Bought out an estate.

[Beachkid23]

This has been fun (im beat) . Just starting sorting... Finished for the night. I’ve been working in the house for a while and they offered for me to buy everything that was left except the furniture. I have the option, I don’t have a whole Lotta room for it. A lot of stuff is pretty old. But sorting it is time-consuming. Here are some photos of the stuff. Nothing too specific but I just wanted to share my process because I need something else to do to unwind a little bit so I can go to bed!

So here’s half the stuff in the garage piled up along the wall.


Not the pizza float. Thats another story...

So been sorting for 5 hrs now. Trash pile


Sorted and priced. Except for there’s another box for small knickknacks that I didn’t feel like pricing tonight


Kitchen table a mess.


Some stuff I have to research a little more. Not too familiar with it some of it signed, limoges in the mix.


And I still have at least 18 boxes in the garage.
There is a bunch of paintings too. This is one we found a similar one priced at 1500 but haven’t had time to really research it yet. Kind of putting all those on the back burner until I can get through the rest of the stuff. Then I have to pick up bunch tomorrow! I’ve been doing eBay for so long but now have three antique mall booths. This should help fill up the shelves

I have no idea if mine is real. Will probably do another thread later on when I get some Organization.




If any of you guys do this for a living, cleaning out estates and selling the stuff I give you props. Of course I’m coming off medical problem but even still this is been a fun, exhausting adventure!

 

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[diggummup]

That's alot to go through. You should be able to tell whether that is a painting or a print with a loupe. Look for a dot matrix or brush strokes.

 

[Beachkid23]

That's alot to go through. You should be able to tell whether that is a painting or a print with a loupe. Look for a dot matrix or brush strokes.

Will do thank you. It is a ton to go through. I want to try to make some room in my garage again before I start messing with the paintings. Main reason in case the storm comes and need to get my car in the garage. I bet leaving them in the Florida heat is not a good idea though in my garage, I’m guessing.

 

[randazzo1]

Let us know how you make out on this overall. I’m interested in trying this but afraid to take the plunge. Also sf of house and how long it took. One of my biggest concerns is what to do with the stuff that doesn’t justify selling online. In the boroughs and in jersey they’re are flea markets that get a lot of recent immigrants who seem really keen to buy pots, kitchen wears, household stuff in general - so I figure that’s the best bet. But then what about the furniture?

 

[JimDon]

I hope all this works days off big time!

 

[Beachkid23]

I hope all this works days off big time!

Thanks. Me too! Here’s the statue from before I think I did a thread on. But it was one in a box.

Haha. My daughters head is in the photo!

 

[Beachkid23]

Let us know how you make out on this overall. I’m interested in trying this but afraid to take the plunge. Also sf of house and how long it took. One of my biggest concerns is what to do with the stuff that doesn’t justify selling online. In the boroughs and in jersey they’re are flea markets that get a lot of recent immigrants who seem really keen to buy pots, kitchen wears, household stuff in general - so I figure that’s the best bet. But then what about the furniture?

I opened up three locations at different antique malls. Without that I wouldn’t have bought the stuff at all. Most of the stuff is not going online although some of it might go down to one of the malls and go online.

 

[trdhrdr007]

Let us know how you make out on this overall. I’m interested in trying this but afraid to take the plunge. Also sf of house and how long it took. One of my biggest concerns is what to do with the stuff that doesn’t justify selling online. In the boroughs and in jersey they’re are flea markets that get a lot of recent immigrants who seem really keen to buy pots, kitchen wears, household stuff in general - so I figure that’s the best bet. But then what about the furniture?

I've done similar things a few times. I'd do it again IF I could find the right deal. Most of the ones I look at are not worth the effort. People tend to cherry pick the good stuff and/or expect you to pay retail prices. They also expect you to remove everything, leave the place broom clean, and do it all in a limited time frame. It's not easy coming up with a price that makes sense when you know you have to move everything at least twice. Once out of the house to storage and again from storage to wherever you are selling it. I generally figure out what the big ticket items will sell for and will pay 1/3 (or less) of that. I don't add anything to the price for the smalls and normal household goods. I know that sounds like I'm low balling but until you've actually done one there is no way to know how much time it actually takes. Obviously you can't have an actual sale at the location but I do call in a few people that are in the business that I know will buy larger items.

 

[randazzo1]

I've done similar things a few times. I'd do it again IF I could find the right deal. Most of the ones I look at are not worth the effort. People tend to cherry pick the good stuff and/or expect you to pay retail prices. They also expect you to remove everything, leave the place broom clean, and do it all in a limited time frame. It's not easy coming up with a price that makes sense when you know you have to move everything at least twice. Once out of the house to storage and again from storage to wherever you are selling it. I generally figure out what the big ticket items will sell for and will pay 1/3 (or less) of that. I don't add anything to the price for the smalls and normal household goods. I know that sounds like I'm low balling but until you've actually done one there is no way to know how much time it actually takes. Obviously you can't have an actual sale at the location but I do call in a few people that are in the business that I know will buy larger items.

That’s what I’m afraid of. What I’d like to do is shadow somebody who knows what they are doing. The idea of getting a whole estate is exciting. When Beachkid said there were still 18 boxes to dig through my heart jumped lol. Truly a treasure hunt.

 

[Rookster]

Know you'll find tons of good stuff.

 

[Beachkid23]

Here are two of the paintings. Joined a facebook
Artwork appraisal group. Hopefully get some insight. At least the bigger one signed. There are 11 with potential.

 

[Kentuckiana Jones]

I have never bought an entire estate but love getting multiple box lots at estate auctions. I always find things at the bottom of the boxes I didn't see beforehand and learn so much researching items. I also have multiple booths and sell on ebay.

BTW that is an absolutely killer frame on that picture in the first post. Love it.

 

[Butter Hat]

Quite the haul! Any fountain pens?

 

[Nitric]

That’s what I’m afraid of. What I’d like to do is shadow somebody who knows what they are doing. The idea of getting a whole estate is exciting. When Beachkid said there were still 18 boxes to dig through my heart jumped lol. Truly a treasure hunt.

It's hard to shadow someone in this type of stuff. You just have to come up with what works for you in your area. There seem to be two ways, then anything in between. The guy who buys it nd tries to sell everything by himself and doing all of the work, and the "broker" type guy. Both can work well, but with seeing how some friends did it in the past the "broker" way iis my favorite. Those are the guys that have a network of people and when they are walking through an estate they already have an idea of who and how much they are selling it for before they buy it. Watches and jewelry goes to one buyer, guns another, good furniture another, etc....They don't care about the last dime and know that everyone needs to make a little. They make up in volume and time.

There are no wrong ways....The object is to make money! Don't bank on finding "treasures" though. haha If it happens? Awesome, but can't be the motivation.


Looks like a blast!! I had friends that did it for years, but when I started doing it I wanted to keep everything!!! I packed a 3 bedroom house, garage, and storage garage. When I had to move it, I swore I'd never do it again!!! I want to keep too much! haha

 

[Beachkid23]

Quite the haul! Any fountain pens?

No, sorry.

 

[dejapooh]

I've done similar things a few times. I'd do it again IF I could find the right deal. Most of the ones I look at are not worth the effort. People tend to cherry pick the good stuff and/or expect you to pay retail prices. They also expect you to remove everything, leave the place broom clean, and do it all in a limited time frame. It's not easy coming up with a price that makes sense when you know you have to move everything at least twice. Once out of the house to storage and again from storage to wherever you are selling it. I generally figure out what the big ticket items will sell for and will pay 1/3 (or less) of that. I don't add anything to the price for the smalls and normal household goods. I know that sounds like I'm low balling but until you've actually done one there is no way to know how much time it actually takes. Obviously you can't have an actual sale at the location but I do call in a few people that are in the business that I know will buy larger items.

I buy estates of Olympic Collections from Friends who have passed. A dear friend who passed (an 82 year old woman) had a superb collection. She was well established and regarded within the Olympic Community. I was offered her collection of pins and medals for $14,000. I went to see it, and I started counting through the collection. Basically, I counted every item I KNEW I could sell for $5 or more (and sometimes the items was $500, I counted it as $5). Once I reached 5000 items worth $5 or more, I quit counting, and bought the collection. I've sold $15,000 so far, and have barely made a dent. I told them they could break the collection into parts and put each part on Ebay and make more than I was paying. They could sell each pin on Ebay, and make more than I was paying... In the end, the just wanted to be out from under the stuff... I was just offered a friend's collection of Olympic Bid pins for $6000. There were 1400 pins worth $1 to $300 each. I had an offer on the table for 50 pins for $2500, if I make the deal. I decided it was too much work. I said I would pay $6000 for the collection, if I could have the duplicates for $.50 each. Many were worth $1, some were worth $50. They refused the offer. In the end, you have to wait for the right deal when you are buying estates.

 

[Mr. B]

I live in Cape Coral, would like to do some hunting with you sometime.

 

[Beachkid23]

I live in Cape Coral, would like to do some hunting with you sometime.

Lehigh. Ill send you a PM

 

[A2coins]

That would be a blast you never know what you will find Good luck to you