What is an estate sale?
Estate selling
If you’re selling an estate you’ll need to understand what the term estate sale means. While an ‘estate’ includes the various assets and interests of an individual, an estate sale usually refers to the sale of a home’s contents, often following a house move or the passing of the home owner. The terms downsizing sale, moving sale and tag sale may also be used.
Estate sales usually include all or at least the majority of the home’s contents and therefore an estate sale’s inventory can span a wide range of categories from furniture and home decor to fine art, collectibles, jewelry, kitchenware, vehicles and everything in between. Unlike garage and yard sales, estate sales often include very high end items.
Although an estate owner (or person responsible for its liquidation, such as an executor) may choose to sell the estate’s items independently, estate sales are typically conducted by professional estate sellers on their behalf because of their complex and labor intensive nature. These professional estate sellers are called estate liquidators. Estate sales are sometimes referred to as estate liquidation sales.
Estate sales usually take the form of an open house event where the home address is advertised to members of the public who are invited to visit and shop the home in person. Estate sales can also be held online.
What is an estate sale?
Estate sales are an efficient way of liquidating the contents of a home quickly.
Why have an estate sale?
Estate sales are an efficient way of liquidating the contents of a home quickly. As such there are several reasons why someone might have an estate sale, which include moving, downsizing, remodeling or the passing of the previous owner. In most cases some significant life transition is involved and the home needs to be quickly emptied and readied for listing or closing. Estate sales are also the most efficient way of realizing the potential value of the home’s contents for the estate owner. Beyond the practical benefits of having an estate sale it can also be reassuring for estate owners to know that their treasured belongings are going to appreciative new homes. The recycling of used items, as opposed to buying new ones, also has potential environmental benefits.
There are other alternatives to selling personal items, such as online marketplaces or consignment stores, however none are as conducive to selling a high volume of household items or large and heavy pieces (like furniture) as an estate sale. Selling online often requires managing picks ups, shipping and returns, which is impractical for a large number of items, especially large ones. Meanwhile consignment stores may be limited in what type and quantity of inventory they can accept for sale. When an entire estate must be liquidated there are usually too many items to sell for these methods to be viable. An estate sale will typically ensure that the vast majority of the estate’s contents are sold over the course of a few days without the estate owner having to move or ship anything.
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