Many people have a house full of things that they have inherited or things they just don’t want any more. Maybe they will be moving, maybe it’s a family member’s home, or perhaps they want to do a large renovation and “start fresh”. Depending on what you have, an estate sale may be the perfect solution for solving your problem.

For those of you who have had yard sales in the past, you know that it is a lot of work with little to show in the end. Most of you may have regrets for letting things go for too little. Maybe you didn’t sell much and most of it went in the trash or was dropped off at your local charity. What you get with a good estate sale company is usually a team of people who will stage your inventory, do the research and price it to sell, will do all of the marketing, will handle all of the haggling with the customers, will have “runners” to assist those people who buy the larger pieces, and will find venues for what is left. Many allow customers to pay with credit cards making it easier to sell pricier pieces.

Estate sale companies generally charge in the 40% range with some going up to 65% if the inventory is low end, requires more work than an average sale or will not gross very much. Because they take a percentage of the gross sales they are motivated to get the most for your inventory. Think about what your time is worth and it makes the most sense.

I mentioned in the first paragraph, it depends what you have. Some things should not be sold at an estate sale and an appraiser can help you if you are unsure about something that could be valuable and should be sold at another type of venue.

For those who are on the hunt for treasures, websites like estatesales.org or estatesales.net
gives listings for estate sales nationwide. This funky 1970’s Frank Gehry cardboard chair was posted for a sale coming up in Newport on May 21. Happy hunting!

Karen Waterman is a fine art, antique furniture and decorative arts appraiser in the East Bay area and will answer as many questions regarding your “hidden treasures” as possible. By sending a letter or email with a question you give full permission for use in the column. Names, addresses or e-mail will not be published and photos will be returned if requested. Send e-mails (digital photos preferred ) to watermanappraisal@gmail.com. Send snail mail to Waterman Appraisal and Consulting Services, PO Box 134, Barrington, RI 02806.