Estate sales: Adventure to the past

An appreciation for fine older things makes it a treasure among jobs.

By Elizabeth Bettendorf, Times Correspondent
Published February 11, 2008

Carolyn Rogers of Hudson cleans a dresser during an estate sale in Palm Harbor on Friday. In addition to running the sales, she appraises antiques and works closely with real estate agents.
	[Janel Schroeder-Norton | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Janel Schroeder-Norton | Times] Carolyn Rogers' business is called Everything in the House Estate Sales. Her sales are popular.

HUDSON - Carolyn Rogers remembers growing up in Massachusetts in a family of antique lovers. Her mother ran an antique store before she was born, and her great aunt lived in a mansion brimming with intriguing stuff including an old stereopticon viewer - the memory of which still fascinates her to this day.

"I still remember her beautiful garden, late Victorian with lots of statues," she recalls.

Now Rogers gets to comb through the fascinating detritus of people's lives for a living.

As the owner of Everything in the House Estate Sales www.everythinginthehouse.com, she regularly cleans up, cleans out and organizes sales for people who can't do it themselves.

"Sometimes they're moving, one couple was moving in together and consolidating, sometimes they're moving into an assisted living facility or back in with relatives," she explains. "Sometimes I'm called by a Realtor, sometimes by a lawyer, sometimes by relatives who live out of state."

Rogers - a political junkie, child of the '60s, devout Republican, animal lover and caretaker of Florida's environment - has been running estate sales for a living for a quarter century, the last seven years in Pasco County. She holds sales in Hernando and Pinellas counties as well, taking on such jobs as a three-day sale at a geodesic dome home (the woman had an amazing collection of vintage sewing goods and kitchenware) and a sale in a condominium belonging to a woman who collected like a museum curator and labeled everything according to provenance.

She's also well-known in her native Cape Cod, where she still spends two months every summer - and sometimes holds estate sales. Her following in Florida has swelled since 2001; some 400 fans are signed up for her e-mail list.

Her Florida sales, sometimes four a month during the high winter season, attract a wide swath of clients including snowbirds, antique dealers, collectors, newlyweds and people smart enough to know that quality old furniture can be better than most things new.

"Lots of younger people don't really care about antiques," she says. "But take a piece of furniture from the '20s, '30s or '40s and compare it to something you go out and buy - something new made of inch-thick pressboard - you just can't compare it."

She says her prices linger somewhere between wholesale and retail "less than an antique shop," though they tend to be lower in Florida - particularly this west-central region - where customers tend to be hardworking people without a lot of money.

The bargain factor is built in. "I expect it," she says.

Rogers, a bargain hunter herself, bought her two-bedroom, two-bath house nine years ago in Shadow Lakes for $61,500. The house overlooks a retention pond that is also a bird sanctuary.

"I had spent a wonderful year when I was in high school with an aunt and uncle who lived in Clearwater," she recalls. "After that I always wanted to live in Florida. I'm just one of those people who loves Florida."

Rogers, who is divorced, lives with her two dogs, Beau, a black lab/Great Dane mix, and Squeaky, a boxer/terrier mix she rescued while volunteering at the Pasco Animal Welfare Society thrift shop in New Port Richey.

"I walk my dogs almost every day in Starkey Park," she says.

Animals and the environment are of great importance to her: She is a supporter of such groups as Pasco Wildlife Inc. and 1,000 Friends of Florida.

"I love this place - Pasco - so much," she says. "I don't want it to become like Pinellas County, where they didn't save enough land and open space."

Rogers, who also offers her services as an appraiser and real-estate stager, says she doesn't make a lot of money organizing estate sales. "I just really like helping people," she says. "I know that sometimes people are tremendously burdened and they really need help. I can just come in and take over. I'm honored that so many people have put so much confidence in me over the years."

She gets a lot of heartfelt letters from clients thanking her for helping them with the nitty-gritty details, like cleaning out a home belonging to a loved one who has either died or gotten too old to organize or declutter.

"A lot of homes I go into belonged to children of the Great Depression who don't ever throw anything away; sometimes people just get too old and tired to throw anything away or go to the dump. Things like appliances end up accumulating in the attic and garage," she said.

Rogers will sometimes sell a good piece of furniture that isn't bought at the estate saleon consignment for a client (she owns warehouse space and also sells out of a booth at an antique mall in Homosassa).

"Growing up in New England, I was exposed to wonderful period pieces of furniture," says Rogers, who holds a degree in political science from Boston State College. She specializes in antique furniture, paper goods and ephemera, and old books. She has been accepted as a prospective applicant into the prestigious American Society of Appraisers, which sets voluntary standards for appraisers.

Rogers has set her own standards for years, never allowing employees or regular customers to buy the best stuff ahead of the general public. Doors to her sales typically open at 9 a.m., and the line to get in is often 40 to 50 people deep.

A huge fan of HGTV and real estate staging, Rogers and her team - typically two other antique specialists, including one who specializes in jewelry and another with a knowledge of china - clean up a home first, sifting through drawers, boxes, closest and garages. What isn't worth selling or donating to charity is hauled by another team member to the dump.

"We set it up nicely like a store, with tablecloths on the table," she says.

Sometimes, while sorting, they uncover hidden treasure. At one home they found a copy of a book about Captain James Cook's last voyage, published in 1786.

"It was in the garage wrapped in a brown paper bag with a string tied around it," she remembers. "I really love my job - it's like Christmas. It's always an adventure!"

Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.

[Last modified February 10, 2008, 21:31:23]