The Downside of Downsizing (and the Solution!)

The idea of downsizing to a sweet little cottage or a turnkey condo with swanky amenities sounds ideal — until you start thinking about all the stuff you’ve accumulated over the years. The china set you inherited from your grandmother. The midcentury costume jewelry you spent weekends hunting down at estate sales. The art someone in your family adored, though you can’t quite remember who.

There’s so much that makes a house a home, but it can also make the idea of moving feel overburdened and bursting at the seams. So how do you decide what stays, what goes, and where it all should end up? We’ve got the scoop.

Lean on the Experts

There’s always the option to donate everything, but if you have potentially valuable items — original art, silver, jewelry, or even furniture — you probably want to see whether those are worth something on the secondhand or antique market. But doing that research on your own could take days, weeks, or even months. Instead, you can enlist the help of an expert, and it’s easier than you may think.

Enter the estate-sale-meets-auction platform Everything But the House (EBTH) and its team of expert authenticators that travel nationwide for home visits (often after conducting initial assessments via video and photos). Many of these experts are art professors, jewelers, and museum workers who have extensive knowledge about what has value beyond its sentimental attachment.

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These authenticators will examine any pieces you have in mind to sell, but they can also keep a keen eye out for other items that trigger their carefully honed radar. You might not think the Le Creuset set that you grabbed at a garage sale years ago is worth much, but you just never know! Leaning on expert help could mean a difference of thousands of dollars.

And, even better, EBTH can haul the items away and sell them for you.

Let the Pros Handle Pickup, Pricing, and Selling

Using a service like EBTH takes the stress (and heavy lifting) out of downsizing. There’s no need to rent a U-Haul to take your belongings to a consignment shop, hoping they’ll eventually sell. And forget paying for a storage unit you’ll “get to someday.” EBTH literally takes everything but the house … from art, furniture, and decor to jewelry, cars, and even planes. If it can sell at auction, they’ll handle it.

“We want to be the first call! We can give you advice, take it or leave it, then we pick it up, photograph it, catalog it, and sell it,” explains James Ferguson, Chief Commercial Officer of Everything But The House. “Our goal is to give people an idea of what they have. Often, people don’t realize items like a Rookwood vase that their great-grandmother bought in the 1930s are worth $10,000.”

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The authenticators will take a look at items, determine whether they are original, assess their condition, and estimate their potential auction value. James says, “They’ll look at considerations, like: Is it truly an antique? Is it a valuable original? Has it been repaired? It’s cool for the family to know that, but it’s the buyers who really care about authentication and provenance.”

These experts are also well-versed in what is currently selling. Mid-century modern hasn’t lost its popularity. Coastal items are having a moment. Vintage rugs are big with bidders. And designer home decor, including striking and unique pieces, is always popular on the website.

List Your Items Where People Will Actually See Them

With a virtual selling platform like EBTH, you’re not just getting local eyeballs on your items. You’re not restricted to a geographic radius like you are with an estate sale, yard sale, or even Facebook Marketplace (and just think about the messages you won’t have to reply to!).

Everything But the House sells approximately 28,000 items per month on its website, with most of them sold through a seven-day auction. That volume means they have an incredible number of visitors daily, and those bidders are savvy collectors who will typically pay what the item is worth.

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Use the Extra Money on Your New Space!

Who couldn’t use a few extra dollars when moving into a new space, even if it’s smaller? Since you’re getting exactly what your items are worth with a fraction of the legwork, you’ll have extra time and money to pour into new decor, renovations, and everything else you’ve always dreamed of.

This article was made possible by Everything But The House. You can learn more about their home services and schedule a consultation HERE.

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