CASH IS EVERYWHERE!!!
When a family contacts POSH to help dispose of their loved ones possessions, the family may have a moved out of the area and really did not see their loved ones that much. POSH tells them two things:
1. Do not get rid of anything that you may regret in the future and
2. If your loved one was over the age of 65 look for stashed cash, jewelry, stock certificates and other valuable items!!
POSH has found a lot of cash and other values hidden in the most unexpected places.
At a number of sales, cash has been found taped to the underneath side of the area rug or a loose section of wall to wall carpet. In one situation there were four area rugs in the house and each had wads of $100 bills under them. One of the rugs had five wads located under different parts of the rug and all the way into the center. The total cash found in this particular case was in excess of $ 4,000.
The family was extremely happy to get this much-needed cash to help pay final expenses.
The typical place to hid cash is on the back panel of a drawer or a false bottom. Again, POSH has uncovered money and even the customers have found some and had given it to us to give to the family. Thank God for the honesty of others.
Another time, a customer, Rick Moore Owner of Summerville Antique Gallery found a service revolver in a false back of a dresser drawer. Again, honesty prevailed and the son was incredibly happy to get his dad’s gun back as he thought it had been lost.
Other often used areas are up into the chimney of a fireplace, a fake stair tread, in the vented compartment under the refrigerator and a false section under the counters in the kitchen or bathroom.
Now for the least active hiding places… books. Take each book especially ones that may either stick out a little further than the rest or are upside down. Shake all of them and you might get a “money shower”.
The pockets of clothes, coats and inside shoes is a great place to put a few dollars. Boots are especially desirable. Again check them all.
Check the freezer for any open containers or boxes of frozen food. A not so clever one was an empty cereal box in the freezer, however it did seem out of place and was a dead giveaway.
Now for a string of some wild money-hiding places.
Check all already opened containers such as mayonnaise bottles, 35mm film canisters, glue stick containers, down into the unused kitty litter or bags of dog kibble, sugar, salt or coffee. Check all unused cable or telephone wall boxes for cash. POSH has found cash inside of the metal roll that the toilet paper goes on.
POSH has found money in plain sight. Check the back of battery operated wall clocks, check the area behind where the bag goes in a vacuum cleaner. Check air vents especially ones near the floor where the louvers can be turned down so you can’t look inside them.
Check the dirt of the live plants for pill containers with money, rings and more in them. Some have put jewelry, thumb drives and other thicker things deep into a bin of stored clothes, towels or linens.
Be sure to check in the garage. The top of the garage door opener is ideal as it is too high to see what’s up there. Sometimes you will see a white plastic piece of plumbing pipe that looks like it goes nowhere, you got it, a great hidey hole and don't forget used paint cans.
Finally, do not forget about underneath furniture, inside teapots in the china, waterproof container in the back of the toilet and so many more. If your family member was bright and creative, you may never find the cash, but POSH can promise you it is there…somewhere.
Happy Hunting!
This is a new service POSH is providing. The information in the newsletters are OUR (POSH) ideas and our ways of doing things. It is just for informational purposes only and this information is the sole property of POSH ESTATE SALES and is not to be copied, paraphrased or used in anyway unless written permission is given by POSH. Guess what if one of my competitors uses it, my customers will tell me.
HOW ARE PRICES DECIDED FOR ESTATE SALE ITEMS?
The decision on what an estate sale item is worth is in many cases a crap shoot. But there are ways to figure out what the buying market will see as a fair price and then make the decision to purchase.
There are six considerations that affect an item’s price:
- Age
- Condition
- Relevance to what People Want
- Quality
- Rarity
- Uniqueness
The AGE CONSIDERATION:
There are FOUR AGE Considerations and include Contemporary or New, Vintage, Antique and Antiquity.
Age can be a good or a bad thing. If it is furniture of a certain historic period and is considered an antique it’s value will be more than something that is just plain old and outdated.
Personal property for the home is considered vintage when they are design items of a different era (15-40 years old) and may have a recognizable value.
Vintage items such as furniture, art, rugs, jewelry, garden and others are appealing to customers because they are harder to find and this means that your piece will be considered hard to replace.
Antiques (50-400 years old) are similar to vintage but more desirable and harder to find. If their condition is exemplary they will fetch a higher dollar.
Antiquities (older than 400 years) for purposes of this discussion these are usually in museums.
The CONDITION CONSIDERATION:
It is all about condition. If a piece of glass or crystal is chipped and it is too bad to grind down it is basically worthless. The same goes for pottery, porcelain and china.
If the condition is with furniture, the older the piece the more lenient the condition issue becomes. The key is that any restoration was made with historic context and made closer to when the piece was originally made. For example, a French Inlay Veneer Ladies Desk that has some veneer damage should be as close to the color, quality and age of the original veneer.
If it is upholstered furniture and there are tears in the original tapestry, repairs can be made but the repairs must reflect the original fabric as closely as possible.
The RELEVANCE CONSIDERATION:
As each decade and generation go by, designs, woods, styles etc. change with what the buyer wants.
At the age of 60+ (baby boomers), most folks are no longer accumulating and in most cases they are downsizing and disposing of what they don’t use or need anymore.
The items that are most desirable are those that the consuming generation is buying, it’s as simple as that. Trends come and go and the estate sales business is like having “a finger on the pulse” of trends. In the 12 years, POSH Estate Sales has been doing sales we have seen at least 6 very distinct styles come and go. First it was Traditional, then Shabby Chic, then Mid-Century, then Coastal, then Cottage and now everything leans towards very Simple, Uncomplicated Loft Styling.
The QUALITY CONSIDERATION:
Everyone wants something with inherent value and worth. Items that are well known Brand Names. Designers, quality workmanship and quality materials used are what people look for. When you think of quality items think of Henredon, Kittinger, Chippendale, Rosewood items, Bronze items, etc.
The RARITY CONSIDERATION:
Things produced in limited amounts in limited materials by limited cultures or individuals are considered “Rare”. Rare items are usually worth more than mass produced by virtue there are less of them. Rare items are those that were made by special well known artists and designers, such as Bertoia or Charles Eames Furniture. Finally...
THE UNIQUENESS CONSIDERATION:
Just like rarity, unique items are items that there were not many made or they have become hard to find. Unique also refers to one-of-a-kind things that are artisan or artist made. These items, IF in demand are the most expensive of all. In this case, think about Fabrege Eggs which were extremely limited in production and many did not make it out of the Soviet Union or Russia making the availability very small.
One final point about pricing. You may be wondering why market value is not taken into consideration. It is! But the price for an estate sale must be lowered from that amount since the item in an estate sale is not up for sale as long (2-4 days) compared to a 30 Day Online Auction or a three to four month stint in a retail establishment. Thus market value is considered but only as a general basis from which to start the pricing valuation.
POSH Estate Sale has made it their practice to price items in a way for most to sell on the first day of the sale to avoid decreasing the price the following days. In doing this the overall success of the sale is ensured and less money is left on the table.