Orderly Liquidation at Estate Sale

Personal Property
Antiques and Collectibles
Decorative and Fine Arts
Residential Contents and Ordinary Objects

How Does a Novotny Estate Sale Work?

• Professional onsite estate sale management
• Property pricing based on 35 years of buying, selling, consigning, trading and appraising.
• Experienced in all competing markets and market levels
• Consignment to alternative markets when appropriate and agreed to
  
• Effective advertising
• Merchandizing and organizing
• Arranging cashiers/support personnel
• Careful attention to security
  
• Prompt financial accounting and reporting of sales results
  

When your objective is the liquidation of residential contents remember that you have options.  Bear in mind that your residential contents, throughout the home, including antiques, furniture, collectibles fine art, rugs and decorative objects look best in their natural home setting for which they were chosen. If you consign your personal property to auction your property will likely be moved to a large commercial setting and mixed in with objects owned by others which sometimes includes tired, overly offered dealer stock or less desirable items. This association and setting cause your property to loose appeal, specialness and value.

There are many advantages to a Novotny estate sale. One advantage is that everything is offered separately, not in preselected and arbitrary lots such as typically found at public auctions. Auction have preselected lots in which only an item or two may wanted by a prospective buyer; the buyer is forced to bid on unwanted items and therefore minimizes their offer to get the items they want. 

At a Novotny Estate Sale residential contents and ordinary household goods are selectively but generally priced. Buyers can quickly evaluate the fairness of the pricing, and, if satisfied, begin gathering ordinary kitchen objects, linens, bric-a-brak and garage items they intend to purchase. Buyers create the lots they intend to purchase at a Novotny sale. By selecting the object they indicate their intent. They see Novotny selling similar lots to others and are comforted that the lot price agreed to is fair. Novotny prices such objects based upon his knowledge and experience and by evaluating the quality, desirability and condition of each item in the lot. When a lot is comprised of many small common and ordinary objects Novotny adds the value of each object in his head and offers the lot for the total. Buyers seldom say no to his offer. If his offer is refused then Novotny will price each object individually a little higher than he priced it as a lot. Liquidation is thereby furthered while getting top dollar, especially during the beginning hours of the sale. In the concluding hours of a sale lots are more aggressively discounted based on the client's urgency to sell.

Features of a Novotny Estate Sale

• Fair and knowledgeable pricing
• All  objects fresh to market for each sale (single seller only)
  
• Builds a "Buyer's Frenzy"
• Promotes your rare and unusual objects
  
• Announcements to mailing list of buyers (as appropriate)
• Competence and Ethics alway apply
• Well advertised sales
• Strategic merchandising and object placement
• Cashiers at entry/exit and roving sales assistants and security

Novotny seeks sales with rare and unusual objects. Such objects are desirable to the public and provide good advertising opportunities to draw in the best buyers. Informed buyers, like those that follow Novotny, know that unusual, rare, beautiful and artistic items are highly desirable and a once in a lifetime buying opportunity.

Regular Novotny repeat customers know that when Novotny notifies them of a sale that they can expect to find such objects. They realize that if they fail to buy that the next person that sees the object may buy it without hesitation. They will regret not buying. It is this buying frenzy that gets results in a successful estate sale. But this approach must also be coupled with good salesmanship that is professional, courteous, friendly spirited and fun. 

Having Novotny conduct your estate sale is easy. Novotny is careful to communicate with the client regarding relevant issues. Once an agreement is established nothing is required of the client other than investing their trust and confidence in Novotny and communicating with him about their concerns, priorities and requirements.   

Bringing in Buyers

Over the years Novotny has developed a dedicated following which he maintains on a mailing list. On March 4, 2012 Novotny received the following message and request by email:

I made some purchases at your estate sale in Anaheim Hills a few months back. It was a good experience dealing with you and your family. I would like to get on your mailing list for future sales. Thank you. Don and Gay S.

Novotny immediately responded by putting them on his mailing list. He notified them of the upcoming two sales scheduled on March 16, 2012 in South Pasadena and April 20, 2012 in Arcadia CA.

Novotny will line up eager buyers, many who have followed him for years and know that a Novotny's Estate Sale is alway interesting, and that the sale will have many unusual and fine objects. With over 30 years of personal property pricing experience, rooted in all levels of the marketplace Novotny will seek and get the sales results that his clients seek. His years of experience, mailing list and advertising skills bring in eager buyers willing to pay the initially firm asking price. The buyer's frenzy in the first few hours of the sale is a significant selling opportunity. 

If total liquidation is the objective, then the asking prices, with prior client agreement, are sometimes discounted substantially in the concluding hours of the sale. This strategy is only implemented with the full knowledge and blessings of the consignor. Transparency is an essential ingredient of Novotny's Estate Sale Services.

Many clients have only a limited urgency to sell. Their primary intent is to achieve the minimum agreed price and hopefully more. They prefer to retain certain items if the established minimum price is not realized. Total liquidation is not the objective, but rather achieving fair value is. Novotny welcomes such assignments when the reserve prices are appropriate, fair and offer a reasonable chance of being realized.

If a property is not appropriate for sale at an estate sale, Novotny will assist the client in identifying and consigning the property for liquidation in an appropriate competing market either locally or nationally as part of his agreement. 

Disclosures: When you retain Novotny to conduct your estate sale he will not be acting as an appraiser. He will be acting as an agent with in interest in selling he property. The role of an estate sale agent is different from the role of an appraiser. The agents role is to price objects for sale, based upon the client's liquidation priorities and other conditions that apply. The role of the agent is not to determine value as an appraiser, but to liquidate residential contents in a manner that realizes the clients objectives. If you seek an appraisal of the value of individual objects please inquire about arranging for an independent Novotny appraisal.

Choose your estate sale agent carefully. 

In California there are no state license requirements for estate sale agents. There are no professional estate sale organizations that provide training, testing for proficiency, or that establish ethical and performance standards. There are no minimum qualifications or governmental entities that screen qualified applicants.