If you are in charge of holding an estate sale for a family member that has passed away, there are a few things that you can do that should help increase the success of the sale and ensure that most of your deceased family member's items are sold.

Be Careful About The Date

Most estate sales last at least a couple of days to ensure that everyone who wants to purchase items from the estate has ample time to come, check out the inventory, make purchasing decisions and arrange for transportation of the items that they select. If possible, it can be a good idea to hold an estate sale over the weekend with at least one weekday included in order to reach the largest number of potential buyers, such as Friday–Sunday all day, or Saturday–Sunday all day.

Next, when picking a date, make sure that the date does not conflict with a major holiday. For example, over the 4th of July weekend, most people are going to be doing things with their family, not hunting out estate sales. Try to schedule for a non-holiday weekend. If your area has a big festival or event that would detract from your estate sale, you may also want to try and schedule around that as well.

Finally, be mindful of the weather. If a big storm is set to hit the weekend that you have scheduled the estate sale, be flexible. Offer to show items to potential sellers if they call and arrange in advance for that weekend, and move the date to a different weekend where the weather will not hamper your sales.

Create A Careful Inventory List

As you go through your relative's house, create a careful inventory list of items that you plan on selling. On this list, write down the name of the item, where it is located in the house, the condition the items is in, the price you hope to sell it for, and a general description of the item. It can be helpful to assign each item that you will be selling a number so you can keep track of it. You should also consider taking a picture of each item when you add it to your inventory list.

This information will help you in a variety of ways. It will help you ensure that you have attached a price to each item, and will make it easier to mark down and keep track of sales. When advertising the estate sale, your inventory list can help you write a more detailed advertisement. Many shoppers like to see pictures of the inventory beforehand, which is where the pictures you took can come in handy.

Be Mindful Of Arrangement

Before you open up your relative's home to potential shoppers, you are going to want to make sure that it is presentable. Clean up the home or hire a cleaning organization to clean the home for you. A clean home will make sellers feel more comfortable and will give the impression that the items in the home were well taken care of.

If you are allowing sellers to wander through the entire home, make sure that all items for sale are clearly visible and easy to spot. If you do not want people wandering through the entire home, set items up together in collections to make it easier for shoppers to browse.

By following the three tips above, you should be able to increase the success of your estate sale.