: where something came from - how much you may have paid for it and if you do research or current market price - record that. It may give executors a place to start.

I've got a good record of all our antique/vintage furniture now - with photos and comparable values. The never ending tide of incoming and outgoing smaller items is harder. Still, I've documented most of the family pieces and where possible; have put tags on things - sometimes even stating whom has asked for it in advance.

As "easy" as you can make it on executors the better. Honestly, it is always a daunting task; no matter if it is yours, a parent's, a friends or someone who's hired you.

Leslie

 

Thanks!! OF Course, you keep hitting the nail on the head!!!!

 

I've seen both, or a mix. Items the estate sale runner knows to be worth money will be priced. Other stuff... you never know. The "make a pile" thing is common - with discounts for quantity. Some companies don't price anything.

One thing I don't recommend is what one company tried years ago, although it did get the house cleared out. They had a regular sale on the first two days, but on the last day everything was free. They pulled the jewelry and anything really valuable and let the crowd take the rest. It did get a little wooly for a while, but the house got cleaned out fairly well for no cost to anyone. I went the first and last day. Bought some nice stuff on the first day, and got my items to craft with on the last one. Handed a kid who did fleas a vintage paella pan. He had no clue what it was and apparently no one else had either.(!)

As for companies who throw out anything they don't think is worthy .... grrrr. There are collectors for all sorts of odds and ends, and if it's in good shape there's an audience.

 

Most sales here run for one day. There are a few that run maybe 2 or 3 days but that is the exception not the rule. Some estate sale runners around here are doing auctions where they show the item with virtually no info and then people can bid and either pick up or some offer shipping only. I see some of the ending prices and they are low. I like to pick up the item myself and feel it and examine it with my eyes, I would not buy like that.

I have seen stuff at one sale that no one purchased turn up at another sale when the estate sale runner just brought it into the second house to try to move it. Not a terrible idea since we all can't get to all the sale going on at once or at all.

I think the worse and funniest sale I went to years ago, I got there and the house had a big fire about 2 weeks prior. The stink of smoke and fire was all over the place. The roof was all but gone. But this estate sale runner still had the sale. I left promptly shaking my head in disbelief. I did not know that this was a fire sale.

 

@pearlsnblume OMG! That is unreal!
The craziest one we did was the first one. We desperately needed/wanted a sale.

This gal came to us and said that she desperately needed a sale for her aunt and uncle's house. They had both gone in a nursing home and she needed every penny she could get for their bills. She also said that we HAD to move everything - as she didn't want the neighbors to all go visit the aunt and uncle and say "look what we got".

We took the sale. It was the most awful assortment of crap. They had been heavy smokers. EVERYTHING reeked! Everything had a yellow sticky residue. We washed, priced and packed what we could. Nearly every piece of glassware had a chip or crack. Furniture was mid-century usta be aqua living room furniture.

Begged a realtor to let us furnish a house she had on the market - God love her she agreed! We moved everything to the other location across town.

Day of the sale - we had a tiny crowd of about 20 people. First time there had been a "Official Estate Tag Sale" in our community. They came in, in a little pack, shuffled through like a little team of cockroaches, and shuffled out as quick as they came in. No sales! AGGGGH!!!!

CLEARLY we had overpriced the crap! SO, our next move was not letting anyone leave without buying SOMETHING! We wheeled and dealed! Begged and offered "buy one get one"! We had planned to run 3 days. Full price lasted a couple hours instead of all day. We quickly moved to 30% off and then 1/2 off before the end of the day. Offered bag lots.

Sunday (which in a churchy community was CLEARLY a bad idea) was a total bust. No one showed. Now we are scratching our heads wondering what to do with "most of the original contents". SIGH! Fortunately, someone who had come earlier to the sale came back with a trailer and offered us X amount for the whole remainder! We jumped on it. Gone - out the door!

I think we handed off a check to the executor of somewhere around $2000. Believe it or not; she was thrilled! WE, of course, perhaps made a buck an hour for all the time we put in - if that! But, we learned a lot AND did have our first sale behind us!

The next sale we had was much much better! Even had fun at that one!
Yah... whew!
Leslie

 

Tobacco smoke would have sent me running for the hills; I turn green. Probably others too. You really worked for that one.

 

It did, and it probably sent others running too! LOL! We definitely "worked it"... had no choice!
The only saving grace was that it was "dead" smoke. Not fresh and wafting. I have horrid allergies to cigarette smoke, so it was touchy. Fortunately, it was summer and we could have the doors and windows open. That helped. As I said, we washed what we could and then moving it all to another venue helped. As everything "looked" better in a freshly painted house that didn't reek of smoke. Truly, it was probably the "nastiest" in terms of smell and grunge that we encountered. We had others that were "nasty" but for other reasons.

Leslie

 

I went to an estate sale of a former fireman. Most of the house smelled of smoke and fire. His garb was the worst and reeked of fire fighting. The owners must not have realized it after years of living there. I was not happy to be there at all, this was pre mask era.
I did buy a few things that could not absorb the odor but didn't really stay as long as I normally would due to the smell.

 

Some places just smell BAD! I remember we helped with a sale (back up crew for another estate group) for a 1900's cabin on a scenic local lake. The family had just used it as a vacation spot for generations. It was FULL of great old stuff from the early 1900's. BUT, it had that musty, "mousey", mildewy smell about it. The great old Hudson Bay Blankets... there were dozens of them... all were full of mousey turds and were nibbled on. Seems to me that they decided to sell them as is, there were a lot of them... but it would have been cost prohibitive to have them all dry cleaned. Pee-U!
It was a great sale... and I think they sold out to the bare walls!
Leslie

 

@Born2it , I’m afraid you have a huge enemy here of TIME! You said this house needs to be emptied by the end of the month, and February is a short month so that is less than three weeks away! And you won’t even be able to get started for another week.

Someone who has done estate sales correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t see any estate liquidator organizing, sorting, opening all the boxes, pricing, setting up, taking pics, advertising, etc in only two weeks. And I don’t think any company would remove the contents for sale elsewhere given the apparent value and condition of the contents. Unless I’m wrong, that means you’ll have to do this yourself.

You don’t want to have to PAY a company to simply remove everything (which is what Davey does). These companies collect a lot of money to remove everything, then sort through the contents and sell anything of value, getting paid twice. But if you run out of time, you will have to do that, which is really throwing your money away. Your primary focus needs to be on getting everything out of the house on time.

I looked at the pics you included in a previous post. Start with the biggest pieces first. From what I saw, there was no furniture that would sell for more than tens of dollars each. So you should find all the local thrift donation places and find out what they’ll take. If you have time, run a yard sale for the large items, with a plan for what to do with the leftovers (thrift donations or even craigslist free listing for what no one will take). Anything is better than going in a dumpster. Include in the sale anything you know the value of and know you don’t want. But don’t get bogged down thinking you need to sort everything, because it is doubtful you’ll have time. Try to do the largest and unboxed stuff.

Besides furniture I see a ton of boxes and a ton of books and papers. The good thing about those is they are easy to move and compact to store. You don’t have time to sort it all for a yard sale so when researching local thrifts also look for local storage units. Plan to take all your boxes and books you don’t have time to go through, CLEARLY MARK WHAT IS IN THEM and stack them up in a storage unit. Add in anything you find that you know you want to keep and any better furniture you come across or smalls that can also be put in boxes.

The better you organize the storage (books from papers from glass from ...) the easier it will be when you go through it all to do a thoughtful, thorough sorting. Plan when you’ll come back to sort - it can be fun when you don’t have time pressure and can properly research things. Set a date for when you’ll empty the storage - don’t let it go too long.

P.s. here’s the thread with pics: https://www.antiquers.com/threads/homes-for-barely-vintage-ephemera.68206/

 

Where are the pictures from @Born2it
I must have missed that part of a thread or post.
Can someone direct me to it via a link
Thank you
Gotta go to the dentist, later taters.

Thanks for the link.

 

Just a suggestion that Peggy @bercrystal
mentioned. Get one of those pod things that you can park in the driveway and put all the must save items that you or your family wants to keep in there and lock it up tight.

I know Sisters In Charge estate sales sometimes takes homes that they do not go thru all the boxes or rooms and just let people dig for treasure. It is not considered their usual set up where they put everything out on tables. I would think this is done if there is a need to move things along at a faster pace. The people I know that attend sales around here (the regulars) don't mind digging around for hours.
And please make sure that the electricity works in the house so people can see what they are digging for.

Anyway, I hope you can get this going and accomplish what you need to do.

 

@Jeff Drum you are so right. They have very little time! I hope they can figure a good plan of action!

Leslie