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About Us (B-Keen Estate Sales)

A Licensed Florida Business, Experienced & Fully Insured. Owner: Barry Kuenn

We champion client concerns! Flexibility, innovation, attention to detail, honesty and rock solid dedication enable us to exceed client expectations. Whatever it takes, you can count on us to make it happen! Highly acclaimed by clients and customers alike, we go the extra mile to provide a bright & positive shopping experience which attracts impressive buying crowds who quickly convert your Estate Contents into Top Dollar liquid assets. If desired, we completely empty the house, leave it broom swept and ready for the next phase of occupancy. We thoroughly address unique client and customer needs through understanding and practicing of Professional Service Excellence. While everyone wants a good-deal, knowledgeable customers appreciate "a fair price". We target competitive and fair liquidation pricing, in-line with market trends & today's pandemic impacted economy.

While our service levels vary greatly, professionally orchestrated, Genuine Estate Sales (aka. Tag Sales) and Entire Content Appraisals are what we do best. Additional services include Personal Property Item Appraisals, Estate Inventory, Photo-Documenting, Photo & Slide Digitizing, Custom Packing, Garage Re-Organization/Cleaning & more. We help people in situations with a loss of loved ones, divorce, downsizing or any reason requiring liquidation or protection of assets in a timely and sensible manner. We're affordable and willing to serve clients near & far.

NEWS January 2024 We were lucky regarding hurricane IDALIA in late August last year as it traveled along out in the Gulf, mostly West of us, causing minimal impact here. Also while Covid will not be going away, it has become less lethal and we’re happy about that! We traveled some late last year and hope for a bit more this year… still conducting B-KEEN business when possible.

NEWS January 2023 While it's clear the pandemic is not over everywhere, we are relieved the U.S. death rate from it is down by almost an order of magnitude! SW Florida is still recovering from a direct hit by hurricane IAN last year. Our neighborhood was in the edge of the eye-wall. The strongest winds blew 140-150MPH continuously for 5+ hours.. a shocking event!! Nearly everyone had some damage, we lost part of our roofing and minimal water damage but thankfully no storm surge or flood damage!! Numerous trees and limbs came down including our prize mango tree, Barry engineered it back upright, again. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost sooo much more!! Business is picking back up and we're trying to schedule our repairs in between...

NEWS April 2022 Going out on a limb.. it may now be safe to say that after our wonderful USA has been hit harder than any other country, survivors of the pandemic may have enough herd immunity combined with "THE VIRUS" mutating into weaker strains, that we can begin to consider it just one-more-common-cold (praying). Our business last year was still reduced but that gave us a chance to take a long desired driving tour up and out West. We visited family & also some places to cross off our bucket list including the beloved Redwoods, Amazing!! We're back for now and keeping busy,, looking forward to new sales & seeing many friendly faces this year... B-Well, B-Keen

May 2021 Okay, here we go... While COVID-19 is now on the rise & rages in distant countries like India, our community spread rates slowly decline, death rates are way down & vaccinations are progressing (we got ours, J&J >> yay!!:)~ After mainly being restricted to socially distanced appraisals & digitizing (photo/slide) jobs for so many months, we're finally set to run our first 2021 sale on Mother's Day weekend! AND looking forward to it! Although it would be nicer if we could quit wearing masks... patience (spoken with a bit of a frown)... We must all persevere to beat this nasty bug! We can!

January 2021 ~ Well,, 2020 is certainly going down in history with numerous exclamation marks!!! We've survived thus far unscathed, knock on wood, and hope y'all have too!! Aside from conducting one sale (a-triple) at mom's house in June, we've been on self-imposed furlough. This pandemic is a tragedy beyond the scope of what most of us can fathom & we have no interest in contributing to the problem. We're normally proud of attracting crowds into a home, but at this time it's a bad recipe. When COVID-19 community spread rates fall then we can begin ramping back up... If you must have a sale soon, consider enlisting services of those offering Online-Estate Sales. We're still available for free consultations anytime, and potential scheduling...

February 2020 ~ Since last entry, we’ve been plugging away fairly steady with near normal business. Our family lost one more as Barry‘s mom passed in October 2019. She had a good long life (92) and survived nearly everyone of her day. Dubious of our modern world and especially “those little things” [smart phones], she was ready to go and got her final wish.. may she Rest In Peace. Unfortunately there was a bit of an ephemera hoarding problem in her house, so we've been sorting through vast amounts of paperwork & family photos (normally our clients handle this). We’ll conduct a sale there ASAP. Look for the ads.. & THANKS for your continued interest!

September 2018 ~ It's been a literal whirl-wind since last entry. Thanks to hurricane Irma, we took a much needed break last Sept. & evacuated out to Yellowstone and a few other national parks. Luckily our home sustained no damage. Notably our favorite mango tree blew over but we tied it back up and this year it fruited heavily,, yum!:-). Sadly, we lost Barry's brother Kevin in Sept. 2016, God rest his soul. Subsequently, without him helping mom (now in her 90's), things and business scheduling have been more difficult. We've managed a fair number of fine sales and have met many friendly folks along the way. Acknowledging the importance of occasionally pausing to breathe in a bit of fresh air, we'll continue in this challenging business so long as demand exists & we arise each day! In follow-up business news regarding credit cards, we've decided to keep it simple and stick with cash only. Thank you ALL for your patronage, patience and understanding!

January 2016 ~ After many months off, we are now up and going again. Barry took some time off for home tree-scaping, family medical needs & his own health. He is now fully recovered from: the shingles, pleurisy and a back injury. Family health has since improved, trees are growing and he has sworn off giving piggy-back rides! In secondary business news: Our old credit card machine finally expired, we let-go our CC processor, enjoying less fees and for now --> Cash only

February 2015 ~ Since our move from Texas to Florida, we've completed several sales, and have seen progressive growth and popularity with each. We feel very fortunate, business is good, the weather is great and it is nice to be here in Southwest Florida, especially during winter! With our home in North Port (South of Sarasota) and family still in Clearwater (where Barry grew up) we give preference to locations along Southwest Florida's "Suncoast", from Tampa Bay to Naples. However, we enjoy travel and invite opportunities from ALL Florida locations & beyond.

June 2014 ---------> We have MOVED TO FLORIDA...! Even though for family... it was not an easy decision.., after living in Texas for over 33 years, the place kinda grows on ya! - We've met a ton of wonderful people, learned so much and witnessed mmazin' things in the "everythings bigger in Texas" state. Thanks to ALL our beloved friends, helpers, clients and patrons for your loyalty, kindness and wisdom! We love our Texans, cherish the Lone Star State and are not canceling business there, in the right situations we'll be back for Appraisals, Estate Sales & maybe just visit!

In 2013 we are going strong with private appraisals and fine sales in progress. We've also a bit of extra good news to tell: Barry has found a new lady and wasted no time in making her his partner, they tied the knot in Nov.'12 She comes to us with strong backgrounds in business, accounting, marketing, interior design & much more. She's already proven her skills and is certainly an asset... Barry says she's a keeper! She may seem quiet and soft spoken, but don't be fooled, she is sharp as a tack. We hope you'll visit our next sale where you can meet her.

B-KEEN Company was conceived by Barry and Lisa[1] Kuenn in 2008, through clock-work like Estate Sale shopping over the course of 15 preceding years & very often finding shortcomings or poor business practices along the way. Ultimately, one-day, negative experiences led to a light-bulb moment for Barry. As was typical for him on most any weekend, he had planned and was actively shopping as many sales as he could, from Thursday thru Sunday. After witnessing another (one-too-many) incident from a moody, disgruntled & uncaring estate sale employee (or was this person the company owner!?!)... the light-bulb lit & Barry said to himself "I could do a better job than these rude people". And so began the personal & professional challenge, he decided THIS would be his next career. Not letting go of his original goal, he still looks for improvement to be The Best in The Business, in fact, many customers have already gone out of their way to tell us that, bar none, we are "THE BEST". While we don't make every customer happy, we do try, and we receive lots of kudos. We have a similar track record with our clients, most can not believe how good we've made their place look, how busy & effective the sale was, even items they thought surely no one would buy -sold, the place totally cleared out and the proverbial cherry on top, they receive more money than expected! We take pride in our work and invest heavily in time & effort to promote safe, well received and very effective Estate Liquidation Sales.

Barry brings a variety of experience, knowledge, talent, tenacity, wit and calm demeanor to excel in this field. He's had a lifelong hunger for learning about history, antiques and collectibles. He grew up in Florida, moved to Texas at 19 and worked in the electronics industry for over 25 years. He worked various jobs including design technician, IT systems administrator, UNIX computer support help desk and quality control inspector on security installations. Eventually, corporate bureaucracy, stress and opportunity all knocked in unison, so he jumped ship and began making plans to open an antique brokerage business. Graduated Y2K from the Texas Institute of Antiques and Collectibles in Denton and then traveled extensively, buying authentic pieces to sell via antique malls and on-line. After the economic impact of 9-11, personal life changes and the afore mentioned "light-bulb moment" it was time to give that up & move on to his current path, focusing full-time on promoting High Quality Estate Liquidations. In July 2010 Barry added the role of Personal Property Appraiser, with a Certification from CAGA (Certified Appraisers Guild of America), to his repertoire. He loves his work, especially the discovery & research of unique or finely crafted items, and then seeing the enthusiasm of proud buyers as they eagerly take possession! Raised in an old world traditional family and steeped in millennial world frenzy, Barry holds reverence to the old values and lives by a motto spoken by his late father - "A man is only as good as his word". While we may only operate under signed contract, we also honor our word and do what we say. Furthermore, Barry insists that We not only do the job, indeed we do it right!

We do have helpers, and rely heavily on them... our team of experienced friendly, helpful assistants and consultants enable us to quickly accomplish our charter. They are all family or long-time personal friends with Barry and rest assured they are trustworthy, honest and very qualified to provide clients and customers alike with courteous Professionalism.

As Barry's previous antique brokerage focused on genuine antique and vintage merchandise offered in a forthright manner, he also mandates our Estate Sale Service be "Top-Notch". We've combined our best ideas with only the very best from top liquidators across Texas, Florida, Kansas and Missouri to deliver expedient, 1st class sales. You're assured Complete Satisfaction when you choose B-KEEN APPRAISALS & ESTATE SALES.

[1] With the greatest admiration and the deepest sorrow, I must inform everyone of the tragedy which has befallen us... In mid-June 2011 my late wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with a seriously advanced stage of ovarian cancer. While she declined uncertain modern surgery in favor of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) treatments in China, she held strong like no one else. However, after four short months, one day a tranquil calm took hold and she left our world. She went with a smile in thinking about her favorite little dog Fabio and two daughters, Ellie and Jessica. I feel honored to have known her for nearly nine years. She was as complex as anyone could be, strong willed, smart and had superior common sense. As Cantonese, Hakka and Mandarin were her primary dialects, her English (not to mention Spanish) words didn't always reflect her true thoughts. She really had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met and somehow always produced well planned generosity. She was nothing short of miraculous in her cooking skills, things you'd be hard pressed to find on a menu anywhere and it would be knock your socks off awesome! Ever had papaya or pumpkin soup? How about cantaloupe stir-fry? She was also perhaps the cleanest person I've ever known and had a great sense of humor. With these and many more unwritten virtues, she will be fondly remembered for many generations. She was a tremendous benefit to and very much liked this business. She enjoyed meeting new people, I hope you had the chance. God rest her soul. -B


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