Have you been dreading getting your property ready for sale? You're not alone! Our customers call us to have their property cleared of clutter, or completely emptied in a short time, as in the case of an estate. And we don't mean dumping it all in a bin, or donating the entire contents to charity. If there are items of value, we assess what's there to sell, then distribute items to family, to donation and finally to removal.
Do you take on this work yourself, or hire a company to do it for you? How can you take on such a big task on your own? And how do you choose the best way to downsize your property?
Estate sales
Some companies run estate sales directly from the property over a few days, as an estate sale open house. The drawbacks of this kind of estate clearing are strangers walking through the property, and the time and preparation needed to set up the sale. Estate sales can often bring out dealers and curiosity seekers rather than real buyers. The estate sale company handles all the transactions, often takes a generous percentage of the proceeds once the sale ends, and may not remove the items that didn't sell.
Estate auctions
Auction houses will usually only take items for a clear-out if they expect them to sell easily, meaning they're in top condition and have real value. The days of selling off a whole home's contents at a traditional auction are coming to an end. They're being replaced by more practical online auctions, with buyers bidding at their convenience over several days. It's often surprising how little auction houses prefer to take out of a property to add to a sale.
The online marketplace
Can you sell your items on Facebook? Sure, but one at a time.
You might be disappointed by the process of selling extra furnishings, collectibles and household goods yourself on sales sites or Facebook Marketplace. It's time-consuming, strangers come to your door, and people contact you at all hours of the day and night. Expect haggling and negotiating, and the items may not sell quickly. Buy and sell groups on Facebook have lots of traffic, yet we often hear that people don't show up at the agreed time. This kind of sale is fine if you don't have much to sell and have plenty of time for visits from buyers.
Downsizing, estate clean-outs and liquidation
Kelowna Estate Liquidation provides a full-service clean-out of everything you want to part with. We separate the saleable items from what's best donated, set up an online auction, handle all the auction advertising, and are there for the pickup day.
Once the downsizing is complete, our team can completely empty the property and get it ready for a faster sale. Our customers rely on us to manage the whole process, or any part of it, on time and on budget.
We can arrange appraisers for fine collectibles and antiques, and we work with homeowners, family members, executors, realtors and lawyers as needed. We're liability insured and WorkSafeBC registered, and we're professional downsizing and estate liquidation specialists with a strong record of projects. Contact us for a quote today.