Estate-sale shoppers often begin making decisions long before they reach the front door. A recent St. Louis Magazine article interviewed an experienced vintage reseller who attends roughly 10 estate sales a month and described how she studies listings, photographs, line procedures, payment rules, discount schedules, and even the apparent contents of individual rooms before deciding how to approach a sale. For buyers, those are shopping strategies. For homeowners and estate-sa

Estate-sale articles often tell shoppers what to look for. Sometimes they tell buyers what to avoid. A recent Southern Living article, “6 Estate Sale Items That Aren’t Always the Bargain They Seem,” warns shoppers to be cautious with several categories, including upholstered furniture, baby items, electronics, incomplete games and puzzles, expensive items whose value claims are difficult to verify, and purchases made simply because something appears to be a bargain. The artic

Estate sales are designed to attract buyers to a private residence. That visibility is necessary for a successful sale, but it can also create a security issue that homeowners and families may not immediately consider. A 2013-armed robbery at an estate sale in West Seattle provides a striking example. According to the Seattle Police Department, a masked man armed with a handgun entered a home where an estate sale was underway on January 31, 2013. The man forced people inside