Get Ready to Sell

 Disperse the Stuff

Below is an article I wrote recently for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper's "Ask the Expert" column.    Maybe you'll find some helpful tips.

Question

"I need to clean out my father’s home since he just moved into an assisted living facility and had to leave most of the household goods.   The house will be sold once finished, but I'm overwhelmed and at a loss about how to begin.   It's a mix of valuable things, useful items, and simply junk.   What is the best way to go about it to maximize profit for him and minimize the time commitment for me?"

Answer

This is a daunting project and is becoming more common as seniors do not always live out their lives in the family home surrounded by their acquisitions.   Many of my clients contact me because of the sense of overwhelm that you are feeling.   Expect an emotional and physically challenging job with a significant time commitment when you are called upon to empty out a home filled with memories.

This is the process that I use when assisting families with this task, and hopefully it will help the reader.

          Assessment

      This is the Big Picture review of the contents .  It’s best to begin after they have moved and taken everything they need for their new home.  

Start with a clipboard (you will look and feel more organized immediately) and walk through the house room by room with a page per room.   Jot down the big items, plus a more general entry for small stuff.  For instance:  “hall closet -  coats, weather gear,  gift wrap supplies”.  It’s not an individual inventory which takes a long time and should not be needed unless there is a trust involved.  Expect to spend less than 15-20 minutes per room.

Star items that you expect to be desired by friends/family. 

Notate other items that will not be given away because there is real cash value – more than $10-20 is my usual cut off.  Less than that and it usually makes more sense to donate.  These include antiques, serious collectibles (not Beanie Babies – not yet anyway, sorry!), modern appliances in that work, tools, and furniture in very good condition.

This assessment will help determine what categories to use as you go through the rooms.

             Sorting 

       Go through the home in a methodical manner room by room and begin marking with sticky notes or placing things into a designated area for the categories below.  It’s best if you can have space in different rooms for each category because it will become confusing as you work through it.  

This is the most time consuming and emotional part of the job, so leave yourself plenty of time and take a lot of breaks.  You may need to watch for hidden or lost valuable items too depending upon your father’s habits.  Get help if you can for this part from a friend, family member, or a Professional Organizer.

Categories:

1. Give to friends and family –  Hopefully this was decided before your relative left the home, but if not you will need to have friends and family members come to the home and find an equitable way to divide the treasures.  Take photos if you need to send the information to out-of-towners.

The key thing here is to set a deadline!   I promise, I’ve seen and done this many times and some people will not make this property division a priority  without a hard date.  Notify everyone when the final sale/pick up/toss will happen and the absolute last day that they may come and take the appropriate things.   You’ll want to get an attorney involved early on if there are very valuable items or dissension about the dispersal.

2. Sell – Auction, Live Estate Sale, Whole Home Buyout, Yard/Garage Sale.  There are many options which you can research, or hire a professional organizer or move manager for advice.  Some of these businesses stay booked months in advance, so keep your end date in mind.  Auction and estate sale professional s in this area are fairly particular about the homes and stuff they will accept.

The best choice depends upon the value of the items and the timeline for clearing the home.  If you do it yourself find appraisers for valuables.  I personally think the garage sale is an absolute last option.  It’s a ton of work for typically small monetary return.

3.  Donate -   Choose a charity that is meaningful to your father and you and this will be much easier.   It helps if you know the things are going to a cause that you support.  Check into their guidelines for what they will accept and know that most charities have certain days of the month that they pick up, so plan this well in advance to work with your schedule. 

Donations are tax deductible for people who itemize and when given to approved charities.  You must keep the receipt and have a list of donated goods and their sale value to satisfy the IRS.  The Salvation Army has an online listing of valuations, and here is a good website calculator  to keep track of donated items.   http://www.goodwillwm.org/donate/donation-calculator/

4.  Toss/Recycle – Anything that has no value to others should be discarded.  Recycle what you can and check with the local sanitation/solid waste department to see if they will pick up larger items that won’t fit into existing trash cans.   Many cities offer a free curbside pick up once or twice per year.   If it is a really big job (I have worked on these), hire a hauling company to pick up and remove the tossed stuff.

           Cleaning 

      I absolutely recommend hiring a professional cleaning company once it’s empty.  They’ll get into every nook and cranny to make it shine for sale.  More importantly it will save you hours of hard work.

Best of luck with your project!