Everyone who undertakes an estate liquidation is driven to get the most value out of it. While you should want to pocket as much from the estate sale as you can, you shouldn’t necessarily look to do so by engaging the cheapest estate liquidator.
There is a lot that goes into preparing an estate for successful liquidation. For example, if an estate liquidator is only charging 35% when others want north of 45%, consider the possibility that they may not do as much to get you the value you expect from the estate sale.
Successful Estate Liquidations Come with Costs
It costs money to hold a successful estate sale. Experienced estate liquidators spend a great deal of time researching to get a realistic idea of what to charge for the various items in a property. If the owner was a collector, apart from engaging a good antique appraiser, there is even more reason to research thoroughly before setting base prices.
Again, all of the research and other duties involved in executing the sale, including setting up tables to display your items and the sales assistance on the days of the sale, require a staff that has to be paid.
If the estate sale ends up drawing a good crowd of buyers, having people to direct and answer buyers’ questions will help you get more of your items sold.
Good Estate Sale Companies Advertise to Attract the Right Buyers
To be successful with estate sales, you need a good mix of dealer-buyers and neighborhood folks. The old trick of placing a sign outside the gate is only useful in alerting locals to the sale. To attract dealer-buyers, you need to advertise widely, particularly in the places that they search for upcoming estate sales.
Good estate liquidators know the value of advertising on the right websites, and also showing as many pictures on the ads as possible. This is what gives people an idea of what they will find at the sale. Additionally, it will help them to decide which of the sales that week is worth their time. All of this advertising costs money which the estate sales company must recoup.
If you can’t attract enough buyers of the right caliber, you will be forced to discount items on the last day of the sale. This leads to overall low sales that won’t amount to much even if the estate liquidator only charged you a small percentage.
Don’t fixate on the price when selecting estate appraisers and liquidators. Rather, evaluate each on their experience as well as their potential to fetch you the highest proceeds from the sale.
Servicing the entire Tri-State area of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, Jerry’s Antiques and Estate Sales are expert estate appraisers. Contact us for a free consultation.
