Fine Estate Sales, Antiques and Collectibles &#187; Estate Sales Business

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Ignore Local SEO, and Your Estate Sales Business Will Falter

Martin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:04:49 +0000

Oh No! I can’t Fail, I hired an Expert Web Guy…

What is local SEO: Your Local Estate Sales SEO can best be understood by entering the keyword “Estate Sales” into a browser search box along with the name of your city or geographical region. The results of that search can reasonably be described as the Local results particular to that city or geographical area. This will allow you to see how Google ranks your site in contrast to others.

Where is your site: Try this, open a browser, enter the keyword Estate Sales, add the name of the city or region you do business in and hit your enter or return key. If your site is not among the first 10 or so results, then the way your website, or its contents are constructed are not fully optimized.

The Majors Dominate Local Estate Sales Search Results

Who are the Majors: Estate Sales.net, Craigslist, Oodle, Yelp, and there are a few others.

Why you should care: There is only one reason to care about this: Business, your business, the way new clients might find you, is minimized and marginalized, or it will seem to be non-existent to those who use the web to find their local contacts.

Take Back Your SEO Turf, after all, It’s Yours

Who Controls Your Website: If you are not actively engaged with your site, if you do not have access to it, or do not personally know how to upload content to your site, then because your competition does, you will falter. If you think about your site like once or twice a month, and are unaware that the Majors, and even some of your bigger local competitors think about their sites everyday, then you will falter, and may even fail.

Oh my! What ever will you do: Read, read, read about SEO, and then and only then consult with the right people. Study the Majors, and your local competition. Learn how to upload content to your website.

Why ever would you take the time to improve your SEO…

…because it will both save, and make you money…

Delegating this to others: I would only recommend delegating this very important task to others after you yourself have done the research necessary to fully understand what I have written above. No one understands you, and your message better than you. After you have taken the time to compose your message, have learned how to post content to your website, and have at least a working knowledge of SEO, then I think it is reasonable to hire a web person to improve your SEO.

But I don’t Have Time: Here are three questions – 1. Do you have time to wait for your phone to ring? 2. Do you have time to watch others succeed? 3. Do you have time to waste hoping to be noticed? If you do not have the time to do any of these three things, then you’ll have to learn to make time for learning about SEO, and how it will substantially improve your business.

Martin, Why Should I Listen to You About SEO?

Take a look at these three sites: San Francisco Estate Sales (Fine Estate Liquidation, Inc.), The Do It Yourself Estate Sales Guide, and of course the site you are currently on – Fine Estate Sales Blog, chock full of articles and post, many of which rank on the first page of various Google searches. Here’s a link to our Article Archive. I wrote and created these sites! And I wrote and created them as a 52 year old guy, who four years ago didn’t even type, never mind that I was also at the time completely ignorant about computers…If I can do it, so can you.

Prepare Yourself For 2010: From late December 2009 to the end of January 2010 I will work with up to 10 different Estate Liquidators. Estate Liquidators who want to extend themselves, who want to succeed, who are not afraid to be the Estate Sales Leaders in their local cities or regions.

But I Have Conditions, Luckily There Are Only 3 of Them

You have to be prepared to change.
You must call me at least once a week.
You are willing to learn to navigate the admin portion of your site.

This is going to cost money, a fair bit of money…

How Much: I don’t know how much I will charge each of the Estate Liquidators I will work with until I see their sites. Some sites will have simple changes to implement, while others will be more difficult to implement changes on. So each site I work with will be treated as a project, and I will generate a project cost projection for each of them.

Here’s a Cost Range: $1,500.00 to $5,000.00

Is That a Scary Number?

Of Course It Is: But is it as scary as doing nothing? Is it as scary as watching the majors gobble up your local SEO? Is it as scary as waiting, and watching, or expecting a miracle to bring people to your site?

Inaction is the same as: Capitulation; is the same as folding at a card table because the stakes are misunderstood, is the same as agreeing to the success of others at the expense of your own businesses survival.

When you are ready, send me an email or give me a call…

Martin Codina
CEO Fine Estate Sales and Estate Liquidation, Inc.

415-235-7238
Email Martin Here

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Estate Sales The Billion Dollar Business You Need To Know About

Martin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:19:44 +0000

Well, Estate Sales as a Business, is Even Bigger Than That…

I am not writing about the Gingerbread Houses of Real Estate. I am not driving you to, or away from yet another tiny Garage Sale – Or waving a fruitless blade of grass about the virtues of Yard Sales – Or even teaching you how to swarm like one of so many flies hovering over a table of deals at a Flea Market.

I want to share with you the most powerful way to handle the sale of inherited personal property since the invention of the Turkish Bazaar. It’s called…an estate sale

Estate Sales

…what are they and why are they so incredible…?

But First: Here are some simple but hard truths – People pass on, and when they do, they leave behind a lot of “Stuff.” Some of that “Stuff” is valuable – sometimes Very Valuable!

If you are in the extremely unfortunate position to be the family member who has to manage this inherited personal property, the left behind effects of a loved one, you are in a difficult situation. It’s not easy dealing with loss, and it’s a big job to empty out a house.

So Wait! Don’t throw anything away…not yet…

Chippendale Chair Sells For $51,750.00

…because it’s almost every day that I hear…

“I wish I had known, I wish someone had told me – that a friend or an attorney had informed me about Estate Sales. I just didn’t know what to do. I was faced with a mountain of “Junk.” I didn’t know that some of it had value. I thought an Estate Sale was for rich people. I thought you had to have a pile of sterling silver, and faux finished walls hanging with paintings to have an estate sale.

When I thought about Estates, I thought England or France, or those big houses in the wealthier parts of town. And because I thought that, I think I might have made some big mistakes.”

“…you see I threw most of it away.”

(Don’t feel too bad, even museums sometimes do this: Torontoist Article)

Here’s a True Story: I know a Junk Dealer, who used to do Estate Sale clean outs for me. One day he was at a dump somewhere in Northern California dropping off a load of debris. He noticed a couple of guys throwing away an entire truck full of average looking household items. All of the items were usable, and they all likely came from some house where someone didn’t have the time to pick through it, or maybe they didn’t have someone like me to go through it, and let them know what had value and what didn’t.

Amongst the things they were throwing away, was a small oil painting that caught the eye of the Junk Dealer, and as these two guys were about to toss the painting onto the debris pile, this Junk Dealer asked if he could have the painting. They said sure…

That painting was by an artist named Maynard Dixon, and even though it was small, it was worth $10,000.00.

…This begs the Question…

…were these two guys dumb, or were they only ignorant…?

Let’s be charitable and say they were ignorant; that they just didn’t know, because they had never been taught how to know about stuff – especially how to sell or liquidate stuff at an Estate Sale.

Schools don’t teach you how to understand the secondary market for used furniture, and the culture is driven by what’s new. It’s not profitable to make the mistake of throwing a Maynard Dixon painting away, but it is forgivable…well at least almost forgivable…

…you see the Estate Sales Business is under the radar, and it’s like a strange sort of secret…

But it’s not a secret to Auction Houses. They understand that Estates have interesting things in them, and the big auction house routinely consign the best of the best to their upcoming Estate Auctions. Think Bonhams and Butterfield, think Skinner’s, Christies, and Sotheby’s. These large Auction Houses collectively must account for over a billion dollars in sales each year all by themselves. Most of their auctions are filled with household contents, and collections culled from the estates of large and small homes across the country.

And it’s no secret to the smaller regional auction houses either. Every week in small and medium sized cities across America the auction hammer can be heard to strike on podiums, as audiences of savvy buyers bid on countless lots of personal property.

The people at those auctions, the dealers and the thrift conscious know that auctions are the place to find the deals, to pay less than at an estate sale…

…So Professional In-House Estate Sales people Question “The Send it to Auction Wisdom…”

…they prefer to recommend selling most items separately, not in box lots, as the way to bring an estate the most amount of income...

True Story: Last night I spoke with a Fine Art dealer and I asked him how he was acquiring paintings these days. He said that he was currently only buying paintings from the smaller regional auction houses, the kind that aren’t connected to the internet; further stating that it was the auction houses that were not connected to the internet where he could get the best deals.

…If you are going to use an Auction House, make sure they are connected…

…Here’s a Painting Sold by Us Through Our Estate Sales Process…

Eduard Gaertner 1801- 1877 ($240,000.00)

While seldom is selling your best antiques and collectibles to a dealer your best option, sometime, auctions really are your best way to go. Here is an article I wrote on the subject: Estate Sales or Auctions?

Who are the people under the Umbrella of Estate Sales and Estate Liquidation?

(Sold By Heritage Auctions for $597.00)

…Antiques Dealers, Auction Houses, and In-House Estate Sales Professionals…

Each of these types of professionals has their various strengths and weaknesses. Each in their own way can help you make higher quality decisions about what to do, how to proceed, and how to avoid costly mistakes.

Personally I like the advocate. The Estate Sales Professional, the kind that conducts in-house estate sales. At least the best of them can function more like and advocate then either Auction Houses or Antiques Dealers.

Here’s why: Antiques dealers don’t want all of your stuff. They only want the best, and after they purchase those items, you’ll be left with the rest. Big Auction Houses are a lot like Antiques Dealers, they also only want the best, and consigning your best items to them will still leave you with a house full of personal property.

And the worst thing about that is, after either the Antiques Dealer or Auction House is through removing the best of the best, often times you won’t have enough left to interest the in-house Estate Liquidator.

…How Come Estate Sales Professionals are so Darn Good at what they do…

(Because they understand how even this cracked Pairpoint Lamp is still worth more than $2,000.00)

An Estate Sales Company such as mine, Fine Estate Sales and Estate Liquidation sees the big picture; understands what items should be sold and where – knows when to sell an item to an Antique Dealer, send an item to an Auction House, and how to fold all of the remaining household contents into a large and profitable on-site, in-house Estate Sale.

Estate Sales Professionals have one main goal: To maximize the financial value of the personal property portion of an estate in such a way that it virtually guarantees – Top Prices, Easy Transitions, and Broom Clean Houses…large auction house won’t do this, and neither will many dealers, or small auction houses.

Martin Codina

CEO

Fine Estate Sales and Estate Liquidation, Inc.

Enter Our Contest and Win a One Month Subscription To Prices 4 Antiques.Com

…In Other Estate Sales News …

We did it, irrational or rational as it may be – you be the judge, now you can follow

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The Estate Sales Business

Martin — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:02:26 +0000

Estate Sales as a Business, Some Things You’ll Need to Know…

…because a reader has asked, here is her letter, paraphrased, and excerpted.

Reader: “Do you recommend being a certified Antiques Appraiser or not? “

Fine Estate: This is a very complex question. For starters, most Estate Sales Professionals are not certified appraisers, and most certified appraisers are not estate sales professionals.

While there are overlaps to what each of these two professions are accomplishing on behalf of their clients, they are still very different industries.

Certified appraisers for the most part, value household contents, and Estate Sales Professionals sell household contents.

My Recommendation: Find a competent certified appraiser in your area and have them preview your pricing. If you find anything at all in a house that you do not know the value of, always call in an outside expert. I did this for the first 3 years of my Estate Sales Business, and even still today, I have outside antiques and collectibles experts or appraisers check my pricing.

There ain’t no one person who knows everything

Reader: …”And are there other things that are really needed to be a qualified Estate Sales Professional?”

Fine Estate: I think that the number one talent of the best Estate Sales Professionals in the country is “To Know When They Don’t Know, and to have coupled this with the action of, “They Know How To Find Out”.

I fully expect to find a treasure in every house, not that I do find a treasure in every house, but I do expect it – I keep an Open Mind about what I am looking at, and because I expect to find Estate Sales treasures, I do.

My Recommendation: Know that you can’t know everything, indeed no one appraiser in the country does. Develop Solid Industry Contacts, pay them if you have to, subscribe to one or more of the big antique and collectible research data bases, such as Artfact, Askart, Terapeak, or Prices 4 Antiques.Com. I assure you, these are the data bases that almost all Certified Appraisers are using to ascribe value to antiques and collectibles. By the way, I subscribe to all of them.

What are the requirements to be an Estate Sales Professional?

Reader: “Are Estate Sales Professionals required to be licensed, bonded or insured?”

Fine Estate: Not sure how to answer this question, because these requirements would vary state by state. In California, there are no licensing, or bonding requirements in order to be in the Estate Sales business. Having said that, it makes good sense to follow the good practices of other kinds of business.

My Recommendation: If your state does not license Estate Liquidators, at least get a local municipal business license. All business should be insured, and many that handle cash, should consider getting bonded.

When will I have enough information to go into the Estate Sales Business?

Reader: I love helping with estate sales, but I do not feel I have the right information/experience to start my own Estate Sales business.

Fine Estate: This statement is, I think, an indication of your honesty, sincerity and integrity. These are very important components to have, with these, all things are possible. The Estate Sales Business is a trust industry. We are in peoples homes everyday, we see how they live, what they liked – whether life turned out OK for them…Honesty is everything, and with it you will prove yourself capable to act according to the best needs of your clients.

My Recommendation: Start small, by conducting some modest Estate Sales. Build alliances with Antiques Dealers, and Appraisers. Sign up for at least one of the antiques and collectibles research resources I listed.

Martin Codina

Fine Estate

…In Other Estate Sales News …

We did it, irrational or rational as it may be – you be the judge, now you can follow

1950′s Studio Pottery Mug

New Items From Fine Estate, and some new dealer advice

Martin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:31:43 +0000

4 New Items From Fine Estate Sales: This shows why I am in the business – Diversity – is the name of the game…for dealers.

When I first started in the antiques business, even before I became an Estate Liquidator, I read a book about becoming an Antique Dealer. I wish I could remember the name of the book, but I can’t. The only thing I can recall of the book was just this one tidbit. As a dealer, if you find something at an Auction or Estate Sale that you can say of “Gee, I have never seen anything like this before” you should buy it. Because chances are, if you’ve never seen anything like it, others won’t have either.

In Today’s Market with its shifting economies, stay ahead by being different…

It’s the diversity thing, that keeps me so engaged and interested in the estate sales business. The surprise, the chance find…the hidden now revealed.

Navajo Klagetoh Rug:

Antique Ivory Cigar Cutter

Oil Painting by John J Englehart

Stay Alert, your best days are ahead of you…your next “Best Find” could be one phone call away

Martin Codina

Contemporary Art at Estate Sales

Martin — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:11:30 +0000

What to do with it, How to sell It…

Here is an email I received today:

Dear Martin,

Let me begin by saying thank you, your website is amazing, and you seem very approachable. Hence this email.

I am relatively new at conducting Estate Sales and am embarrassed to say I need a little advise. Most of my past estate sales have contained vintage or antique items, and I am comfortable researching and pricing those sales. I have an upcoming sale containing a few pieces of newer artwork (some of which can still be purchased). I know the amount these items retail for, and the value they appraise for. My question is – Is there a discount percentage formula to price the items at the sale? For example, if an item is still being sold for $3,000, should it be priced 30% less at the estate sale? I am looking for the percentage to use. My client is not comfortable with additional discounts the second day, therefore I need to be “spot on” with my pricing.

Martin, I know I should know this answer. If this is something that is covered in your book, I would be happy to purchase the material. As I mentioned I am a newer company, and am trying to learn everything I can. I am extremely professional and abide by a very strict code of ethics.

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated, and like you I too love the estate sales industry,

Stephanie

This is a bit like trying to answer the $64,000.00 Question

My Answer:

Hello Stephanie,

The secondary art market gauges the value of art primarily by checking the artist name against one of the large “Price Realized” auction house data bases. The Big Three Art databases are: Art Fact, Art Price and Ask Art, there are others, but these three are the ones I use. Art Fact has an edge over its competition because a user has the added benefit of being able to research almost any antique or collectible that’s been sold via auction in the last five years. By the way, these are fee based subscription services.

In other words the resale value of art in the Secondary Art Market is first tied to its auction house sales records.

If there are no auction house sales records, a condition that most contemporary art finds itself in, then the marketplace is left to fend for itself in order to establish a baseline value for the piece of art in question.

If this is the case with your clients artwork, then you will likely have an uphill battle providing them with any sort of concrete sales strategy that will result in a sales price for their piece that matches what the gallery they purchased the art piece from can generate.

Art Galleries Can Schmooze The Sale Of Art in ways that Estate Liquidators cannot…that’s just the way it is…

So, what to do? In a situation like this I like to be as transparent as a fine piece of Steuben glass. I let my clients know the difference between estate sales, auction houses, and art galleries.

Here is my order for selling a piece of contemporary art by an artist who is not listed but does have gallery representation.

Contact the gallery and see if they have a market for this piece, or if they have some sort of consignment service.
Determine if there are local collectors of the artists work.
Check to see if the artist has a website, they may be interested in the piece, or may have a collector who is.
Conduct a web search to determine if there are any collector or discussion groups for this artist

If strategies 1 through 4 do not produce a desired sales result, then it is even more likely that you will not be able to sell this artists work for anything like the amount your client paid for it, or the prices that the artists gallery is charging for the artists works.

If this is the case, and I suspect that it is, then your client has to determine whether or not they truly want to sell the piece for the “True Market Value” of the art.

If they still want to sell, try this…

Gather together all receipts and documentation about the art piece.
If the art piece was ever part of a gallery show, then attempt to acquire its show brochure.
Document any publications the artist has been featured in.
Write a very short bio to hang next to the art piece during your estate sale.

Expect to start the price at 70% of its original sales price, but please realize that the most likely way you will sell this piece of art is if the buyer has a perception that they are getting a true bargain, which will likely mean that you will have to offer further sales discounts to induce them to buy. It is not uncommon for this to result in a sales price that is 70% to 80% below what the piece might sell for in a gallery.

The sale of non listed art on the secondary market best happens when the buyer falls in love with the piece of art first, when they are floored by it, when they have the perfect place in their house already picked out…

…I always ask them, “So where do you see this piece in your house…?”

Good Luck

Martin Codina

So you want to be in the Estate Sales Business

Martin — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:48:46 +0000

“But You Don’t Know Where To Start”

Here is an actual ad for an estate sale being conducted by Heartland Estate Sales in Omaha Nebraska: Today’s project is to learn how and where to research the Antiques and Collectibles that are part of this estate sale.

But First A Few Photos…

[View with PicLens]

Copy Of Heartland Estate Sales Ad:

Date: August 22nd – 24th, 2009 Place: 7416 S. 20th Street, Signs at Rt75 and Chandler Rd., Omaha, NE

*****LIMITED ENTRY TO HOUSE POSSIBLE*****
Preliminary Look: Lots of Guns 15-20 handguns, rifles, and shotguns, Knives include: Rare German Flyers Knife, USM and Navy knives, Pal hunting knife, Compound Bows, lots of fishing gear and vintage tackle, Lots of Costume jewelry (all from this house includes Brookraft, Cameos, Charel, Coro, Haskell, Hollycraft, Kramer, Lisner, Matisse, Roberts, Renoir, Trifari, vintage Turquoise, Vendome, Weiss, West Germany and more to come), Lots of Tools (mostly old), Lots of collectibles (Art Nouveau Lamp with Nudes, Antique Atwood Kent Radio with Horn, Zeiss Ikon camera, antique clocks, 2 antique Horse Harnesses with collars, camel back and immigrant trunks, Thorens disc music box with 10 discs, Marianne Eagle Sward Verdun 1916 Military Bronze Medal By Pillet (1869-1960), neat vintage Christmas Tree motion lamp, Trench/Shell Art pieces, pocket knives, pens and pencils, pocket watches, marbles, stamps, antique oil lamps, Singer Treadle machine oak cabinet, ), nice glassware and china, vintage childrens books, lots of standard household, lawn and garden,

[View with PicLens]

Before I can properly price an estate sales item, I have to know what it is. So the first thing I do is identify each item. After I identify what the piece is, I think of each item as representing a category – a keyword, or a search term.

…I then conduct a Google Search…

But I have found that if I just Google each of these categories of collectibles, many times my search results are way to broad. So the trick is to learn how to narrow my search terms so that they produce search results that are relevant to the information I am seeking,

There are easy and hard ways to research Antiques and Collectibles….

Here’s the hard, but rewarding way…

Firearms: Collectible Firearms.com Knives and Bayonets: Bayo Hunter Compound Bow: eBay completed listings. Fishing Gear and Tackle: Joe’s Old Lures Costume Jewelry: Milky Way Jewels Costume Jewelry Makers Marks Old Tools: Union Hill Antique Tools Atwood Kent Radio: Atwater Kent Cameras: Classic Cameras Thorens: Mechanical Music
Antique Clocks: Gutlin Antique Clocks g Trench Art: Trench Art Vintage Pens: Vintage Pens.com

The above websites will teach you a great deal about the collectibles and antiques listed in the Heartland Estate Sales Ad, but sometimes you need a single source for researching antiques and collectibles…because you are moving fast…

Here is a site that will give you real time access to high quality price information quickly and accurately. It has a diverse and large price and item description data base for almost any antique or collectible that has been sold at auction…

Prices 4 Antiques.Com

I wish you the best success. The Estate Sales business is like no other….it is truly an honor to aid and assist families move through the estate liquidation process.

Good Luck!!!

Martin Codina
Founder and CEO