Estate Sale Advise / Comments / Experiences

[mjkaliszak]

Looking for input. We have my parents whom have finally have put their house up for sale and are moving down south into a patio home. We are going to break the items up into 3 areas, 1 what they take,2 what us kids take,3 stuff for an estate sale. Does anyone have any experiences they can share or things to watch out for regarding this process ? Never went thru this before and the lifetime of belongings they will not be needing in the future. Parents health is in bad shape and DAD is nearing the end of his days. We really ( brother, sister & I ) believe this might be a worth while venture. There is not much we need ourselves and my parents belongings are over whelming . Will be selling a Ariens 8hp blower in ther future, will offer it to JD members 1st, it will be a good price.
Just looking for comments / advise. Not on the Ariens ( Please )

Input appreciated !

 

[polarisrider1]

Wow, I dread the day I will have to do that and it is not far off. Actually had a meeting with the folks today on such matter. Wading through the tons of things maybe overwelming. Get an estate appraisor in there and they will let you know best route. Ebay will bring you more than an estate sale if you got the time to deal with it. Depends on the "stuff", sometimes a dumpster is the way to go.
Snow Monkey can you please add to this.

 

[ezra]

I work for some lawyers that take care of old peoples estates.
all I can say is it looks like a lot of work and hassle
hire it out
you pay a percentage and sad to say most of these things don't bring allot of cash
most houses have boxes and boxes of junk and 3 or 4 things worth something
after most sales the dumpsters come in and 1/2 or better of the stuff ends up in the trash
always kinda sad I would deff not let your parents see the results of the sale or the resting place for the rest of the stuff

 

[whitedust]

Probably won't get much & Good Will is pickey these days. Estate sale is a set % of everything sold but they don't ask much & neither should you if you want to sell the stuff. I put most of the stuff left over from my parents in a dumpster. My Dad would not listen & spent a small fortune in storeage fees over the years before he finally let me deal with the stuff in his final days. I don't like clutter so easy for me to can stuff. I know other people who can't throw anything out from nuts & bolts to old screens & scrap wood.lol

 

[sixball]

Ever consider an auction?
Had one for my wife's mom. She lost her husband and he had so much junk and many good things. In the end it was all gone.
I will say some things go way to cheep but other things got way more then I would have ever thought possible.

 

[rp7x]

it may be harsh but i tell my folks to keep buying more so my sister can sell it at thier estate sale fo 10 cents on the dollar then split 4 ways

 

[nhra1000]

Auction would probably be the best way to go....People buy anything. More stuff will go with an auction as opposed to estate sale.

 

[wags]

I have to ask, what is a patio home? I lost both my father and father-in-law this year both at 80. Now we have the two mom's remaining 1 here in a big 2500sq ft. ranch and the other down in Florida. The wife and I are always talking about what we will do with all their stuff. My mother-in-law is what I call an organized hoarder and has TONS of stuff which she will not part with thank god it is all boxed and labeled the only drawback is the labeling is in Italian not English where as my mom only has what she needs and what she has out and uses.

I think in the end with the mother-in-law it will be a combo of a dumpster, garage sale, estate sale and plain old give away, as for mom down in Florida most likely sell with the place furnished since it is in a 55 and older community where you own the home but not the land and we see others in the area doing this.

But only time will tell as there is always the siblings to deal with and not everyone has the same way of thinking.

 

[xcr440]

My Dad has told me many times, that when he passes, go rent a big D8 Cat, have them dig a big hole, push it all in, cover it up and never look back.

 

[heckler56]

My wife and I just ended up with her parents 60yrs of collecting (not really collecting as much as not wanting to pay for garbage service).

For our sanity I have approached it in chunks to feel a sense of accomplishment. We removed and disposed of properly all of the "toxic" materials, paints, solvents, etc. Then clothes - what Goodwill will take and the rest to garbage. Since they did not use garbage service, next we will spend a week with a dumpster removing and throwing items that have no value to anyone (unless someone here wants every margarine container made over the last 40 yrs?). While pitching that stuff in the dumpster, we are going to stage "metals" in a central location to bring in a scrap buyer (unless someone could use a oil furnance placed out of service in 1975?).

Going through these steps gets us closer to what can go for sale or the dumpster(s). At some point I will be able to get to the 1968 Artic Cat Panther with all of the original reciepts and manuals to send off to a good home

 

[skidoodoug]

I have to ask, what is a patio home? I lost both my father and father-in-law this year both at 80. Now we have the two mom's remaining 1 here in a big 2500sq ft. ranch and the other down in Florida. The wife and I are always talking about what we will do with all their stuff. My mother-in-law is what I call an organized hoarder and has TONS of stuff which she will not part with thank god it is all boxed and labeled the only drawback is the labeling is in Italian not English where as my mom only has what she needs and what she has out and uses.

I think in the end with the mother-in-law it will be a combo of a dumpster, garage sale, estate sale and plain old give away, as for mom down in Florida most likely sell with the place furnished since it is in a 55 and older community where you own the home but not the land and we see others in the area doing this.

But only time will tell as there is always the siblings to deal with and not everyone has the same way of thinking.

Condo/Townhome

 

[mjkaliszak]

Wow... this thread took off. I had not expected much. Never the less thanks for the words of wisdom, we are bringing in an estate person to help us decide what goes well & what doesn't. My parents are still mentally capable, my mom will be around a long time. My dad on the other hand will be ok for a while, they can't determine the type of cancer but on a good note it has not spread into his organs. It really has been a tough road getting my parents to list their house, they are " old school" and no-one is going to march in there and tell them what to do. They had to come to the decision themselves.... that was 3 months of work by me & my brother. I was mainly interested if anyone had bad experiences with estate sales & their families. Yes tough to see all their stuff go for pennies but we will clean out a life time of things they can't use. My parents are pretty organized, and their stuff is well kept or new. They throw out clutter & junk so it shouldn't be too bad.

Patio home in Madison Alabama is a 1 floor ranch style ( no basement / no stairs ) in a gated or managed community. All kind of zoning & restrictions to protect proterties. They are pricey depending on what you get, I think 1/4 mil is alot but it is a high end neighborhood with homes into the 6's. The front part of the sub is for ther smaller homes, the 5's & 6's are in the back.

Anyone have any advise on asset protection ? My parents can only gift so much money away . I'm trying to get things like boat & cars in my name so they can't seize onto it should my dad be in a long term care facility and something happen to my mom. I guess the govt follows the money trail for 10 years . What a bunch of crapola, work hard and still have to hide it ????
Why are their too many entitlement programs to support ? #$%^- &^%$%#@#%^ !!!!!

Thanks
mjk

 

[xcr440]

Anyone have any advise on asset protection ? My parents can only gift so much money away . I'm trying to get things like boat & cars in my name so they can't seize onto it should my dad be in a long term care facility and something happen to my mom. I guess the govt follows the money trail for 10 years . What a bunch of crapola, work hard and still have to hide it ????
Why are their too many entitlement programs to support ? #$%^- &^%$%#@#%^ !!!!!

Thanks
mjk

Some real knowledgable people will chime in, but my parents have what I think is called a living trust. ALL of us, Mom, Dad, brother, sister, and myself are all co-owners of EVERYTHING. Supposedly they were sold on the idea with tax and LTC considerations.

 

[mjdeutsch]

my advise is to buy long term care insurance the day you turn 60 my grandmother had it and it paid every red cent of her 4 year nursing home stay and she was able to pass on her estate, also AUCTION all the way

 

[chords]

Some real knowledgable people will chime in, but my parents have what I think is called a living trust. ALL of us, Mom, Dad, brother, sister, and myself are all co-owners of EVERYTHING. Supposedly they were sold on the idea with tax and LTC considerations.

Actually, the Trust itself owns anything in the Trust and Mom/Dad would be the Grantor and Initial Trustee having full and sole control while living and siblings or anyone else named are Sucesser Trustees. In general I dont think Trusts have much affect on taxes and are mainly used for property transfer while the owner is still alive, (because their not around to sign documents after passing) thus avoiding Probate. Not much sense having everthing part of the Trust as any investments have benificeries
One of the downfalls of Trusts is many people create them, but dont fund them. ie...transfer the property into it. You might want to check into that.

 

[heckler56]

Some real knowledgable people will chime in, but my parents have what I think is called a living trust. ALL of us, Mom, Dad, brother, sister, and myself are all co-owners of EVERYTHING. Supposedly they were sold on the idea with tax and LTC considerations.

This is the best way to go today. You will spend a $ or 2 to change titles on some of the assets, but, at the moment it protects surviving spouses and avoids probate. What we did for my dad back in the early 80's when he was in the early stages of Alzhiemers is considered illegal today...

As for Estate sales Mjkaliszak, it all comes down to the agent you use. The worst and best experience I have encountered was with my wife's aunt's sale. With that sale we had to buy what family pieces we wanted retained (costly) and the agent ripped out 5 pages at a time of an old business ledger and sold those for $5 bucks a piece.

 

[LoveMyDobe]

Auctions a plus

Speaking from a wife of an Auctioneer, I agree. Everything goes. What doesn't, just leave on the curb and someone usually takes it home.
We have dealt with many families that get upset because something didn't bring a higher price, but when they see "stuff" that they think is junk sell well, they are happy. It all washes out.

 

[tealracing16]

Each state is going to be different as far as a look back goes. WI is still 5 years I believe. AL might be different.

 

[jmag]

my parents had everything in a trust as well and it worked out fine. made everything as easy as possible. as the executor of the trust upon dads passing i had a lot of paperwork/phone work to do, but nothing major as far as problems. if they have collected specific things over the years (lionel trains for my dad), make sure you know if that is valuable, some are. it is a sad process going through everything and you feel guilty for throwing out their lifes posessions, but realize there is no reason to keep things none of you want, you will just end up throwing it out later. good luck to you.

 

[doo_dr]

My brothers and I have a running joke of how many dumpsters it will take to clean out my parents house. Not that it is all junk but they also keep some of the most unusual items. I actually found a huge cardboard box that their TV came in (15 years ago). My dad said" Don't throw that out, If we have to send the TV back to the Manfctr for reapirs we'll have the same box with the styrofoam packing." What do you do??? On the flip side, my mother has some very expensive art work that is in high demand but will not sell it. Instead it is piled up with a milliion other things in a china closet. We told her to sell some pottery and go on a trip but she will not. One of her vases would probably sell for $25K. That would make for one heck of a trip. I guess she wants us to go on a trip instead.
My suggestion is organize by:
Garbage
Items that have no high value (kitchen table)
Momento's
Items that will sell at a auction house.

Give the low end stuff to the church and bring momento's home. Hopefully your auction items give you enough $ to pay for the dumpsters!!!