How would you handle clean out of fully furnished house?

Question

We have a house under contract and I’m looking for advice...

The woman who lived in this house has passed away and the house still has all of her stuff in it. Her son lives in another state, so he is going to fly in and take anything sentimental that he would like. Since he is out of town, part of our offer to him was that we would handle clean out with whatever he left. He was very receptive to this!

My question to the bigger pockets family is this... how would you go about doing the clean out?

Would you hold an estate sale the first weekend to see what money you could recover?

Would you call in Goodwill or a similar organization to donate all those items?

Or would you simply order a bigger rollaway dumpster and throw it all out?

Looking forward to your thoughts on this or feedback based on prior experience.

Thanks!

Charlie MacPherson · Answer

@Kyle Jensen Another option is to look up the nearest ReStore.  https://www.habitat.org/restor...  This is an arm of Habitat for Humanity where you can donate everything from household furniture to appliances to building materials from rehabs.

In our local store in Waterville, Maine, we have all sorts of appliances, sinks, vanities, stoves, washer/dryers, tables, chairs, desks - almost anything you can think of.  When I stopped in last week, we even had buckets of screws and nails!

All donations are sold at very low prices and you'll get a receipt for your donations for tax purposes.  100% of proceeds go to support Habitat for Humanity.

Full Disclosure - I'm in the application process to serve as a volunteer on the local Board of Directors here in Central Maine, so I just might be a little biased!

Andrew B. · Answer

@Kyle Jensen I would do all 3 of those, in that order, once you’ve seen what the son takes. Obviously it’s possible there is nothing worth anything.

Account Closed · Answer

Depends. What is your time worth?

I just sent the 5th dumpster away from a hoarder house I bought. I watched the guys load the dumpsters while I made phone calls and set up offers on the phone. Was there anything worth keeping you ask, yes if you are accustomed to making $12 an hour there were probably some things you would keep. I let the workers have anything that wasn't gold, diamonds, Lamborgini or collectible train sets. Golly gee whiz, there were none of those things. They got a few "cool things" and I got the house ready for a flip. Everybody is happy and I wasn't wasting time fooling around with Craigslist.

Eileen McCue · Answer

@Kyle Jensen We had a situation where a seller was supposed to clear out a house but left a bunch of random items (mostly junk and some trash) and an attic full of stuff.  We were ready to get in to the house to begin renovations, so it definitely needed to be removed ASAP.  Our realtor put us in touch with someone locally who clears out houses for free as long as she can take the good stuff to sell as well as the junk.  It worked out pretty well - they hauled everything away and paid for disposal of trash and we didn't have to find buyers or spend our time hauling anything.  I would suggest contacting local realtors to see if they have a similar contact.

Michael Noto · Answer

Plan on throwing away everything because most of the stuff will probably be junk anyway. If you end up wanting to sell anything use the house as a base of operations, lugging the stuff to a store or off site storage will get old and I am not sure it makes a ton of sense.

Kyle Jensen · Answer

@Charlie MacPherson That is a great idea as well and we do have a Habitat Restore here in town!

@Brett Jones that is a great idea as well! I would not have thought the antique dealers would clean out the whole house including all the junk that isn't exactly an “antique”. Lol

Thanks for all the feedback. Lots of good ideas!

Cathy G. · Answer

If the furniture is in good shape, you might call a shelter or some other place and have them come and get it.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Depends how quickly you want to get started and what is in the house.  IF there are good quality items, try the estate sale.  If nothing is high quality, call the Salvation Army, Red Cross whoever takes donations and does pick up in your area.  If it is all garbage, just get it hauled away.

Brett Jones · Answer

If you're just interested in clearing the property to get on with the renovation, I would personally call antiques dealers. I know a few people who make a business of buying the contents of homes in situations like these. There isn't a lot of cash coming your way (sometimes nothing, sometimes $300-$500), but the guys come in and clear out everything, including the trash.

Kyle Jensen · Answer

Thank you guys! Assuming all goes through with the deal, I’ll move forward with this plan.

How would you handle clean out of fully furnished house?

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