Following a November investigation by the News4 I-Team, a growing number of people tell News4 they’re owed thousands of dollars from a Virginia company that held estate sales on their behalf and then failed to hand over the proceeds.
After the report aired, the I-Team connected with additional clients who said Smith owes them money, too, including two people whose estate sales took place as far back as last year.
Kathie Smith – no relation to Tracy Smith – said she wasn’t surprised when she saw the I-Team’s investigation.
“So, I’m not the only one. Didn’t think I was,” she said of her reaction to the piece.
Kathie Smith, of Manassas, said she hired Attics to Basements more than a year ago to help sell items her late husband, David, had collected for decades. Under the terms of the contract, the company would keep 40% of sale proceeds – with a lower percentage for special items, such as a trove of silver coins that records show sold for more than $50,000.
After selling more than $70,000 worth of her husband’s belongings in September 2024, she said Tracy Smith missed her deadline for payment and then stopped answering her messages.
“Losing the person that you love and then having her do that, you know, it’s a double loss,” she said.
Chanigan Smavatkul is also among the people who said Smith still owes her thousands of dollars in sale proceeds. She hired Attics to Basements to help her downsize her Bethesda, Md., home ahead of an international move in December 2024.
“She appeared to be a friend, you know, during the hardship,” said Smavatkul, who was in the process of a divorce at the time.
She moved abroad and realized months later that Smith hadn’t sent her money, which she anticipates should be about $5,000. Smavatkul said the women corresponded about sending payment, but that communication stopped after Smavatkul asked to speak on the phone to share her bank account information.
Smavatkul said she believes Smith took advantage of her during a tough life transition.
Asked how she’d characterize Smith’s actions, she said: “Oh, she’s stolen from me. Yeah. I think she took advantage. She took advantage of people who are in need of help, you know, going through certain change, you know, in their life,” she said.
Reached by text this week about the additional clients who say she owes them money, Smith said she has not stolen from her clients and intends to give them each what they’re owed.
Susan Farey, of South Riding, Va., also reached out to the I-Team following our report, saying Smith still owes her more than $5,000 after holding an estate sale at her late mother’s house in September 2024.
But unlike the others the I-Team has interviewed, Farey said Smith recently acknowledged in a text message that she intends to give her what she’s owed but can’t now because her business is suffering.
“So, I thought, oh, you know, she’s coming on hard times, she’s not going to have work. That’s how this happened,” Farey said. “And then when I saw your story I realized, no, this is way bigger. She’s been doing this for months.”
What the estate sale company’s owner told News4
Tracy Smith agreed to a phone interview in November and acknowledged she owed money to the three families News4 knew about then, while declining to comment on whether she also owed others.
She apologized for any “headaches” she may have caused her clients and said,“This weighs very heavy on me, just like it does them. And it’s because I have all the intentions of doing the right thing and paying them back. I just need more time.”
Smith told News4 her business started to fall on hard times about eight months prior, though Kathie Smith’s and Chanigan Smavatkul’s sales occurred in 2024.
Asked how she planned to repay her clients, Smith said she’s selling her “personals.”
In the follow-up exchange with News4 this week about the additional clients who say they’re owed, Smith said in a text, “I will be paying these people what is owed to them. Like I mentioned to you before due to my health issues and the economy is what set me back. I have every intention on making good on my word … “
Why a third client is considering legal action
Kathie Smith got her attorney involved earlier this year after Smith failed to pay her on time and showed the I-Team a confessed judgment promissory note in which Smith acknowledged owing Kathie Smith money and agreed to a payment plan of more than $4,000 a month.
After paying more than $20,000 toward the debt, Kathie Smith said the payments stopped this fall when Tracy Smith said she needed surgery and would be out of work until early next year.
Two of the families the I-Team featured in its first report are now suing Tracy Smith in civil court. Kathie Smith said she’s considering legal action, too, out of fear she may not be made whole.
“I mean, after learning all this that she’s done to other people, I think it’s time. Otherwise, I’m probably not going to be getting anything,” she said.
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