Featured Finds Thread

Estate sale = The sale of a deceased persons entire belongings from their former domicile ( minus what the offspring decided to keep). This is the stuff they hung onto til the bitter end.

Estate auction = The shiny new stuff the kids brought in to the auction house after they threw all that old junk in a dumpster.

Garage sale = Young couples disposing of that walmart junk they impulse bought and outgrown diapers. They are not well off enough to afford a dumpster. And their ad shows they do not know what estate means.

 

Estate sale = The sale of a deceased persons entire belongings from their former domicile

This is what I had come to understand, but how do they do it? What's the usual routine? Turn the house into a shop? How do they prevent the light fingered from walking off with half the stuff?

 

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/estate-sale-lawyers.html

What is an Estate Sale?
An estate sale is any type of auction, yard sale, or garage sale that is meant to dispose of all or a significant portion of a person’s estate. A person’s estate is the sum total of all their possessions and assets, including both personal and real property.

Estate sales are governed by that body of laws that regulates estate administration (the management of one’s estate). Estate sales are also known as “estate liquidation” or “estate liquidation sales”. Thorough estate planning efforts will include instructions on conducting an estate sale if it becomes necessary to do so.

What is the Purpose of an Estate Sale?
There may be several reasons why an estate sale is conducted. The most common reason for an estate sale is the death of the property owner. In the event that the property cannot be distributed according to a will, the property may be sold in an estate sale.

In order to avoid obstacles such as fraud or error, it is best to hire a lawyer to draft and review the estate sale contract.

Other common reasons for an estate sale are:

• Relocation: Often times an estate holder may need to relocate quickly to a different area, for example if they have a new job in a different area. Instead of transporting various items of property, it can sometimes be easier to sell it and keep the proceeds.
• Court Order: A judge can issue a court order that requires an estate sale. This is common in conflicts where the parties cannot agree upon a suitable distribution of properties.
• Incapacitation: An estate holder may choose to sell part or all of their estate in the event that they become incapacitated.
• Other situations: Estate sales can happen for a variety of other reasons, for example if the property owner is moving into assisted living and their property cannot be taken with them.

I see the word ESTATE used a lot on eBay...I think the seller thinks that by adding that word that potential buyers will think the stuff is great,valueable,etc. LOL

 

I get the legal bit, I ws just wondering how people go about it so I can understand what people are talking about, typically a comment a few posts ago about turning up a couple of hours before the sale starts (yet it had already been on for at least a day)

 

My neighbor held a two day estate sale after the death of her hubby.

 

It seems a very hit and miss way of doing things. People that often know nothing of the market, pricing up stuff and piling it on trestle tables in the yard, presumably. No wonder some of you make such good finds for cents on the dollar.

The British way may be even more useless for the bereaved, the house clearance business often means people pay to have stuff taken away, or have it shifted for nothing, or just occasionaly get paid some small sum for the entire contents, most of which will appear at local flea markets with the local dump getting the rest.

The people who are the least likely to be able to recognise anything of value are the ones who are most likely to use house clearers so in this respect they do resemble the 'estate sale' demographic. as I envisage it.

 

Hi AF,
"Estate sales are useless. Dead people want too much money for their stuff." Estate sales were supposed to be a house clearing sale after someone dies. It now consists of a person/persons pricing and selling stuff of the estate and often bring in lots of stuff from their stores that won't sell. The worst of the lot are the ones that hike up the prices so no one buys the stuff and then buys the stuff at the end of the sale for pennies just to get rid of it.
Give me an honest yard/garage/tag sale anyday. The best stuff I have found came from church sales. Thift stores used to be great but around here they are the pits.
greg

 

Around here church sales have become the worst. The merchandise they get donated is mostly what the donors couldn't sell at their garage sale.

 

af...An estate sale, as the one I will be going to soon, is a sale that when a person passes away all their possessions or "estate" is sold usually by family members. It is held in the deceased persons home and usually everything in the house is for sale. These are always the best sales. At least in the area I live.

I don't like the way reply's don't show here... or show up as "see more" when I answered af's question only two reply's were showing but when I hit post many more reply's show and my answer was redundant

 

Family run Estate Sales are rare around here. Fun, but rare.
Almost all of them are run by Estate Sale companies.
I'm sure that could be because they didn't bill them as an ES, instead opting for Yard/Garage Sale, but still . . .

 

Estate sales around here are pretty much like that. Everything in the house if for sale and usually have prices. There are often many people whether family, friends or hired professionals hanging around to answer questions and keep an eye on things. Often the property is for sale too. I don't go too often as I don't find many bargains

 

Estate sales here in Canada usually mean that the owners are moving to a place where they can't take most of their stuff or the owners have died and the place needs to be cleared out. IOW, you can go in to the home and buy the stuff inside as opposed to a yard/garage sale where you can only buy the stuff that is put outside for sale. Also, people think "better stuff" when it's an estate sale as opposed to old toys, old books and old clothes at yard sales.

 

So, whilst typing my reply, there were piles more of the same that were posted. We all have pretty much the same thing here in NA. Where I live, not so much professionally-run estate sales. Usually just family members.

When we cleared out my parents' townhouse, DH took the unsold stuff to the dump. He was getting well-known as he made about 7 trips all-told over the duration. The worker there said that they get one or two loads a day from people clearing out their parents' homes and you can bet your biffy that some good stuff gets dumped. I'd like to do some "inspection" before they throw it in the bin!

Church sales and bazaars were great -- could get fun stuff for 25 cents! But, I say "were" because church attendance is way down and churches are closing. End of an era...

 

Our landfill has a trash and treasures building where people can drop off still usable things and people can take what they want. Much better than just dumping. They do charge if you want to drop off certain things like TVs. I had an old TV with VCR that I was about to drop off and pay the fee however someone else dropping off something asked if they could have it. Rule is as long as it doesn't touch the ground I could just hand it over...no fee... it was win/win!

 

Auctioneers used to sell the contents of quite modest houses on the premises, but that seems to have stopped now, I have not seen one for years.

At one sale I bought a ton and a half of coal, but then I had to bag it up and drive it home in my old Volvo estate car. It took about six trips and I was too filthy to come into the house at the end of it. But I did save about £100 I would have spent on coal anyway.

 

They still do estate auctions around here on site. I kind of like those, better chance of getting a good deal if you don't mind hanging around. Actually I really like a little local auction house around here....lots of estate items end up there anyway.

 

So..... I spent an hour and half helping the 2 family members hauling out tote after tote after tote , box after box after box of Christmas ....GARBAGE, I could not believe the crap this woman had packed away!! BUT when I also asked it there was any junk / costume jewelry they said that there was boxes of that as well....hmmmm. They felt so bad about me helping and not finding any thing they said they would keep it all separate and I could go through it when it was convenient for me..might just get lucky. NOT holding my breath I guess ya win some and lose some. And that's the "Rest of the Story" Good Day.