Diane’s Blog & Tips!

Estate Liquidation & Estate Sale companies come across a treasure-trove of objects:  art, jewelry, antiques, coins, cars, books, silver, gold & Ephemera that can be precious, rare, or unusual.  An individual does not know what they will find.

The reason for folks to use an estate sale or liquidation company is first,  to get the most of the expenditure back because items are more accurately priced.  A professional estate liquidator should bring you top dollar.

Price and valuing items in today’s market is one of the most difficult tasks for an uneducated person to master.  A skilled and educated estate liquidator, with certifications has a deep knowledge of how to price home contents fairly.  An experienced liquidator, with many years of know-how in the resale market can accomplish this quickly for most usual items, but must complete extensive research on more valuable items such as antiques and artwork by using comparableswhich have recently sold, and the condition report of each comparable used.

Most reputable companies are insured& bonded.  Pros will also offer co-ordination to dispose of unwanted items remaining after your sale to charities for tax-deductible purposes and disposing of the rest of the household contents.  Some companies such as my company offer a clean-out serviceas well.

What is it?  What is it worth?  The expert will take the guessing out.  A seasoned, reputable professional liquidator will do extensive research on valuable items and present those values to the homeowner/estate executor, law firm, etc.  They can then make an informed decision on and an agreed asking price.  This would be after the liquidator’s research and a comparative analysis is made.

I believe it is vital to involve the customer in the pricing of important items.  I offer them to place a reasonable “reserved price” on those items, or I may broker them out for my client which results in more of a “fair market value” as opposed to a “liquidation value”.  All offers on reserved priced items in the sale, I present to my client, and they decide whether to take or decline an offer.

Building trust between the client and my company is foremost.  In addition, any reputable company will build trust with their buyers.  Most companies are on the up & up and would never dream to defraud anyone, however, there are unfortunately plenty of tales proving otherwise.  There is a percentage of liquidation companies that are less than trustworthy.  One example would promise many outcomes, including what the contents will bring monetarily from a sale, and false promises about what individual items will bring.  Another example is when a company advertises contents that will be for sale, in their advertisements, and the unsuspecting customer arrives (first in line), looking for specific items and they are toldthe item or they have already sold the items.  These bait -and–switch events attempt to lure crowds to their sale and have offered goods that don’t exist in that sale.  And at timesphony & bogus items are being sold for the real deal, for example, an unauthenticated Louis Vuitton purse.

I believe one day there will be a regulatory agency monitoring estate sale companies & estate liquidation companies, besides just the Better Business Bureau.  Many start-up estate liquidation companies in the industry have little knowledge or experience in this business sector and do not have credentials or certifications from top-notch organizations. Most charge less of a fee to gain the sale, but this will not bring a desired outcome in most cases.  Being a member of these organizations require adherence to the high standards they set for their members.  For example, being an Accredited Estate Liquidator with the American Society of Estate Liquidators (www.aselonline.com),  illustrates the standard practices and regulatory rules in which a member must follow. I am an Accredited Estate Liquidator, with The American Society of Estate Liquidators,  and show to prospective clients my ability to deliver professional service at high standards.

 If a company advertises they are USPAP compliant, then the perspective client should ask to see the USPAP certificate, and when it expires.  Anyone can say they are USPAP compliant. USPAP certification and updates for this certification are critical and define critical standards to uphold as a professional liquidator or appraiser. I update my USPAP certification every 2 years and am current, with the Appraiser’s Association of America.  Following the compliancy guidelines requires adhering to the Standards & Rules of the Uniform Standards of the Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).  These rules and standards are reviewedand updated by The Appraisal Standards Board and approved by The Appraiser Qualifications Board.

Thank you for reading my informative blog post this month!  I will be consistently informing readers regarding estate liquidations and the process:  “What should I do first?”  “How do I liquidate this estate?”  What are the guidelines to make it simple for me to follow?”