Liquidating Your Parent's Home Fast and Efficiently: Hiring A Professional Estate Sale Service

Getting Rid Of Your Parent's Stuff Quickly And Efficiently

One of the fastest and most efficient ways to get rid of a house full of stuff after a family member has passed on or mom/dad decides to move to an assisted living facility or smaller place is to have an estate sale in the home. You can recruit family members to help you hold the sale (BIG JOB) or engage an estate sale professional to conduct the sale for you (SENSIBLE IDEA) .

When To Call In An Auction House

When there is a lot of very good furniture, paintings, jewelry you can also consider hiring an auction service that may actually run the auction right on the premises or select out some of the contents to sell in their auction house.


When An Estate Or Tag Sale Makes Sense

While calling in an auction house may make sense for some estates, for many families, the treasures left behind fall more into the tag, garage or yard sale category than the gavel category. Boxes of unopened can openers, kitchen canisters, glassware, store premiums etc. do well when sold at an organized estate or garage sale. The same is true for older linens in fair condition, common book collections, knick knacks, housewares, Made In Japan figurines, holiday decorations, luggage, old boxes, old tins, clothing, lawn furniture, records, common paper collectibles, tools, puzzles, etc. Of course you may have a few gems hidden in the piles of accumulated stuff. This is a perfectly sound reason why getting professional help makes sense.

Professionals Have Know How Which Is Key To Having A Successful Estate Sale

The task of pricing lots of "smalls" can be quite a project and it is great to have experienced professionals come into you home and do all the tedious work. Estate sale companies bring tables, staff and know how to your sale making the process so much smoother. Professionals also know how to promote and advertise a sale which is key to the process.

Networking To Others in The Estate Liquidation Business

People who run the sale for you can be a tremendous help because they are usually already networked to others in the business such as auctioneers, antique dealers, delivery and trash services. It can be an overwhelming task for adult children to come into their parent's home and know how to disperse years worth of furniture, collectibles and JUNK.

Stages of Liquidating The Contents Of An Estate

1. Family members visit the home and review and discuss the contents of the home and any written directives about who is getting what. If nothing was in writing, the immediate family needs to talk about how they are going to divide the contents.

2. The next step is to disperse sentimental and requested items among adult children, grandchildren, relatives etc.

3.The family should then make decisions about how to disperse the rest of the home, garage, attic.

4. Families should discuss possible options available to them when deciding to liquidate ta parent's home. Family members can liquidate a home themselves or engage a professional estate sale liquidator .

5. Next, a designated family member calls in a few estate sale professionals to interview them about their services.

How To Find Estate Sale Professional

1. Visit Estate Mavens a wonderful forum for resources on my site I Antique Onlile.com
2. Network with friends who have used services.
3. Contact a a trusted real estate company who will know of services.
4. Call a reputable auction house for referrals of estate sale professionals.
5. Ask a local and trusted antique shop or antique mall for referrals.
6. Look at advertisements in you local newspaper to see who is actively doing this work.
7. Check out http://www.estatesales.net/
8. Watch for sales in your area and visit a sale run by professionals.

These wonderful photos are from the collection at http://www.etsy.com/shop/kelleystreetvintage

C. Dianne Zweig is the author of Hot Kitchen & Home Collectibles of the 30s, 40s, 50s and Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes. She is also the Editor of I Antique Online an actively growing internet based resource community for people who buy, sell or collect antiques, collectibles and art. You can find Dianne’s fabulous retro and vintage kitchen, home and cottage collectibles at The Collinsville Antiques Company of New Hartford, CT, a 22,000 feet antique emporium with an in-house retro café.To read more articles by C. Dianne Zweig click on this link: C. Dianne Zweig’s Blog Kitsch ‘n Stuff Email me at dianne@cdiannezweig.comVisit my website, CDianneZweig.comDianne is a member of:The American Society of Journalists and AuthorsThe Society of Professional Journalists