Your brother says to hire the company with the lowest commission. Your sister wants the company her neighbor used. You are standing in Mom’s house wondering who will find the insurance papers, empty the freezer, and explain why the silver tray disappeared.
Do not start with the percentage. Start by giving each estate sale company the same house, the same boundaries, and the same finish line. Then compare what each company will actually do.
Decide whose property is being sold
Before a company walks through the door, write down who owns the belongings and who has authority to approve a sale. If Mom is living and can make the decision, the agreement is hers unless she has given someone else the relevant authority. If you are acting under a power of attorney, read the document for limits involving personal property, gifts, family purchases, and compensation. If Mom has died, do not assume that being a daughter, holding a key, or being named in a will gives you authority to sell everything immediately.
Ask the company whose signature it requires and what proof of authority it wants. A careful answer is better than a quick promise to get started. If ownership is disputed, property belongs partly to someone else, or an estate is under court supervision, stop that item from entering the sale until the right person confirms what may happen to it.
Make one exclusion list before the walkthrough
Estate sale companies cannot give you comparable proposals if one sees a furnished house and another sees a house after three siblings have taken what they want. Freeze the sorting long enough to make a shared list.
Mark items that will not be sold, including family keepsakes, documents, photographs, medications, keys, firearms, titled vehicles, leased equipment, borrowed property, and anything promised to someone else. Put disputed items in a locked room or remove them with a written record. Photograph the rooms before anyone starts carrying things away.
This is not busywork. It separates the family decision from the company’s sales job. It also keeps you from becoming the person blamed for every missing lamp.
Give each company the same assignment
Send each company a short description of the house before the walkthrough. Include the general location, number of occupied levels, garage or outbuilding, stairs, parking limits, large furniture, unusual collections, and the condition in which the house must be left. Mention a condominium association, gated entrance, narrow street, or other access rule that could change the work.
Ask each company to inspect the same rooms and answer the same questions:
What will you sell, and what will you decline? Who sorts drawers, cabinets, basement shelves, and garage contents? Who identifies items that may need separate appraisal or a different sales channel? What happens if you find cash, jewelry, documents, family photographs, or property bearing another person’s name? Who supplies tables, signs, display cases, and staff? Who handles buyer entry, parking, payment, pickup, and damage during removal? What remains in the house when your job ends?
A company that sells well may not provide full cleanout. Another may bundle sale preparation, donation delivery, hauling, and sweeping into one job. Neither approach is automatically better. You need to see where its work stops and where yours begins.
Compare the selling method, not just the sale label
Ask whether the company plans an in-home tagged sale, an auction, online listings, consignment, direct purchase, or a combination. Then ask which household items go through each route and who decides.
If bidding will be used, ask for the auctioneer’s name and Missouri license information. A tagged estate sale and an auction are not the same method, so do not accept a vague answer that treats the words as interchangeable.
For online selling, ask who photographs and describes each item, where items are stored, how buyers pay, who supervises pickup, and what happens after a buyer fails to appear. For direct purchase, ask the company to separate what it is buying from what it is selling for Mom. You should be able to tell which role the company is playing on every item.
Turn the compensation into line items
Ask for the complete compensation arrangement in writing. The headline commission may leave out minimum charges, labor, advertising, card processing, security, appraisal, trash removal, donation delivery, cleaning, or pickup after the sale.
Have each company show:
The amount calculated from sales, every charge deducted before proceeds are delivered, any charge owed even if the sale performs poorly, who keeps buyer premiums or other buyer-paid amounts, whether discounts reduce the amount credited to Mom, and whether the company may purchase items itself or sell them to related buyers.
Then ask for a sample settlement statement with names and amounts removed. You are looking for a record that connects gross sales, refunds, fees, added work, and the final payment. If you manage Mom’s money, keep the signed agreement, settlement statement, deposit record, and receipts together. The ledger should show what came in and what was taken out without relying on your memory.
Ask how the company controls the house
During setup and the sale, strangers may enter rooms that still contain personal papers and unsold property. Ask how many workers will be present, how doors and off-limit rooms are secured, whether bags are restricted, how small valuable items are displayed, and who holds the keys.
Also ask for proof of business insurance and have the company explain what it covers. Find out how it records damage, theft, buyer injuries, and worker injuries. Do not settle for “we are covered.” Ask for the document and the contact named on it.
If Mom still lives in the house, make her comfort and access part of the assignment. Decide where she will be during sorting, setup, the sale, and pickup. A crowded house full of buyers is not the moment to discover that nobody arranged her ride or packed what she needs.
Make the inventory match the risk
A useful inventory does not have to describe every dish separately. It does need enough detail for the property that could cause a family dispute or a serious accounting question.
Ask how the company records jewelry, coins, collectibles, tools, electronics, art, firearms, and other higher-risk items. Will those items appear on an intake list? Will photographs be kept? Can you see whether each item sold, was returned, was donated, or was discarded?
For ordinary household goods, ask how sales are recorded by category or item. If the company cannot provide an item-level record for everything, understand exactly what record it will provide. Compare that answer across companies before you decide how much documentation your family needs.
Check the discount rules before the doors open
Many sales use planned discounts as the sale progresses. Ask each company who sets those discounts, whether any items can be excluded, and whether offers below the marked amount require approval. Put reserve instructions or no-discount items in the agreement.
Ask how employees, relatives, dealers, and the company itself may buy. You are not accusing anyone. You are closing a gap before it becomes a group-text accusation.
Define the ending room by room
“Cleaned out” can mean empty shelves to one company and a broom-ready house to another. Walk through the expected ending.
Who removes unsold furniture? Who empties cabinets, refrigerator, garage, attic, and outdoor storage? Who handles paint, chemicals, medications, documents, food, and items a donation site refuses? Who takes down signs and returns keys? Are nails, hangers, boxes, and trash left behind? When can the real estate agent, landlord, buyer, or family take control of the house?
Ask for an unsold-property report before anything leaves for donation, disposal, consignment, or another sale. Require donation receipts to identify the recipient and the property as clearly as practical. Do not let “we take care of leftovers” stand in for a destination.
Call references with one hard question
Ask for references from jobs similar in size, condition, and selling method. When you call, skip “Were you happy?” Ask what work the family still had to do after the company finished. Ask whether the settlement matched the agreement, whether any property became disputed, and whether the house was returned in the promised condition.
Search the business name and the names of the people who will control the property. Confirm the business address, insurance information, and any license claimed. A polished social page can show presentation. It cannot show whether the final accounting arrived or the basement was emptied.
Put the family choice on one page
Make one row for each company and one column for authority check, sale method, inventory, security, compensation, added charges, discount rules, unsold items, cleanout, records, insurance, and finish condition. Add a final column naming the work that will still fall to you.
That last column is the one families miss. A proposal can look cheaper because your unpaid sorting, supervision, donation trips, and cleanup are hiding outside it.
Send the comparison to your siblings and ask them to object to a specific line item. “I do not like this company” is not a usable objection. “This company does not inventory the coin collection” is. Once the gaps are visible, you can assign them, negotiate them, or choose a different provider.
You are not choosing the company with the warmest walkthrough. You are choosing the one whose written job fits Mom’s house, Mom’s authority, and the condition the family must deliver next.