Tips For Before

Tips For A Smoother Process

• Make sure family has removed all items they would like to keep from the estate. Please do your due diligence in selecting and removing items before you sign any contracts.
• Discuss any and all concerns prior to signing any contracts, that way both you and your estate liquidator are in understandings with each other.
• Once the contract is signed and the liquidator has invested a large amount of time. We agreed on the items initially seen during the walk through, we have a reputation to up hold to and taking items will perceive we are pre-selling, and possibly tarnish our name.
• Remove all personal paperwork such as tax documents, birth certificates, social security cards, bank statements, old mail, etc.
• Make sure the contract is signed, all dates are set.
• Collect keys from neighbors, friends, and family. The less people that have access means less chance of items disappearing.
• Remove all family photos and keepsakes, such as diplomas and trophies.
• Remove any hidden stashes you may be aware of and if you can’t find possible hidden items let your estate sale company know. Many times people hide guns, money, jewelry, and other small valuable’s.
• Please remove all perishable food and clean out the refrigerator unless estate liquidator agrees to do so.
• Dispose of any prescription drugs. Many cities have prescription drop off boxes. Check with your local police station.

More Tips

• As a professional courtesy give your estate liquidator the space and room they need. We have a very big task ahead of us and interfering will only prolong the already hard process. We are the professional and you hired us for a reason.
• If any sensitive collections are found please discuss with your estate liquidator so they may help with options for either selling or discarding.
• Keep your expectation’s in neutral in regards to what items will actually sell for. We can’t be experts on every single thing, but a professional estate liquidator will know how to properly sell items at a fair market value. We know what items are currently selling at and the difference between retail, resale, and liquidation selling formats. What items are selling for and asking prices are two different things.
• Just like everything else in life other then taxes there is no guaranteed outcome with an estate sale, but you can count on us to do our very best and remember the more money you make the more money we make.
• Work together with your estate liquidator and give them their space as needed to set up. When it starts off good it will end good as well.

Tips For Letting Go

There’s nothing easy about letting go, especially when your handling the estate of a loved one. People sometimes keep more than they should, they believe they “need” these items, when in all reality they don’t. Not keeping to many of the items, will not only make it easier on you and the burden in your home but will also give your children an easier time when handling your estate when that time comes. We have many tips for before you hire!

Tips For Not Keeping To Much

• In a couple years from now, we may ask ourselves “why did I keep so much?” When we look around and see the clutter in our own home. Studies show that decluttering your home can reduce stress.
• Marital stress can happen because of all the clutter in the home.
• People tend to take to much not only for them but for their children and grandchildren, thinking they will want grandma’s porcelain dolls. It’s a painful realization when they don’t want it. You have to realize that these possessions are much more important to you and your parents versus the younger generation who have little attachment to materialistic things.
• Storage units are high in price now a days and are not a long term solution.
• Feeling guilty about what has happened is natural. If you hoard to much you can feel guilty vice versa keeping to little can cause guilt as well. Thinking, “Dad would be so upset if I sold that,” or “dad would want me to keep this.” You have to ask yourself “what do I want to keep?” It is completely OKAY to let go of these items if they are not sentimental to you. Keep in mind these things will bring joy to new people. The dos and dont’s of shopping an estate sale.

ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS

Be selective and keep very few items. Catch yourself if your keeping to much and put some back. If there is debt leave as much as possible to sell at the sale to pay off the bills. Be mindful of what you take for the future generations, it’s likely they won’t want it.

• Will you use the item?
• What is my reason for keeping it?
• Can someone use it more then me?
• Am I keeping it so no one else can have it?
• Do I REALLY need this?
• Does it have sentimental value?
• Do I have the time to deal with these items later?
• Will my family even want this stuff?
• What’s going to happen to it later?
• Do I even have the space?
• Do YOU want the mess?
• Contact us TODAY!

TIPS TO ASSIST YOU IN THIS PROCESS

• Try not to keep items just because they are valuable. Be mindful and approach this as a minimalist. Ask yourself if you really need it or will it have a purpose?
• Take photos of  items that have sentimental value, that way you can look back and relive the moments without the items taking up space.
• Take copies of family photos that you can put them on a memory card and distribute them to other family members.
• Be honest with yourself, you can’t fit your parents estate inside your home.