Selling advice, auction or not?

[MIDLIFE]

Good Evening,
Here's my story. My 87 year old mother is contemplating moving from the homestead. A house and 3 outbuildings that are full of a lifetime accumulation of misc. household items. I've sold a lot of the major items through the years since my father passed away, the family has scavenged what's useful to their particular needs. My question is should we have an auction or should I try to find an outfit to come in and buy everything and hand mom a check. I'd really appreciate some input.
Thank you in advance.

 

[kd3pc]

neither are good options, as one charges a flat percentage to make the auction happen, the other will pay pennies on the dollar, but also make the estate sale.

We did an auction for a home, separate from the contents. House was almost 20% cost to me, the stuff about 10% cost. But it was over.

Best of luck either way.

 

[Toomanytools?]

Well I'm no expert I go to a lot of auctions, I think you would get more from an auction depending on what you have. They come in catalog everything and take a percentage of the sales but that can take some time setting everything up into lots. I guess you could call both outfits and get an idea of what you could make. Though no guarantee at an auction some things go for cheap other things will get bid up 3 times what it's worth.
Good luck

 

[Stuart in MN]

We did an auction for my parent's house and contents after they passed. You can probably get more money from other methods, but it's a good way to clear the place out at one time and get it over with.

 

[493 scamp]

My mother just had an auction of all her furniture and 80 years of household items and only got $1500 after fees. We were very disappointed.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Auction will get the stuff gone in a definite time. You'll pay for the service, but save time. You have the added benefit that if a family member wants a given item, the can bid, like anyone else

 

[rburke65]

Time is money. Take the next 20 years and sell everything piece by piece. Or...call an auctioneer and be done with it. Can't have both. You have more money or more time.

 

[Firebrick43]

Time is money. Take the next 20 years and sell everything piece by piece. Or...call an auctioneer and be done with it. Can't have both. You have more money or more time.

+1

My father helped (during winters while not farming) a good friend clean up 40 years of his fathers hoarding. I have helped for several weeks as well. It involved 3 huge auctions, 40+ roll off tubs of steel and multiple semi loads of aluminum and stainless scrap. Took 10 years to clean up. The son would bulldoze it all if he could do it again. The emotional toll included a divorce and much mental stress.



Life's to short to worry about what one could have gotten out of something. Spend the time making memories with your family.

 

[toolmiser]

I would suggest talking to an Auctioneer before making an auction decision. When we needed to sell my Mother in Law's belongings, we were overwhelmed with their fees (advertising, percent of sales, minimum lot amounts, etc) It was outside of a small town in a sparsely populated area. We put it in a rental truck, hauled it to our house in larger town and then sold the big items at a large item garage sale. There auction wouldn't have had the "big ticket, or draw" items to make it work. Also worried about weather. She had a lot of collectible items that sold on ebay. Also had a garage sale in the spring. Yes a lot of work, but probably 3 times the result. My MIL also had terrible eyesight, so everything was dirty and we didn't want people to think she was a unclean person. No perfect answer. Make sure you go thru things thoroughly so you identify valuables. Some will surprise you.

 

[Codejack]

I'm in something of the same position, cleaning out my grandparents' old house.

1. Craigslist/eBay. For anything valuable, this is your best bet.

2. Yard sale. For small stuff that you don't want to make 100 different listings for, this will get rid of most of it without just giving it away.

3. Goodwill/donation. Take the receipt and deduct it from your taxes.

That being said, I go to auctions, and I am astonished at the prices that some people pay for things at some of them; at others, half the stuff goes unsold. It's a tossup.

 

[jd_1138]

+1

My father helped (during winters while not farming) a good friend clean up 40 years of his fathers hoarding. I have helped for several weeks as well. It involved 3 huge auctions, 40+ roll off tubs of steel and multiple semi loads of aluminum and stainless scrap. Took 10 years to clean up. The son would bulldoze it all if he could do it again. The emotional toll included a divorce and much mental stress.

Life's to short to worry about what one could have gotten out of something. Spend the time making memories with your family.

Yeah I agree. I'd probably hold an estate sale (fancy word for a garage sale) over a weekend or 2 put on by you (so no fees), then whatever's left hire an auction co. to auction it off or donate it to local thrift stores or curb it.

Perhaps call in a few estate buyers to give you a figure ahead of time, but I bet the figure will be silly low because they will have to put a lot of energy and time into selling it.

Could even leave a lot of the house/land specific items, as they'd come in handy for the new owners to sweeten the deal perhaps.

About your father's friend, his divorce was probably due to issues larger than that estate. The way he handled the estate was just a symptom of his larger problems, I bet.

 

[jd_1138]

I'm in something of the same position, cleaning out my grandparents' old house.

1. Craigslist/eBay. For anything valuable, this is your best bet.

2. Yard sale. For small stuff that you don't want to make 100 different listings for, this will get rid of most of it without just giving it away.

3. Goodwill/donation. Take the receipt and deduct it from your taxes.

That being said, I go to auctions, and I am astonished at the prices that some people pay for things at some of them; at others, half the stuff goes unsold. It's a tossup.

Yeah, auction prices are silly and unpredictable. There could be a box with a HF sawzall and some junky wrenches that sells for $200, meanwhile a really nice Blue Point roller cart with 2 drawers went for $45. I didn't register to bid or I would've snapped that up. My friend was with me, and he was registered so I should've asked him to bid on it.

 

[a52-830]

i just dealt with my inlaw's house. within a (very) few years, it will be my mother's turn.

the ugly reality is that there is not an appreciable market for used furniture. while it might have substantial sentimental value, and while some might be worth keeping if you have kids who will be needing to furnish places in the next few years, and you have a place to keep it, it won't generate much in the way of income. people don't have "parlors" like they used to, or dining rooms. even things like China and Silverware are collapsing markets as tastes change, and the people who value them get so old they are considering selling theirs . . . .

most of the rest of the stuff is no better. sure, the Hummels, if she had some, are worth something (but less than you think), but were likely already scooped up by one of the relatives. in my situation, the "family" came and stripped everything of value, and left the rest for me (well, my wife, which is really me). ten pickup truck and two dump truck loads later, and my wife was still trying to decide what to do about the "things too good to trash or give away." i finally sent her home, and dealt with it.

an estate sale is different than a garage sale. an estate sale has the house open, and everything is for sale. a garage sale is something you hold on the driveway. misrepresenting a garage sale for a estate sale pisses off people who might have stopped by anyway and bought something.

 

[finn]

We went through this twice in the last four years, for two houses and a Florida condo.

I my mother's case, we sold her condo fully furnished to someone looking for a rental property. She always tried to keep the place uncluttered, but we still had to make a half dozen runs to Goodwill to get rid of clothe and other things nobody in the family wanted.

Her house was more difficult, as she lived there almost forty years. My niece ended up with a truckload of mid century modern furniture my sister (her mom) was sure she needed. I'm pretty sure a squabble broke out over that, and my sister would have been better off just giving her daughter the money she spent loading a storage unit, and later renting a 26' Uhaul and delivering the obsolete furniture four hundred miles away.

I kept a few of my grandfathers tools from the twenties, thirties, and forties, most of which I'd never seen, a snowblower, and my dad's guns, and the other four siblings kept a couple of things my mother had more or less willed to them.

That left another dozen trips to Goodwill and Habitat before we could do deferred maintenance and put the house on the market.

In the case of my mother in law, it was easier. The three girls got to pick anything they wanted from the house when she went to assisted living, and my nephew bought the house with all the trappings, so he had to deal with it, not the kids.

When my MIL passed last winter, we still made multiple trips to Goodwill to empty her assisted living apartment.

Bottom line: donate as much as you can, keep a few mementos, and move on with life.

 

[ard]

One comment on auctions, haven't seen if it was brought up already...

I see a lot of online auctions- so online advertising then a live auction on day of sale with online bidding too. While all my interests have excluded home furnishings (I tend to only scope out tools, hardware, machinery,etc) they prices they get are -in some cases- amazing. Beat to **** ladders selling for 80% of the Home Depot price for example.

An auction where the pool of bidders consists of the people who drive out that Saturday would seem to be the worst way to go.


Crappy thing to have to do fellas. Sigh....

 

[tjdux]

Man I go to a lot of auctions. Mainly to get great deals on stuff.

I can say most local auctions do little stuff/junk first then save the big items/tools for last. I often see many people leave before they ever get to the near end.

Its ao crazy the price range stuff goes for. Ive been looking for a bandsaw for a while. Watched several craftsman brand sell for 50 to 150 bucks. Got one 2 weekends ago in similar shape and brand for 25 because it was one of the last items to sell.

Same as the comment above with cheap junk selling for 10x what it costs new. Crazy how harbor freight stuff sells sometimes at auction.

It really comes down to time vs money and if your time is valuable then just get it done quick. Save any real quality stuff for ebay (quality antiques) and maybe sell any cars privately but that sounds like a lot of stuff to go through and its hard to make it worth your actual time.

One thing i think would help with an auction is orgainzing it well. Go to a few and see the auctioneers you are considering actually work an auction. Watch how stuff sells. Make sure similar stuff is grouped well. Sell stuff by the box and not 1 thing at a time. Buyers buy more and pay better when auctions move along nicely.

Good luck with it

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[My Old Tools]

I used an established estate sale company. They did a three day sale (not an auction) after spending 3 weeks cleaning, tossing, and staging. Their take was 30%. They brought in over $10,000 in a town of 1100. They had a large mailing list and brought in a lot of buyers from out of town.

 

[lynnbilodeau]

This:
"established estate sale company"

 

[Codejack]

Yeah, auction prices are silly and unpredictable. There could be a box with a HF sawzall and some junky wrenches that sells for $200, meanwhile a really nice Blue Point roller cart with 2 drawers went for $45. I didn't register to bid or I would've snapped that up. My friend was with me, and he was registered so I should've asked him to bid on it.

I went to a municipal auction over the summer to look at some trucks they were auctioning off; F150s and Colorados, 10-15 years old, 150k+ miles, minor body damage, destroyed interiors with no options in the first place, I was expecting to grab one for $500-1000.

Nope. One a-hole kept jumping the bidding up in $500 increments, wound up buying every vehicle there for WAY more than they were worth, $3k plus for most of them, and I and the other speculators were just walking away shaking our heads.

Meanwhile, on the small stuff, I picked up a Poulan Pro roto tiller, a big MDF 800, for $70. Spark plug and a few new bolts, I sold it for $200.

 

[jd_1138]

I went to a municipal auction over the summer to look at some trucks they were auctioning off; F150s and Colorados, 10-15 years old, 150k+ miles, minor body damage, destroyed interiors with no options in the first place, I was expecting to grab one for $500-1000.

Nope. One a-hole kept jumping the bidding up in $500 increments, wound up buying every vehicle there for WAY more than they were worth, $3k plus for most of them, and I and the other speculators were just walking away shaking our heads.

Meanwhile, on the small stuff, I picked up a Poulan Pro roto tiller, a big MDF 800, for $70. Spark plug and a few new bolts, I sold it for $200.

It's a hobby to some of those guys. I bet that guy loses money on all those trucks, but it gives him something to do I guess. I wouldn't want to fart around with flipping a bunch of worn out trucks. I sell our cast off cars privately every 5 years or whenever because I don't want to accept a stupid low amount from a dealership. And I don't even like to do that, and that's only like 2 cars every 5 years. Granted, since I keep all the records and the cars are mint, they aren't too hard to sell. But it's still not fun dealing with the tire kicker morons.

I bought a Toro 2 stroke snow blower off a guy for $50. Ran great. He said he bought it at a municipal auction. I can see why they got rid of those. They were just single stage and sort of a PITA to use. I sold it the next season -- got my money back.

 

[ForceFed70]

After doing this myself I recommend a 4 step process:

Step 1) Individually list the "good stuff" in classifieds locally. Vehicles, power tools, etc. Anything you think you could get $100 or more for.

Step 2) host your own estate sale over a weekend. Spend a few bucks for advertising, hype up the "4 buildings full of stuff" and "must go" side of things and I bet you'll draw a significant crowd.

Step 3) Host a "liquidation sale" the next weekend or a few weeks later. Same as above except now make it clear you've already done a sale and just want the rest of the stuff gone for cheap.

Step 4) The rest of the stuff - basically give it away or haul to the dump. You'll be surprised what kind of attention you'll get with a "free" ad explaining the situation.

Your approach may vary depending on your financial situation and how much your time is worth.

 

[Marctrees]

Time is money. Take the next 20 years and sell everything piece by piece. Or...call an auctioneer and be done with it. Can't have both. You have more money or more time.

Exactly that.

If you have time to spend, Force Fed's general concept is a logical progression and doable w lot's of helpers, ... but I guarantee you will be in for way more frustration than you expect.

No "Free Lunch"

Marc

 

[reader2580]

My uncle had an estate clean out company bid on the contents of my grandparent's house in 1992. The bid was something like $400 for entire house full of stuff. The buyers of the house ended paying an extra $400 to get the contents of the house so everything was left in the house and garage. I am sure they had a lot of fun disposing of junk like old wigs and such.

My grandparents lived a pretty simple life and nothing of any value was in the house. There were only a few basic tools in the garage.

 

[yeldogt]

Calling an estate sale company is a smart first move -- at least then you will understand how little value is there. Call a second one (if you are lucky to have two locally) to confirm the first.

The sad reality -- old "stuff" has never had great value ..... it's worth less today --- kids want new Ikea.

I have a weekend place in a wealthy artist area .... most of the antique shops have closed .. the value of what was the "good stuff" has collapsed as well.

Most of the local auction houses have all but shut down -- they look more like "farm auctions" where everything is in a box.

Two years ago a local couple were moving to FL permanently -- I offered them about 20% current value for a set of expensive glasses ... I knew it was a good offer. They were offended ... they got under 10%

 

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

I too am going thru this helping my mother with my Father's estate of a dozen antique automobiles and a 40x60 building packed with parts & tools. There are SO many options, and the issue with our deal is a local auction company does not have enough expertise to know what the vintage car parts are, -and I honestly don't have the time to sort thru all of it to identify them for them/her.

The verbal quotes we have received from local auction companies is roughly 25%-30% with a 10% Buyer's Premium added to the sales price for the auction company. This is their fee for basically removing & staging the items, cataloguing and selling the items, and handling the advertising.

The other issue we are facing is the possibility of my mother will need to pay Capitol Gains on my father's items. While I don't want to get into a moral/ethical discussion, the issue you seemingly have with using an Auction or Estate sale firm is they will be collecting the sale proceeds, and dispersing funds collected which then requires them to give you a 1099 that will be reported to the IRS. So now if the sales proceeds is $150k, the Seller basically gets to pay income tax on $150k in addition to whatever other income they have.

While I have not decided exactly which way I am going to go, I am leaning more towards listing items on social media sites such as Facebook (-which seems to generate more revenue than a garage sale does) and then on collectible items we will list those on forums/social media that caters more to that particular item. In other words, we will cherry pick the items that are most valuable and list them for sale, and the generic items will be donated or hauled off for scrap. It seems the "in-the-pocket" financial proceeds will be greater, and the overall length of time and efforts on my end will be about the same as working with an auction company.

 

[Brian R]

After doing this myself I recommend a 4 step process:

Step 1) Individually list the "good stuff" in classifieds locally. Vehicles, power tools, etc. Anything you think you could get $100 or more for.

Step 2) host your own estate sale over a weekend. Spend a few bucks for advertising, hype up the "4 buildings full of stuff" and "must go" side of things and I bet you'll draw a significant crowd.

Step 3) Host a "liquidation sale" the next weekend or a few weeks later. Same as above except now make it clear you've already done a sale and just want the rest of the stuff gone for cheap.

Step 4) The rest of the stuff - basically give it away or haul to the dump. You'll be surprised what kind of attention you'll get with a "free" ad explaining the situation.

Your approach may vary depending on your financial situation and how much your time is worth.[/QUOTE
RTh

This sounds like pretty good advice and close to what we did when we have to move from PA to TX 12 years ago.

1. Rented dumpster to toss stuff not worth time
2. Advertised good stuff that would sell quickly (new Sears garden tractor)
3. Hauled utility trailer of stuff to auction house (stuff that we knew had some value but too much do deal with). We made $1,800 after fees and we were happy with that.
4. Donated items to women's shelter

All of this takes time and so money/time has to be considered as part of the equation.

 

[6768rogues]

Unless you have some really valuable items, an auction company will cost a lot. That does not mean you should not use one. There are some here that pull everything out, box it up, advertise the auction, bring a food truck, guarantee that everything will be gone and guarantee all checks. It is all gone in one day, without work on your part, and they hand you a check.
When my mother and father passed away, I wanted to have an auction for their small farm and my sister wanted to have a garage sale. We had the garage sale and about $900 came in, with many items remaining. When we settled the estate, my son bought the house and I bought the barns and farm land. It has been 7 years and I am still selling off things a few at a time as I use money to maintain the buildings. So far I have raised about $15K from things stashed in barns that did not sell but would have at an auction. Too bad for my sister, she wanted to sell the place and walk away. An auction would have sold everything and she would have been ahead.

 

[a52-830]

I too am going thru this helping my mother with my Father's estate of a dozen antique automobiles and a 40x60 building packed with parts & tools.

the issue with old cars, as i understand it (and agree with) is that "old" is relative. what is hot is what people in their 40's to 60's remember from their childhood. before you are 40, you likely dont have the spare cash to play in this field, and after 60, you start to lose interest. people who remember model T's are getting scarce on the ground, which is why the market for those cars is crashing. same for those hot 40's and 50's era cars.

60's muscle cars are still hot, and may buck the trend. dont know. late 70's through late 80's cars are starting to heat up.

personally, i wonder if the whole classic car thing is going to hit a wall. sure, you can still diddle a car from the late 80's, but by the mid 90's, there started to be enough computers that i wonder if people will be willing to put up with the **** of dealing with them.

today's cars dont have a computer in them, they have a bunch of them. and if they dont all talk to each other, the car won't start. you can't rip the auto transmission out of an ATS today and stick in a tremec without reprogramming several computers. lord forbid you tried to shoe horn in a motor that the car was never available in. the Body Control Module won't put up with it. . . .

good luck with the cars and tools. as bad as you might think it is, you are likely better off now than you would be 10 years from now.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

I know a few auctioneers, and some are friends. When I had to dispose of my aunt's stuff, I took pictures of the stuff and had an auctioneer and his assistant take a look at the pictures and they gave me a pretty good idea of what to expect. We got about $7,000 net and it was all gone. A reputable auctioneer will give you a very good idea what to expect, and then you could decide from there. I agree with others, at least with an auction it will be done. Then again, my aunt had things like a small pitcher from a lumber yard that probably closed 60 years ago, and the one item brought a $50 bill. Depending on what you have, you might be surprised what others think it may be worth. On the other hand, if the family has picked things pretty clean, maybe it isn't worth all that much. But a good auctioneer will be able to tell you that with a pretty good degree of accuracy.

 

[bushmechanic]

1: Pick out the "good stuff" to either keep or sell on Ebay or similar.

2: Combine the remaining items into similar groups.

3: Advertise those groups individually as lots locally on Craigslist.

4: Conduct a yard sale, including a few decent things and a lot of cheap ****.

5: Anything remaining hits national auctions (Ebay or hammer-slammers) individually or as a whole.

PM me if there's any vintage computer parts or programs (even floppies), audio, interesting electronics, or video gaming stuff in there. I might make an offer.

 

[MIDLIFE]

I appreciate everyone's input. There is so much, it's overwhelming. Every time I'm there looking through stuff I find things I didn't remember seeing before. My dad passed away suddenly without warning. I know Mom realizes how much work it will be for me to set up whatever course we take. I need to spend some quality time rummaging through cabinets, etc. to see what is left. I've been overly blessed by her because I am significantly younger than my siblings and have an interest in vehicles and woodworking both so I've ended up with quite a few of those tools. He'd been aging but we had no idea he was going to have a massive heart attack and be gone. The last chore I remember doing for him was putting brakes and rotors on their Windstar. When we were done, he stopped me before we went in the house from the garage. Looking around the garage, he said to me, " I didn't drink, smoke, or cheat on your mother, but I sure do like my tools." This was an understatement as he had multiples of most everything he bought. I'm sure no matter which way this goes it will be an emotional time for us.
Thanks again for what you've shared.

 

[ard]

Sorry to hear. Brings back memories.

Dad was killed at night on a back road in PA when someone was driving without headlights, hit him head on. I got the call in my apartment in California. The bottom of my world dropped out. It changed my life.

I was 25.

Last time I was home before he died, dad sat next to me on the back porch steps after dinner- looked at me and said "Look around you- all of this, the house, the property, the bank accounts...NONE OF IT MATTERS. All that matters is you, your brother and sister- nothing else." It was emotional, for him- for me I just thought to myself 'yeah, having kids is important...' I think I said "I know" or something.


So here I am- Im now a year older than he was when he died. My son is 25.

and i finally know exactly what he was saying. And maybe one day I will say that to my son. And he really wont know what it means...then.




Anyway- if you can, why not wait a few months or a year? Unless it has to be done.