Full service company to clean out house and pick out anything of value to sell?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, we were told that the value of most people's possessions (not including jewelry or known artwork), are on the order of 10-15k. When a collector relative died, the auction house that was brought in to estimate the value came up with a total value of 6k. Prior to her death, she would spend hundreds of dollars a month on various collectibles - ceramic houses, equestrian figurines, you name it. There are others like her out there who would pay similar prices for these items, but honestly, the time and work needed to find these buyers and make the sales, deem the effort not worth it, especially when the estate is getting split several ways.

I’m a new poster. For me, the issue is wasn’t whether we got any money, but horror at the idea of nice, useful things simply being thrown out.

For me, the idea that a consultant could make some money by selling some of the furniture, and use that to subsidize giving a lot of the thrift shoppable items to thrift shops, rather than putting EVERYTHING straight into dumpsters, was comforting.

And plenty will end up in dumpsters, but maybe a few things will have a second life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, we were told that the value of most people's possessions (not including jewelry or known artwork), are on the order of 10-15k. When a collector relative died, the auction house that was brought in to estimate the value came up with a total value of 6k. Prior to her death, she would spend hundreds of dollars a month on various collectibles - ceramic houses, equestrian figurines, you name it. There are others like her out there who would pay similar prices for these items, but honestly, the time and work needed to find these buyers and make the sales, deem the effort not worth it, especially when the estate is getting split several ways.

I’m a new poster. For me, the issue is wasn’t whether we got any money, but horror at the idea of nice, useful things simply being thrown out.

For me, the idea that a consultant could make some money by selling some of the furniture, and use that to subsidize giving a lot of the thrift shoppable items to thrift shops, rather than putting EVERYTHING straight into dumpsters, was comforting.

And plenty will end up in dumpsters, but maybe a few things will have a second life.

A couple years ago my brother helped my parents move out of their home and into assisted living and needed to completely clear out a 3000+ sqf house. My mom had a TON of fancy crystal/china/collectible figurines etc. that cost a lot of money to collect but not easy to re-sell. He put an ad on Facebook marketplace and some guy that owns a consignment store came over and all of that for one very low price.
He did the same thing with furniture (even gently used mattresses!) My brother lived about an hour away from my parent's house so he just needed to be done quickly and would rather even give things away for free, rather than wait for a buyer willing to pay "what it's worth."

[Anonymous]

When I needed to do this for my parent's, we used an auction service. My brother, aunt, and I pulled out everything we wanted and put in one room (which we then marked as "don't touch!"). The auction company came through and stripped the remainder of the items that they took to auction, then came back through to discard anything (very little was "junk"). The auctioneer combined the items with other estates at one big auction about a month later. There is randomness in values: old toys got 20-40$ (buyers were there who collect and then resell) and it added up to thousands. On the other hand, expensive tools that I didn't keep sold for pennies on the dollar.

[Anonymous]

For me, the idea that a consultant could make some money by selling some of the furniture, and use that to subsidize giving a lot of the thrift shoppable items to thrift shops, rather than putting EVERYTHING straight into dumpsters, was comforting.

How could it cost anything to give things to thrift shops? I donated pretty much ALL of my mom's stuff to thrift shops and all it cost me was the gas to drive to the donation site.

I had a consignment store sell some of her better quality furniture but it wasn't really worth the trouble when all is taken with all.

[Anonymous]

My mom had a TON of fancy crystal/china/collectible figurines etc. that cost a lot of money to collect but not easy to re-sell. He put an ad on Facebook marketplace and some guy that owns a consignment store came over and all of that for one very low price.

Was this around here? Do you remember who this guy is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

For me, the idea that a consultant could make some money by selling some of the furniture, and use that to subsidize giving a lot of the thrift shoppable items to thrift shops, rather than putting EVERYTHING straight into dumpsters, was comforting.

How could it cost anything to give things to thrift shops? I donated pretty much ALL of my mom's stuff to thrift shops and all it cost me was the gas to drive to the donation site.

I had a consignment store sell some of her better quality furniture but it wasn't really worth the trouble when all is taken with all.

I live out of town and don’t drive. I would have had to figure out TaskRabbit and pay hundreds of dollars just to give everything thrift shoppable away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My mom had a TON of fancy crystal/china/collectible figurines etc. that cost a lot of money to collect but not easy to re-sell. He put an ad on Facebook marketplace and some guy that owns a consignment store came over and all of that for one very low price.

Was this around here? Do you remember who this guy is?

I'm sorry, no. It was in California.

[Anonymous]

OP’s dad is the power of attorney, not the owner. So from a fiduciary standpoint he’s better off hiring one of these companies even if it doesn’t even up netting much value. Otherwise the owner or a family member might accuse him of giving away the previous whatever collection for nothing. With a third party auction house handling it, he’s protected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Estate sales companies makes money by preying on people determined to believe that the stuff they love has monetary value.

It usually doesn't

Wait, if the stuff doesn't have value, how do the companies make money? Do you have to pay in advance to hold estate sales? Don't they just take a cut of the profit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Estate sales companies makes money by preying on people determined to believe that the stuff they love has monetary value.

It usually doesn't

Wait, if the stuff doesn't have value, how do the companies make money? Do you have to pay in advance to hold estate sales? Don't they just take a cut of the profit?

They require a guaranteed minimum profit for a job, so they get paid first, and if the profits from the sale don't make it, you pay them
They charge for cleaning/preparing stuff for sale, including the house if the sale is on site
They charge for moving stuff if the sale is off site
They charge for throwing out/recycling whatever doesn't sell
They take a higher commission than a regular auction house

[Anonymous]

Karen and Veronica are great- they even will push their bill to the sale of the home; https://greatfallsorganizers.com/

[Anonymous]

PP that used Ararity. They will haul everything away and auction or sell what they can (split 60/40), donate, or throw away the other stuff.

This is a good resource to help you find someone in your area. I would call some of the companies that have certifications from this site. It was shocking the price differences.

[Anonymous]

I'm facing this situation with my own home at some point. Every nook and cranny of a large home, garage, and detached garage is filled with stuff, and there *might* be valuable things within all the junk.

It sounds like the common theme of this thread is that all of this stuff that we think has value is mostly just junk that we (or our heirs) will need to dispose of.

[Anonymous]

My biggest problem is figuring out to do with things I know have some value, to someone, and don't know what to do with the items.

For example, I lived overseas and bought handmade carpets, including ones made of silk. I need to downsize and have no problem letting go of them, but I cringe when I picture a silk handmade carpet thrown in a heap at a thrift store.

I guess I could try to sell them on Ebay but it seems too daunting a task for some larger things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My biggest problem is figuring out to do with things I know have some value, to someone, and don't know what to do with the items.

For example, I lived overseas and bought handmade carpets, including ones made of silk. I need to downsize and have no problem letting go of them, but I cringe when I picture a silk handmade carpet thrown in a heap at a thrift store.

I guess I could try to sell them on Ebay but it seems too daunting a task for some larger things.

I know I sound harsh, but no one is going to value these carpets the way you do. You have some emotional attachment/value to them because they bring you memories of your times overseas. Also you got to pick those carpets, out of a sea of carpets, because you liked their colors, patterns, etc.

Most people don't value quality. "Fast fashion" and "fast furniture" etc. is what people are after now. You might be able to give them away, or possibly sell them for an extremely low price. But you will not get even a fraction of their value.