It’s not cheap, but I work with a professional organizer a few times a year and it’s amazing to me how she can help me get through stuff that would take me ages. I know she works with people clearing out homes for sales too. (I’m not in DMV anymore though.) She’s currently hired by an elder couple to go to their house once a month for a few hours and start helping to weed things out so their relatives don’t have to do it some day. I wish my parents would do this!! Anyway, it might be more than you want to spend but may be worth looking into.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for all the helpful responses. We’ve been trying to penny pinch and these responses have made me realize how much stress it has added to the situation. We are generally very frugal, but I am seeing the value of simply throwing money at the problem, paying someone to clear the house at, and selling it. To the poster who said to conserve time and energy to go through personal items and papers, you are absolutely correct, that has been extremely exhausting and time consuming. Thanks again everyone.

Never has "time is money" been clearer to me than when we (mostly me) were cleaning out my ILs' house. You should go through and pick out anything you want/need to keep. If you have a few days, you can see if there are any freecyclers/buy nothing-ers who want to take some of the stuff off your hands. Then call a junk hauler, some of whom will take saleable stuff to Goodwill and all of whom can have the house emptied in a day.

Take care of yourself.

Anonymous wrote:You can do your own estate sale. Post on FB Marketplace, Nextdoor , signs, etc.

You'll be pleasantly surprised how much foit traffic you'll get. No overhead from hiring an estate sale company. Whatever is leftover, call the junk guys

This is what I did with my parents house in a cross-country cleanout. Invited an "estate sale" company to come and check out the house (they will tell you if you will end up making money or owing them money to get rid of stuff). Not enough "good" stuff in my parents house to be worth it for a company to manage an estate sale.

So,

1. went through the house and boxed up any important papers/photos/sentimental items (we ended up mailing most of this stuff to our home, but you could also just stick it in storage to be dealt with later).
2. Invited family/friends to come and take anything they wanted from the house (first come/first serve).
3. organize house for estate sale and advertise estate sale (pull things out of drawers/set up stuff on tables/etc.)--we just let everyone walk through the house and garage
4. following weekend we had a "free" sale
5. did a final push to get rid of all trash that would be taken by trash pickup and then called a junk hauling place to take away everything else.

This is A LOT of work. But, you are going to need to go through the house anyway to make sure you have found paperwork, sentimental items you may want/need. Depending on how much crap there is, this could take a while. It isn't that much additional work to organize the room for a sale where people just walk through.

You can do your own estate sale. Post on FB Marketplace, Nextdoor , signs, etc.

You'll be pleasantly surprised how much foit traffic you'll get. No overhead from hiring an estate sale company. Whatever is leftover, call the junk guys

OP here. Thank you for all the helpful responses. We’ve been trying to penny pinch and these responses have made me realize how much stress it has added to the situation. We are generally very frugal, but I am seeing the value of simply throwing money at the problem, paying someone to clear the house at, and selling it. To the poster who said to conserve time and energy to go through personal items and papers, you are absolutely correct, that has been extremely exhausting and time consuming. Thanks again everyone.

I’m very sorry for your loss. We used this company when my parent w/ hoarding tendencies had to move to assisted living. They came highly recommended and were absolutely fabulous — compassionate, flexible, hard-working and the kindest crew I could imagine. They handled so much trash, donations, a storage unit move and (although not relevant here) moved my parent into AL, unpacked, and hung pictures on walls. They came back multiple days to complete all that had to be done, even when it was unexpected that we’d need more time/man hours. I loved this crew so much bc they made a ridiculously stressful time in our lives infinitely easier. I’d call them and see if they can help.

https://www.newagemovemanagement.com/

Things you need to go through -- you could have them hauled to a rented storage unit, and go though them later. Keepsake type of things. I know ... better to get it done and not pay storage rental month after month. But, if you just can't go through it now, empty the house. Get that done, anyway you can.

For bulky items like furniture, it's simply not worth the hassle to go through them one by one with listing and selling effort. Call a junk hauler and get them out of the house. I've used College Hunks Hauling Junk for my mom's place and I believe they charge by cubic feet.

What you'll need a lot of time on is going through the papers and personal items. It could take weeks. So conserve your energy and time and focus on these instead.

Been there done that. I took a ton of stuff to Goodwill, called a junk removal service for the rest.

Efforts to sell stuff on FB Marketplace or eBay just isn't worth it.

Call Great Falls home organizers - they specialize in estate clear outs. They can do everything from help you sort to do it all for you, bring in junk removal and contractors to get the house in sell-able condition. They also will push the invoice to the home sale so you don't have to go out of pocket for it.

we need at least $10,000 in sales to make it worth it

Op, for peace of mind -- it may be worth it. Who's to say it's worth it or not worth it. I wouldn't try to nickel and dime this. This is a stressful. life event. Be kind to yourself and get-it-done the best way ... which may mean, easiest, way you can. Not every task needs to be maximized for best results.

Call Got Junk. Don’t waste your time trying to travel to Fairfax to have a yard sale. Don’t waste your time trying to find someone to take old furniture. Pay the removal from the estate. Put the house on market, and get it sold.

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of clearing out a family member’s house. They passed away recently and we need to sell the house. The house is absolutely packed with stuff. Not a lot of valuables, mostly old junk that needs to be tossed or donated. The furniture is not high end but is in good working condition.
My question is what is the best way to clear out the house? I contacted an estate sale company but was told we need at least $10,000 in sales to make it worth it. I don’t think we have that. Probably closer to 4 or 5000. Do we simply need to pay a junk removal company to come and haul it away? We live across the country and cannot be here for weeks and weeks to clear this out. This is super stressful for our family. Please advise. Thanks.

Dealing with as well from cross-country. The executor did a yard sale, and while the will stated she would donate the rest, she got pissed because we would not use HER real estate agent (kickbacks were planned) and used one we liked and trusted instead, so she walked away. A good real estate agent will help with this - tell you who to hire, etc. Some sell as-is and give buyers the option of keeping some items. Otherwise, call Habitat for Humanity Restore and see if they want items.

We are in the process of clearing out a family member’s house. They passed away recently and we need to sell the house. The house is absolutely packed with stuff. Not a lot of valuables, mostly old junk that needs to be tossed or donated. The furniture is not high end but is in good working condition.
My question is what is the best way to clear out the house? I contacted an estate sale company but was told we need at least $10,000 in sales to make it worth it. I don’t think we have that. Probably closer to 4 or 5000. Do we simply need to pay a junk removal company to come and haul it away? We live across the country and cannot be here for weeks and weeks to clear this out. This is super stressful for our family. Please advise. Thanks.