Estate Sales Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Success from Start to Finish

To me, setting up the sale is the best part of the job because I get to rummage through a person’s estate and it’s all legal! Even though it may be fun, in the beginning of my career, I would become bothered by the fact that the home needed a sale because someone had passed. However, after the first year of feeling sick in the pit of my stomach regarding their loss, I realized that I was, in fact, aiding the customer with a task they preferred not to delve into. Without my help, they wouldn’t have any idea what is saleable or trash.

Off and on throughout my career, I’ve seen and/or felt an interesting presence at various estates. I’ve always thought that I’ve had a connection to a higher power, and this business has done nothing but solidify that feeling. You may come across this if you’re a sensitive person, too.

One such time was soon after arriving at a house just outside the hub of St. Louis city. I had instructed some of my crew to work in the basement and another woman to work with me in the shotgun side of a two-bedroom home. This estate was packed to the gills! This meant we had to stay focused in one area, pulling out all the items within a room, but this one had so much that it took extra days to finish.

After several hours, we pulled out and set up everything in the living room where the main entrance was. Subsequently, we moved to the adjoining dining room. We took all the items from the very full china cabinet, buffet, side shelves, and table tops to neatly set them up on the dining room table and a table I had carried in. As we were doing this, I felt a presence, looked over my right shoulder, and turned around to see a dark whoosh at the entry door! I saw a male figure wearing a red-and-black plaid shirt that quickly darted into the home and vanished just as quickly!

I turned to my co-worker and exclaimed what I saw. She calmly said, “Again?”

She went on about her work, not fazed by my vision, because it’s happened quite a few times over the 10 years she had worked for me.

I sensed in my heart the reason he showed himself was because he was worried about his wife. The lawyer handling the estate later informed me the original homeowner had left this life the year before and that the wife was doing okay in a retirement/assisted living establishment.

We only handled the three rooms that first day, on the right side of this house, which included the living room, dining room, and a back room. In these three rooms, I noted several family photos of a man and woman in business attire perched on the shelves and walls. No plaid shirts were visible in any photo. But I knew this spiritual being was certainly the late husband. When I went home that evening, I knew I had to talk to this spiritual being the following day and devised what I’d say to him.

The next day, my crew and I entered the house once more to continue the setup. I directed the workers to various rooms and went back into the living room for the one-sided chat I had prepared for the night before. I stood at the entrance where I had last seen him and noted a slight coolness in the air. Was he there? I believed and felt it to be so.

“Sir, I saw you here yesterday and I felt you’re worried about your wife. I’ve handled numerous sales over the years and will make sure your contents bring as much as possible to help your wife. I learned she is in a retirement/assisted living home and is well taken care of. I know she misses you as much as you miss her and I feel you’ll be reunited soon.” After I made that statement, the temperature rose and I felt he almost nodded a thank you as his energy left.

What happened next clinched the deal that it was, in fact, the husband. I sent one of my workers to the kitchen to work, and I entered the front bedroom. Here I began pulling many beautiful quilts from the trunk to set them up on the now cleaned-off mattress as a staging point. When I went to the closet, I opened the door to find a closet full of plaid shirts! There were 30 or 40 plaid shirts in that small closet. I searched for one like I had seen on the spirit and found a few red-and-black plaid shirts, and one was actually made of flannel!

On the first day of a sale, which my workers and I refer to as pull-everything-out-of-everywhere day, I start by figuring out where I want the checkout table. I choose a vantage point in the front room that allows me to see the entrance, which is the only door we keep open, and any adjoining hallways.

Third, I place a crew member in the kitchen to pull out all the items from the cabinets, top to bottom, often utilizing the cardboard flats to house silverware and or smalls. The cardboard flats are also a great way to display sets of glasses, which allow a customer to pay and carry out their purchase easily.

Fourth, the men generally work in the garage and or basement, whichever has more items. I usually handle the living room, dining room, and bedrooms. I make a point to move any furniture that has sharp corners to keep customers from harm’s way. For each bedroom that has a bed, I pull off all bedding, folding everything neatly on top, creating staging points. If extra tables are needed, we carry several in from my car, strategically placing them for optimal viewing of merchandise.

As the day progresses, more and more items are set out on tables, floors, beds, and counters. Then I pull all items that warrant better exposure due to a higher purchase price. Most end up on the tables in the front room, where I watch them during the sale. Also, my workers bring items to me throughout each day, asking if this or that needs to be on the main table or not. By the end of the first day, my table is surrounded and mounded with items I need to sift through on the second day, placing them in a pronounced position for the buyers.

The second day consists of tightening up or better organizing the items we pulled out the day before. Once all is tightened, we begin using masking tape to tag all the items. I price all high-end items while my crew prices the everyday items, often asking if a price is correct or not. I walk the entire house to pull collectible items my crew may not have noticed.

All collectible items sit on my table or on the featured tables next to me. All extremely small collectibles get placed into display cases. I review all jewelry personally and check the back of each piece to see if there’s an embossed jeweler’s name. If there is, I research it online or in jewelry books until I know without a doubt its price. If I find it’s of greater value, I price it separately utilizing a jewelry tag. If the jewelry is newer and there’s no real gold, I bag it into baggies, placing a pricing dot or a piece of masking tape marked with the price inside and stapling it shut. Even though it’s in a miscellaneous baggie, I still place all bags on my table.

During the course of the day, take pictures of as many items as you can. Be sure to turn items upside down or view the back side, taking pictures of all manufacturers’ names to help you research the items.

During the evening, upload all pictures to your computer, adding all pertinent information to the estate sale websites, including dates and what’s in the estate.

Anytime I am pricing jewelry, I check if the brand is one of the below, well-known brands. These brands draw crowds and higher prices:

In the bedrooms, when pricing clothing, I utilize individual tags for such items as luxury suits, dresses, skirts, shoes, furs, coats, and purses. If regular, day-to-day clothes remain in the closets, I create signs to hang next to the closets that declare the pricing.

Throughout each estate, I take photos of all the items and upload them to the already placed online estate sale ad websites, making sure all information correlates with the photos. If there’s a ton of tools or other specialty items, they play center stage with star billing online.

For an average three-bedroom estate, my crew and I finish it within two days. Fuller or hoarder estates can take two to six weeks. When I have extremely full estates, I may have two or more sales, generally setting up the first floor within one or two weeks and handling the first sale that first weekend. The following week we begin on the second floor or basement, pulling items up or down to the first floor. Then, after setup of all those items, we have another sale. These two sales help clear the floors of items on both floors while allowing more room for display. If items remain after the first sale, the second sale will include them. I love these types of sales because that’s where the big bucks are!

Another thing I love about estate sales is the fact that I see, hear, and feel the presence of ones that have passed. One such time was during a first day of setup. While in the second-floor bedroom, I kept feeling the presence of someone watching me. Each time I turned around to check that my workers were still on the first floor where I had placed them, they were where they were supposed to be. I continued to work even though I felt something strange around me. I could feel a woman’s presence but was somewhat uncertain.

Just after the second-day setup, I took the usual pictures of the items around the home. When I arrived home to format and upload to the websites, I noticed one picture of an office desk along a basement wall that had over 30 orbs! The picture was taken when we had first arrived that morning before anything was disturbed. I knew I had to call the homeowner to ask a few questions and tell her what I saw and felt. She and I chatted a great deal the first day I had met her, which was the same day she signed the contract. I had mentioned I often feel things at these estates, at which time she asked me to tell her about anything I might see or feel while at her deceased parents’ home.

Thus I called her and told her about feeling a woman watching me on the second floor. She promptly said, “That’s my mom. She worked really hard to have this house and her furnishings. I’m positive it’s her making sure you took care of all her belongings.” That made sense because the feeling I had was one of watching, which could mean she was seeing if I was tossing her items about or treating them with respect, like I always do. I didn’t feel any sadness, just a watching. She wasn’t there the second day.

Of course I followed with the story of the orb picture in the basement. Calmly, the seller said, “That was where my father’s office was. He had an insurance company making use of the basement area every evening. I’m sure it was my father. He’s been gone almost twenty years. I guess he wanted to make sure things went okay for my mother.”

When I inform clients of what I see or feel, warmth generally encompasses them and a smile passes over their faces. It’s very satisfying.

The pictures I take of all salable items and of the disorganized items before the setup often tell me many things. Here’s something that recently occurred within my pictures, causing me to write this blog post:

I entered a plain two-story red-brick building dubbed a church by its pastor of 40 years and felt the calm that ensued inside. While he showed me each floor, including the basement, I knew that many stories were held within these walls. Especially upon viewing the small six-by-eight-foot cement baptismal pool that stepped perhaps four feet underground, painted a sea blue. I envisioned parishioners walking down the few steps into the pool of water, nervous, perhaps, but happy that they decided it was time for their baptism representing their closeness to their God.

Here I’d been invited to handle an estate sale of the pews, clergy chairs, bibles, baby grand piano, drums, mics, etc. As I walked about the first floor, I envisioned the choir that rocked the walls with their spiritual songs, clapping and stomping their feet with vast smiles abounding.

This photo shows orbs where these hallowed walls once rocked with songs of praise.

After viewing my photos, I decided to ask the pastor if some in the choir had since passed. Oh, yes, we’ve had many come and go. I didn’t ask names since I wasn’t there for an interview. I just nodded in sync with my thoughts and feelings. I wanted to know what others thought about orbs and did a bit of research.

Thus I’ve added information from two of the many sites that interested me. One online source states many claim an orb in a photo is merely a flash from a near-camera reflection.

Another source states, “White or Silver Orbs: Some investigators believe orbs that are either white or silver in appearance are an indication that a spirit is trapped on this plane. White energy is typically perceived as highly positive in nature.”³

“Blue Orbs: Blue is spiritually associated with psychic energy and truth. It is a very calming color, and many people associate it with spiritual guidance. Some people feel blue orbs are a sign of a calming presence or energy, while others feel they indicate the presence of a spirit guide in that location.”⁴

I looked up these colors because my pictures have white and blue orbs. I, for one, have come to believe that there is some sort of spiritual energy when my camera picks up an orb. This first photo was taken without a flash midday. There were no shiny objects nearby for my camera to reflect off, especially with no flash used.

The next photo was taken just a few minutes after. There was no glare from the window, plus the wood items caused no reflection, either. Many white and blue orbs abounded in both of these photos.

It was November 2015 when my crew and I were on the second floor of this St. Louis city church. This church was started by a kind gentleman, now near 80, who 40 years prior had a dream to help others. Thus he began this church. In the late 1990s, for five years he opened the second floor to homeless men. He gathered 14 twin-size beds, of which 12 were always full. Here he housed, fed, and encouraged all to obtain jobs and attend meetings that could and would help some to full recovery.

When I saw these orbs, I asked him, too, if any whom he had sheltered had died during those years. Sadly, he said, “Yes, I couldn’t help them all.” I knew from these pictures that these orbs, to me, symbolized those who had passed and held a connection to this once-safe haven. I also felt that they watched over all that entered this special meeting place on the floor below where many church pews and bibles used to reside and a host of members had attended the services. I felt these spiritual beings might possibly wonder where they should go next since the church is now closed. I wanted to take time to tell them to go into the light or at least to release their connection to this place as it would be torn down next year. But in my haste to handle the estate sale, I failed to take time to help them move on.

So instead of feeling poorly about not helping them move on, I decided to take with me the feeling that all is well. To me, they are a spiritual light and carry with them the kindnesses that this kind gentleman bestowed upon them while there.

I love estate sales for many reasons, but the best of the best is when I see a presence and, in this case, the orbs in the photos that encouraged me to ask more questions of what took place in this humble church. I think and feel I have a duty to pay attention to my feelings and, in this case, the orbed photos. By so doing, I may help some move into the transition of letting go of the physical, gaining stories along the way. Just like I do via estate sales, for those left behind when a relative or friend passes from their physical existence.

I once handled a small bungalow estate sale near Arsenal and Kingshighway in midtown St. Louis. As soon as I entered, the young granddaughter stated the piano to the right of the entrance was for sale. I personally wanted another piano because the baby grand I previously had developed a large crack on the underbelly, which was too costly to repair and thus I sold it. At any rate, this piano, a gorgeous mahogany spinet with Queen Anne legs and carved edging, jumped out at me. Quite the showpiece! The young lady stated they wanted $300 for it when the sale took place. I snapped a photo to show my father later that day over lunch. When I showed him, I noted there were all kinds of orbs all over it. I wondered who had played it and who had loved it so much to show up in a photo I had taken. My father, knowing how much I’d love to have it, pulled out a 100-dollar bill, followed by a 50-dollar bill, asking if I would be able to cover the other half on my own. Oh my goodness, yes! What a splendid gift!

My brother, Dwayne, called me a few hours after I brought Dad and Mom back to their home, asking me to join him for dinner. Goodness, I had no idea what was to transpire. After telling him of Dad’s gift, he said, “Now I know what to give you for Christmas!”

What a blessed day that was! I didn’t have to pay for the piano at all except for the piano mover! Now I have a gorgeous piano filled with love from the previous owner (at least, that’s the feeling I got from her orbs) and my loving father and brother.

A few days later, when we began the setup, I asked the young lady about the piano and who had played it. She stated it was, in fact, the grandmother who played it almost daily and loved it. I didn’t mention anything about the orbs because sometimes I get the feeling people won’t understand.

Then there are those that seem to swish into a picture. One spring, I handled a sale in north St. Louis, where the daughter was in charge of her mother’s estate. While setting up, I snapped a couple of pictures of a wheelbarrow in the basement. When I arrived home, I noticed there was a swish right in front of it. The daughter wanted to know if I found anything in her parents’ home; therefore, when we went back the following day to continue the setup, I showed her the picture. With sadness in her voice but a smile on her face, she stated, “Oh, that was my father’s wheelbarrow. He loved working in the yard. I know it’s him. It’s wonderful that he’s there in front of it!” She hugged me, thanking me for that little tidbit of her father’s presence.

Then later that spring, I had another estate where we handled two sales at one condo. It was so full, we had to set up the first floor and price and sell it before we could even think of selling the basement or the second floor. When I took pictures of the contemporary ’50s buffet in the basement, it was a bit dark in the room as I hadn’t found all the lights. Within the darkness, on my digital camera, I saw a swish of light cross the photo. I actually snapped several, making sure I saw what I saw. It was definitely a white swoosh! Later, I told the son who hired me. He stated the buffet was something his mother loved and had placed many of her small treasures inside. He, too, was pleased I spoke to him of it.

Another interesting turn of events took place at another sale. After the sale, a female client in her early seventies asked if I’d touch the motorized scooter her husband sat in just the day before he died. He died the Friday before our sale began. When I stood behind his chair, touching the top, I felt a vast nervousness and stated such to the wife. She said he was very nervous Thursday night after hearing he had severe blockage to his heart. I then bent down, touching the arms of the chair, which seemed calm. I felt he was okay with his death and told the wife what came to me.

She was glad and added, “Victoria, I’m not upset that he’s gone. Does that make me a bad person?”

“No,” I replied. “I’ve felt while working here that he wasn’t very nice to you.”

“Yes, that’s right. He was an alcoholic and a gambler. He gambled a great deal of money on a trip with our kids. He promised not to gamble and lied to me when he couldn’t be found. He was never nice to any of us.”

“I understand why you’d feel bad about not feeling sad, but I, too, had a tyrant of a second husband, and I wasn’t sad at all when he died. In fact, when my father, mother, and I left the hospital that evening in 1989, I literally saw angels on either side of me lift a very heavy, wet wool coat off my shoulders and fly away with it to my right. I even told Dad that just happened, with a sigh of relief from his tyranny. No, you needn’t feel bad about not feeling sad. You were his angel these forty years; you’ve served your time. It’s now time for you to become free.”

I told her to close her eyes while I ran my hands an inch or so away from her head and down her torso, telling her when I finished to shake her hands as if to shake off his energy to the ground from whence it came. She did so. I also told her to do this before she went to sleep each night until she no longer needed to. She said she would and hugged me.

Naturally, I knew the angst was in her mind and heart, thus I ran my hands again about an inch from her shoulders and across her heart stating, “This is where you have to heal. You have to heal your heart and never feel bad about not feeling sad.”

Immediately, she looked up at me, saying, “Victoria, I felt the energy from your hands as you did that! Amazing, isn’t it?”

While we can’t see the energy at work, we can feel its mighty powers. I said, “Please release each night to enable your complete freedom.”

Also at this sale, two women came to my desk. One said, “Do you know how many orbs are in your pictures?”

This, of course, spawned a 20-minute chat. They told me of a St. Louis city hospital where one of the sisters worked and that it had much spiritual energy in the hallways.

The following week, I wrote a note to a son and daughter about their mother who had passed months ago:

I must say, I’ve seen your mother three times in the condo! Twice, I felt she was in a doorway watching me, and the third, I actually saw a dark-haired woman walk down the hallway. I don’t have a dark-haired woman working for me. Did your mother have dark hair? I know her kids do!

Interesting, I feel she’s there, just paying attention. Is that a trait of your mother’s . . . to watch over things?

The sister wrote back:

Wow! Yes, she had dark hair. Keep us posted on additional sightings or if she speaks to you. Thank you so much!

The son wrote back, too:

I think my mom would be very interested in the whole estate sale process. Getting a kick out of who was buying what. She was a very kind people person, very interested in others.

My response to both:

I felt she was kind too. Thanks for sharing a bit about your precious mother.

On the cleanout day when I vacuumed the entire condo, I kept feeling she was there, to my right, just viewing the process of which I felt she was quite pleased.

The estate sales business has provided two newly built homes for me and my kids, travel money, and money to help others. Of course, it’s not a steady income because selling clients’ estates often comes in droves, and then there are dry spells. But I’ve learned how to manage my finances and roll with it knowing the universal energies are never ever late!

Years ago, a friend gifted me an enlightening book by Florence Scovel Shinn, in which she encapsulated the timeliness of universal energies: “As one grows in a financial consciousness, he should demand that the enormous sums of money, which are his by divine right, reach him under grace, in perfect ways. . . .

“I have seen the law work in the most astonishing manner. For example: A student stated that it was necessary for her to have a hundred dollars for the following day. It was a debt of vital importance which had to be met. I ‘spoke the word,’ declaring, Spirit was ‘never too late,’ and that the supply was at hand.

“That evening she phoned me of a miracle. She said that the thought came to her to go to her safe-deposit box at the bank to examine some papers. She looked over the papers, and at the bottom of the box, was a new one hundred dollar bill. She was astounded, and said she knew she had never put it there, for she had gone through the papers many times.”⁵

I constantly ask the powers that be to send estate sales my way as often as possible, and they have never ever failed to do so! One such time in December, I grabbed my estate-sale date book with the thought that I needed one more sale to round out the year. No sooner did that thought ring through my being, then the phone rang. It was an estate-sale inquiry referred to me by a local real-estate woman.

The owner asked me to view his estate within three days. When we met, he said if his real-estate agent referred me and used me, then so would he! He signed the contract after a mere 30 minutes of showing me his huge home on seven- and-a-half acres. I set up and handled the sale the second weekend of December. The owner was so pleased that I could handle it so quickly because they built another home in Colorado and moved on December 1. Not only that, I use a great cleanout crew who did the cleanout the very next day. The house went on the market, clean as new!

Within this sale, I took many pictures, noting quite a few orbs again. This photo has 20 orbs!

This room previously housed many cat-scratching condos that we set up in the garage to contain the odor. The only lights in this room were two small table lamps. There were no overhead lights in any of the rooms throughout the entire home. Thus, I know the orbs were, in fact, real and not created from a reflective light source.

I’m sure many of their pets died in this room. There are about 10 orbs in this photo, too.

Pet owners surely want to know about their pets when they pass on, and this tells me that the owners were kind and loving to them. Why else would so many pet orbs reside in this room?

The feeling I got while in this house, and especially this room, told me the pets felt a comfort zone here and decided to linger in the feeling.

I know this couple hadn’t had any children yet, and I knew that they loved their pets.

Since I don’t have any pets, I can only tell you what I feel might be taking place. So I researched information concerning what others state on the subject. Here’s one site that seemed to be perfect, and the only one I visited because it summed it up rather well.

“There are ghost stories about various types of pet animals, especially cats, dogs, and horses being seen after their death. Animal ghosts seem to visit where they formerly lived, and may stay for a minimal period of time or longer. . . .

“Upon a pet’s passing, one should be alert to signs of the animal being with them in spirit, such as familiar sounds associated with the pet, a visible presence, or even an imprint or indentation upon a bed where the animal formerly slept. . . . This is also a good time to take photographs, as anomalies such as wisps of spirit, orbs, shadows, and even apparitions of the animal might be captured in photo.”⁶

Then there are the estate pictures I’d love to see orbs in, and yet haven’t found any. The following photo is of my father’s favorite leather massage chair. He sat in this very chair when he had his heart attack on August 3, 2012. He’d been in the hospital for almost two weeks and asked to come home with hospice care for his final days. His wish was greeted wholeheartedly among his remaining five children. Each of us took eight-hour slots to help our sweet father during his last days.

Thursday, August 16, just four days before he left this life, I leaned into him on the right side of his face to kiss him and said, “Dad, if you’re holding on for the kids, we love you so very much, but we don’t want you to hurt anymore. It’s okay if you leave. I’ll miss the heck out of you!”

I can hardly write this, but he smiled and pulled me to his cheek, quickly rubbing his whiskers against my face. With a soft raspy voice, he said, “Take that with you.”

That was the very last thing he said to anyone because, within the hour, he slipped into a coma.

My dear, sweet, loving father stayed here until August 20, 2012. There are no orbs because I feel he’s moved on to the other side where loving arms were waiting.

We will never know the exact location until we, too, meet our relatives on the other side. I can tell you that I’ve telepathically chatted with Dad many times since his passing, typing each and every question and answer from beyond. He just loves it there!

I didn’t really think I’d find any orbs lingering around in our family homestead in Affton, Missouri, but I kind of wanted to see one. But I know from chatting with Dad that because he longed to see his mother and father, he’d move easily on.