Process
Deliberate at every stage. Most sales are ready within two to four weeks of the consultation, depending on the size of the home and the depth of research its contents require.
We walk the home with you — or with your executor, attorney, or realtor — and talk through goals, timing, and what should be kept, gifted, or sold. You receive a written assessment and a proposed agreement with commission and schedule in plain language. Nothing proceeds without your signature.
Keepsakes and personal papers are set aside first, always. Then our team sorts the home room by room. Significant pieces — art, furniture, silver, rugs, jewelry — are researched individually and priced from documented comparable sales. Everything else is priced fairly for the Portland market.
Rooms are staged so the home presents as the collection it is. The sale is then advertised to established estate-sale buyers across the metro area, with featured pieces photographed and highlighted so collectors and dealers know to attend.
Sales are held in the home, typically over two to three days. Entry is managed, rooms are staffed, valuables are handled securely, and pricing follows a published schedule — firm on the first day, with planned reductions as the sale progresses, exactly as your agreement describes.
After the sale you receive an itemized written accounting and your proceeds on the agreed schedule. Unsold items are donated, kept, or cleared according to your instructions, and we can coordinate a full cleanout so the home is left broom-clean.
We work on commission — a percentage of the sale's gross, quoted in writing after we have seen the home. There is no consultation fee. Because every home differs, we do not publish a one-size rate, and we will always explain exactly how the figure was reached.
Very little. Remove or clearly mark anything not for sale, leave the rest exactly as it is — please do not clean, sort, or throw anything away before we visit — and let us handle the rest.