Stories

I was talking recently with someone I have known for decades and was aware that I was experienced with estate sales. She told me that when she had to clean out her… (more)

I had gotten a call about six weeks ago from some people in a nearby town. They were going to be coming to town to “clean out” the mother’s house. I always… (more)

I received a call to take a look at some things that were stored in the garage of a vacant house. They wanted the garage cleared so they could sell the property… (more)

I had several phone calls over a period of three months with a family from a nearby town. In every call I stressed my “keep what you want, leave everything else” philosophy.… (more)

I recently received a call from a university professor that was retiring after forty five years. This is what he told me: He had been an avid collector of books and had… (more)

Yesterday I was unloading some trash at the landfill and a guy pulled up alongside me with a truck full of vintage stuff (I could see military uniforms, Roseville and Hull pottery,… (more)

A couple of months ago I was contacted by a family that was interested in liquidating the contents of their mother’s condo. I offered to meet with them the next day but… (more)

The mother was an antique collector, so when they had to move her to assisted living they had a garage sale (didn’t call me). Their quote: “I was surprised that antiques aren’t… (more)

About eight months ago I got a call from a woman whose parents had moved to a retirement home. She wanted to know what to do with the items that they had… (more)

I was recently contacted regarding emptying a house where the occupant had moved out of state and was not going to return. He had asked a friend of his to act as… (more)

I was in Spokane (about 80 miles from home) on business when I saw a barely legible Estate Sale sign on a corner. Having a little free time in my schedule I… (more)

The first call: The lady had died 18 months prior and the family, who lived 300 miles away, had devoted one weekend per month to “emptying the house”. They would drive the… (more)

I recently received a call for some people who wanted me to “Take a look at clearing” their parents home. When I met with them at the house, this is what I… (more)

When I spoke to the daughter of a man who had passed away in a nearby town, she told me that her family had lived there for 50 years and they had… (more)

I recently gave a lecture on downsizing for a group of seniors. After my presentation, one of the audience members came up and related the following story. Her husband, who had passed… (more)

A couple of weeks ago I was on vacation in another state, when my phone rang. It was a lady who lives on a farm outside a small town some miles from… (more)

I stopped by the fruit stand the other day and the girl that was running the stand saw the “Estate Sales and Household Liquidations” sign on the side of my truck. She… (more)

A few months ago, I received a call from a lady who had found me through the internet. She lived out of state and was the personal representative for her brother who… (more)

I recently received a call from a family that wanted me to hold an estate sale for them. Since that is what we do, I made an appointment to meet with them.… (more)

I was raised to be “green” long before it was popular (or the term even existed).  My father, who lived through the Great Depression, was averse to throwing anything away, so if… (more)

Here is the story of a place that I worked on recently: The older couple was very well off, he was a college professor and she was a medical doctor. They both… (more)

When their mother passed away last year the children came to town for the funeral. Several people there recommended that they call Estate Services, so what did they do…. They called the… (more)

It was late August in one of the hottest summers in many years, when I got a phone call from an elderly couple in Moscow. I agreed to meet with them at… (more)

This story comes compliments of a local auctioneer: He was having breakfast with the longtime owner of an antique store in one of the small towns in the area. The husband of… (more)

The pickup pulled up along side at the Spokane landfill. The back was stacked high with burlap bags and the driver began dumping broken glass out of the bags and neatly folding… (more)

The old couple had owned a “variety store” in downtown Pullman for forty years. When I was a kid it was a huge adventure to wander down the isles of toys, knick-knacks… (more)

I got a call one afternoon from some local folks that attend my estate sales. They were wondering if I had any old keys that might fit an old trunk. Although I… (more)

It was 1993, and a Realtor friend of mine called me up and said that he had an estate that I really needed to see. If I had not seen it, I… (more)

I was driving to work one morning and noticed some people stacking garbage out in front of a home a few blocks from my house. It was garbage pickup day in my… (more)

In my younger days, I used to spend a lot of time kayaking on the Selway River. On the way home from one of my kayaking trips, I saw an estate sale… (more)

Despite my advice that people spend 100% of their time dealing with the items that they want to keep, the first thing they usually do is to throw things away. When I… (more)

The year was 1982. The little house on the corner looked like so many more across America…stuff stacked up to the tops of the windows, boxes stacked on the front porch, sheds… (more)

I was out of town on a business trip when I received a call from my wife. She had received a panicked call from a woman, at one of the oldest farms… (more)

The four story Victorian home had been built in the 1890s for one of the first professors at Washington State College. He raised his family there and stored everything that came into… (more)

I was preparing to hold a sale in a nearby town, when a lady driving by saw the sign on my truck and stopped to talk. She had grown up in a… (more)

The lessons in the stories above are repeated throughout the country every day. Everyone in the business faces the same problems. A local auctioneer once said ” In most cases I’d love… (more)