Memoires of an Estate Sale Rookie

So, I think we can all agree that I did pretty well for myself at my first ever estate sale. If you saw my post yesterday, you know that I scored a fabulous new Elte area rug at a ridiculously low price.
I actually had so much fun hitting up the sale on my own, but I learned a few important lessons for next time.

1) If you want to get the good stuff, get there early.
This is probably pretty obvious, but for me, I had no idea how many people show up to these things!
They started handing out tickets at 10am for the noon sale, and I showed up around 11:15.
Plenty early...or so I thought! Little did I know that people came at ten, got their ticket, and left to come back when doors opened. When they announced that they were starting entry at ticket 770, I was shocked to see I was way down at 856!
By the time I got in, most of the key pieces that had drawn me to the sale in the ad were already sold:

faux bamboo tables in brass - SOLD before I got to them

pair of these fab bamboo chairs (wouldn't they have looked great as head chairs with my four simpler bamboo chairs?!) SOLD before I got to 'em.

Gorgeous pie crust table that reminds me of this one from one of my fave rooms ever?:

via Style at Home

You guessed it...SOLD.

The worst thing about all of these things being sold is I couldn't even see the price they were sold at! Maybe they were above my budget, which would have eased my mind, but now I will wonder forever!

I did see the price of this campaign desk as they were switching it for the 'sold' sign. It was a good price but out of my budget, so see, I feel better about it not being mine:

Except when I see a very similar desk in Jessie's bedroom looking fab, then I feel bad all over again:

via 6th Street Design School

I think the only reason my rug didn't get scooped up yet is because there were so many beautiful furniture pieces, people were forgot to look down! I almost did too!

2) Expect Some Competition
I seriously felt a little bit like I was on Storage Wars when I first arrived. While there is no bidding, competition is fierce and there are definitely some pros. People were running through the house, there was some jostling, and I overheard some debates over who saw what first! Also, everyone seemed to know each other! I got called "the new girl" and "fresh competition" and overheard more than one person saying "I haven't seen her before". For the most part though, people were very friendly. A big thanks to the man who guarded my rug while I pulled up my car and then helped me load it!

3) Have a Budget
The sale I went to was professionally organized, meaning that most of the items were photographed in the ad. I wrote down on a piece of paper the things I was interested in and what I was willing to spend on them. I had pre-budgeted $250 for my rug, so $95 was a no-brainer! Bring only as much cash as you want to spend!

 For more great advice, consult this Apartment Therapy Article.
I will definitely be hitting up more sales in the future. Have you ever been to an estate sale?!