smurray5991
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2012
- Messages
- 103
+1 on estate sale companies - one good value-add they bring to the table is their keen eye for pricing things accurately. This may be less relevant for one's own stuff, if you have a good sense of what your possessions are worth (or are willing to research it on your own). But it's definitely recommended for clearing out other relatives' houses. We used this for my grandmother's house and some of her "old" stuff, art, etc. was actually worth much more than any of us would have priced it.
When my parents downsized upon retirement in the 1980s, they did DIY garage and house sales over the course of a year that included stuff both from their principal residence, as well as vacation farmhouse. They divided it up into three sales -- a couple focused on furniture and household decorative stuff only (mainly held indoors, moving all the relevant stuff into a selected part of the house; and another focused on all the outdoor/garage stuff (lawnmowers, yard stuff, tools, etc. etc. as well as the usual miscellany of household junk). They even sold a car as part of one sale! These were advertised in local papers, indicating that they were not the usual garage sale. Lots of clientele showed up, including the pros who usually haunt estate sales looking for 'finds'. The whole family and a few friends came in to monitor the sales, manage the cash, etc. They made over $8000 I think, not including the car. The leftovers went to charity, or was thrown out. (Noting that charities like Goodwill and Salvation Army are much more picky now about what they'll take than they used to be). While definitely do-able, this DIY route was a lot of work, though.
Under both these scenarios, I second the suggestion of letting your kids 'tag' things they would like, either now or later. I would also advise that this be done in a way that allows for the potentially wide differential in value that one child/relative may want over what another wants, especially if any higher ticket items are involved. For my grandmother's state sale, the company allowed the children to tag things first, each item had a price on it, and the kids were allowed first dibs at purchasing them at the stated price! If it's a matter of gifting while you are still alive, you might at least make a rough estimate of monetary value of each set of goods requested, gift the items, and then 'even out' any wide disparity through your bequest (e.g., one kid takes a lamp for $100, and the other takes $10,000 worth of furnishings, tools, etc., so you stipulate in your will that the kid who received less will get the difference at the time the estate is liquidated upon your death).
When my father died, my mother still stayed in the same house, and got rid of all his personal effects through donation or some flea markets we did -- (actually made some money at the latter!). And even though it's been many years, we'd still like to find some use for more 'specialty' items that only he used, like all his extensive collection of tools and home repair stuff -- including hardware like nuts and bolts, etc. etc. No traditional charity would take that stuff, but what a shame to see it go to waste. So I contacted our local Habitat for Humanity and asked if they might want some of that stuff -- and they were very interested! Now that I'll have more time in ER, we'll invite them in this year and have them go through the inventory to see what they might be able to make use of.
When my parents downsized upon retirement in the 1980s, they did DIY garage and house sales over the course of a year that included stuff both from their principal residence, as well as vacation farmhouse. They divided it up into three sales -- a couple focused on furniture and household decorative stuff only (mainly held indoors, moving all the relevant stuff into a selected part of the house; and another focused on all the outdoor/garage stuff (lawnmowers, yard stuff, tools, etc. etc. as well as the usual miscellany of household junk). They even sold a car as part of one sale! These were advertised in local papers, indicating that they were not the usual garage sale. Lots of clientele showed up, including the pros who usually haunt estate sales looking for 'finds'. The whole family and a few friends came in to monitor the sales, manage the cash, etc. They made over $8000 I think, not including the car. The leftovers went to charity, or was thrown out. (Noting that charities like Goodwill and Salvation Army are much more picky now about what they'll take than they used to be). While definitely do-able, this DIY route was a lot of work, though.
Under both these scenarios, I second the suggestion of letting your kids 'tag' things they would like, either now or later. I would also advise that this be done in a way that allows for the potentially wide differential in value that one child/relative may want over what another wants, especially if any higher ticket items are involved. For my grandmother's state sale, the company allowed the children to tag things first, each item had a price on it, and the kids were allowed first dibs at purchasing them at the stated price! If it's a matter of gifting while you are still alive, you might at least make a rough estimate of monetary value of each set of goods requested, gift the items, and then 'even out' any wide disparity through your bequest (e.g., one kid takes a lamp for $100, and the other takes $10,000 worth of furnishings, tools, etc., so you stipulate in your will that the kid who received less will get the difference at the time the estate is liquidated upon your death).
When my father died, my mother still stayed in the same house, and got rid of all his personal effects through donation or some flea markets we did -- (actually made some money at the latter!). And even though it's been many years, we'd still like to find some use for more 'specialty' items that only he used, like all his extensive collection of tools and home repair stuff -- including hardware like nuts and bolts, etc. etc. No traditional charity would take that stuff, but what a shame to see it go to waste. So I contacted our local Habitat for Humanity and asked if they might want some of that stuff -- and they were very interested! Now that I'll have more time in ER, we'll invite them in this year and have them go through the inventory to see what they might be able to make use of.
). She also arranged for a charity to pick up unsold items. I was happy to turn over the whole process to someone else.
