Staging:

We begin the staging process by creating a site plan that guides the organization and arrangement of the home, room by room.  Our set-up team implements the site plan, working from the the back of the basement to the farthest corners of the attic, creating a store-like display.  We believe that when a home is clean, well organized, and properly staged it results in better sale totals for our clients.  Customers find more enjoyment in the experience, shop longer and  purchase more.

Below is a slideshow of before and after pictures in a few of the houses we’ve worked in.

Pricing:

While the set-up team is organizing away, our pricers are hard at work assigning a value to every single item in the house.  Our staff includes two certified CAGA personal property appraisers who manage the whole pricing process. Each week we’re assigning values on  2,000 to 4,000 individual items with over 150,000 items priced in a year. Pricing and selling such a high volume keeps us very familiar with current market values. For any objects that need extra attention we turn to our pricing resources to research the value. We also have relationships with local and national auction houses for any items that we feel are best served by being auctioned to a wider audience.

The gallery to the right showcases a sampling of interesting items we’ve sold.

Advertising:

Having your estate advertised properly is key to a great sale. 

Permit & Signs:

 Register System:

One of the more frustrating aspects of shopping at an estate sale can be the long lines at checkout. The norm is one employee at a card table with a cash box, telling every customer that wants to pay with debit or credit that they don’t accept cards. In response we created a quick & effective checkout system that:

Clean Out:

After the completion of the estate sale we handle the few remaining unsold items. The majority of the time the items are donated to a local charity with our clients receiving the tax benefit. We then remove any trash from house, sweep & vacuum all the floors, and wipe down the counters. Most of our clients homes are about to be listed for sale or are already headed towards closing. We take great efforts post-sale to leave the house looking show ready.

Payment:

Estatesales.Org polled thousands of estate sale companies across the United States and found that the average estate sales grosses a grand total of $8,300. Most Brown Button estate sale, in comparison, grosses between:

After every estate sale we host, we ask our client to let us know how we did. They fill out a review form ranking us from 1-5  in five different categories. Here are the scores averaged over the past three years.