An estate sale is an inevitable situation that each and every one of us will find ourselves in someday. At some point in time, a relative is going to pass or move into a nursing home. During that time the survivors will be responsible for deciding on the best route to liquidate these assets, both items and real property.
This can be a very difficult period in your life because in a sense you will be mixing your emotions with business while also trying to sell belongings that still hold meaning.
An estate sale by definition is "A sale that occurs when a homeowner dies or moves to an assisted-living facility. Those who inherit the home get the proceeds from the sale. If the owner dies without naming someone in the will to sell the house, an estate sale is called aprobate sale, because a probate court appoints a relative or friend of the deceased to handle the sale."
You will have several different mediums that you can use to sell both house hold items along with the property that is in consideration. Along with hiring an estate sale company (which we will touch on later), you can sell your household items on craigslist, ebay or an auction house. In regards to real property that is in question, you can list with a real estate agent, sell FSBO or receive a quick sale from a real estate investment firm.
Make Your Estate Sale in Syracuse NY A Little Easier
1) Hire an Estate Sale/ Liquidation Company - It can be very time consuming and possibly costly to try and manage and run your estate sale by yourself. There are professional services that have years of experience dealing with estate sales. Connect with a firm that has experience in this field, read reviews and do your research on the best local companies in Syracuse NY. The biggest benefit to hiring this type of service company is the pricing, organizing and display work that put together for your sale.
There are some concerns that you need to overcome before choosing a firm to hire:
Some estate sale firms have minimums regarding the total value amount of possessions
Commissions can run up to 30% of proceeds to advertise and manage the sale
Understand each companies requirements, since they all are different
2) Convenient Sales Dates - Choosing dates that are not on around holidays will be beneficial to your estate sale in Syracuse NY. Typically when events are held around holidays, they see less foot traffic then if they were on specifically chosen date with no contradictions. You should also try and plan around the weather - even though we all know that is nearly impossible in Syracuse. Obviously we do not want to hold an estate sale on day where it is rainy or really windy.
3) Do Not Throw Anything Away - i understand that you may think that there is no value in some of the items that have been left behind but a customer at your estate sale may disagree. Do not try and guess on the value of items that will be sold in the estate sale. If you are hiring a liquidation company to organize and price your items, let them decide the value of all of the items in the home. If you are going to manage the estate sale yourself, I recommend that you do your research so you better understand the value of all of the items that you will be selling.
4) Greet Every Customer - Just like any other business or sale, customer service is the most important aspect of the transaction. You will make each customer more comfortable and willing to ask questions. You will also mitigate some of the risk of customers trying to steal. For some reason customers have a hard time stealing from people that they have just looked in the eye (not all of them thought). Make sure that you are friendly, honest and helpful throughout the whole day and try to get an understanding of what customers may be looking for. Try to ask questions and listen to what they have to say. Treat this like a business transaction even though it is under the current circumstances of an estate sale in Syracuse NY.
5) Marketing / Advertising - Whether you decide to go with a liquidation company or manage the sale yourself, one of the most important aspects of the sale will be creating a good amount of foot traffic. In order to create this foot traffic, we must do a good job of marketing and advertising. In today's day and age there are several different mediums we can efficiently market on that are either free or very low cost. If you do end up hiring a liquidation firm make sure that you ask questions on how they intend to market. This is for 2 reasons:
1) You want to understand there marketing plan and how they are going to bring people through the doors
2) You want to make sure that you are not double dipping on any of the marketing techniques they intend to use.
Liquidating your Real property After Your Estate Sale in Syracuse NY
So we have discussed some specific tips to help you sell your specific household items that have been willed to you.
The next question is what will you with the property that you had the estate sale for?
You have a few options when it comes to liquidating the real property from the result of an inherited property. Each option offers different benefits to the new owner. Depending on your specific motivation, current condition of the home and market conditions, will help determine which option you should choose.
If the property is in good condition, there is no repairs that are needed and you are in no rush to sell, you should consider listing the property with a real estate agent. This situation makes the most sense for a traditional sale. Especially in the current real estate market conditions, where there is a lack of supply and above average demand for housing. This option and situation has the potential to result in an efficient full market sale.
If the house was willed to you and is tight on equity, in other words the value of the home is close to the mortgaged value, you may want to consider selling the property for sale by owner. Selling for sale by owner can be complicated, however if you understand the process and know what to expect, it is very possible to sell using this option
Now if you have been willed a house that is in average to poor condition, you no longer want to deal with property and are interested in a quick sale, your best bet may be to sell to a real estate investment firm. These firms will be able to purchase your house in cash, you will not have to make any necessary repairs, they will be able to close in around 14 days (pending certain paperwork) and will typically result in a hassle free sale.
Consider all of your options when you are selling the property after an estate sale in Syracuse NY. As we spoke about, each option offers specific benefits to each type of new owner. So make sure you educate yourself on your specific situation and the options that you have. Making the right decision will result in a smooth, hassle-free sale while making the wrong decision could result in a long drawn out process where you are stuck paying the holding costs on this property for several months.
If you are looking for a hassle free way to sell your inherited property, contact us. We would love to help answer any of your questions and see how we can assist you with the sale of your property.