Antiques by Michele Markovich, Estate Liquidation Senior Relocation

Sept 2016
Michele,
I was very happy with your support on doing the estate sale.
My recommendation is as follows:
I am very happy with Michele doing the estate sale for my parent’s home.
She was able to handle several difficult aspects of the sale, including assessing fair market value for many odd items, managing a difficult location of premises, and timely closure of sale.
She demonstrated great experience in her overall knowledge of antiques and her expertise in the estate sale process.
Again, thanks for all the hard work!

Notation: Due to no parking, fire lanes, liability exposure and for the security of the client's volume of personal inventory remaining on the property and the supplies/tools of multiple contractors, a modified sale was successfully offered to protect assets not to be sold.

Jul 03, 2016
"You gave us great advice ...so respectful of mom's things. ..want to write something that reflects how sensitive you are..."
When you can’t keep everything, Michele is the one to call. She handles emptying a house with sensitivity and efficiency…even the junk. Our mother had many religious items that we had qualms about selling and these were put in a glass case to maintain reverence. She displayed vintage items cleverly and has a great following of shoppers. She knows what things are worth and was generous with her advice and led us to a reliable cross country shipping company for several fragile items as well as a local piano mover who we could trust with an antique player. Our neighbors were treated very well which meant a lot to us. This was so much more than just an estate sale…she really earns her share!

Our mother and father had lived in the same home in the bay area for over 50 years. When my mother passed we moved my father into assisted living quarters. I live down south and my brother up north. We spend weekends combing through what we knew they wanted distributed and passed on. Then the real work began. It seemed overwhelming to sort through what was valuable and what should be donated prior to listing our parents home for sale. We needed someone with that knowledge to help us. Our realtor was kind enough to recommend Michele Markovich of Antiques by Michele Markovich, Estate Liquidation Senior Relocation. Michele met with us to assess the potential sale of the belongings. She made this process seem effortless. Her tireless hours spent preparing for the sale were beyond my comprehension.
It was endearing to work with her in her respect and appreciation of my parents belongings. Once the sale was over, she took care of donations and garbage pickup so we were able to move swiftly into listing process with our realtor.

We would highly recommend her services.

February 2016
Michele is a dynamo. She handled the estate sale when we moved my mother in 2014 and - when she was done - the house was impeccable. She made a difficult situation so much less stressful for us. We were in good hands. She is such a pro. When I was ready to downsize to a smaller home in 2016, I called on Michele again and had another great experience. She is honest, trustworthy and kind-hearted, and a great business woman. She actually drove some items out to Lodi to help out a buyer. My highest recommendation.

Michele,
AMAZING! Thank you for all of your hard work, expertise and most of all kindness.
Not only are you AWESOME - but funny as well! I saw you in action!
We really enjoyed working with you. You are a true "gem".

2/16/15
Dear Michele,
It is hard to find words to thank you for your hard work, perseverance, patience and kindness, You've done such a great job, we are overwhelmed. As a small token of our gratitude, please accept this hand knit cowl. It is freshly washed as I do with everything I knit. We wish you great success, good luck and health.

February 21, 2015
Nowak Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc.: MIchelle is a real pro at her job. I was quite impressed with the way she handled our sale. What a huge job, but done in the most efficient manner. I am so glad we were able to have Michelle help us through this huge undertaking. What a hard worker!

February 2015
Congratulatory letter received re: our work anniversary:
"Michele, Good to know you are doing well. We offer your name to folks who are contemplating an estate sale. Hope something comes of it. We hold you dear! Have another remarkable and prosperous year, --w."

Feb 16, 2015
Working with Michele in our first time estate sale experience was definitelcy positvie and profitable. Her entire work ethic and approach was organized and efficient. She is hard working, honest and fair to both seller and buyer. Not only was her business ethic steller but her personal care and interest for our family was exceptional. We highly recommend Michele to anyone needing help with estate liquidation.

"Dear Michele, Thank you for the wonderful job you did...we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of money you made for us. Mom will be able to live comfortably for a long time. Thank you for everything!"

My dear Michele, We drove the Mercedes back yesterday. It was a long but uneventful trip, and we are catching up today. There is no way we can thank you enough for all of your efforts to sell our things, to donate what you could, to haul away the rest, and to leave our home cleaned out and empty. It was a tremendous job, and you accomplished it with such expertise and ability. We had no idea what to expect from the sale, and we are extremely happy with the results. Thank you, thank you again. I wish we had been able to know one another longer.

6/22/2013
"I have been attending Michelle's estate sales for over 5 years now. Michelle is always professional, conducts herself with integrity, bends over backwards to assist people and is very knowledgeable about antiques/collectibles. She knows what items are, what they are worth, what is hot in the market and offers items at a fair price. More than anything, Michelle's humanity shines through everything she does. She treats everyone with respect, care and concern. Michelle is the BEST!"

This review has taken me much longer to get to then I would have liked and for that I am heartfully sorry.
3/20/2014

"Michelle ran the estate sale for my grandmother's house in Mid 2013. The process was straight and to the point. She was exceptionally knowledgeable and made the process entirely stress free. I cannot stress enough how much time and gray hairs she saved my sister and I. Thank you Michelle. I don't recall whether or not I ever said it. You were a great asset."

3/23/2014
"When it came time to help a family member downsize from 4000 to 550 square feet I met with several bay area Estate Liquidators. I trusted my intuition and went with Antiques by Michele Markovich. Michele far exceeded my expectations. Her attention to detail, safety, research, and organization was impressive. Michele closed the sale with more than $20,000 over her competitors estimate.

Michele will always be the first person i call when it comes to Estate Liquidation."

10/15/2013
"We live in Oregon and had to move my mother-in-law from Castro Valley up here with us. I found Michelle on the internet and called her. We had a 3 bedroom tri-level house to completely empty out, she came over, checked it out, told us not to throw a single thing away. We simply went thru each room, took what we wanted, took mom and headed back to Oregon. Michelle took care of everything from then on, she completely cleaned the house out and handed to keys to the realtor. I am so grateful that we found her. Wasn't sure how we were going to tackle this job, but, with Michelle on the job, it was so much easier than we had planned.

Our realtor let us know the place was in excellent condition when she was done. We would definitely use her again."

"My dear Michele, There is no way we can thank you enough for all of your efforts to sell our things, donate, and to haul away the rest, and to leave our home cleaned out and empty It was a tremendous job, and you accomplished it with such expertise and ability Bill and I had no idea what to expect from the sale, and we are extremely happy with the results Thank you, thank you again I wish we had been able to know one another longer".
Rita
August 2013

Patricia E.
Las Vegas, Nevada

9/9/2012

"Outstanding, knowledgeable, wonderful to work with, awesome, these are a few words to describe Michele She just liquidated 56 plus years and multi generational items for us From the day she started, until the time she walked out of the house - clean and cleared, she was awesome. ... She kept me informed daily as to what was happening Could not have asked for someone better to help me with an overwhelming task - would I recommend Michele to others, undoubtedly - in fact, everyone of my friends in the bay area knows how highly I think of her. "

Monica T. San Francisco 11/23/2011

"I decided to overlook a few of these YELP reviews as they seemed like typical one-off complaints, and boy, I am so glad that I did! I had a garage full of antique "stuff" that I wanted to sell - some nice pieces, some garbage. Within the first few minutes of meeting Michelle, I was impressed by her experience, her knowledge and her focus on understanding my objectives. Over the course of the next week , I also learned that Michelle is:
1) Hard-working & organized: Late into the night, she would go through all the pieces herself, assess them, organize them and present them. She would very clearly communicate with us the plan, schedule and action items remaining.
2) Great with people: Michelle not only understands the history and value of each piece), she also clearly loves working with people and understanding their needs. She has a loyal client and customer base that have worked with her for years, and they keep on coming back - not only a testament to Michelle's great antique finds, but her ability to match them up with the right owner! She's a pleasure to work with!!
3) Knows her business: Michelle can very quickly assess the value/condition of an item, its historical context and how it fits in with current trends. She was able to sift through the junk and find some exquisite and very rare antique finds (glass lamps, vintage brochures, antique dolls, old photographs) which makes her estate sales such a treasure trove!
In short, Michelle is the best and I would give her 6 stars if I could!"

Arlen K. Healdsburgh, CA
8/23/2012
"Michelle is the best! Honorable to a fault, hardworking, smart...we worked together on a very long estate liquidation, and she surpassed my expectations at all junctures. Impeccable integrity. Thoroughly enjoyable to work with! I am very grateful to have 'found' Michelle."

Beverly C.
Castro Valley, CA

2/23/2012
"I have been attending Michelle's estate sales for many years I always find her professional and knowledgable She is one of the hard-working people who can be fair to both her selling client and her buying clients Over the years I have found wonderful treasures that are now part of my household I have recommended her sales to all of my shopping friends Michelle respects the property of the seller so she is also listed in my "trust" as the business to hold my estate sale when I die I know she will do a good job for my family.
I cannot say enough good things about her and the experience of her sales."

Ray

Brentwood, CA
3/5/2012
"I was referred by my in-laws to use Michele And I'm soooooo glad that I did! Michele under promises and OVER delivers! We did business with Michele over 45 days ago and she is still helping us out! Fantastic service! No disappointments.

Sue A, Pleasanton, CA
4/4/2012
"We hired Michele to clear out and sell the contents of my parent's home and surrounding 2 acres. She met with us initially to sign a contract which was very clear in regards to her fees and expectations. I was impressed with her professionalism, knowledge, but most of all her sensitivity to the situation...both of my parent's are alive but we were moving them to separate care facilities. I knew from our first visit that we were in good and capable hands. We were able to just step back and let Michele work her magic. The sale was a huge success...Michele communicated throughout the process and I never felt like I needed to be looking over her shoulder Forty plus years of "stuff" was sold, donated, disposed of and the house was left empty and clean. When all was aid and done, Michele had met/exceeded our Escrow closing date, reduced her commission AND kept the final clean-out costs lower than estimated. We couldn't have hoped for things to have gone any smoother. I will not hesitate to recommend Michele to others who are going through a similar situation Thank you, Michele!"