5 Major Estate Sales Mistakes ???? That You Might Be Making

• Posted on 13th July 2021
• in Antique Estate Sale
• by Alan

Planning a successful estate sale can be a long and time-intensive process. It is no small feat to sell all of your belongings, so it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed with the process. In order to ensure that your upcoming estate sale goes smoothly, there are a few mistakes that you will want to avoid.

#1. Inadequate Advertising

One of the most important aspects of an estate sale is to get the word out to potential buyers. After all, if you fail to properly advertise your event, no one will even know that a sale is going on. Some people make the mistake of simply putting up a few signs in their neighborhood, but that will only attract a narrow group of people. Instead, use online estate sale listing services, the local newspaper, and Craigslist to let buyers know the details of your sale.

#2. Getting Rid of Items Before the Sale

Many homeowners believe that they should clear out some of their items before their estate sale. They may give things away, toss out items they classify as trash, or even host a garage sale. The number one rule for an estate sale is to never give or throw anything away. While this doesn’t mean that everything in your home has value, there are many times when buyers don’t know the difference.

#3. Poor Staging

The staging of your home can make or break the success of your estate sale. First, you need to organize your space in a way that will appeal to buyers. This means that you’ll clean up clutter and remove things that aren’t for sale. Secondly, it is crucial that you protect certain items during the staging to prevent theft. Jewelry and other very valuable pieces should always be kept under lock and key.

#4. Handling the Sale on Your Own

Many people look at an estate sale like a glorified garage sale. They believe that they can easily handle the sale themselves, but most people don’t actually have the expertise or time to pull off a successful sale. Without the right knowledge and experience needed to sort, organize, advertise, stage, price, and sell your estate items, you simply won’t have the success that you desire. That’s why the most successful sales usually have a professional team behind them.

#5. Failure to Separate Market Value and Emotion

When pricing your items, it is important that you don’t let your personal opinions about an item dictate your pricing strategy. The sentimental and emotional attachment will hinder your optimum sale potential, so it is important that you know exactly what your items are worth.

At Sarasota Antique Buyers, we can perform a market analysis on your estate inventory to tell you how much your antiques and valuables would sell for at an auction. You can use this information for pricing, or if you are ready to sell, we will place a bid for just under our market analysis value.