Pros and cons of estate sales.
When weighing up the pros and cons of estate sales you need to compare the main alternative, estate auctions. Both options can be great methods for liquidating the contents of an estate quickly and efficiently.
Estate sales and estate auctions are similar in that both are advertised to the public and may entail visits to the home by potential buyers to view the items for sale before they buy. The difference is in how they buy.
Pros and cons of estate sales.
Estate sale will likely be the most efficient method of liquidating a large number of items quickly.
How do auction houses work?
Auctions are facilitated by an auctioneer. In an auction, buyers place bids on an item over the duration of the auction. When the auction closes the item is sold to the highest bidder.
This differs from estate sales, which are normally facilitated by a professional estate seller called an estate liquidator, who sets asking prices. While a negotiation may take place, the item is sold to the first buyer who meets a price that is agreeable to the estate seller.
As the buyers set the price in an auction, a potential downside for the estate owner is that they may have little control over what the item sells for. The flip side of this coin is that if the item is in high demand, the competitive nature of the bidding process could drive the selling price up.
It’s also worth noting that if you have a big estate then an estate sale will likely be the most efficient method of liquidating a large number of items quickly. If select items have been removed from the estate sale to be sold at auction then this could be to the detriment of the viability and success of the estate sale and ultimately result in lower returns overall. As such it is advisable to pick one route or the other.
What is an estate sale vs a garage sale?
Estate sales differ significantly from garage sales in a number of ways.
In an estate sale the estate seller’s goal is to liquidate the entire contents of the estate. As such the estate sale will take place throughout the home rather than outside or in the garage, a practical necessity of selling everything in the home such as heavy furniture for example. Estate sales include a wide range of item categories including high value items. Due to the larger scale and complexity of an estate sale it is likely to be facilitated by a professional estate liquidator.
The seller’s motivation for a garage sale on the other hand is usually just to declutter and get rid of a small number of household items they no longer want. As such a garage sale will likely take place in the garage or a small section of the property and the quality of the sale items will generally be inferior (and cheaper) to those sold at an estate sale. A professional liquidator would not be engaged to conduct a garage sale, which instead would be managed directly by the seller.
Yard sale vs garage sale
Yard sales and garage sales are essentially the same with the main difference being their location. A yard sale will be held in the front yard while a garage sale will be held in the garage or driveway of the owner’s home.
Read also: What is an estate sale?