What has been the best approach - hire a company to go through and box up what can be sold or donated (somewhat like EBTH.com) , then hire a realtor to sell the property, OR sell the entire place "as is" and let new owner deal with clearing out everything not claimed by family or friends? I realize having the loved one present when any such activity occurs would be a huge mistake so that won't happen.
EBTH only accepts items to auction off online if you live in Ohio, otherwise, they'll take 'smalls' when you box them up and ship them to their Ohio offices. If you live in Ohio, they'll send a truck to the house and load it up; but they're only looking for certain types of items in very good condition, etc. Check out their website at EBTH.com.
Your best bet is probably to hire a local estate sale company to come into the home and conduct a sale on the premises. Go to Estatesales.net and search out a local company who has good reviews on Yelp or Google, and they can conduct a 3 day sale and get rid of everything; whatever is left over they can hire a clean out company to cart it all away. They normally charge a 40% fee; they take 40% of what comes in, you get 60%. But they will organize, set up and price everything, you will do nothing. You'll also be advised to be out of the house while the sales take place. You will take out what you want to keep before the estate sale people come in, and they'll do the rest. Easy peasy.
Good luck!
There may be a Realtor in the area who specializes in selling estates. (Check Yelp again for that.) This whole process can be much easier than you think.
Selling a property "As Is" does NOT mean you leave everything in the house for someone else to deal with. "As Is" simply means that any inspections are for informational purposes only and the Seller(s) will not be making any repairs, etc.
You will also need proof that you're legally able to sell the house.
I'm a licensed Realtor in MD.
I hope this information is helpful to you. Good luck!
I've also been told repeatedly by the wannabes as well as one realtor who represents investors that "no cleanup" or removal of items is necessary.
I doubt though that these are licensed realtors.
You can PM me with the name, to avoid any inference of advertising.
Thanks.
I have purchased homes both ways.
Might as well list it right away with just a For Sell Sign by owner, just in case someone in the area is looking to buy.
Then let the Interested Buyer know that it can be done either way. They can Buy As Is or Cleared out.
If you don't want to have to make Repairs, List it as AS IS and CASH Only.
Selling it yourself will save you 6%
If you have no desire for anything in the residence and an estate sale company wants the business then go that way. I don't think it is advisable to think a new owner should take this on unless you are in a very hot market and or you are selling below current market value. Perhaps you can come back and update us. It is nice if a poster asks for advice and replies generally to all who have given advice. Taking myself out of the equation you have received alot of very strong advice.
We chose to deal with the leftovers ourselves. I then washed and cleaned what I donated (please don't donate dirty dusty items to charity) and hired a clean out company who hauled the remaining stuff away. It was a truck and a half of "stuff".
As we age, please consider family members who are left behind. In 2 years, I had to "clean out" 50 years worth of my parents AND my in-laws houses accumulation alone. It was mentally and physically exhausting as I am a VERY sentimental person. All those items brought back memories and there were many days I would drive home after working in their houses all day and sit in my driveway and cry -- for the loss of my parents and in-laws and the fact that we (as a society) accumulate so much "stuff" that our family members do not WANT. What we think is valuable is NOT to our children. Trust me. Do your family a favor, and donate your items NOW before leaving it for family members to deal with. After 40 years of marriage, I pretty much have had that conversation with my 3 children. I know what they want of our "stuff" and it's not much. In fact, hardly anything. I am in my early 60's and my goal is to clean out as much as possible while I'm able to do it. Don't wait hoping your family wants your "stuff". Do it NOW.
Also if they are any community based Medicaid programs now (like PACE or an inhome service) and they went onto this after age 55, Medicaid is required to attempt a recoup of all costs paid from their estate after death. Done via MERP for however your state runs this. This gets sticky if they sell a home while still alive as that Medicaid “bill” is looming out there but is an after death process unless your state can do a placeholder lien on the property. It’s not a securitized lien like a mortgage, it’s more subterranean lien. If state does Tefra, that lein could arise in title search and change who gets $ at the Act of Sale. If your elder is on Medicaid now, clearly ask your Realtor what their experience is on Medicaid liens for your state.
Also should they need Medicaid down the road from now and apply for LTC Medicaid (care in a facility), that Medicaid application will have a 5 yr lookback on all their financials. The #s have to make sense…..
Say mom sold the house today for 350K & mom gets 1500 a m in SS income and mom ends up applying for Medicaid in Nov 2023 (2 yrs from now). Medicaid will want to know if that was FMV for its price and sold as “arms length sale” and the caseworker can access state databases for all this. To apply for LTC Medicaid you have to be down to 2K in assets in most states & by applying you allow for all access pass to your information, like any state & federal database. Medicaid will want to know in detail & with documentation just where $ 384,000.00 went. If any $ was gifted, Medicaid will place a penalty on the application. It can make sense, like they r paying 16K a mo private pay for care in a facility. 16 x24 = 384. But if living with family with no personal care agreements in place, it looks sketch.
no garage sales ... im to lazy and will want to keep it all.
im not a “complete” hoarder ... whatever that might be ... but i “cant” get rid if it on my own either.
1 - Box up everything that is personal, religious, alcohol-themed, has semi-clothed figures, or profanity.
2 - Box up everything until you have achieved a hotel room level of decoration.
3 - Store all this is a garage or storage unit.
4 - Empty out the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator.
5 - Get a professional cleaner in to do a thorough cleaning, including carpet.
6 - Cut the grass and mulch flower beds.
7 - Get a professional photographer (realtor usually has a good one) to take great pictures of the home.
8 - Once property posts, most homes are sold in less than 1 month.
9 - You can sell contents of home to one of those second hand buyers once the property sells. Sometimes home buyers want to but the furnishings.
So my sister and I took what we wanted, then grandkids, then other close family members and friends. We shredded tons of paper(think tax records dating to the 50s) Go through all purses, and all paper. Keep records dealing with the house like insurance claims and maintenance or loans..
We found more than $3000, in travelers checks and cash tucked away. Part in a dresser( they lived on Gulf coast, was their run from the hurricane money, part among old vacation memorabilia. Over $200 in coins. We boxed up hundred of photos dating to the early 1900, some were my grandparents (young grandad grinning on a motorcycle!) My son took her piano and now my grandchild is learning piano on the same piano I did.
Once family had everything we wanted, and personal papers either shredded or kept and trash had been discarded, we contracted with a local person to do an estate sale. They washed, displayed and priced everything and ran the sale for 3 days. They take a percentage of the profits, what % varies with company. Ours, once complete, let us look over things one more time, and then said they would donate or discard what we didn't want that didn't sell.
Once all that was done, I hired a cleaning service to do a deep clean on everything, and we put it on the market.
The check for the sale will be placed in her retirement accounts along with proceeds from the sale to be used for her care.
I would caution you just not to sell without going through things. Some of my college paperwork was still there,, which had my social security number all over it, and of course all my parents tax records. Which could be an issue with identity theft.
Technically the house will be sold “as is” since you probably can not complete accurately the disclosure statement. (Unless you have lived there and are fully aware of problems)
If you have the time it would be best for you and family members to go through the house. Most items are probably not worth much if anything at all other than sentimental value.
Companies that do Estate Sales take a hefty % also auction houses take a %.
Donation sites like Purple Hearts, Salvation Army, and others will pick up and most will take furniture. With the exception of mattresses, most will not take a used mattress.
You can contact the waste disposal company and ask if they will bo a special pick up. Or you can buy the “Bagster” a less expensive, smaller version of a dumpster. Unless there is a lot then a dumpster might be a better option.
Make sure you go through ALL pockets, drawers, books and any other place cash or valuables might be hidden.
We went through all the papers and photos, finding passports and cancelled checks and important documents mixed throughout. We preserved her treasures and she chose the furniture pieces that would go with her to her retirement apartment. We worked our tales off, mostly donating her things. (She had big pieces of oak furniture, hard to move and out of style. We were lucky anyone would take them off our hands.)
Now that she's moved and settled, she is so angry at us! She thinks we just gave her stuff away because we were too lazy to do a proper job of it. She gossips about my husband me behind our backs, but people tell us that she thinks we did her wrong.
If I had it to do over again, I might pay for a mover to pack everything up and move it to storage. Big expense, but then we could say to her, "When you feel better, you can go to the storage unit and sort it all out." I think that day would never come because she can't bring herself to throw away anything. At least then, however, she wouldn't think we did her wrong.
Bottom line: I don't think there's a best way to do this, but the house definitely sold better and faster because we had emptied it of the last shred of paper, the last treasured scrap of "still good" cloth, the last unread book....
Wishing you good outcomes!
The house was a nightmare! Deferred maintenance, sewer problems.
They said anything we didn't want or couldn't move to just leave. They work with charities that come pick up unwanted furniture, kitchen items etc.
We went through everything and removed ALL paperwork, photos.
It was a huge relief to unload it. I got more than I expected given the really bad shape it was in. She and my father were chain smokers. 60 years of nicotine crap covered every surface in a smelly, grimey yellow sludge. I'm a non smoker can you tell?
Of course if the house is in good shape you're better off clearing it out and selling yourself.
Now her apartment in assisted living is much less cluttered and can be cleaned out easily. She is in the last days of hospice now so I will be more interested in seeing if the folks at assisted living have a service that will remove the remaining furniture.
Best of luck.