Best way to dispose of household goods?

[supersuds]

It's beginning to look like my mom will be moving to an independent living apartment for seniors sometime in the next few months. She's lived in her current house for 42 years, and there's a lot of stuff to dispose of, even after some recent housecleaning.

I'm a little out of my depth. I read a lot here about people attending estate sales, but not about how they are organized. What's the going rate? How would you know who to trust if you didn't do it yourself? Anyway, I'm not sure if I could stand the idea of a bunch of strangers trooping through the place.

Is there an alternative other than selling things piece by piece on Craigslist? There's a limited amount of time, but it doesn't have to be done tomorrow or anything.

Also, there's enough Scotchman in me that I don't want to be paying people to haul off stuff that they will turn around and sell immediately for a profit.

Any advice/experiences appreciated!

 

[58limited]

There are companies that specialize in running estate sales. Check with the BBB for a reputable one in your area.

 

[retropia]

Do you know any real estate agents you trust? Some who work with estate houses will be familiar with companies that sell house contents. They might be able to provide referrals.

Typically your choices for on-site sales will be a tag sale, where everything is individually priced, or an auction.

If you live in the same area as your mom, and have the time, try visiting tag sales and estate auctions in your area, to get a feel for what they're like. You'll find ads on Craigslist, and your local papers in the classified section.

That will at least give you some insight into how a tag sale differs from an auction. If visiting a tag sale, try going at the very start, and then again, at the very end; often they are held over a two-day period.

There is a lot of work involved in trying to turn the contents of a house into cash.

 

[supersuds]

Thanks for the advice! This is very helpful.

Folks on this site always come through.

 

[rp2813]

Well, you will probably not want to refer to it as an "estate" sale since your mom is only moving to an apartment, not off the planet entirely just yet. Billing it as an "estate" sale will generate more interest, but it would be more PC to advise Mom that it's a "moving" sale. Plus, is she aware of your plans and on board with them? I suspect there would be hell to pay if you sold off her stuff without her knowledge and she found out about it.

A lot will depend on how much work you're willing to do. We hired a couple of day laborers to haul everything out of Mom's packed attic and bring it downstairs for us to sort through. We took what we wanted (not much) and left the rest for the estate liquidator. He spent over two weeks going through things, staging all of it (fabulously, I might add), and guaranteed that when the sale was over, the house and garage would be entirely *empty* and that was all we needed to hear. For the work he saved us, it was worth it to give him a 40% cut. It was a really big job, it would have taken us forever to compile the sale items, and we probably would have let a lot of things go for very little money. It was worth it to bring in a pro. On day one (a Thursday, mind you) there was a line of people out to the street and not a parking place to be had for over a block in any direction. It was an event like none the immediate neighborhood had ever seen.

Will you be putting her house up for sale? If so, having strangers filing through the place is kind of a non-issue.

Just my $.02

 

[mattl]

If you're selling pretty much everything, short of some clothing and a few items she needs I have no issue with calling it an estate sale. We debated this with my aunt who is in a similar situation, she is moving in with a daughter. She is only taking a portion of her stuffed cloths closet and none of the furniture and housewares. Short of a few items it was everything she owned.

Problem was solved since she has 11 kids, most sifted through the stuff and the bulk of it found new homes. The stuff that is left is really junk, a 2 day yard sale and a donation to good will and the trash company will clear it all up.

 

[tolivac]

My Dad and Stepmom are going to the apartment too-most of their things they didn't take to the new home are spoken for.Most of the tools my Dad had are going to my Brothers kids-Same with some of the furnishings and other things-I will be getting the Royal metal upright vacuum they had.And Maybe a Sunbeam mixer if it can be found.May have been thrown out.

 

[whirlcool]

I can't trust my family as they would take what they want and leave the rest for the real estate agent to deal with.

We will have an estate sale ran by a company one of our friends owns after the last one of us goes.

If you have any local historical property, like old photos or newpaper articles about the local area you may want to consider
donating those to a local area musuem.

Our friend that does estate sales several years ago handled the estate sale of a single pilot who came home from work, sat down in his recliner, and had a heart attack. It was two weeks before anyone came to check on him. He had a houseful of aviation artifacts. Since he didn't leave a will, his family donated all his aviation books and vintage magazines to the library of our museum.

Just remind people that you are SELLING the stuff, not giving it away.

 

[supersuds]

Lol, Ralph

The moving plans are actually hers, not mine...I've kinda been resisting it. She's already given away a lot of my late dad's tools just to get them out of the way. I don't know how much a used arc welder is worth, but I'm guessing more than the price of hauling it off...Anyway, that's water over the dam. I didn't have any use for it.

There's still everything from a Wurlitzer baby grand piano to a nice 1960's Hamilton Beach toaster that should not be tossed on a junk pile.

 

[xraytech]

I would suggest having an estate auction.
From what I've seen it gets rid of everything quicker than an estate sale, just one afternoon, everything sold individually or in lots. It's worth paying to have it done quickly and easily

 

[toggleswitch]

pipe.

As a vulture...er shopper.... of estate sales I have had luck with this website.

http://estatesales.org/

 

[bobofhollywood]

FREECYCLE

Another option and one which is quick and easy is to use the Freecycle website which will have a group that is local to you. People give things away using this. Just go to freecycle.com and find the group in your area. Good Luck.