Oftentimes, most people think of estate sales when someone of an older age is moving to a care center or when someone dies. People tend to acknowledge estate sales when they see the sign with a big arrow on the side of the street. This article is meant to shift readers away from viewing estate sales as “old” and “boring” but exciting and moving.
Now, let’s start with the difference between estate sales and garage sales. Estate sales are when property owners hire companies to host sales in their stead. Shoppers enter the house and basically get to shop throughout the homeowner’s entire property. That might sound weird, but it’s literally just that. Drawers, cabinets, and closets are all open in which people just go shopping.
With a garage sale, it’s wherever the seller wants to get rid of, which most people sell in front of their garages (hence, the name) for people to stop by. Sometimes, you can even run into some big sales like ones where a whole neighborhood will host a garage sale or even the whole town. For example I know Swisher, IA does one every year, most of the time they have a facebook page where people can find a map when it comes closer to the sale dates. In that case you just walk around the town and stop at garages that look interesting to you.
Now let’s get back on track— estate sales. Estate sales happen throughout the whole year, which certain companies host them; Sometimes, the family will host the sale, but that’s pretty rare. Everything is priced either with a sticker on the item or signs around the house, telling buyers the prices. It’s also important to know that most estate sales do a “Full Price” Day, 25% off day, and 50% off day. Even though that 50% day sounds like a great deal, sometimes it can be a negative because a lot of things are already picked though by the time that half-price day comes.
When it comes to my experience with garage and estate sales, it started when I was around 10 years old. My grandpa and I would walk the neighborhood and look for bright, neon sides at the corner of streets. If there weren’t any in the neighborhood, we would drive around just waiting for a sign to pop up. We would drive past it to see if it even was worth stopping, if it was we would park and walk right into that garage sale. This is something that people can do every weekend. Even if you can’t find a garage sale due to weather or something you can always probilly find an estate sale around your city.
When it comes to my experiences with estate sales I would say it’s not a new experience to me but at the same time I’m definitely not a pro at estate sales. At the beginning of high school, I was really into thrifting, but there’s a lot of resellers (reseller: someone that purchases something with the intention of selling it rather than using it themselves, mainly selling that item for more than the price they purchased it at.) out there which tends to leave not a lot of good stuff for the rest of us.
START HERE This is when I started to go to estate sales. I’ve had good and bad experiences with both estate and garage sales due to the fact that I can find great things and make great dealsThere will be times when the sales aren’t good, overpriced, or are uninteresting, but you just have to brush it off and think about the next sale.
When I personally go to estate sales, I first look at the sale listing online. This means the host posts photos of the items that are being sold at that particular sale. If the photos are interesting, then I recommend going to the sale.
Overall when going to garage and estate sales I recommend looking for clothes, name brands, or anything that is in good quality. . Don’t forget when looking at clothes that they can also be altered by cropping the shifts, cutting the shoulders, or trying to make something else out of it. Don’t forget that there are other things that you can look for with your future apartments or homes, like matching bowl sets, jewelry, picture frames, or even scrapbook supplies.
When thinking about whether or not something is worth purchasing, you can always try to negotiate to see if you can get the price you want. If the host is not willing to lower the price then see how much that item is, think about whether or not you will actually use the item or if it will just sit there if you buy it. Most of the time things at sales are so cheap that you won’t even think if it’s worth it due to the price being so low. When it comes to clothes, think about whether you can resell it, turn it into something else that’s useful, or even donate it.. Overall it’s up to the buyer, but I do think some items that are useless to others are still worthwhile. if they think something is worth it or not because something I like could be useless to others.
When haggling, some estate sale companies won’t allow you to because they want to get rid of everything in the house, but it never hurts to ask.
When haggling, ask the seller to start with a price, because most of the time you’re probably thinking way more. If you end up starting the negotiation, put a good price out there, but not something so low that the seller could take offense to it.
If you’re new to estate sales, expect someone to be very crowded due to the fact it’s someone’s house turned into a shopping house. Be patient, use your manners, and be polite to the people around you but especially the workers. People might be in the way of something you are wanting to look at or even bump into you, but keep your calm and just ask nicely if you could squeeze in. When it comes to things to bring I would say bring a big tote as your shopping bag, most estate sales have a hold table but they tend to be full and chaotic. When paying at estate sales most of them take Venmo,PayPal, and cash. I always bring cash because you never know. I also carry very little, when i’m going into a sale I just have my wallet not my whole purse, if I have a jacket I take it off because there is a good change you will get stressed or overheat due to the people around you or even needing to dig into a pile of clothes on the floor.
Estate sales is mainly what I do in my free time on the weekends due to estate sales only happening on the weekends. I love to not only get a deal on some great things but I love to see what people collected, how they lived, or even wonder why they have so many things. Most of the time you will also find things that they don’t make anymore like VHS tapes, clothes from companies that don’t make clothes anymore, and so many other good things.When it comes to my experiences with estate sales I would say it’s not a new experience to me but at the same time I’m definitely not a pro at estate sales. The great thing about sales is that you can walk in and shop around, you don’t need to know anything important.