By Art Samuels
EstateBuyers.com
ARE YOUR ASSETS WORKING FOR YOU? Assets come in many forms. What if you knew that a painting on your wall was worth $250,000, or even $1,000,000? What if a 5-carat ruby ring in your safety deposit box was worth $3,000,000? Would you rather own this property or convert it into cash which could improve your lifestyle and increase your investment portfolio? You may not have realized that you could easily and rapidly pull equity from your dormant valuables and immediately invest that cash into more profitable options. Whether you’ve inherited jewelry, art, and collectibles, or whether you personally purchased and collected these items over decades, you are probably unaware of their current cash value. You may now be wondering; how much money am I sitting on and how do I intelligently liquidate my property? If you’ve never sold valuable tangible personal property such as jewelry, art, collectibles, coins, etc., where do you begin? This may seem like a daunting task but if you make informed and correct decisions you will significantly increase your bottom line.
DO YOU HAVE APPRAISALS AND DO YOU NEED THEM? Important considerations concerning appraisals:
– Your appraiser should have “no money in the game”. Meaning that your appraiser should not bid on the items they appraised. This is both unethical and a conflict of interest, and it should raise a red flag. Also, appraisal fees should not depend on the values stated by the appraiser, as this is also a conflict of interest.
– When contemplating selling your valuables, appraisers should be asked to provide “Liquidation Values”. This illustrates their opinion of what realistic offers you should expect to receive.
Note: If you already have appraisals which were written for Estate inheritance (Fair Market Value) or Insurance (Retail Replacement Value), you cannot expect to generally receive these “Retail” numbers when you liquidate your assets.
– Unlike Doctors, Attorneys, etc., there are no requirements that appraisers be licensed, there are no educational or testing requirements, and no requirements that appraisers be knowledgeable in the items that they are appraising. Therefore, it is critically important that if you are relying on your appraisal, that you assess credentials and experience. Perhaps your attorney, bank officer, or financial advisor has a recommendation. Possibly search appraisal organizations such as ASA (American Society of Appraisers) which require credentials and continuing education. You can also search online but check ratings, read bios, ask questions, etc.
– Clearly the appraiser you choose should be an expert in the pieces they appraise. Some will appraise every item in your home; however, no one is an expert in all valuables. Appraisers may call in other experts for assistance. For example, if you own a valuable Jade Collection, a Jade expert should be consulted.
– Your appraiser might offer to “Broker” your items. Brokering generally involves getting offers on your behalf for a fee. Brokering could be legitimate or it could be unethical. If your appraiser Brokers, I strongly suggest that you also get your own independent offers and accept your broker’s offer, only if it nets you the most money.
– Be aware that appraisals are often inflated, and the stated values may not be achievable.
– Appraisals are “Opinions” expressed as descriptions and values. Appraisals are not offers.
MOST IMPORTANTLY – GETTING OFFERS – Offers are very different than appraised values. Offers are not opinions, they’re actual bids that if you accept, you can literally “Take to the Bank”.
– To receive the highest offers you should obtain bids from multiple “Qualified Buyers”. To be called a “Qualified Buyer” one must understand the item including its value, they must have the desire to own it, and must have the funds to purchase it.
– Getting immediate cash is very different from placing your items on consignment or placing your items in auction. Consignment and auction routes do not offer all immediate cash and the time to actually receive the cash payment is often months. Also, after considerable passage of time, consignment and auction options provide no guarantees that your items will even sell at the consigned or the auction reserve price. They may then be returned to you.
CONCLUSION – High net worth individuals often have considerable wealth laying dormant in the form of Tangible Personal Property including Jewelry, Art, Collectibles, Coins, etc. Often these assets are not actively working for you and they could “instantly” be converted into cash to improve your lifestyle or fund additional active investments. By not turning these assets into cash you are probably losing money!
Art Samuels from EstateBuyers.com is a highly credentialed and experienced buyer of Jewelry, Art, Collectibles, Coins, Etc. Art is also a renowned and distinguished speaker, writer, and a Retired US Navy Commander. Art can be reached at Art@EstateBuyers.com and 888-970-4367.