Let me start with a story.

This beautiful China cabinet right here? Solid wood. Beveled glass. Leaded detail. Red felt lined drawer. Classic. Timeless. The kind of piece someone paid very good money for.

The sweet lady who owned it absolutely loved it. It was the very last thing left in her home before she closed on her house. And here is the part that surprises people.

It did not sell.

Not because it wasn't gorgeous. It truly was. But because the resale market has changed. 

And that is exactly why pricing is the most asked question we get. “How do you figure out what to price things for?”

Everyone wants to know. Clients. Shoppers. Neighbors. Cousins. The random guy at H-E-B.

So here it is. No secrets.

We Price Based on Fair Market Value

Not what you paid.

Not what you hope it’s worth.

Not what your friend thinks it should bring.

We price based on what someone will actually pay today.

That is called fair market value. And sometimes that number surprises people.

First, We Figure Out What It Actually Is

Before we price anything, we research it.We use Google Lens constantly. It helps us identify makers, patterns, marks, years, and sometimes surprises. We use apps like Curio for collectibles. We flip pieces over. We look for stamps. We check model numbers. We dig. You would laugh at how much time we spend researching a single lamp or brooch. We do not guess.

Then We Look at SOLD Prices

This is where people get tripped up. We go to eBay and we look at what items actually sold for. Not what someone is asking. Not what someone listed it for. Sold.Because anybody can list something for $2,000. That does not mean anyone paid $2,000.

Sold listings tell the truth. They show real demand. Real buyers. Real money exchanged. That is what matters.

We Price for an Estate Sale Environment

An estate sale is not a retail store. And it is not an online auction where we can wait six months for the perfect buyer in another state. It is fast. It is local. It is competitive. We price at a strategic sweet spot. High enough to respect the item. Fair enough to move it. Attractive enough to create momentum.

Because here is the reality.

If it does not sell, it does not help the client. And sometimes, like that China cabinet, the market simply says no. Not because it is not beautiful. Not because it was not expensive. But because today’s buyers want different scale, different style, different function.

Our job is to convert contents into cash. Not store inventory.

The Hard Conversation About Expectations

This is the part that can be emotional. What something cost is not what it is worth today.

That $6,000 dining room set from 2002 might bring $700 today. That China cabinet that anchored holidays for 30 years might not bring an offer.

That does not diminish the memories. It just reflects the current market. Trends change. Tastes change. Buyers change.

And emotional value is different from market value.

We respect the memories. We absolutely do.

But we have to price for today’s buyer.

What We Tell Our Clients

Retail includes showroom overhead, marketing, brand markup. Resale reflects condition, demand, and how quickly it needs to move. We do not claim to be high end auctioneers. But we are very good researchers. And we are very good at pricing things to sell.

We know what moves in Kingwood. In Humble. In Houston. We do this multiple times a month.

So Here Is the Bottom Line

We know it can be hard. You worked hard for these things. You picked them out. You paid good money. They have been part of your life. And now we are putting price tags on them.

That is not lost on us.

But our job is not to price for nostalgia.

Our job is not to price for retail.

Our job is to price for results.

We research. We verify. We check sold comps. We study demand. And then we price strategically so the items actually move.

Because the goal is not to keep things.

The goal is to convert contents into cash and close this chapter well.

We are not guessing. We are not winging it. And we are definitely not giving things away.

We are doing the homework so you do not have to. That is how we price. And that is how we protect our clients.