As time consuming as it is to buy furnishings and other household items, it can be even tougher to decide, years later, whether to dispose of many of those items when moving into a smaller home.
It can be a particularly agonizing decision for older homeowners moving from a large house they’ve lived in for a number of years to a smaller retirement place that matches their present needs and lifestyle.
Often, it’s clear which items shouldn’t go, notes Bunny Simons, a volunteer for the Council for Jewish Elderly, Chicago. Especially when an item has sentimental value, it should be left in the hands of a family member who’ll appreciate the piece. “Sometimes,” adds Simons, “we recommend that a person take just a dish or two from a set to place in a curio cabinet of their new, smaller place.”
Although many things may no longer have sentimental or practical value, they often do have a monetary worth. Various avenues, from auctions to garage sales, exist to sell home furnishings and decor. Here’s a look at some options for selling various types of goods:
Is it a collectible?
“People clearing out a house often call me asking what to do with beds, chairs, and furniture,” relates Bindy Bitterman, owner of Eureka Antiques Nostalgia & Collectibles in Evanston. “I ask them, ‘What about old road maps and catalogs?’ They usually say, ‘We threw all that stuff out,’ and I just sigh with disappointment.”
Just about any type of paper that’s meant to be tossed, but was tucked into a drawer for years, is now probably a worthwhile collectible, especially if it is in pristine condition, says Bitterman. Ditto for political paraphernalia, toys, postcards, women’s accessories, anything associated with a World’s Fair, and more, she adds.
Browsing antiques and collectibles stores, and reading guidebooks found in local libraries can provide ideas about what’s collectible. If you do have something worthwhile, Bitterman says, auctions or selling to a dealer are the most likely options.
Estate sales
The word “estate” has less to do with the size of the home than the fact that the sales are often conducted after a death, when heirs want to sell off significant amounts of the furnishings and decor, notes Brian Meyer, owner of Somerset Sales, Chicago. An estate-sale company will come to a house to price all the furnishings and household goods, then open the house to the public for a couple of days to sell everything that the owners no longer want.
In fact, companies conducting the sale will require a certain amount of goods be available for sale to make it worth their time, maintains Meyer.
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the estate sale, versus other venues for selling, is that each item is tagged with a price, and buyers are expected to pay the posted amount. (Some customers, Meyer says, will leave a bid for more expensive pieces and the owner can decide if he wants to sell at that price later if the piece isn’t sold by the close of the sale.)
Established, professional estate sale conductors complain that many inexperienced people dabble in the business. “In the state of Illinois, you don’t need a license,” notes Bea Weiskopf, of Weiskopf Appraisal Services, Northbrook.
In some cases, an estate sale company will have a certified appraiser pricing goods; otherwise the sale conductor will simply rely on his own experience to properly price items. If owners have particularly valuable goods, such as antiques, they may want to separate those pieces from the estate sale.
“Especially with art, it may be difficult to get a good price at an estate sale,” concedes Meyer. He and other experts suggest separating the stand-out piece for an auction of like items, where bidders are expressly looking to purchase that particular type of valuable.
The pricing of items, rather than selling to the highest bidder, is one reason owners select the estate sale route over auctions, which is the alternative method for selling an entire household of goods. One difference is that at an estate sale, all items may not be sold, whereas at an auction, usually everything is sold to the highest bidders.
Estate sale companies generally charge a commission of 25 to 30 percent of the amount sold, say Weiskopf and Meyer. Sometimes the homeowners are responsible for advertising costs, which can run “upwards of $500,” says Weiskopf.
Auctions
Especially in rural areas, it’s a common occurrence for an auctioneer to set up the bidding block right on the premises in order to sell off the entire contents of the house or farm, notes Joe Keefhaver, executive vice president of the National Auctioneers Association in Overland Park, Kansas.
This practice isn’t as prevalent in the Chicago area, but it certainly occurs. Auctions can be an effective way of fetching good prices for framed prints, furniture, mirrors, and all of the items that make a house a home.
Marcy Rath, a past president of the Illinois State Auctioneers’ Association and co-owner of Marcy Rath and K’s Auction Service in Elgin, says that homeowners can elect to auction off the entire contents of their house, either on the premises, or by having items toted to the auction company’s lot.
Homeowners with expensive items can send an auction house a photograph for an estimate of the value and information on which type of auction would be appropriate for that particular type of valuable, notes Terry Dunning of Butterfield, Butterfield & Dunning in Elgin. An auction company will also often send out a specialists to examine the item, he adds.
Many firms will provide a free consultation, agrees Rath, so that homeowners can glean an idea of what amounts to expect for their goods, and what commissions they’ll have to pay. An auction company will charge a higher commission for selling less expensive items, dropping the rate for pricier valuables, says Keefhaver. Dunning agrees, noting that his firm charges commissions between 10 and 25 percent.
Dunning says he often recommends that the owner establish a “reserve” or price beneath which he won’t sell an expensive piece. Reserves are uncommon for more ordinary items, he says, “but we’ll provide an estimate and try to come in on the estimate.”
The dealer route
Antiques and art dealers are a convenient way to sell valuables, notes Simons of the Council for Jewish Elderly. For her own mother, she adds, she had three dealers come to the house to view a couple of furniture pieces and bid a price. “We might have gotten more money at an auction, but this was easier.”
It’s best to do some research on your item and then make sure that the dealers you contact specialize in that type of valuable. “Some dealers want certain things,” says Weiskopf. “And you also have to understand that the condition of the item makes a big difference.”
“Make sure the dealer is well-established,” counsels Joan Lucas, owner of County Faire, Inc., in Wheeling. “You don’t want to contact someone who just sets up a 10-foot booth in the mall.”
Classifieds and cyberspace
You can always take a do-it-yourself approach and take out a classified ad. Simons says, however, that most of the elderly people she helps in downsizing don’t want to contend with buyers phoning and visiting their home. With the explosive growth of the Internet, many sellers and buyers of collectibles and household items now use Internet sites to auction off their goods. Such on-line auctions are especially appropriate “if you have a collectible that’s easily recognizable by name and description,” says Keefhaver.
But on-line selling takes some know-how to ensure that you’re not cheated by strangers you meet in cyberspace. At www.ebay.com, which is one of the largest on-line auction sites on the Internet, sellers are advised to consider insuring the item before shipping and using an escrow service to accept payments.
