LAKE FOREST, IL
2022
THE NEED:
This client was downsizing was an enormous home in West Lake Forest to a town house.
I had originally been contacted for this sale, but the client’s closing was at the end of October, so I recommended another company and a sale was scheduled for the last weekend in October. I already had a sale scheduled which is why I passed it on to another provider.
BUT the buyer backs out a week before closing, so the Ames Group at Engel & Volkers quickly got the house back on the market and it sold
in 2 days! The new buyer wanted a quick close, just 10 days, so I was back on and had to set up a sale in 3 days, have the sale and do the clean out before the Monday morning closing.
THE STUFF:
This was not a super full house, but there were quite a few valuable antique posters and an antique carousel horse. There also was a large entertainment center and some large exercise
equipment which are always tricky to sell.
WHAT WE DID:
We had no time to lose! I finished a large Evanston estate sale on Sunday, and got to work on Lake Forest on Monday. The sale was starting the following Friday, so just. 4 days to set up, market, and do pre-sales, then an immediate clean out because the closing was on the next Monday.
My assistant and I photographed, measured, took notes, and staged on Monday, so I could load everything online Monday night and get an email and social media out. We concentrated first on the important, expensive items because those required serious buyers. While someone may come in off the street and buy a $10 kitchen pot without a second thought, a $1200 antique
poster is another story. Items like that need phone calls and personal invitations to collectors.
By the end, we had sold all the important furniture, artwork, posters and the carousel horse! As soon as we shut down at 3PM on Saturday, we started the clean out because the final walk through was Monday morning, and it all got done, in a single week, and the closing went without a hitch.
ABOUT SOPHIA:
If you or someone you know is downsizing, please call Sophia’s Estate Sales for a free consultation at 773-729-0638. Before your appointment, you do need to clean your house, and please, do not throw stuff out or take donations to Goodwill. I want to see everything.
Since 2015, Sophia’s Estate Sales has been providing premier estate sale and appraisal services to Chicago and the suburbs.