Rick wrote:

Ken G. wrote:

Whoever did that estate sale, obviously, did not have their client in
their best interest or even had a clue ... ... and Phil, knowing what
you know, you ripped your neighbor off ...

Well Graham some of these estate cleanout sales are geared to get rid of
stuff instead of trying to run an antique shop where half the stuff dont
sell because its all priced to high then the estate sale company just
keeps it & sells it . I noticed this happening here years back so most
people now just sell the stuff themselves . I have not seen an ``estate
company`` doing estates here for some time now .
One estate sale company near here gathers up the good stuff , looks up
its value from books and internet then puts 1/3 that value on the stuff


Having "been there, done that" unless there is a pile of known good
stuff, or possibly good stuff, a family may have far more interest in
clearing the home quickly - while a mortgage may still be running on the
property and real estate taxes have to be paid and the stuff has to go
before the house can even be fixed up and shown to buyers - than picking
nits over whether they should have got $5.00 versus $15.00 for any given
item. And dragging an Estate Auctioneer into the process doesn't
guarantee a higher return either - when a bunch of dealers show up for
the sale who *do not* want to pay top dollar for anything. Or an
Auctioneer who drags their own "Antiques" into the sale and ends up
selling far more of their merchandise than your own.

An Estate Auction is an option. But squeezing every penny out of
relatively worthless items isn't always the top priority when clearing a
house. Phil got darn lucky on that radio. But seriously, do you think a
bidding war would have broken out on a radio like that if their was an
Estate auction?

Rick


I see offers on Freecycle to clean out houses around here. They
divide the stuff into rough groupings, and just give it away, rather
than spend the time needed on more pressing matters. I don't reply to
any of the offers, because there is always someone who needs the stuff
more than I do.

When my next door neighbor died, a guy he'd more or less raised years
ago showed up with a big truck and trailer to take his best hand and
power tools, then he left everything else behind. My dad helped the
widow clean the place out, and I made countless trips to different
thrift stores to give away truckloads of things she didn't want to keep
so the older home could be replaced.

Its like a thread on news:sci.electronics.design about volunteerism
right now. Why hang on to a lot of household items you don't need, when
people have lost their homes to fire, tornados, hurricanes or other
situations that isn't their fault?


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida