July 22, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of Garage Sales Unhinged, host Julie welcomes her longtime friend Sarah, who shares her extensive experience in navigating the complexities of finding an estate sale company. They discuss the differences between garage sales and estate sales, then delve into Sarah's personal journey managing her parents' downsizing and the logistical and emotional challenges involved. Sarah offers in-depth advice on evaluating and choosing the right estate sale company, taking stock of valuable items, understanding the contractual aspects, and effectively marketing the sale. This episode is a comprehensive guide for anyone faced with organizing an estate sale.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Welcome to garage sales Unhinged.
Where the characters are as quirky as the vines.
I'm Julie. And I'm Jake.
Join us as we dive into the wildworld of garage sales, yard
sales, estate sales, and anywhere second hand sales are
happening from. Bizarre bargains to hilarious
haggles. You won't believe the stories
we've got lined up. Let's get unhinged.
(00:24):
Welcome everyone to this week's episode of Garage Sales
Unhinged. I'm super excited to have one of
my good friends, Sarah, on this episode with us.
Hi, Sarah. Bye.
Sarah and I go way back and I don't know how far back, but
it's over 10 years. Yeah, yeah, that's weird.
(00:44):
Now that I think about it, I'm going.
Well, we're actually really longtime friends.
Yeah, decades. Almost.
Yeah, I mean, it's funny, I was telling my niece of like, yeah,
you know, my friend is going to come on the podcast.
And I was like, gosh, we must have been, we must have been
friends for 1518 years. And she looked at me.
(01:05):
She goes, my longest friendship is probably six years.
And I was like, well, you're 17.So I'm like, yeah, I would
imagine so. But yeah, it's amazing of the
adult friendships that we just keep going.
But Sarah's actually coming on the show to talk about how to
find an estate cell company because that having heard
(01:32):
Sarah's journey through that process, it's horrendous.
There's a lot. It's not something that I think
we are exposed to until we need it and so we don't understand
how it's different from a garagesale.
(01:52):
Yeah. Well, because also, and I just
want to set the stage to everyone, your parents are still
alive, they downsize, they movedinto a different venue.
And so like you and I'm, I'm sure in just regular estate sell
situations where maybe you have,you're clearing out a family
members home that's passed and all that stuff, there's still a
(02:13):
lot of emotional ties to things.And, and also like you want to
make sure you're working with the right essentially business
partner in estate cell to make sure that you know, your wishes
are being met, your parents wishes are being met, which is a
whole other aspect of it. And then also like the state
(02:34):
cell company is a business and they got to make money.
So correct where? OK, Sarah, So like if someone
needs to get an estate, So what do they do?
Where do they start? Well, you do have to take stock
of what you have. That was it's that, that seems
like an obvious statement, but I'm going to unpack that a
(02:56):
little bit. So because my parents are still
alive and we moved stuff into where they live, we moved a lot
of things because they moved into a 1600 square foot
apartment, you know, 2 bedroom living room.
They don't have a kitchen anymore, they will kind of
kitchenette situation. So we were able to take a lot
(03:21):
more of their things that I really anticipated.
And so I can go into a whole different conversation about
evaluating facilities for your parents and, and all of that
and, and finding moving partnersbecause it's a very different
kind of move. And so in that process, we found
(03:43):
someone who's very good at laying out space and was able to
take some more of my parents cherished items than we ever
anticipated, including art. So I'm going to ask you that.
So they took a lot more than youanticipated and you said art,
but like, are they taking thingsthat they enjoy or taking things
(04:05):
that they can't let go of or taking things that they're going
to utilize? Like because my parents also
have a lifetime of stuff, right?Like was it also a conversation
with your parents of what do youactually need?
Yes, there. It was all of what you said,
Julie. It's, you know, we started with
(04:27):
what are the things that you love here?
You know, what are the things that you love?
We all have a few things that we've picked up overtime
furniture wise or whatever that are just about function really.
We don't love them, but they work really well in the space
for the thing you need it to do.Great example, my parents had
this slate top buffet. So think about how heavy that
(04:53):
top is and the wood piece of furniture that goes underneath
it to support the slate. It's indestructible because it's
slate. So if he always been at an entry
as a dumping place because it couldn't be hurt, I assumed that
(05:15):
my parents loved this piece of furniture because it had always
had such a prominent place in their home.
It was completely functional because it has those doors that
you, you know, you have to push them to open them.
Yeah. But it's kind of concealed and
(05:35):
so you just look like an idiot and you're pushing and pushing
this piece of furniture. And then because it was older,
those didn't work as well as they used to.
So then you're fighting with this piece of it's a hoot.
OK, It's just a hoot. And you'd have to move the piece
of furniture anytime another piece of furniture was coming in
(05:56):
or out of the house. So this piece of furniture was a
family member at this point. It took that yeah, yeah.
Space and then the. One point, Dad, put those those
movers that you see like on the infomercials.
The sliding pad. The sliding pad things and he
just left them on the he was like, I'm not, I don't want to
lift this thing to do this againif we need to move this piece of
(06:18):
furniture anyway. So I assumed because of the
prominent place that this piece of furniture had that there was
importance. And so I kept saying, well, what
about the slate top table? And they finally go, we hate
that thing. We're not taking that into this
next chapter. And I think.
That they did take that. You're like, why?
Why are you taking that? Oh, many things.
(06:40):
OK, there wasn't one. There was many.
Many things, but that's because it's not my stuff.
Right. I don't have an attachment to
that thing. And a good example is a broken
music box. So my mom had collected small
(07:02):
collection. OK, this was not a giant
collection. A small collection of music
boxes. Some were Christmas and then
some weren't. One of them was a Wizard of Oz
scarecrow, Jack-in-the-box, you know, so he puts up at some
(07:26):
point it's broken you. Can't put it.
Back down. You fight it, you try to put it
down. Everybody in the family forgets
that it's broken. Everybody tries to put it down.
It's just a running joke. It's like it sure, you try and
fix it anyway. We moved it because it was a
memory of when we got it at the mall, at the Riverwalk in San
(07:49):
Antonio. I can tell you exactly where we
procured it, right? It sparks that memory.
It's great. Hope you had a good time.
It's New Year's, got to stay in a 10th house, you know, type
thing and see the fireworks, a little kid.
So you know, it's bedtime. I'm in my pajamas with my
(08:11):
dolphin from SeaWorld. Little did you know you'd be
keeping this jack-in-the-box allbroken.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, sure, absolutely.
But it's because it's their stuff and not mine.
Yeah. So, OK.
So and I know you talked to several estate sale companies.
Yeah. And it sounded like all of them
(08:32):
were saying, have you taken stock, have you taken inventory?
And that is really on, it's on your responsibility to get it
done. It's not like they come in and
start doing that for you. Correct.
Until you have moved. And that is that there are a
couple of big learning moments that I had in this process.
(08:53):
And one is estate sale companiesget booked once in advance.
They leverage weekends. Obviously there's only so many
weekends in a year. They there's a whole setup
process for them to go through everything inventory at price
it, research it, photograph, right.
(09:16):
There's there's a whole process.So a weekend is really a very
active two week prep for that weekend.
Yeah. And so depending on their staff
size, they take on different volumes.
So you need to book some way in advance, but it's difficult to
book them until you know exactlywhat you're going to have if the
(09:38):
people for whom you're having the estate sale are just moving
to another place, moving to another chapter of their life.
Right. Yeah.
Versus, you know, a death or thescenario where, you know,
somebody says, hey, we're retiring and we bought a house
in Santa Fe and we're not takingany of this with us.
(09:58):
Yeah, I know a couple people have done that.
Absolutely. They want a whole different
point of view in that House. Yep.
Are you planning a garage sale, yard sale, or estate sale and
need some help? Look no further than Garage Sale
Supply. They provide top notch resources
and expert advice to help you host the perfect sale.
From pricing tips to promotionalstrategies, they've got you
(10:20):
covered. Visit garagesalesupply.com and
make your next sell a success. And so, so until you know what
you have, you can't sell yourself to estate sale
companies. Because when I did the video
walkthrough of the quality of the pieces and things like that,
(10:42):
that were in their home for these companies to try to get on
their schedule, they were all raising their hands.
They loved it because of the antiques my parents had.
They've collected a lot of Asianantiques overtime.
So they have a, they have a point of view as well, which is
a helpful thing for estate salesto have some sort of point of
(11:06):
view. And but then once I showed them
what was left, they said you don't have enough for an estate
sale. Wow.
So then I'm in the scenario of do I try to sell the few pieces
of furniture which are left which most estate sale companies
don't actually care about? Furniture.
(11:28):
Oh, what do they? What do they care?
Because I always thought that was their bread and butter.
So what? What do they actually want?
Rugs, art, fine dishes, crystal,etcetera.
And then in this case, the home that they're moving out of is
(11:49):
being demolished. And so they sold the air
conditioners, they sold the garage door opener, they sold,
you know, fans and yeah, all kinds of things.
Oh that's interesting, I didn't even think about like the actual
the. Leers.
Yeah, furnishings of the house, home decor type.
(12:11):
Things absolutely interesting and the, the home that they're
that they've sold it was built initially in 1910.
It's 1000 square feet. And then they came in and did a,
a large addition, a 3000 square foot addition.
But they kept original hardwood floors, They kept the glass door
knobs. They kept a number of things
(12:34):
which for some salvage yards where builders go looking for
those kinds of things. Sometimes you can sell floors
for that. You know, the builder who is
demolishing it that bought it wanted those things.
So we didn't sell those things because they taught value for
themselves in those items. But you know, the estate sale,
(12:57):
depending on what's happening tothe house as well, can look very
different and who they market itto.
So they have a whole contact list of builders when a house is
going to be demolished. The reason we ended up getting
to do an estate sale is because the house is being demolished.
(13:19):
Another house that they had signed a contract with, somehow
in the closing, everything got moved up by a month.
Oh, wow. Happened to be geographically
nearby. And if your house is getting
demolished, it doesn't matter how many holes they put in walls
to hang a Bart to display things.
(13:41):
Doesn't matter. Yeah.
Whereas if it's being sold for somebody to move in, as we all
know, you've got to have the walls patched.
You've got to have an uphouse inin good standing.
Yeah. So we ended up getting to have
an estate sale because we're quite worried about the whole
thing because it was getting demolished and so they could
(14:03):
move in all the stuff and if they dinged stuff up it didn't
matter. Yeah.
So because I remember whenever this came about, you and I were
actually together in another state and you were so excited
about this because the other state sell their house is
getting demolished before your parents house.
And so everything had to move from that house into your
(14:25):
parents house. But then that estate sale event
was going to have a lot more options and a lot more eyeballs
coming through because that estate sale company essentially
had more inventory in one spot instead of trying to like to
figure out get multiple people into different spaces.
Correct. And so one of the things you,
you know, your original questionwas, you know, how do you find a
(14:47):
company? So if we had not moved all of
those beautiful antiques and things like that, then companies
who run estate sales that also are consignment for antiques
were very interested in US because whatever they didn't
(15:09):
sell would work beautifully in their consignment business.
So did you know that they had a consignment business whenever
you started talking to the statesale companies?
Absolutely. OK.
So the ones with either consignment businesses or
storefronts of some kind are typically more turnkey for you
(15:37):
for that reason, because they may see a piece in your home or
a dish set in your home and theyknow that that thing is going to
move at their storefront faster and for more than at an estate
sale. OK, so I do.
Understand pricing. Yeah.
(15:57):
That's the other thing if like, especially if you like, if your
parents have Asian antiques, youwant to go with a company that
understands that market and thatbuyer versus someone who maybe
is really into American folk art.
Correct, it's 2. Different buyers, two different
markets. Absolutely so.
(16:19):
I have a big question for you real quick.
What if someone needs to get an estate sale company?
Did you just, did you just search for it on the Internet?
How did? How did?
Where did you start the process?So I have a neighborhood
Facebook group. It's for moms.
(16:39):
You know, anything you ask for resources and you know, you can
search in those groups. And so I first did a search
before I did a post. The post was about four or five
years old. So I commented to see if anybody
had anything to add. My parents love to state sales
and so I already knew of a few companies and some of those
(17:05):
companies were the ones that were recommended.
Additionally, the moving companythat we used gave us reference
references. Oh nice.
For estate sale companies, because their business is
helping people downsize. Yeah.
(17:25):
So they're accustomed to this. So that was really how we got
the list, so to speak. And then to be honest with you,
that market is a really friendlymarket.
You call them, you talk to them,you send them the videos of your
home and what's last and all of that.
You know, one of them said, I don't have anything available
(17:47):
for three months. I overheard that.
So and so who I really like and trust, one just fell through.
You might call and see if they've already scheduled that
weekend, You know, so they're, they were very giving as well.
They didn't just give me like a list of 20.
They said these are the three that I trust.
(18:07):
The most? Yeah, that's awesome.
So it started with, you know, asking basically my peer group,
has anybody dealt with this? And in that group, when I say
peer age wise, you, you can havea, a 65 year old and a 20, 6
(18:28):
year old, you can break all the fire is that you've had a child
and you live in that area. So some of them had gone through
that, right? So that was helpful.
And then again, resources for the people who are in that all
the time, whether it was the estate sale people giving me
references or it was the mover giving me references.
(18:50):
Sorry I got to let our our audience know so Sarah and I can
see each other. This podcast is only audio, but
as she was finishing up her sentence, I just see a cat tail
come up. So I'm always also, you have a,
is that a Lego cat behind you onthe ledge?
OK, so I saw that one. I was like, oh, that's not one
of her cats, but like it's sitting there.
(19:10):
It's a Lego cat. But then real cat showed up and
presented its tail to me. So this is exciting times.
Yes, we have. We have you have another podcast
since you're feeling here. Wow, that's awesome.
What is your cat's name? This cat is Garbanzo.
We call him Bonzo. Love it.
Yes, and his the story is Pinto,so they are the beans.
(19:34):
I mean, they do have cute toe beans, so, and I'll go garbanzo
is the color of a garbanzo bean.It's a pretty stabby so.
Yes, he is an orange. Big old orange dumb cat.
He's he's living his best life. He is.
Living his best life. OK.
So one of the things you said was, you know, the moving
(19:56):
companies have recommendations as well.
And that's such a smart angle aswell, like for people that are
trying to find this resource, you know, the moving companies
move for the estate sale companies too, and they're going
to recommend the people that work well with them.
So that's an interesting angle. Hadn't thought about that.
(20:18):
One of the other things, becauseI was of course thinking about
the fact that we were going to be talking and just never know
what Julie's going to ask. Makes life fun.
It does, but I was reflecting on, you know, what is the
difference between an estate sale and in a garage sale or
(20:38):
people that need to go through that.
And the fundamental difference is it is the end of a chapter,
positive or negative, right? It's an end of a chapter and you
know, a garage sale, you might have one because you've finished
the chapter of having small children and so you're getting
(21:00):
rid or you're renovating and youknow, there's things that you're
ready to let go of because they're not going to have a
space for it, you know, but they're micro, right?
Isn't the end of your forever home, right?
And you, you said something earlier about, you know, in
(21:22):
terms of what they took and whatthey didn't take and throw the
emotional component of it. And one of the things I'm
grateful for that I learned in the estate sale process is that
you pick the company and you areout.
Oh, that's it. You are done.
(21:43):
They don't want you coming by tohelp with anything.
They, you know, communicate great with you.
You know, Hey, we've, we've finished everything's in the
house now We're priced feel really good about it.
Tomorrow's photography day, if you want to go to our website,
(22:03):
they will be up on this day. Not we're going to send you
photos of your home looking really weird.
Right, well, and I mean, so likepart of me is going, oh man,
that's so nice to know that someone else takes it, runs with
it, does what they need to do, But also on the other side of it
is like that was my parents stuff or that's my stuff.
And like, but also clearly they know don't come back because
(22:28):
you're just going to throw things for a Luke because you're
going to be like, oh, maybe I dowant to keep this thing right.
Or oh, it should be, you know, you should be asking for more,
whatever it may be. So while I am not hugely
sentimental as an individual, soI'm, you know, not like
everyone. Plus we had taken so many
(22:52):
wonderful things right to where my parents are right now, and
what was left felt very fragmented or without purpose.
Like a good thing. Is their dining room set well?
It doesn't really fit in my space.
It doesn't fit in my sister's face.
(23:13):
And my parents don't need a dining room because they're not
cooking. Right.
We don't need that anymore, right?
So I, I was very much when we were finding the estate sale
companies and all of that able to detach, I guess from what was
left. But when they basically took
took over the house, that was when the finality of the end of
(23:40):
this chapter really happened, you know, because it was the
first time we're handing it overto somebody else right away.
And so that was that was a very interesting and and liberating
at the same time, interesting and liberating.
The other thing that happens with the state sales that you
(24:01):
probably don't think about with garage sales in the same way
because you just don't have the same quantity as whatever's
left. What are you going to do with
it? Your option of course, is you
take it to a dumpster. You can have a dumpster
delivered. You know all those things.
Donations. All friends, donation
organizations and their trucks get booked up.
(24:25):
Yeah. At least a month in advance.
And estate sale companies have relationships with those
organizations and they will sendout here's what's left from this
estate sale. And I'm just picking a day of
the week. I don't know that this is real.
So every Thursday those trucks go pick up stuff from estate
(24:46):
sales. They don't do pickups around
town. That's what they do.
Because if what they, if the veterans association needs a
dining room table and I don't know that it went there and it
wasn't sold. I have no idea where it went and
I don't want to know where it went right.
But say it wasn't sold and they had somebody that needed a
(25:07):
dining room table that the veterans association comes and
picks it up. Yeah.
So there's an estate sale company that I like to, they
have a store. Well, I like to go to their
store. Fun stuff, great furniture
pieces, man, I just like lookingat other people's loved items,
right. And they actually have several
(25:31):
items in their store that it didnot sell it in estate sells.
So that family, not consignment just gave it to them and they
brought it to their store and itsits there collecting dust until
somebody wants to purchase it. And things move.
People purchase. Yeah.
They start it. For people I don't know, if you
end up going to estate sell shop, you can haggle there.
(25:52):
Whatever the price is on the thing, you can still haggle.
So. But yeah, it's interesting.
I have donated furniture before to a woman's shelter and yes you
are correct trying to schedule them to come pick it up.
You're looking at weeks in advance so if you're like oh I
need to get rid of this by Friday, Nope you're out of luck.
(26:13):
You need to go get your own truck and move it.
And you don't know what you're going to have left, so you can't
call and say I've got a bed frame because you don't know if
you're going to have a bed frame.
Well, OK. So OK.
And you don't have to tell me the specifics of your situation,
but just to give our listeners an idea, like what do you do
(26:37):
with the contract terms for likehow much the state sell company
makes versus how much your parents make?
Like what is that money split? Like how and do you negotiate
that? It is a pretty set standard to
be honest with you. So in terms of what I outlined
where, you know, they came in and did any cleaning that needed
(27:01):
to be done, you know, with you've been to estate sales,
you've probably seen like in thekitchen, they'll take the
cabinet doors off, right? So that they can display, you
know, all, all of all of it, pricing, the research, the
photographs, the advertising, the outreach, again, to
builders, in this case, for the building materials that people
might want. And then the donation trucks.
(27:29):
They have the set times to meet anybody who needed to schedule a
pickup of larger things, right, That they purchase furniture or
something that didn't fit in their car.
They do. If you do all of that, you're
looking at 40%. Yeah, they're taking 40%.
And it's a pretty standard number when they're doing all
(27:50):
that turnkey stuff. Yeah, it's also like, that's a
lot of work. It's a lot of work.
It's so. Much work.
And so, you know, again, I, so Imade the choice.
Obviously I saw what was left ofour things because we went
through them and sorted and did the videos and all the all of
that. I did not go in once the other
(28:13):
family stuff was brought in there.
I thought that'd be a little weird right on somebody else's
stuff and our stuff all the sametime.
Plus, like I said, they take thecabinet doors I it turns into
display. Right.
It's it turns into a warehouse at that point.
Exactly, and I also find dolls creepy.
And apparently there were dolls there.
(28:35):
OK OK OK new haunted house idea for any estate sale company
listening when estate sale put abunch of creepy shit in there
during Halloween season right? And then sell tickets to let
people come through your estate sale with the opportunity to buy
stuff. Exactly.
Oh my gosh, no hitting so I didn't.
(28:57):
Sorry, now my head's going like,what's that, Halloween?
Is it the Halloween costume store that shows up everywhere?
What is it? Spirit.
Yes, Spirit. Needs to get into estate cells
and they can do the whole thing,no?
Kidding. Or they can go in.
They can partner with like builders that buy properties and
(29:20):
we're going to either remodel them or knock them down and they
should make money for a couple weeks.
There's a hurted house in there.I'm just imagining like Spirit
showing up in my residential neighborhood of like, not only
have they taken over the old Walgreens, but now they're
taking over Sharon's old house. Oh, that's awesome.
(29:42):
Oh shoot, I lost my train of thought there.
Sorry. Oh, I remember it was.
I didn't go in when all the stuff was there, and then I went
in yesterday, so the house closed today.
So I went in yesterday to say goodbye and it was remarkable.
There was nothing in it. It was great.
Yeah. And I didn't do any of that.
(30:05):
I didn't have to do any of it. And that's so nice of, you know,
helping your parents out with this next chapter of their life.
You still had a house with stuffin it and to be able to give the
reins to somebody else that's a pro at it.
And they just take care of everything.
(30:26):
And you're still meeting deadlines.
You're still meeting like, hey, we gotta get everything out by
this. Yep, done exactly.
That is such a I'm breathing as a sigh of relief for you.
Yeah. Well, you know, and when we
didn't know if we were going to be able to do an estate sale, to
be honest with you, I was sitting there going, Oh my gosh.
(30:47):
And now it's not really garage sale, but we could try that,
right? Because some of the stuff is, I
mean, it's valuable stuff. So do I start shopping this to
consignment? I was started getting really
overwhelmed. And then there's the question
(31:11):
also of if we're finished with it, how much money do we really
want to make right from it? Yeah.
So there's, you know, obviously there's a lot of that sort of
range of emotions and, and how much effort you want to put into
something and what it means to you.
(31:32):
And you know, when you're looking a real a great example,
one of the state sale lady, she was like, just don't just don't
donate the Spode. The what?
Spode, so it's found as a kind of China and here in the US we
typically see Spode more and as their Christmas China.
(31:53):
OK. Seen it in homes, and a lot of
the Spode my parents own and that I own is stuff they picked
up at estate sales. And it's just one of those
things that usually sells well. Yeah, Apparently desert rose
(32:14):
doesn't sell very well anymore. My grandmother had desert rose.
There's a lot of desert rose on the market.
But, you know, so I've got the estate sale lady.
So I'm like, well, do you want to buy the spout?
She said, well, if you don't find anybody to buy this spout,
I'll buy this spout. I'm going, oh, my God, I got a
piece meal. This sucker.
Yeah. Sounds like a nightmare, you
(32:35):
know. Well, and it, you know, it is
one of those things whenever youhad large pieces of furniture
like a dining table, dining chairs, all that stuff, the the
slate entry table, yes, you could work with consignment
stores to do that, but it's alsonow it's on you to schedule it,
to get it from point A to point B.
(32:56):
It's a lot. And people don't show up.
Yeah. They want to reschedule and
there's no Internet there anymore.
Yeah, sit there and work. And by the way, we're down to
like one chair, right, being on a hardwood floor.
(33:17):
It is the most epic game of musical chairs ever.
Exactly, and I have the one leftat the end.
Now it's like, now I'm picturingthe haunted house with a musical
chair and like, just Get Me Out of here.
Sorry, say sales are not creepy,folks.
Don't take what I'm saying. It's so.
(33:38):
Creepy. No, In fact, I mean, they
changed out light bulbs for bright lighting in certain
places. I mean, these people stage to
sell things. They know the science behind.
If we put this here and this is what's going to happen because
you're setting at, like you said, you're setting up a home
to be a warehouse, but not really where, you know, yeah, it
(34:01):
it becomes a store. And how do people like to shop?
And with how that house is oriented too, we all know the
kitchens that you get trapped inbecause of the way that they're
designed. Yep.
And so, but they've got to somehow use that kitchen.
Yeah, all things. Yeah, it's, I went to an estate
(34:22):
sale one time and I talked, I'vetalked about this before on the
show where you there's actually music out there that is music to
shop by and it's an upbeat playlist.
And I'm not, it's not just like one song or one playlist, but
there's different playlist out there that definitely retail
uses it. If you go into any mall or
(34:42):
Target or grocery store, they have background music playing to
encourage you to buy and to purchase and to do all that
stuff. And one day I went into two
different estate sales. One didn't have that ambiance or
anything like that. The other one did and the one
that was playing the ambience, they did change out the
lighting. They, they positioned the whole
(35:02):
house to be very shopper friendly.
They were making bank and there was a lot of people there and
they, and I went early and they still had quite a few things
left. They, this was the state sell
that they had a women's Armani suit.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, I know.
I was like, I wish I was that size.
I'd buy it. But it looked pretty up on the
hanger. Well, you mentioned even that
(35:25):
you follow an estate sale company.
Yeah. And that is for people who love
estate sales. They follow these people.
I mean, my parents did. They had a couple because they
have a point of view. They will.
Some won't take antiques. They don't want to mess with it.
(35:47):
Some don't care about Crystal. Some of them love it right when
it's do they have a consignment store?
Do they have a booth and an antique mall?
Do they have what? What are the other ways that
they sell stuff? Interestingly enough, even
though we didn't have any jewelry, the company that we
(36:08):
went with is known for their consignment jewelry in addition
to other. Things.
Oh nice. So their market, where they sit
is not far from my parents home in terms of where it sits in the
greater fabric of the city. Yeah.
Affluent, right? People who are looking for fine
(36:30):
jewelry, antique jewelry, are following them, so they're going
to like the kinds of things. You know, it's such a good
question to ask at state. SO companies that people may be
shopping around and asking them how big their list is of who
they market to and how many of those are like collectors or
(36:52):
builders or whatever that may be.
Because, again, you do want to go with a company that has a
good reputation that people wantto see what, you know, what's
the next sell they have coming up?
Because there's a greater likelihood that they will sell
more stuff if they're promoting it to a group of people that
already trust them. Exactly.
That's awesome. Yeah, well, we only have about a
(37:13):
minute left, so any final tidbits or advice for people
that may be looking for an estate sale company?
I. Think you wrapped it up pretty
nicely, Julie. I it's understand that to a
certain extent, they're in the driver's seat about who they
(37:34):
choose and who they don't chooseto work with.
So you're going to have to market yourself to them just as
much as you're looking for them.Yeah.
And when you're marketing what you have, what's either the
abundant theme of what you have or, you know, is it about a
(37:57):
particular stage of life? Is it about, you know what, what
is it in terms of the stuff thatyou have to offer them And take
a look how they're connected to their other businesses?
You know, again, if they are have a whole bunch of stalls and
antique malls, then, you know, they like to collect the little
(38:21):
clocks and the fine little crystal things and, or, or do
they collect funky 1950s things?Yeah.
What, what is it that they collect and align yourself just
like anytime you've got a position yourself in terms of
marketing, what is their point of view?
Is it very? That's probably really good if
(38:44):
it is, or is it really specific and you match that specificity?
I love it, yeah. So you've got to market yourself
and I don't think I understood that.
Part Yeah. Well, good words of advice,
Sarah. Thanks so much for coming on the
podcast and sharing your experience with listeners.
(39:06):
And if any listeners are out there and going, Oh my gosh, I
need to find an estate cell, useSarah's words of advice to make
the process a little bit easier for you.
Cool. Thanks Sarah, and let them do
the work. Yeah, let them do the work, hire
them and then step away. Well, thank you, Sarah, so much
for coming on the show. And everyone, thanks for
(39:29):
listening. We will see you next week.
Bye.
Welcome to garage sales Unhinged.
Where the characters are as quirky as the vines.
I'm Julie. And I'm Jake.
Join us as we dive into the wildworld of garage sales, yard
sales, estate sales, and anywhere second hand sales are
happening from. Bizarre bargains to hilarious
haggles. You won't believe the stories
we've got lined up. Let's get unhinged.
(00:24):
Welcome everyone to this week's episode of Garage Sales
Unhinged. I'm super excited to have one of
my good friends, Sarah, on this episode with us.
Hi, Sarah. Bye.
Sarah and I go way back and I don't know how far back, but
it's over 10 years. Yeah, yeah, that's weird.
(00:44):
Now that I think about it, I'm going.
Well, we're actually really longtime friends.
Yeah, decades. Almost.
Yeah, I mean, it's funny, I was telling my niece of like, yeah,
you know, my friend is going to come on the podcast.
And I was like, gosh, we must have been, we must have been
friends for 1518 years. And she looked at me.
(01:05):
She goes, my longest friendship is probably six years.
And I was like, well, you're 17.So I'm like, yeah, I would
imagine so. But yeah, it's amazing of the
adult friendships that we just keep going.
But Sarah's actually coming on the show to talk about how to
find an estate cell company because that having heard
(01:32):
Sarah's journey through that process, it's horrendous.
There's a lot. It's not something that I think
we are exposed to until we need it and so we don't understand
how it's different from a garagesale.
(01:52):
Yeah. Well, because also, and I just
want to set the stage to everyone, your parents are still
alive, they downsize, they movedinto a different venue.
And so like you and I'm, I'm sure in just regular estate sell
situations where maybe you have,you're clearing out a family
members home that's passed and all that stuff, there's still a
(02:13):
lot of emotional ties to things.And, and also like you want to
make sure you're working with the right essentially business
partner in estate cell to make sure that you know, your wishes
are being met, your parents wishes are being met, which is a
whole other aspect of it. And then also like the state
(02:34):
cell company is a business and they got to make money.
So correct where? OK, Sarah, So like if someone
needs to get an estate, So what do they do?
Where do they start? Well, you do have to take stock
of what you have. That was it's that, that seems
like an obvious statement, but I'm going to unpack that a
(02:56):
little bit. So because my parents are still
alive and we moved stuff into where they live, we moved a lot
of things because they moved into a 1600 square foot
apartment, you know, 2 bedroom living room.
They don't have a kitchen anymore, they will kind of
kitchenette situation. So we were able to take a lot
(03:21):
more of their things that I really anticipated.
And so I can go into a whole different conversation about
evaluating facilities for your parents and, and all of that
and, and finding moving partnersbecause it's a very different
kind of move. And so in that process, we found
(03:43):
someone who's very good at laying out space and was able to
take some more of my parents cherished items than we ever
anticipated, including art. So I'm going to ask you that.
So they took a lot more than youanticipated and you said art,
but like, are they taking thingsthat they enjoy or taking things
(04:05):
that they can't let go of or taking things that they're going
to utilize? Like because my parents also
have a lifetime of stuff, right?Like was it also a conversation
with your parents of what do youactually need?
Yes, there. It was all of what you said,
Julie. It's, you know, we started with
(04:27):
what are the things that you love here?
You know, what are the things that you love?
We all have a few things that we've picked up overtime
furniture wise or whatever that are just about function really.
We don't love them, but they work really well in the space
for the thing you need it to do.Great example, my parents had
this slate top buffet. So think about how heavy that
(04:53):
top is and the wood piece of furniture that goes underneath
it to support the slate. It's indestructible because it's
slate. So if he always been at an entry
as a dumping place because it couldn't be hurt, I assumed that
(05:15):
my parents loved this piece of furniture because it had always
had such a prominent place in their home.
It was completely functional because it has those doors that
you, you know, you have to push them to open them.
Yeah. But it's kind of concealed and
(05:35):
so you just look like an idiot and you're pushing and pushing
this piece of furniture. And then because it was older,
those didn't work as well as they used to.
So then you're fighting with this piece of it's a hoot.
OK, It's just a hoot. And you'd have to move the piece
of furniture anytime another piece of furniture was coming in
(05:56):
or out of the house. So this piece of furniture was a
family member at this point. It took that yeah, yeah.
Space and then the. One point, Dad, put those those
movers that you see like on the infomercials.
The sliding pad. The sliding pad things and he
just left them on the he was like, I'm not, I don't want to
lift this thing to do this againif we need to move this piece of
(06:18):
furniture anyway. So I assumed because of the
prominent place that this piece of furniture had that there was
importance. And so I kept saying, well, what
about the slate top table? And they finally go, we hate
that thing. We're not taking that into this
next chapter. And I think.
That they did take that. You're like, why?
Why are you taking that? Oh, many things.
(06:40):
OK, there wasn't one. There was many.
Many things, but that's because it's not my stuff.
Right. I don't have an attachment to
that thing. And a good example is a broken
music box. So my mom had collected small
(07:02):
collection. OK, this was not a giant
collection. A small collection of music
boxes. Some were Christmas and then
some weren't. One of them was a Wizard of Oz
scarecrow, Jack-in-the-box, you know, so he puts up at some
(07:26):
point it's broken you. Can't put it.
Back down. You fight it, you try to put it
down. Everybody in the family forgets
that it's broken. Everybody tries to put it down.
It's just a running joke. It's like it sure, you try and
fix it anyway. We moved it because it was a
memory of when we got it at the mall, at the Riverwalk in San
(07:49):
Antonio. I can tell you exactly where we
procured it, right? It sparks that memory.
It's great. Hope you had a good time.
It's New Year's, got to stay in a 10th house, you know, type
thing and see the fireworks, a little kid.
So you know, it's bedtime. I'm in my pajamas with my
(08:11):
dolphin from SeaWorld. Little did you know you'd be
keeping this jack-in-the-box allbroken.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, sure, absolutely.
But it's because it's their stuff and not mine.
Yeah. So, OK.
So and I know you talked to several estate sale companies.
Yeah. And it sounded like all of them
(08:32):
were saying, have you taken stock, have you taken inventory?
And that is really on, it's on your responsibility to get it
done. It's not like they come in and
start doing that for you. Correct.
Until you have moved. And that is that there are a
couple of big learning moments that I had in this process.
(08:53):
And one is estate sale companiesget booked once in advance.
They leverage weekends. Obviously there's only so many
weekends in a year. They there's a whole setup
process for them to go through everything inventory at price
it, research it, photograph, right.
(09:16):
There's there's a whole process.So a weekend is really a very
active two week prep for that weekend.
Yeah. And so depending on their staff
size, they take on different volumes.
So you need to book some way in advance, but it's difficult to
book them until you know exactlywhat you're going to have if the
(09:38):
people for whom you're having the estate sale are just moving
to another place, moving to another chapter of their life.
Right. Yeah.
Versus, you know, a death or thescenario where, you know,
somebody says, hey, we're retiring and we bought a house
in Santa Fe and we're not takingany of this with us.
(09:58):
Yeah, I know a couple people have done that.
Absolutely. They want a whole different
point of view in that House. Yep.
Are you planning a garage sale, yard sale, or estate sale and
need some help? Look no further than Garage Sale
Supply. They provide top notch resources
and expert advice to help you host the perfect sale.
From pricing tips to promotionalstrategies, they've got you
(10:20):
covered. Visit garagesalesupply.com and
make your next sell a success. And so, so until you know what
you have, you can't sell yourself to estate sale
companies. Because when I did the video
walkthrough of the quality of the pieces and things like that,
(10:42):
that were in their home for these companies to try to get on
their schedule, they were all raising their hands.
They loved it because of the antiques my parents had.
They've collected a lot of Asianantiques overtime.
So they have a, they have a point of view as well, which is
a helpful thing for estate salesto have some sort of point of
(11:06):
view. And but then once I showed them
what was left, they said you don't have enough for an estate
sale. Wow.
So then I'm in the scenario of do I try to sell the few pieces
of furniture which are left which most estate sale companies
don't actually care about? Furniture.
(11:28):
Oh, what do they? What do they care?
Because I always thought that was their bread and butter.
So what? What do they actually want?
Rugs, art, fine dishes, crystal,etcetera.
And then in this case, the home that they're moving out of is
(11:49):
being demolished. And so they sold the air
conditioners, they sold the garage door opener, they sold,
you know, fans and yeah, all kinds of things.
Oh that's interesting, I didn't even think about like the actual
the. Leers.
Yeah, furnishings of the house, home decor type.
(12:11):
Things absolutely interesting and the, the home that they're
that they've sold it was built initially in 1910.
It's 1000 square feet. And then they came in and did a,
a large addition, a 3000 square foot addition.
But they kept original hardwood floors, They kept the glass door
knobs. They kept a number of things
(12:34):
which for some salvage yards where builders go looking for
those kinds of things. Sometimes you can sell floors
for that. You know, the builder who is
demolishing it that bought it wanted those things.
So we didn't sell those things because they taught value for
themselves in those items. But you know, the estate sale,
(12:57):
depending on what's happening tothe house as well, can look very
different and who they market itto.
So they have a whole contact list of builders when a house is
going to be demolished. The reason we ended up getting
to do an estate sale is because the house is being demolished.
(13:19):
Another house that they had signed a contract with, somehow
in the closing, everything got moved up by a month.
Oh, wow. Happened to be geographically
nearby. And if your house is getting
demolished, it doesn't matter how many holes they put in walls
to hang a Bart to display things.
(13:41):
Doesn't matter. Yeah.
Whereas if it's being sold for somebody to move in, as we all
know, you've got to have the walls patched.
You've got to have an uphouse inin good standing.
Yeah. So we ended up getting to have
an estate sale because we're quite worried about the whole
thing because it was getting demolished and so they could
(14:03):
move in all the stuff and if they dinged stuff up it didn't
matter. Yeah.
So because I remember whenever this came about, you and I were
actually together in another state and you were so excited
about this because the other state sell their house is
getting demolished before your parents house.
And so everything had to move from that house into your
(14:25):
parents house. But then that estate sale event
was going to have a lot more options and a lot more eyeballs
coming through because that estate sale company essentially
had more inventory in one spot instead of trying to like to
figure out get multiple people into different spaces.
Correct. And so one of the things you,
you know, your original questionwas, you know, how do you find a
(14:47):
company? So if we had not moved all of
those beautiful antiques and things like that, then companies
who run estate sales that also are consignment for antiques
were very interested in US because whatever they didn't
(15:09):
sell would work beautifully in their consignment business.
So did you know that they had a consignment business whenever
you started talking to the statesale companies?
Absolutely. OK.
So the ones with either consignment businesses or
storefronts of some kind are typically more turnkey for you
(15:37):
for that reason, because they may see a piece in your home or
a dish set in your home and theyknow that that thing is going to
move at their storefront faster and for more than at an estate
sale. OK, so I do.
Understand pricing. Yeah.
(15:57):
That's the other thing if like, especially if you like, if your
parents have Asian antiques, youwant to go with a company that
understands that market and thatbuyer versus someone who maybe
is really into American folk art.
Correct, it's 2. Different buyers, two different
markets. Absolutely so.
(16:19):
I have a big question for you real quick.
What if someone needs to get an estate sale company?
Did you just, did you just search for it on the Internet?
How did? How did?
Where did you start the process?So I have a neighborhood
Facebook group. It's for moms.
(16:39):
You know, anything you ask for resources and you know, you can
search in those groups. And so I first did a search
before I did a post. The post was about four or five
years old. So I commented to see if anybody
had anything to add. My parents love to state sales
and so I already knew of a few companies and some of those
(17:05):
companies were the ones that were recommended.
Additionally, the moving companythat we used gave us reference
references. Oh nice.
For estate sale companies, because their business is
helping people downsize. Yeah.
(17:25):
So they're accustomed to this. So that was really how we got
the list, so to speak. And then to be honest with you,
that market is a really friendlymarket.
You call them, you talk to them,you send them the videos of your
home and what's last and all of that.
You know, one of them said, I don't have anything available
(17:47):
for three months. I overheard that.
So and so who I really like and trust, one just fell through.
You might call and see if they've already scheduled that
weekend, You know, so they're, they were very giving as well.
They didn't just give me like a list of 20.
They said these are the three that I trust.
(18:07):
The most? Yeah, that's awesome.
So it started with, you know, asking basically my peer group,
has anybody dealt with this? And in that group, when I say
peer age wise, you, you can havea, a 65 year old and a 20, 6
(18:28):
year old, you can break all the fire is that you've had a child
and you live in that area. So some of them had gone through
that, right? So that was helpful.
And then again, resources for the people who are in that all
the time, whether it was the estate sale people giving me
references or it was the mover giving me references.
(18:50):
Sorry I got to let our our audience know so Sarah and I can
see each other. This podcast is only audio, but
as she was finishing up her sentence, I just see a cat tail
come up. So I'm always also, you have a,
is that a Lego cat behind you onthe ledge?
OK, so I saw that one. I was like, oh, that's not one
of her cats, but like it's sitting there.
(19:10):
It's a Lego cat. But then real cat showed up and
presented its tail to me. So this is exciting times.
Yes, we have. We have you have another podcast
since you're feeling here. Wow, that's awesome.
What is your cat's name? This cat is Garbanzo.
We call him Bonzo. Love it.
Yes, and his the story is Pinto,so they are the beans.
(19:34):
I mean, they do have cute toe beans, so, and I'll go garbanzo
is the color of a garbanzo bean.It's a pretty stabby so.
Yes, he is an orange. Big old orange dumb cat.
He's he's living his best life. He is.
Living his best life. OK.
So one of the things you said was, you know, the moving
(19:56):
companies have recommendations as well.
And that's such a smart angle aswell, like for people that are
trying to find this resource, you know, the moving companies
move for the estate sale companies too, and they're going
to recommend the people that work well with them.
So that's an interesting angle. Hadn't thought about that.
(20:18):
One of the other things, becauseI was of course thinking about
the fact that we were going to be talking and just never know
what Julie's going to ask. Makes life fun.
It does, but I was reflecting on, you know, what is the
difference between an estate sale and in a garage sale or
(20:38):
people that need to go through that.
And the fundamental difference is it is the end of a chapter,
positive or negative, right? It's an end of a chapter and you
know, a garage sale, you might have one because you've finished
the chapter of having small children and so you're getting
(21:00):
rid or you're renovating and youknow, there's things that you're
ready to let go of because they're not going to have a
space for it, you know, but they're micro, right?
Isn't the end of your forever home, right?
And you, you said something earlier about, you know, in
(21:22):
terms of what they took and whatthey didn't take and throw the
emotional component of it. And one of the things I'm
grateful for that I learned in the estate sale process is that
you pick the company and you areout.
Oh, that's it. You are done.
(21:43):
They don't want you coming by tohelp with anything.
They, you know, communicate great with you.
You know, Hey, we've, we've finished everything's in the
house now We're priced feel really good about it.
Tomorrow's photography day, if you want to go to our website,
(22:03):
they will be up on this day. Not we're going to send you
photos of your home looking really weird.
Right, well, and I mean, so likepart of me is going, oh man,
that's so nice to know that someone else takes it, runs with
it, does what they need to do, But also on the other side of it
is like that was my parents stuff or that's my stuff.
And like, but also clearly they know don't come back because
(22:28):
you're just going to throw things for a Luke because you're
going to be like, oh, maybe I dowant to keep this thing right.
Or oh, it should be, you know, you should be asking for more,
whatever it may be. So while I am not hugely
sentimental as an individual, soI'm, you know, not like
everyone. Plus we had taken so many
(22:52):
wonderful things right to where my parents are right now, and
what was left felt very fragmented or without purpose.
Like a good thing. Is their dining room set well?
It doesn't really fit in my space.
It doesn't fit in my sister's face.
(23:13):
And my parents don't need a dining room because they're not
cooking. Right.
We don't need that anymore, right?
So I, I was very much when we were finding the estate sale
companies and all of that able to detach, I guess from what was
left. But when they basically took
took over the house, that was when the finality of the end of
(23:40):
this chapter really happened, you know, because it was the
first time we're handing it overto somebody else right away.
And so that was that was a very interesting and and liberating
at the same time, interesting and liberating.
The other thing that happens with the state sales that you
(24:01):
probably don't think about with garage sales in the same way
because you just don't have the same quantity as whatever's
left. What are you going to do with
it? Your option of course, is you
take it to a dumpster. You can have a dumpster
delivered. You know all those things.
Donations. All friends, donation
organizations and their trucks get booked up.
(24:25):
Yeah. At least a month in advance.
And estate sale companies have relationships with those
organizations and they will sendout here's what's left from this
estate sale. And I'm just picking a day of
the week. I don't know that this is real.
So every Thursday those trucks go pick up stuff from estate
(24:46):
sales. They don't do pickups around
town. That's what they do.
Because if what they, if the veterans association needs a
dining room table and I don't know that it went there and it
wasn't sold. I have no idea where it went and
I don't want to know where it went right.
But say it wasn't sold and they had somebody that needed a
(25:07):
dining room table that the veterans association comes and
picks it up. Yeah.
So there's an estate sale company that I like to, they
have a store. Well, I like to go to their
store. Fun stuff, great furniture
pieces, man, I just like lookingat other people's loved items,
right. And they actually have several
(25:31):
items in their store that it didnot sell it in estate sells.
So that family, not consignment just gave it to them and they
brought it to their store and itsits there collecting dust until
somebody wants to purchase it. And things move.
People purchase. Yeah.
They start it. For people I don't know, if you
end up going to estate sell shop, you can haggle there.
(25:52):
Whatever the price is on the thing, you can still haggle.
So. But yeah, it's interesting.
I have donated furniture before to a woman's shelter and yes you
are correct trying to schedule them to come pick it up.
You're looking at weeks in advance so if you're like oh I
need to get rid of this by Friday, Nope you're out of luck.
(26:13):
You need to go get your own truck and move it.
And you don't know what you're going to have left, so you can't
call and say I've got a bed frame because you don't know if
you're going to have a bed frame.
Well, OK. So OK.
And you don't have to tell me the specifics of your situation,
but just to give our listeners an idea, like what do you do
(26:37):
with the contract terms for likehow much the state sell company
makes versus how much your parents make?
Like what is that money split? Like how and do you negotiate
that? It is a pretty set standard to
be honest with you. So in terms of what I outlined
where, you know, they came in and did any cleaning that needed
(27:01):
to be done, you know, with you've been to estate sales,
you've probably seen like in thekitchen, they'll take the
cabinet doors off, right? So that they can display, you
know, all, all of all of it, pricing, the research, the
photographs, the advertising, the outreach, again, to
builders, in this case, for the building materials that people
might want. And then the donation trucks.
(27:29):
They have the set times to meet anybody who needed to schedule a
pickup of larger things, right, That they purchase furniture or
something that didn't fit in their car.
They do. If you do all of that, you're
looking at 40%. Yeah, they're taking 40%.
And it's a pretty standard number when they're doing all
(27:50):
that turnkey stuff. Yeah, it's also like, that's a
lot of work. It's a lot of work.
It's so. Much work.
And so, you know, again, I, so Imade the choice.
Obviously I saw what was left ofour things because we went
through them and sorted and did the videos and all the all of
that. I did not go in once the other
(28:13):
family stuff was brought in there.
I thought that'd be a little weird right on somebody else's
stuff and our stuff all the sametime.
Plus, like I said, they take thecabinet doors I it turns into
display. Right.
It's it turns into a warehouse at that point.
Exactly, and I also find dolls creepy.
And apparently there were dolls there.
(28:35):
OK OK OK new haunted house idea for any estate sale company
listening when estate sale put abunch of creepy shit in there
during Halloween season right? And then sell tickets to let
people come through your estate sale with the opportunity to buy
stuff. Exactly.
Oh my gosh, no hitting so I didn't.
(28:57):
Sorry, now my head's going like,what's that, Halloween?
Is it the Halloween costume store that shows up everywhere?
What is it? Spirit.
Yes, Spirit. Needs to get into estate cells
and they can do the whole thing,no?
Kidding. Or they can go in.
They can partner with like builders that buy properties and
(29:20):
we're going to either remodel them or knock them down and they
should make money for a couple weeks.
There's a hurted house in there.I'm just imagining like Spirit
showing up in my residential neighborhood of like, not only
have they taken over the old Walgreens, but now they're
taking over Sharon's old house. Oh, that's awesome.
(29:42):
Oh shoot, I lost my train of thought there.
Sorry. Oh, I remember it was.
I didn't go in when all the stuff was there, and then I went
in yesterday, so the house closed today.
So I went in yesterday to say goodbye and it was remarkable.
There was nothing in it. It was great.
Yeah. And I didn't do any of that.
(30:05):
I didn't have to do any of it. And that's so nice of, you know,
helping your parents out with this next chapter of their life.
You still had a house with stuffin it and to be able to give the
reins to somebody else that's a pro at it.
And they just take care of everything.
(30:26):
And you're still meeting deadlines.
You're still meeting like, hey, we gotta get everything out by
this. Yep, done exactly.
That is such a I'm breathing as a sigh of relief for you.
Yeah. Well, you know, and when we
didn't know if we were going to be able to do an estate sale, to
be honest with you, I was sitting there going, Oh my gosh.
(30:47):
And now it's not really garage sale, but we could try that,
right? Because some of the stuff is, I
mean, it's valuable stuff. So do I start shopping this to
consignment? I was started getting really
overwhelmed. And then there's the question
(31:11):
also of if we're finished with it, how much money do we really
want to make right from it? Yeah.
So there's, you know, obviously there's a lot of that sort of
range of emotions and, and how much effort you want to put into
something and what it means to you.
(31:32):
And you know, when you're looking a real a great example,
one of the state sale lady, she was like, just don't just don't
donate the Spode. The what?
Spode, so it's found as a kind of China and here in the US we
typically see Spode more and as their Christmas China.
(31:53):
OK. Seen it in homes, and a lot of
the Spode my parents own and that I own is stuff they picked
up at estate sales. And it's just one of those
things that usually sells well. Yeah, Apparently desert rose
(32:14):
doesn't sell very well anymore. My grandmother had desert rose.
There's a lot of desert rose on the market.
But, you know, so I've got the estate sale lady.
So I'm like, well, do you want to buy the spout?
She said, well, if you don't find anybody to buy this spout,
I'll buy this spout. I'm going, oh, my God, I got a
piece meal. This sucker.
Yeah. Sounds like a nightmare, you
(32:35):
know. Well, and it, you know, it is
one of those things whenever youhad large pieces of furniture
like a dining table, dining chairs, all that stuff, the the
slate entry table, yes, you could work with consignment
stores to do that, but it's alsonow it's on you to schedule it,
to get it from point A to point B.
(32:56):
It's a lot. And people don't show up.
Yeah. They want to reschedule and
there's no Internet there anymore.
Yeah, sit there and work. And by the way, we're down to
like one chair, right, being on a hardwood floor.
(33:17):
It is the most epic game of musical chairs ever.
Exactly, and I have the one leftat the end.
Now it's like, now I'm picturingthe haunted house with a musical
chair and like, just Get Me Out of here.
Sorry, say sales are not creepy,folks.
Don't take what I'm saying. It's so.
(33:38):
Creepy. No, In fact, I mean, they
changed out light bulbs for bright lighting in certain
places. I mean, these people stage to
sell things. They know the science behind.
If we put this here and this is what's going to happen because
you're setting at, like you said, you're setting up a home
to be a warehouse, but not really where, you know, yeah, it
(34:01):
it becomes a store. And how do people like to shop?
And with how that house is oriented too, we all know the
kitchens that you get trapped inbecause of the way that they're
designed. Yep.
And so, but they've got to somehow use that kitchen.
Yeah, all things. Yeah, it's, I went to an estate
(34:22):
sale one time and I talked, I'vetalked about this before on the
show where you there's actually music out there that is music to
shop by and it's an upbeat playlist.
And I'm not, it's not just like one song or one playlist, but
there's different playlist out there that definitely retail
uses it. If you go into any mall or
(34:42):
Target or grocery store, they have background music playing to
encourage you to buy and to purchase and to do all that
stuff. And one day I went into two
different estate sales. One didn't have that ambiance or
anything like that. The other one did and the one
that was playing the ambience, they did change out the
lighting. They, they positioned the whole
(35:02):
house to be very shopper friendly.
They were making bank and there was a lot of people there and
they, and I went early and they still had quite a few things
left. They, this was the state sell
that they had a women's Armani suit.
And I was like, Oh my gosh, I know.
I was like, I wish I was that size.
I'd buy it. But it looked pretty up on the
hanger. Well, you mentioned even that
(35:25):
you follow an estate sale company.
Yeah. And that is for people who love
estate sales. They follow these people.
I mean, my parents did. They had a couple because they
have a point of view. They will.
Some won't take antiques. They don't want to mess with it.
(35:47):
Some don't care about Crystal. Some of them love it right when
it's do they have a consignment store?
Do they have a booth and an antique mall?
Do they have what? What are the other ways that
they sell stuff? Interestingly enough, even
though we didn't have any jewelry, the company that we
(36:08):
went with is known for their consignment jewelry in addition
to other. Things.
Oh nice. So their market, where they sit
is not far from my parents home in terms of where it sits in the
greater fabric of the city. Yeah.
Affluent, right? People who are looking for fine
(36:30):
jewelry, antique jewelry, are following them, so they're going
to like the kinds of things. You know, it's such a good
question to ask at state. SO companies that people may be
shopping around and asking them how big their list is of who
they market to and how many of those are like collectors or
(36:52):
builders or whatever that may be.
Because, again, you do want to go with a company that has a
good reputation that people wantto see what, you know, what's
the next sell they have coming up?
Because there's a greater likelihood that they will sell
more stuff if they're promoting it to a group of people that
already trust them. Exactly.
That's awesome. Yeah, well, we only have about a
(37:13):
minute left, so any final tidbits or advice for people
that may be looking for an estate sale company?
I. Think you wrapped it up pretty
nicely, Julie. I it's understand that to a
certain extent, they're in the driver's seat about who they
(37:34):
choose and who they don't chooseto work with.
So you're going to have to market yourself to them just as
much as you're looking for them.Yeah.
And when you're marketing what you have, what's either the
abundant theme of what you have or, you know, is it about a
(37:57):
particular stage of life? Is it about, you know what, what
is it in terms of the stuff thatyou have to offer them And take
a look how they're connected to their other businesses?
You know, again, if they are have a whole bunch of stalls and
antique malls, then, you know, they like to collect the little
(38:21):
clocks and the fine little crystal things and, or, or do
they collect funky 1950s things?Yeah.
What, what is it that they collect and align yourself just
like anytime you've got a position yourself in terms of
marketing, what is their point of view?
Is it very? That's probably really good if
(38:44):
it is, or is it really specific and you match that specificity?
I love it, yeah. So you've got to market yourself
and I don't think I understood that.
Part Yeah. Well, good words of advice,
Sarah. Thanks so much for coming on the
podcast and sharing your experience with listeners.
(39:06):
And if any listeners are out there and going, Oh my gosh, I
need to find an estate cell, useSarah's words of advice to make
the process a little bit easier for you.
Cool. Thanks Sarah, and let them do
the work. Yeah, let them do the work, hire
them and then step away. Well, thank you, Sarah, so much
for coming on the show. And everyone, thanks for
(39:29):
listening. We will see you next week.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.