What Should You Do Before Calling an Auctioneer?

Families often wait weeks to call an auctioneer because they think the house needs to be "ready." Here's the truth: the best thing you can do before calling is almost nothing. But there are a few genuinely useful steps, and a few common mistakes worth avoiding.

Do: remove what the family is keeping

Before an auctioneer walks through, it helps to know what's staying. You don't need to move it all out; tagging keep items or gathering them in one room works fine. What matters is that the walkthrough reflects what's actually available to sell.

Do: gather paperwork you already have

Titles for vehicles and trailers. Receipts or appraisals for jewelry, art or collections. Manuals and purchase records for equipment. None of this is required, but it makes cataloging faster and can support better descriptions, and better descriptions bring better bids.

Do: take a few phone photos

If you're calling about a specific category, like a coin collection or a shop full of tools, a handful of quick photos helps the auctioneer prepare for the conversation. Nothing fancy; phone pictures are plenty.

Don't: throw anything away

This is the expensive one. Every auctioneer has stories of dumpsters filled with things that would have sold: vintage advertising, old toys, military items, paper ephemera, "worthless" garage contents. You are not the best judge of what has value, and that's not an insult, it's the whole reason auctions exist. Let the walkthrough happen first.

Don't: clean or polish anything

Cleaning coins destroys their collector value. Refinishing furniture, polishing brass and scrubbing cast iron can do the same. Original condition, even dusty, even imperfect, is usually the most valuable condition. Leave everything exactly as it is.

Don't: let "helpers" shop early

Well-meaning relatives and neighbors who take a few items "nobody will miss" can quietly remove the exact pieces that would have anchored the auction. Until you've decided what's being sold, it's simplest to keep the property closed.

Don't: pay anyone to haul things away yet

Clean-out services charge you to remove things an auction would pay you for. There's a time for a dumpster: it's after the auctioneer has seen everything, not before.

The short version

Remove what you're keeping, gather paperwork, take a few photos, and touch nothing else. Then make the call. A walkthrough costs nothing, and it's the fastest way to find out what you're actually working with.