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Whether you are looking to downsize from a family home to a condominium, looking to de-clutter or put an entire estate up for auction, this article will help you choose the right estate buyer, auction house or liquidator, perhaps the most important decision you will have to make.

What follows is a brief guide, put together by drawing upon our 25 years of experience in the Auction and Estate buying business- think of this as a cheat sheet to help you get the maximum value for the items you wish to sell.

Rule 1: Maximizing the dollar value means knowing what you have!

If the goal is to maximize the dollar value of the items you wish to sell- it is important to know what you have. For instance, if you have inherited some fine art, sculptures or etchings look to see if they are signed or have any documentation that could help you identify the artist. Use Google to research the artist, try and establish what their work has sold for, or whether other work by the artist is in a gallery, museum or collection.

Rule 2: Set your goals to reach your goals!

Be clear about your goals- if you need to de-clutter in order to sell a property, then be clear about this with any potential estate buyer. If your goal is to maximize the dollar value and you’re not in a hurry – be sure to communicate this.

Rule 3: No cherry picking!

Don’t allow estate buyers or appraisers to cherry pick the best stuff leaving you with the lower value items and the hassle of disposing of them.

Rule 4: Everything works better when everybody wins!!!!!!!

Align your interests with your Estate Buyer or selected Auction House. Estate buyers and Auctioneers operate in two main ways; they will either offer you cash for all or part of the estate – this is a good option if you need to de-clutter quickly and have a good idea of the value of the estate. Or, they may offer to sell your items for you in a consignment relationship- basically, this means that they will do all the work to sell the items at Auction and take a commission as their payment.

Another benefit of the consignment approach is that in most cases you can set a reserve or minimum sale price. So, if an item fails to reach a price you consider fair – it won’t sell and you can try again in a different venue.

Rule 5 – Think of your estate buyer as a partner!

Lastly, pick your estate buyer, auctioneer or estate liquidator carefully. Don’t get low balled or pressured into a sale. At Neely Auctions, we have over two decades of experience selling Antiques, Artwork, and collectibles. We will always look for the best way to align our interests with yours. We build our business when our customers prosper and we know that the way to growth and continued success is to ensure that each customer recommends or refers us to others.

For a complete guide to all the estate liquidation services we offer click here

For the 4 secrets an estate buyer doesn’t want you to know click here

We have all done it! We have all thrown our lot in with the search gods; “who buys/liquidates estates near me?” we ask the void- trusting Google to come up with a simple solution to a complicated issue.

There is no shame in wanting a quick and easy answer, but when there are tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line- trusting an algorithm to find your best partner isn’t just lazy -it’s silly.

If you have ever found yourself in the demanding role as the executor of an estate, you will understand the sometimes contradicting tensions between deriving maximum value for the estate and realizing the assets’ value.

Sure, you want to get as much money as you can, but you can’t hold out indefinitely for the perfect deal.

A good estate valuation team will work with you on a strategy to maximize the value of the exceptional items and realize the value quickly of secondary pieces. It takes many years to be able to perform this high-wire act, and there is no one better at it than our lead auctioneer and founder Mark Neely.

If you need help realizing the trapped asset value of an estate, then look to further than the expert appraisers and auction sales team of Neely Auctions.

We are simply the best estate appraisers and auction house in Palm Beach County. Our office, located between West Palm and Delray, makes us the best choice for estate sales from Boca, Delray and West Palm.

For a complete guide to all the estate liquidation services we offer click here
www.neelyauction/estatebuyers

Check out “4 secrets estate buyers don’t want you to know- how not to get ripped off!”

Secret Tip 1 – Value can hide anywhere!

I have a friend; he’s British, so this takes place in a small town in the English countryside. When he was a much younger man, he worked as a general dogs-body for an Auction House. Every time his boss visited a potential estate sale, he would always make an offer on all the books in the house. My friend assumed he did this because he had spotted a rare first-edition or an otherwise special book. But he was soon disavowed of this thought when, on returning to the warehouse, he witnessed the cunning buyer upending each book, flipping through the pages upside down, and discarding the books in a great heap. It turns out that before the prevalence of ATM’s people would slide bills between the pages of their favorite books. The tactic had apparently worked out for the buyer several times over the years.

Secret Tip 2 – You don’t know what you don’t know!

It is often the case that the precious items in an estate are often the least obvious. In fact, that’s secret number 2, experienced valuation experts and appraisers may see value where you don’t. It’s very easy to undervalue something if you don’t know how much a similar piece sold for, or recognize a giveaway feature that separates it from the humdrum.

Secret Tip 3 – Not all Palm Beach County Auction houses are as upstanding as you would wish.

This one is a bit depressing, I know, but not all people behave in the way you would want them to. Okay- this isn’t really a secret, but it’s still true.

Whenever there are people in a weaker position, there will be people looking to exploit them. The only antidote to this is to align your interests with those of the estate buyer and to work with ethical people (hint my boss Mark Neely is pretty great). And this is the final and most crucial secret; drum-roll, please…

Secret Tip 4 – Consignment

Yes, consignment or good old fashioned commission based sales. If you have any doubt about the value of a piece, offer to consign it to the auction house, appraiser or estate buyer. A reputable buyer will expect about a 30%-35% commission unless the piece is genuinely exceptional, in which case they may accept less.

For a complete guide to all the estate liquidation services we offer click here www.neelyauction/estatebuyers

Click Here to see our ”5 Essential rules for getting the most out of an estate Auction! (Jam packed with pro tips)”