Over the past 6 years, we’ve had the privilege of learning some best practices for estate sales. Transition is inevitable and we wanted to share some helpful steps to plan an estate sale.

1. Decide whether you plan to hire an estate sale company or tackle the sale yourself.

2. Discuss with the executor of the estate, the plan for the money made from the sale- make sure a bank account is opened and that a plan is put in place for how the money from the sale will be deposited.

3. Go through the home with any family members that should be included to make sure items that the family wishes to keep are removed or set aside, so as not to be included in the sale.

4. Remove or isolate all items and furniture that are not to be sold, to one room (or floor) of the house that will be off limits and locked during the sale. Things in this category are often either one of two categories: discard (trash, recycle, or donate) and personal (keepsakes or family memorabilia). Things like food, medication, undergarments, opened toiletries, etc need to be disposed of or donated and not accessible during a sale. Personal items such as photographs, personal files, and paper work should also be put away during a sale.

5. Begin planning for how you will advertise and market the sale. Signs around the neighborhood, ads on Craigslist, Facebook events, and estatesales.net are all good places to promote the sale. Also consider a newspaper listing. We recommend posting online ad’s 2 weeks in advance. When you create your listing, the more detail you can offer, the better— a list of the type of items people can expect to find is always helpful. We suggest waiting until a few days before the sale before posting the address online, especially if the house is not currently being lived in. It’s always a good idea to have an alarm set or security cameras set up in a vacant house full of sell-able items.

6. Designate a spot near the “check out/payment station” for small high end and valuable items that could easily be stolen- think jewelry, rare coins, etc. You will want these items to be in eye sight during the entire sale.

7. Come up with a plan for the items that don’t sell. Will you donate? Go ahead and schedule a pick up with Habitat for Humanity, KARM, or any other local thrift store for the week after the sale. Make sure to find out if there are specific items they do not accept and whether or not they require donations to be boxed up for pick up.

8. CATEGORIZE & PRICE! Begin going through the house and designate spaces for each category of item ie: linens, kitchen and dining items, decor, electronics, tools, media, clothing, books, etc. Once you have broad categories in place, parse the items out into more detailed categories, like table linens vs bed linens or in the decor category- sort and gather all vases together, all candlesticks together, seasonal items etc. This makes the shopping experience easier and allows people to clearly find what they are looking for. Price to sell, but at a price point that is worth your effort and an amount that you feel comfortable with. Do your research— if you are unsure of an item, look for markings on the underside, dovetail joints etc to try and figure out the quality and search for comparable pieces on ebay or other selling sites. Clearly marking prices can eliminate the headache of shoppers constantly asking and trying to haggle.

9. Once you have a good idea of the amount of stuff you have, borrow or rent folding tables to display items (you can also use furniture in the house to display items but be prepared to clear a piece of furniture when it sells). Set up items in the rooms that they are most commonly used in if possible- clothing in bedrooms, dishes in kitchen or dining rooms etc.

10. Decide before hand how you will handle parking, shoppers asking to use the restroom, what methods of payment you will accept, placement of check out, etc.

    ** During a global pandemic, everything is more complicated. If you so desire, post signs at the door and in online listings requesting that all shoppers wear masks, create a clearly marked one way route for shoppers inside the house, only allow certain amounts of shoppers in the home at a time, and provide paper masks and hand sanitizer by the door.

We get it… this can be an overwhelming task to handle. There are often challenging emotions, relationships, and decisions wrapped up in estate transitions. Our team of organizers strikes the perfect balance of empathy & efficiency as we guide homeowners and family members through this process.

Click here for more information on our estate transition services.

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