As the seasons change and COVID cases decline, people are venturing beyond their homes, while others step up efforts to declutter or downsize. One option is to hold an estate sale. Guest author, Abby Christensen, offers tips for a do-it-yourself estate sale.
Estate sales happen for many reasons; one of the most common, is helping a loved one downsize. This can provide funds for your loved one to move into a care facility if that’s the next step. It also gives those in an aging loved one’s life a special time to review one’s life and memories, together.
DIY Estate Sale
Holding an estate sale can be fun, overwhelming, and exhausting. No matter the reason for holding the sale, it’s important to have a plan so you don’t skip a step or miss anything important. Follow the steps below for some of what you’ll need to do to get your sale up and running.
Prepare your inventory.
Deciding what to sell, keep, or gift to family or friends is the first step. This can be a long and sometimes overwhelming process. One thing that can help is eliminating the “maybe-sell” or “come-back-to-later” piles. Once you have a good idea of how many items you need to look through, touch-up, or clean, set a date and time for your sale.
Price the items and put them on display.
Research similar items online in order to price yours competitively. You also want to make sure you have every item marked as either “for sale” or “not for sale” so potential buyers know immediately which items they can buy. It’s also important to display your items in rooms they would normally be found in. This gives potential buyers to chance to see the value it would add to their home.
Prepare for transactions.
Having change for buyers using cash will enable you to sell more, and at the price you want. Before the sale, head to your financial institution to get a few bills ranging from $1-$10 so you’re prepared. Be aware of and prepared to take other forms of payment, too, like Venmo or credit cards.
Remember to advertise.
After doing all the work to set up an estate sale, you want people to show up. Talk with neighbors to get the word out and post signs around the neighborhood if your city permits you to do so.
While it can be hard work, holding an estate sale can also be quite rewarding. The above steps will help keep you organized. For more tips, click on Annuity.org’s full 8 steps to holding an estate sale. You can also download the free estate-sale-timeline checklist at the above link.
Abby Christensen is a content creator at Siege Media who focuses on creating useful content in a variety of industries from finance and retirement planning to lifestyle topics. When she’s not writing, she’s likely watching videos of adorable dogs or spending time with her husband.
