Whether you’re looking to downsize or sell items left in a house after a family member has passed away, it can feel overwhelming. You have to go through the entire estate to figure out what’s worth selling and what isn’t.
While some families are prepared for the task, most require time and help. Factor in the emotions that are a part of the grieving process, and you have something that could take weeks or months to finish. Professional services like estate liquidators are often the answer to help get you through the process.
Can I Sell My Household Belongings on My Own?
One way to save money is by doing it on your own. The best thing about doing it this way is that you can review the entire contents of the home you’re looking to sell items from. You slowly go through your fine jewelry, antique furniture, or even sterling silver to decide what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. One thing to be aware of is that you become more emotional going through the entire estate.
Rent a storage unit to work at your own pace.
Some use their home to stage items to sort through. While this may be less time-consuming, you may want to rent a storage container to make it easier. It allows you to take out unwanted items or even furniture while you sort through some of the smaller items to find any property of value.
Renting a storage unit is a great option because it gives you security for your items while providing the additional space and time you need to sort through your possessions.
Should I use an estate sales company?
The most difficult part is sorting through the items and how to assess their value. Consider asking a sibling for help finding appraisals of your household belongings. You may need to figure out what to look for, but start by looking on websites like eBay for small and fine collectibles, old books, art, and vintage toys.
Larger items, like vintage cars, furniture, and antiques, can be extremely valuable, so we recommend a separate specialist.
If you can not determine the value of your property, look to a local valuing firm that is a specialist in the subject items. They can help you determine the overall value of your household items. Remember to find the value of the most significant asset, the real estate property.
If this process becomes too overwhelming or time-consuming, consider estate liquidators. They will generally offer a free consultation to determine if you have enough items of value to sell.
Benefits of Hiring Estate Liquidators
Estate liquidation is turning the assets you own into cash. The benefits of using an estate liquidator are numerous. They have the industry knowledge to save time, reduce stress, and minimize mistakes to ensure an efficient sale. In short, they take all of the guesswork out for you.
They will sort through items, inventory, price, stage, and photograph all items that need to be sold. After everything has been prepared, they will handle the negotiation, customer interaction, sale, and account settlement with payment. This does come at a cost, though.
Hire an estate sale company to liquidate your items.
With commissions that range from 30% to 60%, there will need to be significant value for them. There may even be a minimum charge for their services.
One thing to consider when dealing with an estate liquidator is that they will also clean out all the junk and haul it away. These companies can be invaluable for cleaning out the house efficiently.
Rent A Dumpster For Trash
You’ll want to get rid of the items you no longer want to keep or want to sell after sorting through all the items. The payment for an average weekly dumpster rental is about $381.
There are some variables, and the rental company will have recommended dimensions for the items you must throw away. If you didn’t mind sorting through everything, having a dumpster for a week would go a long way towards staging the items and home for sale.
You can find one by searching for a local trash company. They will roll off the dumpster for you and pick it up. There are usually weight limits; you should check with your local ordinances to ensure you don’t need a permit.
If this task seems too much, consider the professional services available for junk removal, regardless of the accumulated mess.
Are junk removal service companies helpful?
Companies that help with junk removal can be extremely beneficial for this. They are experts in this and know the proper amount of dumpsters and other tools needed to clean the house quickly and efficiently. They can even help in hoarder house situations, too.
Finding helpful junk remover services should be easy—no matter the size of the junk removal company. Doing a simple Google search should bring you numerous results. It will give you options that will let you shop for the best price for removing your household goods and be able to provide the most help.
Junk remover companies are not recommended when you need to sell any additional valuable items, like furniture. While they may offer these services to their clients for a fee less than that of other professionals, it is best to use a company like an estate liquidator. They will know the proper value of items and have a more systemic way of selling them.
Selling Your Items
Estate Sale Companies vs. Online Auctions
Tackling this project on your own may save you professional service fees, but it may cost you in the long run and make you not the best person for the job. A common error when using online auctions is setting a low price for the item. You end up missing the item’s value and making less than what you would have made with the fees.
Will they use an online estate sale?
Please note that some Estate Sale Companies may still sell your items online around the world. You may be left with even less after they take their 30% to 50% for the sale, though the online auction cost should come from their commission. It’s best to communicate well and see what they think will get the highest price.
If you are the executor, consider using options like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist for items like furniture to get more eyes on the items you wish to sell. It helps save money shipping smaller items, which may help you get a higher return.
Consider a yard sale or consignment.
Another thing to consider is holding a yard sale for items that may not fetch a high price. When people see a yard sale, they think they will usually find small household goods, garden tools, old furniture, and maybe even a dining room table you are hoping to sell.
A consignment is also a good option for items not valued very highly. They don’t buy contents but will sell them and other things for you with a smaller commission structure. This usually has a lower fee because they invest less time into selling the items. And you still get something for your personal belongings.
Donate the items from your house full of stuff.
After selling everything you could and throwing out your trash items, it’s now time to donate the items that still have life and that you have left over. Any local company is usually happy to take any old books, fine art, tools, electronics, furniture, and other things you have left over for their customers.
Where To Find House Contents Buyers
Hire an estate sale company to liquidate your items to cash
Liquidating assets and selling a home and/or its contents are often considered estate sales. You can find many local and regional companies to help with the sale. They may even have a real estate agent they work with to help with the sale of your home.
Remember that estate sales companies will provide all the help you need to sell the items you have in your possession. They will send someone to look at the belongings and give a rough valuation before considering working with you.
They may use your home, an online sale for the estate sale, or bring the items to their store. To bring the greatest profit, the best items may end up in auction houses that the business uses. Items like jewelry, vintage cars or toys, fine collectibles, furniture, other antiques, and art can bring a great return from the right buyers.
Can I Hire an Appraiser for This Project?
A licensed appraiser will compare property values to other properties sold in the area. Although these services will aid in determining the estimated property value, they will not help with valuing your items for sale.
If you have been able to sort through your belongings, it’s best to hire an evaluation firm that will work to provide a valuation of your property. Common valuable items such as estate jewelry, collectibles, and antiques are easy to set a price to. You just need to look on the internet for them.
The most random items can have a higher price than anticipated. Common items, like antiques and jewelry, are expected to get a good return. Items like table lamps, art glass or crystal, and even a coffee table can fetch more than you think. Appraisals from a valuation firm will help with that.
That won’t help you deal with the most valuable asset, the house. Read on to find out what other things you can do to be prepared to sell a house.
Stressed About Preparing a House for Listing?
What generally comes with estate sales is the sale of a house. This can add more stress to an already stressful situation. Focusing on cleaning, the home improvement, and then getting it ready to sell may be too much to add to your plate.
Partner with a top agent to handle the details
Using an agent to sell your house may be the right solution if you’ve already sold everything you need or want to make every dollar you can. They will maximize the market for the greatest return on your house.
Other things agents will ensure are the right home improvement projects have been made. They will market the house and schedule open houses and showings. They will negotiate with buyers to get the best price for your house.
If it’s early in the process, and you have yet to do much, they may have other estate liquidation companies that they work with that will help you get through everything. Just remember, this all comes at a cost.
Work With a Cash Home Buyer to Sell a House Full of Stuff
Cash home buyers like SILT Real Estate and Investments, LLC can help you not only sell your house. We won’t buy contents in the home but will help you sell the household items you have in it.
We partner with other local estate sales companies and arrange them to help you get through your stuff quickly. And you never make any payment to us, and there are never any fees.
Skip the cleaning, staging, and repairs with a cash offer
A timeline for selling an estate can be long. Factoring in home improvement needs, cleaning, staging, and showing can add months to the overall time. If you want to avoid dealing with the market and need to sell your house fast and get rid of all of the estate problems, you can pick a cash home buyer to help.
We will assess your situation. Then, we can present you with options and let you decide what is best for you. We can arrange for an estate sales company to come by before we even make an offer for your house or work on buying it while they work through a sale and getting you cash for your stuff. They can help with your belongings, and we’ll take care of the rest.
If this is the best option for you, fill out the short form below to get started. We work with clients who are facing many different situations. We’ll be glad to help get you started on downsizing or working through the estate of your loved one after they have passed.
