In-laws place in FL needs to be emptied

[Ready2Go]

So, my in-laws own a mobile home (Park Model) down in FL near Orlando. They were last there about a year ago. Since their last visit my FIL's mobility has declined to the point where he can no longer get around without help. He has PD. Long story short, they want to sell the property. They already have an offer from a relative of a neighboring property owner that is being considered. So, we are assessing options as far as emptying the property. We have no relatives in the area and the friends they have nearby have their own health/mobility issues. Family is all in NY/CT area. The obvious thought is for DW and I to just drive down there, pack it up and haul it back. DW is still working and is not excited about spending a week of vacation time on this project. She will if she needs to but wondered if there are better alternatives. We can't be the first to deal with this. Ideally, we'd like to have a service (carefully) pack everything and put in a container (pod) to be delivered north. Alternatively, we could fly down and pack the pod. Just looking for feedback or experiences with this situation. TIA!

 

[PaunchyPirate]

You could consider selling the home with all it's furniture. Then you would only have to deal with all the personal stuff. Which, personally, I think would be best done with you guys taking a trip to Florida and back.

My Mom's mobile home park frequently had it's homes sold fully furnished. That's how we bought and sold hers. But I still drove down in August to pack up the personal things and clean the home thoroughly in order to sell it. We signed paperwork with our agent in advance and did not need to return to Florida for the actual closing of the sale itself.

 

[Ronstar]

DW and I cleaned out our condo.

Furniture to a consignment store (they picked it up at our place)
Loads of things to Goodwill.
Some things to garbage
The rest fit in my pickup truck

This took us about a week. You could probably do something similar - even by yourself if your DW wanted to stay home to work. The key is to have someone get the heavy stuff out. The rest is easy.

 

[harllee]

My mother had a Florida condo which I helped her sale. We sold it furnished pretty quickly. The only things I had to remove were personal items and most of those went to Goodwill or the trash, only took me and DH a couple of days. Maybe you could work a deal with the people who want to buy the place that they take it "as is" including all the stuff in it.

 

[Music Lover]

It will cost more to move used furniture than what it's worth. Try selling a couch or a table...unless they are high end you'll be lucky to get $50 each for them. And that's after you rent a truck/trailer, load it up, then drive home and put the stuff up for sale and wait for people to not show up after they answer the ad.

I'd remove all the personal items and any smaller items of value and sell the place as "furnished".

 

[Jerry1]

Just go by yourself so DW doesn’t have to use vacation time.

I’m sure a moving company can load everything into a POD and ship it to you and then you could have a cleaning service clean it out. That seems like a Blow That Dough option.

Selling the furniture with the home makes sense but if you already have an offer, maybe they don’t want that. If you could get rid of the furniture down there, then, you could probably fit what’s left in a car or a good size SUV, which could be rented if needed.

 

[pb4uski]

Sell it "turn-key" with everything in it... very common down here... then buyer can take their time deciding what to keep.

We bought our Florida condo turn-key, but it was previously a rental so it didn't have a lot of personal stuff in it. The seller had some things in a locked closet that they took away but other than that they left everything. Over they years we have replaced most of the great room furniture, but the two bedroom sets are what were there when we bought the place.

I'm guessing that a lot of buyers would trade off getting the furniture for having to clean out the drawers and closets.

Or many of the realtors "know a guy" who will go in and clean thngs out for you for a price or arrange to have an estate sale seller come in. Talk with a local realtor... they can give you some ideas.

When my DD/DSIL moved they ended up using two of thode U-Haul pods and that worked well... but do you really want the furniture and are you willing to pay for the cost to have it transported. As I recall, the cost for the pod and to have it shipped was about $1,300 each, and that was with me picking it up from U-Haul and returning it to them with my pickup.. if they deliver and pick up then it would have been more.

 

[Amethyst]

True. Also, be aware that while wood furniture will find buyers, not everyone trusts someone else's used upholstered furniture. Make sure it has no holes, etc. and no odor.

The only reason most people pay to move used furniture is that good new furniture is out of sight expensive, and cheaper furniture is, well, cheap. Can your parents afford new furniture for their new residence, which I imagine will be an ALF and therefore quite small? Will their old furniture even fit?

It will cost more to move used furniture than what it's worth. Try selling a couch or a table...unless they are high end you'll be lucky to get $50 each for them. And that's after you rent a truck/trailer, load it up, then drive home and put the stuff up for sale and wait for people to not show up after they answer the ad.

I'd remove all the personal items and any smaller items of value and sell the place as "furnished".

 

[OldShooter]

When DW was working in the megabank trust department, she had several firms that she used for this kind of thing. It seems highly likely that such firms exist in a retirement area. I suggest you try a little networking with real estate agents and other local professionals plus a little Google Fu. You might also try here: https://fcoa.org/Resources

 

[Morgan22]

It will cost more to move used furniture than what it's worth. Try selling a couch or a table...unless they are high end you'll be lucky to get $50 each for them. And that's after you rent a truck/trailer, load it up, then drive home and put the stuff up for sale and wait for people to not show up after they answer the ad.

I'd remove all the personal items and any smaller items of value and sell the place as "furnished".

This ^ It's not worth it to bring everything back. You say its been a full year since they've been there. I would just make a trip down by myself and pick up any personal items that they want.

 

[JP.mpls]

M22,.
I recently bought a townhouse in Florida furnished. Figured that I would keep at least some of it, and I would at least have a bed to sleep on the first night.
Big mistake. I purged 95 percentage of the stuff. Some to donations, a bunch to the garbage, and I had to pay to have some of the larger stuff removed.
The seller made out on that deal.
Try to get them to take all the furniture, it is not worth moving it.
In one long weekend you should be able to remove personal stuff and garbage.
Maybe even pay to have it cleaned up after you are done removing that stuff. Well worth the cost.

Good luck,. JP

 

[Aerides]

We are replacing some furniture in our home. Dining and Bedroom sets. I know well from threads like these that selling them (cl or something) would be more trouble than they are worth.

DH wasn't convinced (it's good/used/nice, but yeah...) So I had a look on CL for pricing ideas. We found someone selling our exact dining set for $100.

That was enough to change DH's mind and we called around a few charity places that do pick up. Even that isn't easy. A lot of charities won't pick up furniture, and if they do, it needs to be outside or in the garage. And it better be in perfect condition or they aren't gonna take it.

So, yeah, leave your wife at home, go pack the personal stuff, and call goodwill etc. before you go, to arrange for pick ups while you are there.

 

[youbet]

When my dad passed (mom was already gone), we chose a real estate agent to handle selling his house that also agreed to manage the clean-out, clean-up and disposal issues. He was a really good guy and we were fortunate to find him.

DW and I were both working and lived 600 miles away. We took one week of vacation time and went down in our pickup truck and loaded that and dad's car (which we inherited) with things of interest to the family and some stuff we wanted, mainly dad's extensive tool collection. So, a pickup truck and a mid-size car of "stuff" on the way home. Then the real estate agent arranged disposal of the balance of the stuff at an auction house or the dump (as appropriate) and used most of the proceeds to pay for some cleaning and painting.

We got an acceptable offer on the house a few weeks later........ and that was that.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Agree that since its a vacation prop the inlaws prob have a fully furnished place where they are now. So whats to be gained by going and retrieving more furniture and things? Are there hairloom type things or memory type things? If its just stuff i agree I would just pay to have it handled. COmpare to the price of a week of pay that burning the vacation time would use up. Plus the headache. PLus whatcha gonna do with it when you get it back up to where yall are? ANother big job for you prob. Im in the 'No thanks" camp on this. If there are small momentos down there liek pictures even a mobility challenged friend may be able to go in and get those and keep for you or ship.

 

[Out of Steam]

Agree that since its a vacation prop the inlaws prob have a fully furnished place where they are now. So whats to be gained by going and retrieving more furniture and things? Are there hairloom type things or memory type things?

That was my thought. Take a quick trip to recover any high-value or heirloom items, as well as some family memories, then sell it furnished. A weekend may be enough time. Older people may not remember if such items are there, so it is probably worth checking yourself.

Friends of ours bought a vacation home some years ago with dishes set for a meal on the dining room table and beach chairs hanging in the garage.

 

[HarveyS]

We had to clean out a 3 bedroom home a few years ago. What I learned - hope it helps:
Make a quick trip. 3 days max. If you fly, rent a minivan. Stop at home depot or UHaul and buy plenty of boxes and packing paper. On Day 1 triage the home and separate what you want to keep, donate and trash. Pack what you want to keep. Label the boxes so you know what is in each one. Prior to arrival arrange to have Goodwill or some other group meet you on the morning of Day 2 to take away furniture, dishes, etc.. Have 1-800-got-junk meet you on the afternoon of Day 2 to take away the garbage. Return the unused boxes. Now, decide how to transport the stuff you want to keep. If you fly, you'll need to arrange a mover or pod for Day 3. If you drive, fit it in your car, or arrange a mover or pod. If there is a big tube TV, investigate where that goes before you get there- garbage or does it need to be taken to a recycle center? Same for old paint cans, chemicals, etc.. What day is the recycling center open? What hours?
Keep in mind on my 3 day plan you don't have time to be sentimental about this. You are there to decide and act. When my brother and I had to clean out DM's house, he sat and looked at every single piece of paper, picture, etc. He was of no use whatsoever, and in fact, held up the operation. You might be better doing it alone if the house isn't too large. However, if there are SIL or BIL's you could be the bad guy if you discard some "family heirloom". Best to let blood relatives do this, or agree to hold you harmless.
If you can arrange a turn key sale, all the better.
And I had good luck getting help from hireahelper.com for another move. Trained moving labor for not too much money.
Finally, when DM passed my brothers and I went thru what we packed and moved/stored after clearing out the house. I would guess that 90% of that ended up at Goodwill --- so be thoughtful in what you pack and move.

 

[38Chevy454]

Lot of good advice here in previous replies. Agree on just take a quick trip down there and get the personal items you want to keep. Rest is either sell the place as furnished and let buyer decide what to keep or get rid of; or donate contents to Goodwill or trash. Seems selling a place as furnished is quite common in FL. Having that neighbor's relative interested is great, pursue this for sure.

Another option is have an estate sale company come in and take care of the items. You will get the place cleaned out, and a little bit of money. Unless the place is full of high dollar antiques or art, just accept that it is best to get rid of it as someone else's work as opposed to yours. Estate sale company will buy/sell what is worth something, and then get rid of the rest by donation or dump.


As a comment, since selling the place is also on the plan, talk with a local realtor and they can have some good advice. Not just for the selling of the mobile home, but also for selling furnished or not. I really don't think selling furnished will net more money, but it will maybe help the sale process.

 

[pdxgal]

It will cost more to move used furniture than what it's worth. Try selling a couch or a table...unless they are high end you'll be lucky to get $50 each for them. And that's after you rent a truck/trailer, load it up, then drive home and put the stuff up for sale and wait for people to not show up after they answer the ad.

I'd remove all the personal items and any smaller items of value and sell the place as "furnished".

+1. In my city there's a non-profit "furniture bank" (like a food bank) that helps set up needy folks with housing. I'd see if there's something like that. If you itemize deductions still, you may more $ that way from the donation value vs selling outright, for less hassle.

You could also try an estate sale company. Though depending on the quality of the stuff being sold it may not be worthwhile.

 

[Ready2Go]

Thank you all for the thoughtful responses! Much appreciated.

We had a discussion with my in-laws today. This was a snowbird place that they have owned for about 10 years....so, they haven't had a chance to accumulate that much. Since it is a "mobile home" the furniture is small and doesn't have much value....although they did pay way too much for it. In any event, we decided that the furniture is going with the sale. What's left is just personal items, kitchen stuff, clothes and tools. The tools are crappy so they will go to the new owner. Likely the same for the kitchen stuff too. The tentative plan is for my wife and SIL to fly down, sort the stuff and ship back what is being kept. Everything else that is not kitchen stuff, tools or furniture will be tossed out.

Thanks again all!

 

[brucethebroker]

A friend had a similar situation when the RE market crashed in FL. Charities and resale shops had no use for used furniture as the market was flooded with it. He rented a one way, 27 ft. truck (about as long as a school bus) and drove his stuff back north. Total cost was just under $1700-time invested was about 5 days. He had some nice furniture that kids wanted and some he kept. The rest was sold when he got it home. He later said he would have sold/donated it in a heartbeat instead had that been an option.

 

[Bamaman]

I think you'll find shipping "stuff" back home will cost too much.

An alternative is to rent a one way UHaul truck, load it up and drive it home yourself. UHaul right now has an overabundance of trucks and van trailers located in Florida due to the mass migration of new homeowners.

Or if you've got a pickup truck, drive down and pickup the personal belongings yourself.

I spent the better part of 10 years of my retirement moving my parents and my aunt from homes to assisted living to nursing homes. And it was quite a burden. I will hate to see what my heirs will go through whenever we have a change of life--with our home.

 

[fancy free]

Like Ronstar, we used a consignment shop to empty a parent's condo and it worked very well. They bought furniture as well as some pieces of wall art and tabletop things like decorative bowls. It was easy to donate what was left—except for the mattresses. No one seems to accept used mattresses for donation, even if they're almost new, and very few people want to take them even for free. (And if you've ever used freecycle, you know what a headache that can be.)

Packing up personal items can take a lot of time. Amusingly (on the wry end of the scale), this parent still had *their* parent's personal items packed up in boxes and taped shut from when their own parent had passed away. The boxes had never been reopened.

 

[ncbill]

Charities here only want furniture in perfect condition.

My late relative had cats so I paid a few hundred bucks to have a couple of guys haul whatever furniture their family didn't want directly to the dump.

That didn't include paying speciality movers to have a large, upright piano literally coming apart due to moisture damage hauled out of the basement.

 

[pb4uski]

When we cleaned out my Mom's Florida house there was some furniture that I needed to get rid of that the charity wouldn't take. But the same haulers would dispose of it for $300 so we paid to get rid of it so we would be ready for closing the next day.

 

[Amethyst]

I suspect the fussiness is because they want to sell the furniture at auction. At least some %age of donations is anything but perfect, because that's what ends up in the charity shops. Admittedly, it's all got 4 legs and isn't actively falling apart, but it sure looks terrible.

Charities here only want furniture in perfect condition.

My late relative had cats so I paid a few hundred bucks to have a couple of guys haul whatever furniture their family didn't want directly to the dump.

That didn't include paying speciality movers to have a large, upright piano literally coming apart due to moisture damage hauled out of the basement.