Have an estate that needs to be liquidated?

We service all of Southeastern Wisconsin and liquidate all estates, large or small

• Specialize in the liquidation of collections including Antiques, Collectibles, Jewelry, Prominent Art & Period Pieces and much more.
• Residential or Commercial
• We offer complete “Clean Out” service after our sales
• “Down Sizing” sales or complete households
• “Hoarder Sales”

We are a FULLY INSURED Estate Sale Company specializing in the liquidation of the everyday and unusual. Our specialized team of employees have a combined experience of over 75 YEARS in the set up, merchandising, pricing and selling of what you no longer need or want to keep. We pride ourselves in taking the extra time to do a thorough set up of the home, research & price every item correctly and leave the premises in a clean & orderly condition once our services are complete.

If you or someone you know is in the process of moving, downsizing or has an estate that needs to be cleared out let us put our experience to work for you. Please call us at 262-765-2201 or 262-765-2203.

MILWAUKEE METRO ESTATE SALES: STEPS TO A SUCCESSFUL HOUSE SALE

Most Important, DO NOT DISPOSE OF ANYTHING!  Let “Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales” determine which items are able to be sold. We will then dispose of any items we are not able to sell.  The only thing the client needs to do is take what they are keeping out of the house and leave everything else as it is.  It is not necessary for the client to empty drawers, cupboards, cabinets, attic, etc. 

Before we visit your home to assess your eligibility for an estate sale, please make sure you have a clear idea of what will be included in the sale and what items will not be sold.  An easy way to do this, is to put “NOT FOR SALE” tag on the items that you will be keeping.  After our tour of the home we will let you know if the contents meet our requirements to run an estate sale.  If everything looks good, we will leave you with a copy of our contract.  If you decide to go forward with our services, we will work together to select the dates that work best for you and your family.   

On average, our sales require a 5-6 day set up and a 2 or 3 day sale. The client and/or their family, should not be in the home at any time while “Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales” is setting up or running the sale.  Also, there should not be anyone living in the home during this time.  

Once the client signs the contract, there should not be any merchandise removed from the home.  If any items have been removed  “Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales” has the ability to still take their commission on those items.  The client should not make any sales on their own before or during the sale.  If a friend or family member is interested in purchasing any items, the client should call “Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales” and we will make special arrangements for them do their shopping.  

Our first step is to set up and stage the home.  We take everything out of drawers, closets, cupboards, ect.  We thoroughly check all merchandise, if any personal or valuable items are found they will either be turned in to the client or put in a room that will be off limits to the public (usually a bathroom or closet). Once the home is staged, we take pictures of the home room by room.  The pictures along with a detailed ad of the sale will be posted on our website,  estatesales.net, craigslist and our google page.  (Between our website and the other sites, we average between 5,000 and 7,000 views per sale). The next step is to price everything in the home.  We will go room by room and take a detailed inventory of anything that has a value of $50.00 or more.  Anything under $50.00 is considered “miscellaneous”, these items will be individually priced with an orange sticker.  One thing that makes us stand out from some of our competitors is that WE PRICE EVERYTHING. Once the home is completely set up and priced, we encourage the client to do a walk through of the home before the sale starts.  This walkthrough is for the client to review the staging and pricing of the home before we open the sale.  At this time, if the client comes across anything they missed or did not intend to sell, we ask that they first contact “Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales” before removing the items from the home.   

On the first day, our sales staff will show up 2 hours before the sale opens to set up the checkout, put out street signs, double check everything, and get the home ready for the public to enter.  During the sale, we will have a minimum of 2 sales associates at the checkout, 1 person stationed at the door checking receipts & controlling the customer flow, and 3-4 people stationed throughout the home.  If there are any small valuable items, our sales staff will place these items at or near the checkout to be carefully watched throughout the sale.  Once we open the sale at 10am we only allow about 25 customers in the home at a time, as people leave more will be let in.  We do not allow large bags or purses.  Once a customer checks out, we ask that they take their purchases out right away and can not re-enter the home with any purchases in hand. We do not allow any returns or exchanges.  

The first day of the sale everything will be full price.  We do have a bid system for any items that are $50.00 or more.  If a customer does not want to pay the price of an item, they can leave a bid on the item.  The bid has to be at least 60% of the original price, or we will not accept it.  At the end of the second day we will go through all of the bids.  If the item has not been sold yet and we have a reasonable bid, we will contact the high bidder and they would pick the item up on the last day of the sale.  The last day of the sale is ½ price day, anything that has not been sold will now be for sale at half of the original price.

Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales charges a 40%-70% commission on the total sales.  The commission is determined by the amount of merchandise in the home and the amount of labor.  If there is an excessive amount of labor, the commission may be set a little higher.  The only other fee to the client would be the cost of a dumpster or trash removal services.   

Once the sale is over our team will box up any items that have not been sold, and get everything ready for donation.  We encourage our client to go through the home to see what items we were not able to sell (this usually happens the evening of the last day of the sale).  During this walk through, the client may decide there are items they do not want to donate.  If there are items the client does not want to donate, we ask that the client clearly label these items or remove them from the home.  The next business day, the charity that we work with will be at the home to pick up any items that are leftover.  While the charity is there, we will have 2 or 3 of our staff members vacuuming & sweeping all areas of the home and wiping down countertops.  If there are any large items that we were not able to sell and the charity will not accept (Sleeper Sofas, Armoires, Tube TV’s, Large Exercise Equipment, Appliances, Ect.), the client may be responsible for the removal of those items. 

No later than 30 days from the last day of the sale, the client will receive their check & report along with a list of items that were donated and a donation certificate from the charity.  The report will be a detailed inventory of the home room by room for any items that sold for $50 or more.  The report will state how much each of these items sold for.  At the bottom of this report you will see a miscellaneous total, this is a grand total of all the items that sold for under $50.00. If the client has any questions on the check, report or tax form they can contact Milwaukee Metro Estate Sales at any time.