Brett`s got some great advice.
Something that`s worked for us on occasion is to offer to strike a second separate deal on the contents of the home. We bought a home from an elderly woman that was moving into a senior`s lodge and she couldn`t take all her belongings with her. My wife went to the open house with the goal of meeting the vendor in person and struck up a friendly conversation with her and talked about pretty much everything but the house. During the course of the chat, the vendor mentioned that she was very concerned about dealing with her furniture. When we presented our offer to the realtor, we included a cover letter stating that if our offer was accepted, we`d be happy to buy the the furniture from her when she was ready to move.
I believe there were ten or 12 other offers presented that day. Our offer was only marginally higher than the others and we had conditions while the majority of the other offers didn`t. But my wife`s idea to buy the furniture put the vendor`s mind as ease and against the advice of her realtor, she took our offer instead of one of the unconditional offers.
Just before our possession date, the vendor`s daughter called us to work out a deal for the furnishings. We told her to come up with a number of what she like to get for everything and we`d stop by the house to discuss it later that day. When we arrived, they walked us through the house and pointed out everything that they wanted to leave behind. There was a single bed, a double bed, a queen bed and a pull-out bed. They also had nightstands and end tables they wanted to leave along with a dining room table with chairs and a kitchen table with chairs. I think there was an old TV and TV stand and some coffee tables thrown in as well. After the tour, the daughter asked us if $1,000 was too much. My wife and I looked at each other for an instant and then told her that there was no way they could sell us all that furniture for only $1,000. It took more negotiation that buying the house but in the end we absolutely insisted they take $1,500.
In the end, the vendor and her daughter were over the moon that they got an extra $500 and we were tickled that we got our offer accepted when there were so many other offers presented. Now, a year later, some of that furniture has found its way into my sister-in-law`s condo and the rest is stored in the basement of the house. It was win/win all the way around.
ANYWAY, the point of my LOOOOOONG story is this:
Try to imagine some of the pains involved in dealing with an estate sale. You could mention that the house doesn`t need to be cleaned before you take possession or that they family can just take what they want out of the home and leave the rest for you to deal with.
ps I plan to use a cover letter and also a double offer as suggested in Don`s book.
