An elderly friend of mine is moving into a nursing home and wants to sell his entire house full of furniture, hopefully all at once. I know there are companies that will do consignments and some estate sales companies will handle sales of basically everything. I only have a phone message, so far, to work from and it only asked about furniture. He lives in Queens, NY. Anybody knowledgeable got some tips for me to pass on to him?
2007-07-04 12:28:51 · 8 answers · asked by Cashe 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Other - Home & Garden
My friend isn't at all computer savy and I'm pretty sure he won't be interested in handling the individual purchases for the things. What he's hoping for is a company that will buy the entire house full of furniture in one lot. I haven't dealt with Craig's list myself: I'm a Freecycle person. I'm sure he only wants to deal with businesses, not individuals, especially being elderly and cautious.
2007-07-04 12:37:59 · update #1
Head over to http://www.craigslist.com and to http://www.postaroo.com and list the items for free.
You should be able to sell off the whole household in a few days.
2007-07-04 12:31:24 · answer #1 · answered by Stuart 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hire an auction house.
We live in Florida and had to do this in Iowa for my Mother in law. We did all of the hiring and planning by phone. The
Auctioneer did all of the advertising. Depending on what they have will say what papers and magazines they advertise in.
They have to walk through the house to get an Idea of what type of furniture they will be advertising.
This worked well for us. We were done in a total of 13-14 days. That included driving from and to. We were there one week.
This was done as an open auction on the 1 block street next to her house.
In the case of this auctioneer, we did the majority of the work,
fortunately we had lots of family up there. But the auction house has to prep to auction the way they want to . But you said you are just taking about the furniture, so they may take
it to an auction house.
This was a three story with an out building and all contents.
LOTS AND LOTS OF STUFF.
I guess you can tell I suggest an auctioneer. We did about $40,000.00 which was much more than was expected.
Do an Internet search for one in that area, at least you can help get the ball rolling. If they sell at an established auction, the advertising will already be done.
I do not know about all auctioneers, but this one charged 15%.
Good Luck
2007-07-04 12:52:03 · answer #2 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I personally have a small e bay like buisness for my county only..and also used to manage a storage facility....Put an ad in the local newspaper....and have a "bidding" type sell for the entire household...list it under the "furniture" category..I find if you just get one furniture place to make an offer..they will add "sand to the vaseline" sort of say as they take advantage of you....Also you can either do a onsite highest price takes bid..you have the option of starting the bid at a price you designate...or you can do 'sealed bids" where they all come over..write down a bid they will do on a piece of paper with thier contact information on it... ahve sealed bids going for a week..you contact the highest bidder this way..I just had to put my mother in the nursing home 2 months back..also consider this..do not take a check take cash if your friend is going in under medicaid/medicare program... any earnings over 2000.00 showing on his account they will either take from him, or they will disqualify him for having too much cash assets... sell this stuff cash only, or a check made to you or another friend to cash...in the nursing home..he has a trust account to , he is allowed only 1999.99 in that account..anything over they will takelll
2007-07-05 01:27:08 · answer #3 · answered by pcbeachrat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Consignments usually take a 50% commission and you can't get much for used things anyhow-even in good condition. Also you usually have to transport the stuff to them. If you can get an estate sale arranged that would probably be better. Does he need a tax writeoff? If so he can donate it and take the deduction.
2007-07-04 12:39:23 · answer #4 · answered by Jane T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Place add in a paper about a estate sale at the home you are in. Have a price that ranges form this to this all things. So you will get more customers.
2007-07-04 17:03:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Craigs List!!!!!! Since you live in a well populated area there will be so many people at your door you won't know what to do. You'll be able to get rid of all your stuff, especially if its it good shape, and cheap.
www.craigslist.com
2007-07-04 12:31:26 · answer #6 · answered by Chickenpie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
those companies don't pay much, a lady i know advertised for her friend and got her more money, craigslist or the newspaper, have a weekend sale.
2007-07-04 12:33:06 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hold an auction
2007-07-04 12:31:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋