When I lived on the Main Line once upon a time there were genuine estate sales.  My favorites were those run by antiques dealer Susan Vitale. Why? Simple, they were legitimate. They were sales run to satisfy estates.

At a Susan Vitale Estate Sale, things were fairly priced and priced to sell.   The items originated in the home she was running the sale in, they weren’t bought in to pad a sale with.  Susan’s staff as well as herself were incredibly knowledgeable – Susan was also an antiques dealer.

Susan made a terrific business out of her sales because she was honest and fair. Things were what they were.

As Susan’s reputation grew, others seemed to begin “estate sale” businesses.  Some people were utterly inept, others successful. Some people staged sales that were a bit fake – they brought in goods from the outside to sell at the “estate sales” they were holding.

One woman, named Helen, has moved up the estate sale ladder quite remarkably.  her business is called Sales by Helen. I have only bought at one of her sales, although I have been to quite a few.  She does Main Line and Delco mostly.  I know to get to sales like this early and when I go to hers half the time I don’t even see what she advertised as being in the sale.  Her prices are not that good, and I wonder, is a fair portion being done on a pre-sell basis?  I bought a couple things at one sale about five years ago, and I paid way too much for what it was, but it happened to be something I wanted.

So anyway, Sales By Helen announced a sale in Chester Springs of all places.  To me that seemed a little too far afield for a gal from Havertown.  It starts today at 8 Ivy Lane Chester Springs, PA 19425.

Do all the items match the house? Hard to say but possible as this is a pretty basic developers special.  But what got me really curious were my friends out in that neck of the woods who told me the people purportedly selling the house seem to be professional house flippers.  Amusingly enough the wife of this married couple team needs to tout her lineage as well:

….is a triple blood line DAR (Daughter of the American Revolution) which means three out of four of her ancestral blood lines fought in the revolution. Her family has lived on the same land since 1751.

The funny thing about the DAR or FFV of it all is the people I have known with lineage like this (a) never use it as a selling point (b) don’t have to talk about it. So I don’t know, maybe that is a weird  selling point in house flipping 101.

8 Ivy Lane is either for sale or has a sale pending.  And there is a company x 3 registered to it:

Mind you I have no problem with people flipping houses even if I will note that the economy over the past few years has left terrific opportunity for those buying up foreclosures and short sales.

My feelings on predatory lending and banks that lead to such a surge in this kind of real estate availability is a topic for another day.  Suffice it to say those I hope there is a special place in hell for banks and others who profit off the misery of others. I also of course marvel at how many major banks let so many people purchase way beyond their earning power and safety nets and are still in business.  But again, another topic for another day.

This company which has it’s corporate address at this estate sale location by their own description:

LointerHOME, LLC,  a real estate company committed to restoring blighted foreclosed  properties in emerging neighborhoods and ensuring that the homes they bring to market are strong, reliable, and self-sustaining.

This company has rehabbed and flipped in Pottstown and West Chester.

But back to the estate sale of it all.  Are people really so disposable that they are divesting themselves of EVERYTHING now when they move or is it something else? And how can you call these house content sales estate sales if no one has died?

I guess that is at the heart of my questions: is it legitimately an ESTATE sale if no one has died? Are some of these sales now not estates but maybe staged homes that once under contract need the staging items sold? Or the other thing is if it is a foreclosure and the house is left full of stuff is that and estate sale?

Anyway, given that this Chester Springs “estate sale” may be in the glorious hamlet of West Vincent, here is hoping they get their piece of the estate sale pie to satisfy their taxpayers, right?