With four years of auction experience and more than 200 completed auctions, I can safely assert that for most people, an online auction is the best, easiest and most fun way to liquidate an estate. Yes, I said fun. I mean, moving and downsizing and selling property is a lot of hard work, no question. And sometimes deciding what to keep or sell is stressful, too. I still think the thrill of a live auction adds some much needed levity to the whole process. Let’s begin:
Minimal Life Disruption
One of the nice things about an auction is that the sale can be conducted while you are still living in the house. You don’t have to be moved out, you just have to know what you’re selling and what you’re keeping. We will go room by room with you so you can show us the items we need to photograph. Everything else stays where it is. This is a nice benefit over a traditional in-person estate sale, which in many cases requires clients to be out of the house already.
Minimal Property and Neighbor Disruption
Perhaps you have seen the photos from estate sales of long lines of people snaking around a property, waiting for the opportunity to burst through the door and start grabbing stuff. Or maybe you’ve experienced this for yourself. Shopping an in-person estate sale can be exciting, to be sure. And it makes sense for some properties to conduct a sale this way (we’re happy to send you names of liquidators we recommend for this sale type if that’s you), but the reality is that it also means a parking nightmare for your neighbors, and strangers going through your stuff. I have been one of those strangers, and I can say that most people are pretty considerate. But it’s still kind of weird having people paw through your drawers and closets, and then there’s the aftermath of messy shoppers and risk of theft. When you hire Bird’s Nest Auctions, it’s a woman-powered team photographing items for sale, presenting them nicely and giving bidders the information they need to buy. Shoppers are doing their thing from a computer or phone. Our friendly team is available for questions during the sale, and when the sale ends, we run an efficient, organized pick up window for only winning bidders to collect their items. That cuts down on parking snarls*, and in most cases, no one needs to go in the house unless they are picking up furniture or collecting a large lot.
*Some people are just bad at parking, or feel blocking traffic is NBD. We’ll manage this during the pick up.
Fair Market Value
One of the most commonly asked questions I get from clients is “How do you know what to price things at?” Fun fact: We don’t price! All auction items start at $1. I get the hesitation here – you don’t want a treasured family heirloom to sell for $1. Here’s the thing. The final hammer price is absolutely a function of the value of the item. Those mugs in the cabinet? We are a-okay with someone taking those out of your life for $1. The antique mantle clock that has been passed down for three generations? That’s going to see a lot of competitive bidding, and it’s going to sell high. Same with the like-new lawn tractor or generator (lots and lots of bidders want it!), or sterling flatware, jewelry or the mid-century buffet. There are of course items that sell low, but they tend to be run-of-the-mill decor and household goods, probably things you were considering donating anyway. The idea is to get those items out the door with no effort on your part. For those higher value items, bidders are looking for them and willing to spend the money. And while we may not be pricing items, we are spending a lot of time ensuring the right buyers find your items.
At the end of the day, you could sell every item individually yourself and you might come out ahead financially. Our service is to save you the headache and wasted time of selling items individually, and exposing your items to a far wider audience than you can find soley through Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.
Hidden Treasure
One more point about not pricing items. It is not uncommon for clients to be absolutely flabbergasted by what an item sold for, often something they were planning to give away or trash, or maybe something from a family member that had been in the attic for 20 years. Someone pricing that item might have put a couple of dollars on it, but thanks to wide exposure and competitive bidding, it sold for exactly what it should have. Auctions reduce the risk of valuable items being missed.
Total Transparency
We never, ever kick a client out of the house while we are working. Some people don’t want to be involved, and that’s okay, too. It’s your stuff, and we are happy to share our process with you. And since we’re creating a nice catalog of your items, you know exactly what each individual item sold for. No surprises or wondering if something got missed or taken. We send clients an itemized list of sales with their check for the sale proceeds. It’s not a mystery sales total from an event you couldn’t attend. Even if you don’t work with Bird’s Nest Auctions, please choose a company that won’t do this! It never feels good to wonder if there was some funny business with your stuff or a family member’s belongings.
Watch Parties Encouraged
I used the word “fun” to open this post and here’s the most fun part. You can watch the bidding live anytime, but it’s most exciting on the final evening of bidding. Grab some snacks and gather friends and family around the computer to see the exciting conclusion. While shoppers can place bids at any time during the auction, most will wait until the last day. Particularly in the final hours, you’ll see items jump up, sometimes hundreds and even thousands of dollars. Assuming there is not a lot of sadness around letting things go, this can be a fun conclusion to a stressful process. There’s definitely a lot of novelty to this whole thing.
Trustworthy, Honest, and Kind-Hearted Service
Downsizing or handling the estate of a relative comes with a lot of stress. At some point, the stuff has to go. And while there are myriad options for this (dumpster, DIY, donation, consignment, etc), I cannot recommend enough hiring an estate professional who will take all of your things – no cherry picking the “good” stuff – and save you untold hours of labor and effort. You need a company you can trust with your belongings. Our services are the best around – it’s why this woman-powered operation has been built almost entirely on word-of-mouth referrals. We have the compassion, skill and drive to run a successful estate auction.
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