After Marnie Saenz Litz’s father, retired Navy Capt. Ron Saenz, was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, she jumped into action to help her aging parents downsize as quickly as she could.
One of those ways, she now says with regret, was by hiring Attics to Basements Estate Sales, out of Manassas.
After the estate sale in Herndon, Virginia, concluded in March, the Saenz family expected Attics to Basements owner Tracy Smith would pay them their share of the proceeds – more than $9,000 – within a month.
Instead, they say, Smith failed to pay them and then cut off all communication.
“She spent weeks with us before the sale … We had some heart-to-heart conversations about family, about illness, about sickness, about mortality, all these things,” Litz said of Smith, later adding: “It just felt yucky at the end, just the way it all turned out.”
The Saenz family is among at least three families identified by the News4 I-Team who say Smith sold thousands of dollars’ worth of their lifelong possessions and then failed to pay them their share of the proceeds.
The I-Team’s investigation has found complaints lodged with state offices of consumer protection that indicate other families have lodged concerns with Attics to Basements, as well, though the nature of those complaints is not public.
“I feel jilted, you know? Used,” said Nancy Saenz, who is now a widow. “It’s evil to treat somebody like that.”
Smith declined an on-camera interview but told the I-Team she intends to repay clients to whom she owes money.
‘We’ve been completely ghosted’
The I-Team first learned of complaints about Smith from Milton and Susan Koch. They hired her company in April to help downsize their home in Bethesda.
Milton Koch, who described Smith as “very personable, matter-of-fact and low pressure,” noted she had generally positive reviews online. Records show she opened her business in 2020.
“She was totally responsible, took charge and we felt really comfortable with how she proceeded,” she said.
Like the Saenz family, they signed a contract promising a 60/40 split, with 40% going to Smith.
They were so confident in her skills, they recommended her to their lifelong friends, Richard and Beth Sheer.
Beth Sheer is battling aggressive cancer and, at the time, was worried about leaving her husband to take care of a large home by himself.
“I felt that we would be better off in an apartment when – if — something were to happen to me,” she told the I-Team.
The Sheers hired Smith, whom Beth Sheer called “charming,” to help sell their belongings in June – one month after the Koches’ sale in May. Like the Saenz family, both couples waited for a check that they say never arrived.
“I wrote her three or four more emails, sent her text messages and even left voice messages, and we’ve been completely ghosted,” Richard Sheer said.
When the Koches finally got ahold of Smith, they heard a similar story as the Saenzes. According to the Koches, Smith claimed she sent a cashier’s check for the roughly $7,300 she told them they were owed, but that since it was in transit or lost, she wouldn’t be able to cancel it and send a new one until after 90 days.
“And then nothing happened,” Milton Koch said. “There was radio silence.”
Meanwhile, records show Attics to Basements continued to hold estate sales for other clients through the fall.
Wearing hidden cameras, the I-Team went undercover at one of Smith’s estate sales in Virginia in October, observing Smith at work. While there, the I-Team found signs posted to walls indicating that Attics to Basements would stop operating in November.
Here’s what consumer protection offices in our region said
The I-Team wanted to know how many other families may not have been paid by Smith.
The Office of the Virginia Attorney General told News4 it is investigating one complaint against her business but didn’t provide details, citing an open investigation.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney General of Maryland said it is also investigating a complaint against the business but couldn’t share the nature of the complaint.
The Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection told the I-Team it’s also investigating complaints about Smith and her company. The Koches and Sheers told the I-Team they are among those complaints.
Investigator Bernie Vega could not provide details in the ongoing cases but gave this general guidance: “Regardless of what happened or why, that is a situation that the business needs to deal with. If they entered into contract in good faith – they took monies from the homeowner in good faith – that is something they need to sort out.
The Koches and the Sheers now hope to sort it out in court. They’ve each filed a civil lawsuit against Smith.
“She just took the money and ran, basically is how I feel. I feel violated,” Beth Sheer said.
‘I apologize to the families’
Reached by phone, Smith eventually acknowledged owing the families money and blamed the debt on a downtrodden economy, saying her business began to suffer about eight months ago.
“I apologize to the families for any headaches that I put through them through, any sleepless nights,” she said.
Asked why she didn’t communicate her hardships to her clients, Smith said she was too “embarrassed” and said she promises to “give them what they are owed.”
Smith acknowledged receiving civil lawsuits from the Koches and Sheers and said her goal is to repay them before their tentative February 2026 court date.
“I’m selling my personals so I can go ahead and pay them back,” she said.
Asked how many other families she owes money to for estate sale profits, Smith said: “I don’t want to answer that.” She confirmed plans to close her business.
Family grieved and coped with DOGE cuts as they awaited funds
Marnie Saenz Litz said she feels sorry to learn about Smith’s alleged economic troubles, but noted her family is also facing its share of difficult times.
“During this whole process, DOGE hit our family,” Litz said, referring to federal contracts slashed under the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. “I’ve been without work for a lot of time. I’ve been waiting for that money that she promised us.”
Her mother said that as she grieves her husband’s death, she knows she may never see money from the possessions they once shared. She said she has forgiven Smith but is seeking “justice for anybody else who has been treated badly.”
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