We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sophia Du Brul. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sophia below.

Sophia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the best advice you ever gave to a client? How did they benefit / what was the result?

Estate sales are tough; it’s all about letting go. Letting go of memories, a family home, family heirlooms, and understandably, most people have a hard time with it, but the stuff has to go! Always, someone had died or has to downsize and they can’t take everything with them, and their kids already have homes chock full of stuff, so they cannot take it either (and they may not even like it!). We are hitting an unprecedented period where the Boomers, the largest generation ever born, are retiring (the youngest of them), downsizing and dying because they are now between 62-80 years old. That’s a lot of accumulated stuff that needs to be dispersed.

Almost all clients needs the same advice. I find that my clients get caught up in one of two (or both) mind traps: the first is cost and value, while the second is sentimental, and these two can be conflated in the client’s mind.

Cost and value, many clients are amazed and appalled by the value of their items on the secondary market. They look at their dining room table from Baker Heritage and say, “But I paid $10,000 for this table! What do mean it is now worth $1000?”. Yeah, sorry, but it is true. There are several factors at play: first, the client scrimped and saved to buy really nice furniture and they have a strong attachment to these items because they represent hard work, sacrifice, and creating a beautiful home for their family, so there is a real emotional attachment. Second, the common trope about older pieces is that antiques go up in value, but they don’t. All antique means is that something is 100+ years old. It’s just old and not always valuable. Third, clients do not see that their household goods are depreciating assets, because the table is still perfectly good, solid, ate dinner at that table last night. And finally fashion, home decor follows fashion trends just like skirt lengths. If it is not in fashion, then there’s little to no demand which affects value.

So, how do I explain this clients? I use the example of cars with clients, because while while most people have not bought and sold a lot of furniture or china or held multiple estate sales, they have bought and sold multiple cars. Everyone knows that when buying a new car that the car starts to lose value as soon as it comes off the lot. A car is a depreciating asset, and so is everything in the house. And we can be very sentimental about our cars, especially first cars, but we are also realistic about our cars, and as much as we may love that old car, it needs too much work or the gas mileage is terrible or it no longer meets our needs, so we sell them. That dining table, as special and dear to one’s heart as it may be, is now like a car that is no longer needed or functional. Let it go.

But there are occasional easter eggs that pop up in a house that do have value, and that is because these items are on trend. If 1970s revival is having a moment in fashion and design, then items from the 1970s increase in value. It is pretty simple supply and demand.

So, I tell clients to stop focusing on the value of individual items and think about the value of the whole and to remember that there will be things that they had no idea were valuable, but I will find them. Also, the estate sale has to be done, because the house is under contract and there’s a looming closing date. The house must be emptied. Do you really want to sacrifice the sale of the house for a dining table? I didn’t think so. Don’t jump over a dollar to catch a dime!

Ah, but what about grandma’s china, all the holiday dinners and memories? The nostalgic pull is a tough one, and my clients are genuinely hurt when their kids do not feel the same way about grandma’s china, but all the love and memories creates its own karma and it is being sent back out into the universe. Someone will buy and cherish that china and imbue it with new memories. Let it go and give a new family joy.

So, when you have to let go of a lifetime’s accumulation, you enjoyed these items while they were here and you got your money’s worth, and now, you are releasing that joy so that others can create their homes.

Sophia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Houses have to emptied and the contents have to be valued, and that is what I do, estate sales and appraisals.

I started this business in 2015 and serve the Chicago area. I am a Chicago native and I grew up in the art world. My mother had an art gallery, and my parents always collected. Not surprisingly, I studied art history in college, but it was a meandering path that took me to owning an estate sale and appraisal business. Before estate sales, I was a non-profit executive and then a teacher, but the stress of teaching really got to me and I resigned without much of a plan. A little antique store near me advertised for part time help, so I figured I would work there until I took the next step, not knowing what that step would be. So, I became a girl in a pretty shop, and into the shop came a gentleman who was the executor of an estate and he wanted us to look at some furniture for consignment. I went and looked and told him that furniture was not special but there’s lots of cool stuff, so you need an estate sale. He interviewed some companies and did not like them, so he circled back to me and asked if I would do it, and so I did! That was my first sale and I immediately got hired for another one.

Eleven years later, I have become one of the most successful estate sale companies in Chicago. Where I differ from other companies is I really take care of my clients; my presentation of the items for sale, the staging, the cleaning (we even repair items) make my sales really stand out, and I have really creative multi-level marketing that brings in the customers. Also, I am an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers and a licensed auctioneer in Illinois. My appraisal credentials, expertise in art and antiques, and adherence to auction ethics and standards brings an extra level of knowledge and care when I evaluate an estate.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

A lot of estate sale marketing is just pictures of stuff, tables, chairs, a pile of vinyl records, a cool kinetic sculpture, and if it hits with someone who is looking for that particular item, great, but it is hit or miss. Also, estate sales are odd ducks in terms of shopping. It’s an experience, but not like walking into a store.

On a whim, I created Miss Sophia and in a lot of my marketing I will have “Miss Sophia says…” or work in Miss Sophia. Miss Sophia is a little snarky sometimes and she likes puns and double entendres, and she can be blunt. It was a risk. I knew that this approach might rub some people the wrong way. In fact, my husband was very leery and thought Miss Sophia would offend people, but it has been a great success. It’s different than my competition; it’s distinct and memorable, and it’s fun. When they call, potential clients ask to speak with Miss Sophia. At sales, my customers call me Miss Sophia and speak with me referring to me in the third person as Miss Sophia. Miss Sophia is a brand and a personality.

With Miss Sophia, I have created a reputation for having the coolest sales, so I do not need to always have tons of pictures of just stuff. I can tease and create anticipation about what what is to come. At sales, because Miss Sophia can be a little snarky, salty, and loves a good joke, we have a sassy atmosphere that customers look forward to. And because Miss Sophia can be very matter-of-fact and a tad blunt, I can be to because it is part of the expected persona. Estate sales operate against tough deadlines and brings out lots of emotions, so there isn’t always time to mollycoddle a customer or a client and Miss Sophia can do that.

A lot of times, as business people and as women in business, we feel that we have to be nice and pleasing, but also, I am an expert in my field and frequently have to deliver bad news (no, that was not Marie Antoinette’s vase, but a poor 20th century reproduction with chips), and we have to disperse literally tons of household goods and items in a matter of days. I can’t always be nice. Sometimes, I have to be that tough, blunt but fun aunt that is just going to tell you like it is, and that is Miss Sophia.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

One of the advantages of the estate sale business is that the price of entry is low, although that is changing. I needed some signs, a simple website, and some tables. It took just a few hundred dollars to get started, but that’s the trap that a lot of people entering this business fall into. It’s cheap and easy to start but you must be able to make an ongoing investment to maintain the business.

To grow the business requires subscriptions to estate sale websites and price databases, and investing in an online presence and social media strategy, so now I spend a few hundred a month to maintain this infrastructure. Also, when I started eleven years ago, there was no regulation around this business, no licensing, nothing, but that has changed. In 2017, I became an appraiser through the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) which cost several thousand dollars and requires continuing education, plus in 2026, Illinois estate companies are now required to hold an auctioneer’s license which I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sophiasestatesales.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophias_estatesales/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SophiaEstateSales/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-c-du-brul-isa-am-06250044/
• Other: https://www.isa-appraisers.org/find-an-appraiser/profile/8614/sophia-c-du-brul-isa-am

Image Credits

Sophia–by Jeremy du Brul
all other images by Miss Sophia