Client FAQs

Unlike a garage or yard sale, an estate sale is on a much larger scale and is designed to sell any and all contents that remain in a home after a major life transition. These items are organized, priced, advertised and sold to customers who freely walk throughout the home during a 2 – 4 day span. Learn more about how estate sales work here.

A hybrid estate sale is one that offers both online shopping and in-person shopping at the same time to maximize sale profits. Poof! is the only company offering this service. Hybrid sales allow our national audience of customers to shop your estate sale online 24/7 from the comfort of their own home. Check our online website at PoofSale.com to see how it works.

We love being asked this question. For starters, we are the only estate sale company in Michigan offering hybrid estate sales at no extra cost. This means your items will get 24/7 national exposure and can be shopped from the comfort of our customers homes. See how that works at PoofSale.com. We are known in the industry for our strong moral code, large customer following, transparency throughout the process, and for providing our clients with the knowledge they need to feel confident in their estate sale process. We have four CAGA certified appraisers on staff along with a team of trained individuals who have extensive retail, interior design, and the science of selling backgrounds. We pride ourselves on high yielding estate sales every time while ensuring the integrity of your home is maintained.

Read more about Poof! and how to shop with us here.

We can sell everything from household cleaners to luxury items such as fine jewelry, rare antiques, coin collections, fine art, vehicles, and much more. We have a CAGA certified appraiser on staff along with an educated team of expert evaluators, connections to national auction houses, and a wide network of appraisers to properly price and sell any item within a home.

Anyone who has a home that will be for sale. Situations where estate sales make sense:

• Downsizing to a smaller home – Estate sale happens in the larger home you are leaving once you have moved.
• Moving to a senior living community such as independent living or assisted living – Estate sale happens in the home after you have moved to the facility.
• Loss of a loved one – Most often the property is vacant and an estate sale can happen once the executor of the estate, friends, and family have determined what they are keeping.
• Combining of two or more homes (or home and storage unit) – Estate sale happens in the home that will be for sale. Items from both properties can be added to this estate and can happen once that home is vacant.
• Divorce – Estate sale happens after the splitting of any assets, once both parties have found new locations.
• Relocation, moving out of state, retirement – Estate sale happens once all items have been moved to the new location.

We are CAGA certified appraisers, we work with several local and national auction houses, specialists, and authentication services to make sure your items of value are handled properly. This ensures no item is overlooked.

Our team is educated and trained on item evaluation. We have a CAGA certified appraiser on site. We use a variety of avenues including exclusive forums, certified specialists, auction results, previous history of items in the local market, and private memberships to determine item pricing. Our goal is to find a perfect price point that is not too high or too low to ensure maximum sale profits. For more information, please see question #6.

No. Please do not focus on throwing anything away or donating. Your main focus should be to identify items in the home that you or your family would like to keep. For example, browse through the kitchen. You may want to take 5 mugs, a dish set and some silverware. Box those items up, leave the rest in the cupboards and move on to the next room. Donating and throwing items away can always be done AFTER the sale.

Identify items in the home that you or your family would like to keep. We ask that you place a sticky note on these items so they are easily identifiable during the consultation tour. If you do not want the item, please leave it where it is and we will handle it when our team gets started with staging and organizing. You do not need to organize, group items together, donate, toss or box items up. Keep in mind that we can sell virtually anything and if you are unsure about the item and if it has value, leave it behind. We are here to help and make those decisions for you.

Below is a short summary of what you can expect from our process:

1. Schedule your free consultation
2. Prepare for the consultation – Identifying what you are keeping is the only preparation necessary – click here to download our Successful Estate Sale Checklist.
3. The consultation
4. Staying in touch or choosing dates
5. Contract signing
6. Setup / Pricing & Advertising / Estate Sale
7. Optional clearout service
8. Collect your check

ASAP. It is never too early to schedule your free consultation. The sooner we can visit the home, the sooner we can get your sale on track for success. The only preparation we require prior to scheduling this appointment is to identify items in the home that you would like to keep or will be going to family and friends.

Fill out this form: Book your Free Consultation and we’ll schedule a time and day that works best for you. Or you can call us right now at [primary-phone-1]. Our typical turnaround time is 24hrs or less.

Depending on your timeline, there will be one of two outcomes: We will remain in contact with you to receive updates on the status of the property and plan to schedule the estate sale after the home has secured a buyer OR if the home is vacant and prepared for a sale, we will move forward with choosing dates for a contract signing, our team entering the property, and the estate sale.

There are absolutely no upfront costs to you and the consultation is completely free.

We understand that life does not always go exactly as planned but our process performs best when our clients are completely moved out of the home. We have plenty of resources to help you stay on track with your transition so you can have a successful estate sale. If you are not sure that an estate sale will fit in your timeline, get in touch with us so we can assist you in finding the right solution.

Once the property is no longer occupied. This may happen before the listing of the home to ensure the property is empty before sale listing photos are taken or after the home has sold just before the new owners move in. In any event, the estate sale is tailored to fit within your specific timeline and situation.

The estate sale can happen when the items you are looking to keep have been identified and the property is no longer occupied. Once these steps have been completed we can solidify a date on our calendar. We suggest that you call us 30 to 45 days prior to your ideal deadline to schedule a free consultation. This is so we can do our best to accommodate your desired time-frame.

The commission is determined during the free consultation and varies depending on the quality, condition, and quantity of the items for sale, and a few other factors that will vary from home to home. Feel free to give us a call or fill out a consultation request form for more information.

The estate sale process typically takes between 1 – 2 weeks from the first day we enter all the way to the clear-out and close of the sale. However, each home is unique and we tailor a specific plan for each of our clients. The amount of time it takes to properly stage, price, advertise, and host a sale can vary and will be determined during your initial consultation.

After the estate sale, we offer an expert clearout service that leaves the property empty and in broom swept condition. This service provides you with a donation slip for anything that was donatable and disposes the rest of the contents that remain.

Our post-sale clearout service is optional, which means, all items left over after an estate sale can remain on the property and you are free to handle them however you see fit.

The most it possibly can. We are the best at what we do and we are on your side. Our team is trained to evaluate each item and price it perfectly to sell for as much as it possibly can. We couple this with interior design principles and extensive advertising to sell a large percentage of what is in the home to maximize your profits.

You can expect anywhere from 400 to over 1,000 people to attend your sale.

We tailor an advertising strategy to each home to ensure items of all value levels have enough time in the spotlight to find the right buyer. You can expect your sale to be advertised on several social media sites and forums, on the number one estate sale website in the country, through our private email list, and directional estate sale signs. Our professional photography will compliment the expert staging of your home to ensure your items will look irresistible in all sale advertisements.

Yes we are and we provide documentation on the consultation.

We do not. We use our hired and experienced team for all phases of our sale process.

We take many precautions to ensure our clients homes and property are protected during an active estate sale. We limit the amount of traffic in the home at one time, we utilize no parking signs, we caution off precarious driveways, and ensure our team is strategically placed throughout the home to help customers who may need it. We are insured for your protection and offer a Home Integrity Guarantee. Ask us about this guarantee at your free consultation.

We take many precautions in every home to make sure our customers can all shop safely. We limit the amount of traffic in the home at one time, we mark steps with colored tape and we have staff strategically placed throughout the home to help customers who may need it. We are also insured for your protection.

To protect our sales from theft we do the following: Strategically place a staff member in each area of the home, place high value items in visible areas or in locking cases, and we are bonded and insured for your protection.

We have many satisfied clients. First, check out our testimonials page and if you would like to see more we have a list available upon request.