by Van Mitchell, staff writer
Formerly known as Brown Auction House, Gnome Home LLC, a real estate service company, has grown significantly and now offers a broader range of services to assist with estate liquidations.
“Our new name reflects this expansion and our ongoing commitment to getting the most value for your items,” Katy Jo Brown, Licensed Realtor ERA Courtyard said. “Whether you’re downsizing, relocating, or handling an estate, Gnome Home provides comprehensive solutions to ensure you maximize your returns.”
Brown said Gnome Home LLC specializes in helping homeowners prepare their properties for sale during major life transitions.
“We provide expert estate sale and auction services, with a particular focus on valuing antiques and vintage items to ensure clients maximize their returns,” she said. “By combining industry knowledge with a passion for preserving unique treasures, Gnome Home offers a seamless, stress-free experience for sellers looking to clear their homes while honoring their history.”
Brown said as her company evolved, she has as well.
“I got my real estate license in 2024, and we rebranded,” she said. “We wanted to have more of a brand that was more one full service and that was more client centric. Sometimes when you have an auction, sometimes it’s like the last option. We didn’t like feeling that way and we wanted to be able to have more of an angle. We help people prepare their real estate for sale or lease, and we do that by conducting professional auctions and professional estate sales.”
Brown said they also provide other services.
“We have everything removed that’s left over, and then we have the house cleaned so that basically the real estate agent can come in and take the photos.”
Brown said as their business expands, so does their expertise in valuing household items.
“We’ve got some experience with knowing certain brands from just our dealing with various items,” she said. “We find that our clients teach us so much. We are growing our network, what we call our Gnome Network, of people that buy random things. We utilize Google Lens that will basically look at whatever item it is and show us any other items that are on the internet that are similar and that are either for sale or have sold. So that gives us a price reference point for us to shoot for.”
Brown said they determine their costs by the estimated number of hours and labor for each sale.
“That helps us recoup our investment cost of what we put in to getting the sale ready. Then we have a commission split that we go anywhere from 35 to 45% on the additional sales above that mark,” she said.
Brown said leftover sale items is donated to the Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled.
Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled is a nonprofit social services organization established in 1960 that provides high quality and activity-oriented adult day health services for adults with specialized developmental needs in central Oklahoma.
“We work with an organization, the Oklahoman Foundation for the Disabled, and they have a resale store,” she said. “They will come and just pick up everything. It’s a great service, and it allows us not to have to pay to remove the items. They win in that they get to use the items in their resale store, and we win because we don’t have to have the client pay to have anything removed.”
Steve Ross, Executive Director of Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled said their partnership with Gnome Home helps the organization in two ways.
“The work program gives the participants a day job earning income. The pickups give in the job training for participants, and they partner with a resale shop where they make funds that go towards their programs,” Ross said.
Ross said he is excited about the partnership with Gnome Home and the partnership helps fill gaps in funding their programs.
Brown said her business is growing due to the number of referrals.
“We are in the process of starting to hire people because we’re about to hit our max capacity with what we can do,” she said. “Right now, we are a family band. It is me, my fiancé, Kevin Stokes, and our son, Austin Stokes. We get everything done, set up in the evenings and on the weekends.”
Joanne Smith recently utilized Gnome Home in setting up an estate sale.
Brown said Smith had a medical emergency and could not live at home anymore and needed help selling her home and its contents.
“She was excited she got the house sold,” Brown said. “We were not the real estate agent, but we helped with the estate sale. She (Smith) said we made the process easy, and she didn’t have to do anything.”
Brown said Gnome Home is a service company, in that they are preparing the house for sale.
“We can facilitate any part of that sale as well,” she said. “So, by either being the listing agent or we can also be more like the buyer’s agent. We can collect interest in the home if people are interested in buying the house, which often they are during an estate sale, even in auctions. We can facilitate the buy of the sale before it may even hit the market.”
For a free consultation call (405)-250-4136
or visit
www.KatyJoBrown.com
