What We Do

An estate sale or a tag sale is when all items in a home are sorted, priced and sold by an estate sale company such as McHugh's Estate Sales.

Here is how our process works:

You've called us and set up an appointment.

On our initial meeting we will take a walk through  the property and give you ideas and options. 

At that time we will be able to give you an idea on how long it will take to prep the property, sale length and work out sale dates with you.

What we want you to do...

Don't throw ANYTHING away, stop, don't even consider it.

The worst possible thing we want to hear is "We've already thrown a bunch out or this is our 5th trip to Goodwill."

All you need to do is take what you are keeping from the home and leave the rest, that's right, leave the rest to us. Let us decide what is trash and what isn't.  You would be amazed at what people are willing to purchase.  More often than not, it is the small things that make all the money at estate sales. You don't need to clean out closets, drawers, rooms, garages, ANYTHING! We do it all!

Once we have a signed contract and key to the property, we will begin organizing the house.  We will throw out what needs to be thrown out, clean up glassware, furniture and items to make them presentable and saleable.  We will price and tag EVERYTHING in the house that will be sold. 

Once we have finished pricing everything, you will have a chance to come back through and see if you missed anything that you want to keep.  We understand, you can't have seen it all and you may see that special Christmas ornament your mother gave you as a child.

We photograph everything and post photos online, here and on estatesales.net as well as on our 2 Facebook pages.  We advertise in the newspaper and on craigslist. We usually film and post short videos online about the sale. We put a sign outside and directional signs through out the area.

We hold a 2, 3, or 4 day sale (depending on amount of items to be sold).  We staff the sale with our employees throughout the house and building(s) and they are available for questions or help to any of the customers.

At the sale we accept cash, checks with ID, and all major credit or debit cards.

Our goal is to empty the house and sell everything.  Granted there is usually something left over- that something is usually similar to that last box of odd things when you move.  We can take care of any and all of that too. 

When we are done at your property, we can leave it broom clean.  It really is easy for you.  We will send you a check within 30 days from the last day of the sale.

We have been in the antiques business since the early 1970's and dealing with household items for longer than that.  We specialize in dolls and we have a very broad knowledge in porcelain, glass, collectibles, furniture, artwork, books, silver, and coins. If there is ever anything we are uncertain about, we will not hesitate to research it or have an appraiser come in.

Still have questions?  Give us a call, we are happy to answer any thing we can.

Call the shop at 804-353-9596 or call Louise directly at 804-892-3036.

Why can't I do it myself? Many people ask themselves that question.  We have been called many times by a family member who thought they could handle it themselves only to get started and find out quickly that it is a lot HARDER than it seems.

Handling an estate, whether it is a family member, your own, or even an inherited property is emotional and demanding.  It takes a lot of time to go through every drawer, open every box, clean every dish and sort through the contents of a lifetime. We know what to look for and we know how to decide what is trash and what is treasure.

We are able to devote the time to unpack everything, sort, arrange, clean, photograph, price and sell the entire estate.  Since we work on commission, we work extremely hard to do the best job possible.  The more money you make on an item, the more we make, so we don't want to miss anything!

Since we are a family business, we aren't working for anyone else except for ourselves and for you.  It matters to us that we price items accurately and that we know what we are doing.  We aren't a franchise and we aren't a big business, we are small and we are dedicated. Our job is to sell everything at a good price, make you money and clear out the estate while providing excellent customer service and a good buying environment to our customers.

Every estate is different and every estate has a different volume of items.  There is a minimum amount of items that are needed to conduct an estate sale.  We can tell you that on our first appointment with you.

Estates can range from antique to modern and have just normal household items to collections of dolls, figurines, tools, records, collectibles, artwork, glass or any number of things.  We are able to sort through it all.  We don't throw it out unless we really feel it is trash.  Believe it or not, someone WILL buy the half used bottle of dish soap.

So give us a call and let us help you determine if an estate sale is right for you.