Gray - Estate sales made easy: a practical guide to success from start to finish

Praise for Estates Sales Made Easy

If youre looking to start an estate sale business,
Estate Sales Made Easy is a go-to guide for all the how-tos you
need to have success. Along with practical advice, Victoria also
shares touching stories of interactions with family members
those still here and those on the other side! When you finish
this book, youll have a much better understanding of the head
and heart needed to handle such delicate events.

Kerri Richardson, author of
What Your Clutter Is Trying to Tell You

The stories and background that lead to Victoria Grays career
and passion give Estate Sales Made Easy a more human side and
are an inspiration to a lot of people that may find themselves in
the same situation. Ms. Grays step-by-step information in the
profession, eliminates a lot of trial by error so people with a desire
to take this path can reach their goals much faster, and have a
guide they can take anywhere for reference.

Bertha Bert Kaslin, real estate agent,
Coldwell Banker Gundaker

ALSO BY VICTORIA GRAY

Victoria Zane: A Dream-Based Novella
The Secret of a Widows Vision: The Vision from Within
Victoria Gray Unfolded: The Speaking Linens
The Ankle Express: Life and Times of Wm. Victor Gray
Victorian Journal Guide

Copyright 2017 by Victoria Gray

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast Books: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in

Cover design: Amy Rose Grigoriou Interior design: Riann Bender
Interior photo credits: courtesy of Turn of the Century
Antiques in Denver, Colorado, www.rare-dolls.com
All other images courtesy of Victoria Gray

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviewswithout prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress

Tradepaper ISBN: 978-1-4019-5302-7

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1st edition, August 2017

Printed in the United States of America

To my wonderful children...
Rachel ~ Caleb
Blake ~ Ashley
Thank you for choosing me as your mother!

Love,
Momma

CONTENTS

From the time I was a small child, Ive had an affinity for adventure. Probably because my father took our family on one-day car rides to his hometown several times each year, telling stories of his childhood along the way. I became accustomed to these ancestral treasure trove adventures and the wonderment it brought me. Dad, as the leader in the family, only exemplified kindness and generosity with his time and teachings, molding, if you will, his precious babies into the same. He encouraged me to see things in a different light, to take a different road than my peers, by enlightening me to the various aspects of the universe and all it holds within the sun and stars.

His vast kindness caused me to think of others and how I might help them for the greater good of one and all. This is why the estate sale business intrigued me so much. I could feed, clothe, and house my family while helping others at the same time with a task that had almost disabled them within their grief.

Each estate sale is an adventure in and of itself. Each home houses energies from those that resided within, whether the person lived there for a long or a short period of time. Some are pleasant, enjoyable, and just plain lovely! Some are filled with anger, irritation, and angst. As I enter each sale, I pay attention to all energy fields as to what I may receive, holding all thoughts inside so I can journal them when I return home.

I have to say, when I began to feel and think there was something more, something extraordinary from within, was at age 14just after I was almost shocked to death.

One sweltering Tuesday in August 1966, it was my day to wash the lunch and dinner dishes. All the windows were open, and the huge attic fan and roll-about fan were on. The hot dish water combined with the almost unbearable August heat wave caused me to move the metal fan to blow more directly on me, and at the same time, reach with my right hand to open the kitchen drawer to drop in the hand-dried silverware. With both hands damp and both surfaces metal, I received a shock that took me to my knees.

I screamed, Help me, help me!

In my head, my scream was a miniscule scream; however, later on, neighbors three houses away stated they heard me yelling. My mother jumped out of the bath, dripping wet with a towel down her front, tripped over the cord that stretched from the other side of the kitchen to the fan, and disconnected the current, which could have killed her too. My brother ran inside to find me slumped on the floor.

Of course, I came through that scare. And just after this shocking experience, I began to hear inside my head what others were about to say before they spoke.

A few years before my first marriage, I worked at my aunts home doing the books for her husbands very lucrative tree-trimming business. Aunt Katye, along with her sister, my mother, and family, came from very meager means and learned all about saving money and where to find great deals. Somewhere during my tenure there from age 15 to 17, she stated that she had bought some items at auctions, which helped stretch their growing budget. Id never been introduced to auctions before or even knew what they were. Dear Aunt Katye soon thereafter drove to our home and took me to an auction in the country. I was amazed at the way it was handled. Lots of yep, yep, yep went on from the auctioneer. He stood at the podium rattling off names of items, asking for this amount or that amount, and eventually hed say something sold. It was hard to understand what he said, and he ran so quickly that I didnt buy a thing.

Another pivot point came shortly after my second husband died without life insurance. I knew, as a mother of four, it was up to me to provide for my babies. Thus I began attending many seminars on business building and real estate buying, spending lots of time and money on learning tools for various business start-ups.

At one seminar on buying and selling bonds for cars, land, and houses via auctions, my ears perked up. I went to a few more business seminars, finding the auction business seminars most intriguing, and purchased all the information, enthusiastically reading and studying it when the patters of little feet were off in dreamland.