If you’ve looked at your closet recently and felt bored with your current wardrobe or stared at your blank walls and craved more color, estate sales might be your new favorite thing. We recently spoke with Vic Yepez, a vintage collector and reseller who’s gone viral for her estate sale shoutouts around the DMV. Here are her tips for how to bargain hunt and make the most of this “untapped market.”
How to Find Estate Sales
An estate sale typically occurs when a property owner sells their belongings on their property. Yepez says it’s a common misconception that estate sales are only due to someone’s passing or the family members of someone recently deceased selling their goods. Many estate sales are also because someone is downsizing or relocating. Other common types of estate sales include online or in-person auctions. Estatesales.net is a great resource for finding estate sales in your area.
Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Buck
Yes, you have to be fast at these things. Yepez says to arrive within the first hour or two on the first day of an estate sale to maximize your finds. “The times that I’m there early pay off an insane amount,” she says. “I can’t tell you the coolest things I found being there early.”
And, do your research! The estate sales listing online or posters may preview a lot of items, so you can have an idea of what you’re interested in and make a bee line for your coveted item. But also, the estate sale life isn’t for you if you don’t love to browse a bit. Part of the fun of an estate sale is getting a window into someone’s life.
Yepez says one trick many people aren’t aware of is that prices usually go down as the sale goes on. For example, during a weekend sale items could go down by 25% on the first day or even half off on the last day. So if you’re a gambler, Yepez suggests showing up on the first day to see what items catch your eye, and come back before the sale is over to nab ‘em at a better price.
