Visiting an estate sale is like discovering a time capsule that when opened, explodes with all the objects collected over a
lifetime.
As Americans live longer and healthier
lives, their aspirations often go beyond the idea of retiring, sometimes being
called to new adventures that might mean starting anew in an exotic locale or
moving to a smaller home. Many of retirement age, and even younger, are turning to what Amanda Kuzak of Kuzak’s Closet, Silicon Valley’s premier organization firm known for producing top-tier estate sales, likes to call a living estate sale.
I recently caught up with Amanda, who told me how she and her team help clients to quickly move years of merchandise out the door and secure top dollar to finance their bright futures.
ET: Why
would someone want to have a living estate sale?
AK: In most cases clients choose to have a
living estate sale when they are downsizing or moving out of the area. In a
handful of occasions we also have organized them in the case of remodeling or
divorce. In Silicon Valley people are either moving up or moving out, so there
is always a need for a sale.
ET: How do you begin when considering a
living estate sale?
AK: Clients always begin by figuring out
what to get rid of, but this is actually the OPPOSITE of what they should be
doing. They should only focus on what they want to keep and take with
them. Once they figure that out, they should ask their friends and family if
they want anything. And then, they should leave everything else up to the
estate sale company.
ET: How
do you decide what to keep and what to sell?
AK: I recommend starting with a space plan
based on where they are going
and to factor in the cost of moving. There
is no sense paying $350 to move a sofa that you no longer love and that won't
fit, right? Start with the practical and then move into the sentimental. I say
it in that order because being clear about what is practical will give you a
clue on how much room you have for sentimental items.
ET: When
items are sentimental, but you’ve just got to get rid of things, how do you
pare down?
AK: Determine what is irreplaceable and be
creative on how you can "keep the memory" of things instead of
keeping the physical object. Kuzak's Closet recently worked with a client to
downsize five storage units of sentimental items. In the end, our client kept
10 percent of the items. We coached him through keeping what he actually had
room for in his life/home, and then we took photos of bulky things so he could
keep a much smaller memory.
ET: Are
there items that you might think you shouldn’t sell, but might want to
reconsider?
AK: Furniture! Furniture is bulky, hard to move and loses its
value quickly unless it is classic mid-century modern and
extremely unique. The smaller the item, the more likely it is to resell, the exact
opposite of what 90 percent of clients think.
Vintage family photos always seem like an
odd thing to sell but our shoppers cherish them. They tell a story, and it's
fun to see that story go home with someone at a sale.
ET: How
do you price items?
AK: I look at the estate as a whole and
develop a benchmark of value. If the home is in nice condition and I think
the average priced item will be $95, then I will price with that middle ground
being the barometer. For a vintage estate totally packed to the gills I might
think the average item is only valued at $15, so that will change things. I also
price things based on how difficult it is to move out of the house, how much
time it would take to disassemble, the risk for the item to cause damage on the way out, the volume of
like items we have and the need for the item to help with the success of the
sale.
For example, if the estate is dark, I am
going to price the lamps much higher than I would normally because I need them
for the sale. They will also be more noticeable to shoppers and therefore be
more desirable, which means they have more value in that situation.
Bottom line, there is more psychology behind pricing that most people
think, it's something
I've figured out over the years, which is
part of the reason Kuzak's Closet estate sales are so popular.
ET: Are
there items that are typically overpriced?
AK: For our sales we try not to overprice
anything, we know we only have two to three days to sell the item, and we want
shoppers to see the price tags and get excited to buy things.
ET: Are
there items that are typically underpriced?
AK: Furniture would probably be No. 1 and
then household items. You can
really get good deals on stuff like tin-foil
and cleaning products at estate sales. Last week my husband put a $10 roll of
tin foil in his cart at the grocery store and I was like, "Put that back; I can get that for 25 cents this week at our estate sale!"
ET: Should
people participate in their own “living” estate sale?
AK: The only way they should participate is
by choosing the items they want to keep. It is not a good idea to have the
family at the estate sale in any circumstance. Shoppers want to have an
imagination about who lived at the house and they also want to buy things
without feeling guilty. My biggest "flop" projects were those that
the family or client was present.
ET: How
important is merchandising?
AL: Merchandising plays a HUGE part in the
estate sale success. We spend time figuring out lighting, creating
vignettes and moving around merchandise so it always feels fresh. We also clean
up at multiple times during the day, sometimes even vacuuming during the sale. I
always want shoppers to feel like they are the first shopper in the door. Pricing
is also huge. No one wants to ask for prices, so if you have tags on at least 80
percent of the items available, it gives shoppers an idea of what you are
looking to get for an item that might not be priced.
ET: And
maybe a word on cleanliness?
AK: All odors can be a problem, especially
smoke and pet odors. It really impacts the resale value of furniture, rugs,
and clothing. For our estate sales, we are strict about requiring that the
house is free of odors or grime. But for our estate liquidations, the grosser
the better. That service is a bit of a pickers paradise, so shoppers love the thrill
of the hunt and the mystery. We recently liquidated a house in Los Altos where
the 95-year-old owner was so lonely that he started feeding rats in his home. You
can only imagine the odors in that place!
ET: How
should you manage expectations for a living estate sale?
AK: Always think about it as a service.
Shoppers are coming into your home, paying you for items you no longer want and
hauling it away so you don't have to. It's a win-win for everyone and the
fastest way to sail into the sunset, in my opinion.
ET: Do
you have an anecdote about someone who was hesitant to have a living estate
sale, but then realized it to be a positive experience?
AK: Hmm, it's always tough when the client
is living because the attachment to the items is more real. For the Palo Alto
clients that we recently helped, they were worried they would need to throw everything
away or coordinate weeks of donation pick ups. We coached them into just
focusing on what they wanted to keep and putting their energy into packing it
up and moving out. We would handle the rest. We spent one day merchandising,
researching, marketing and pricing, and then had the estate sale a few days
later. The sale was from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and was totally sold out by the end
of the day. The clients walked away with $15,000…pretty amazing!
I would agree. Now click on over to Kuzak’s Closet and be inspired by the
gorgeous estates Amanda and her team create. I know I am.
The Elegant Thrifter