Estate Sale Shopping 101

                           How To Find The Best Sales
For this series of Estate Sale 101, I am focusing on Estate Sales, where you can find vintage and antiques. The best place to find Estate Sales in your area is to subscribe to this weekly email. These listings are conducted by reputable  professional Estate Sale companies that focus on lifetime estates. And, some savvy independent sellers. These sales are a concentrated collection of a lifetime worth of home furnishings and assorted goods, held in the home where the people lived, most of the time at least 40 to 50 years of accumulation. The prices are generally very good, a lot of antique dealers attend these sales. Expect to pay sales tax, unless you have a resale certificate. Always carry cash, this is super important!! And arrive at least 90 minutes before opening.They will only let so many buyers in at one time depending on the size of the house and how many helpers they have. It is much better to wait before they open than after when the antique dealers have scooped up all the good stuff and you are still waiting to get in. Been there, done that and it kills me every time. Arrive early!!!!
I recommend Estate Sales.net over Craigslist, although I find plenty of sales on Craigslist, It's much more difficult to sift through 100's of listings to find "the right" sales to go to. In an upcoming blog post I will describe in detail what to look for and how to find the best sales on Craigslist. The reason I am not listing Craigslist as my first "go to" sale finder, is because I want to save you time ! And believe me, lots of aggravation !
Over the past 30 years of going to 1000's of fantastic sales and to some wrong (crappy) sales, and once to a spoof where I drove 50 miles in the early morning  to discover  it was a prank,  A phoney listing on Craigslist. I'll tell you how to avoid those too. And, which key words in ads to avoid when looking for cool vintage and antiques.
When attending Estate Sales held by professional companies, make sure you sign their mailing list (email). Usually when they hold a special sale they will send out their own email to people on their mailing list, sometimes early preview before the general public.
Listings for sales in the Seattle area alone this weekend.

 

This is my ideal setting, old home, good neighborhood, held by a reputable person that is known for reasonable pricing.

    This is some of what I found, 60's portraits at $3.00.

                      A fiberglass 60's school chair, $4.00
                                a cute blue bench $ 5.00.

                  Next Thursday, I will share my inside secrets on
                      "How to decipher the Craigslist Monster".

Carry cash and arrive early !
Happy Hunting !

Shay