Common Estate Sale Mistakes to Avoid

While no one really enjoys dwelling on the fact, approximately 3.4 million people pass away each year in the US. Many of them leave behind a home and belongings.

Wills help dispose of these estates in many cases, yet not always. Shockingly, around 60 percent of Americans lack a last will and testament.

Beyond that, there are often belongings that did not get included in the will. In these cases, the court or family members will often run an estate sale. If you’re prepping for one, watch out for these estate sale mistakes.

No Advertising

An estate sale is like any other event. People won’t show up for it if they never hear about it.

You need some level of advertising to attract potential buyers. One good option is the local newspaper. It confines the advertising to people in the immediate area who are your most likely visitors and buyers.

You can also look for listing services online that specialize in estate sales. These services cast a wider net, but also help ensure that people know about the sale.

Emotional Value vs Financial Value

Many well-intentioned family members struggle with separating emotional value from the financial value of the belongings in a home. For example, if you often drank tea with an elderly family member, their tea set probably has high emotional value for you.

Yet, the tea set itself may have little or only moderate actual value for people coming to the estate sale. Estate sale prices should reflect a reasonable expectation of an item’s actual financial value.

That same emotional attachment can push you into negotiating at estate sales. Unless it’s the end of the sale, it’s best to avoid negotiating.

Pre-Sale Disposals

On the opposite end of the spectrum, people often assume that items have no value and throw things away ahead of the sale. While you should clear away clutter, such as correspondence, you shouldn’t throw away anything you could potentially sell.

People often arrive at estate sales with no clear idea of what they want. What they want can often turn out to be things you considered unsellable.

Going It Alone

Managing an estate sale isn’t like running a garage sale. While you can hand-pick garage sale items that don’t exceed a certain value, nearly everything is for sale during an estate sale. Some of those items may need a professional appraisal.

There is also the setup and organization of things in the home. Have you thought about how you’d process payments for people looking to pay by credit card?

Using a company that specializes in estate sales can help you eliminate these concerns.

Estate Sale Mistakes and You

There are many estate sale mistakes you want to avoid. Forgetting to advertise is one of the biggest estate sale blunders because it means a low turnout.

Letting emotional attachment dictate prices or push you into negotiating are other mistakes that can derail an estate sale. Just remember, people shopping estate sales will want the best deal possible.

New Jersey Estate and Moving Sales specialize in estate sales. For more information, contact us today.