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You mean YOU estimate the value at 10K. That doesn't mean that you can sell it for anything close to that number. For example, old brown furniture- pretty much independent of quality or original price- is almost impossible to sell these days.
Decide whether you want to make selling your stuff for small change a hobby for the next year. Or give away what you can to charities and send the rest to the dump.
(In a similar situation I kept some of my old brown furniture, and sent a lot to the dump.)
We just cleaned out my late mother's house in anticipation of selling. We had a couple of garage/yard sales, but as this post says, wood furniture does not sell. A few odds and ends sold at the first yard sale, mostly small tables and bookshelves, but most of it went at the end of the day when we hauled it down to the curb. You can either send out a "curb alert" on Craigslist, and they will come, or some people make note of the yard sale hours and come after. Anyway, most of it was picked up and hauled off after hours.
The stuff that sold the most? Old costume jewelry and yard tools, like shovels, spades, rakes, etc. Not furniture, CERTAINLY NOT collectibles, although the curb vultures took a lot of them afterward. We made about a hundred bucks all day. Seriously.
On the other hand, if you do have anything good stuff and you do an estate sale, you might do better despite the big sales commission. I wanted an iron bed a few years ago, but I looked at the prices of the new ones, and they were out of my budget. I looked in the paper, and one was being sold at an estate sale in a high-end town near me.
I went to the sale. A couple had bought the house and furnished it, lived there for a few months, then went to Europe for a year. When they got back, they decided to sell their house and contents and move to Florida. I got my iron bed, almost new, for $150, as well as a beautiful comfy chair with an ottoman that looked as if no one had ever sat in it before for $100. At the sale, I met other people who never buy new furniture. This is how they furnish their homes. So if you have any truly GOOD stuff, the estate sale route might work.
One thing for sure, no one wants antiques anymore. My mother had a tiger oak hutch made sometime between 1900 and 1920. it had a few scratches and a small crack in the glass on one door. We put that on FB Marketplace. Had a few questions, but no real bites.
The only person interested came to the yard sale and looked at. He was a 93-year-old WWII veteran who likes to refinish furniture. He really liked the piece, but he said it was too big for him to handle.
It ended up at the curb. Someone took it overnight.
There are companies that do estate sales. They take a sizable commission, but they leave you with an empty house that's been swept. I did that and it was worth every penny of the commish.
I've done multiple large garage sales in my life and I hope never to do one again. It takes days to set it up (pricing, arranging things), then the day or days of the actual sale it's a total madhouse, need one person just to make change, one person to keep an eye on things (or else it'll all walk away, especially smaller higher value items), and one or two people to actually sell all the stuff (no one wants to pay the price you've put; you will dicker on every single item). If you do a full two day garage sale you'll be totally exhausted afterwards, and you'll still have a large fraction of stuff you've got to dispose of. You'll find you're stuck with some stuff because you were too rigid on the price and you'll regret having let some other stuff go for too little.
Nope, find a couple people who do estate sales, show them what you have, compare their proposals, have it done. Go stay somewhere else for the week before the sale, DO NOT be present at the time of the sale, come back to the empty house, trust me it'll be worth it.
All that Ebay/Craigslist stuff is for people who have NOTHING ELSE in their lives to do.
It's funny to me about the "brown furniture." That's the stuff I am keeping basically (solid walnut furniture made by my granddfather and antique leather top tables owned by my other grandparents). The furniture I am selling is mostly painted stuff which I don't care for. Although the dining room table it brown wood though as is the bedroom set from the master bedroom. The filing cabinet is also wood and brown. I won't put a lot of effort into selling that stuff. I will briefly try, but I will count on donating it or junking it. Everything else is painted, leather, or Ikea.
I don't have a lot of decorations and knickknacks although I have a few. Most of what I would be selling are household goods (re: household tools). For example: I have a newer microwave, a Keurig, one of those heavy Kitchen Aid mixers, Cuisinart pots and pans, Pampered chef bakeware, etc.
I have Black and Decker hedge trimmers, weed whacker, planting set, rakes, shovels and that sort of thing. I might also unload a few of my tool sets like my ratchet sets, but I will keep my toolbox and what's in it. I have a telescope, grill, shredder, books (I might just donate those to the library), chest freezer, igloo coolers, that sort of thing.
I will offer the few knickknacks and decorations I have for sale, but I might just unload those at my mom's church white elephant. I will donate them. It's nicer stuff like Lennox or cut crystal and signed prints from local artists and such. But it's not my thing. I don't like knickknacks because, to me, it's just more stuff to dust.
Big garage sale is the best :-) maybe a couple of them.
Price things to sell. Because you’d rather give somebody a good deal then end up still stuck with it after the sale.
This is what we did when we moved - put it on Craigslist which is pretty big in NC. Your area might be different OP, but we got rid of everything we wanted to and made some money in the process.
I agree with Diana's advice to be willing to give "good deals". Better to get $5-10 for something and have the buyer take it away, than to have to spend your time and money to take it to Goodwill.
There are companies that do estate sales. They take a sizable commission, but they leave you with an empty house that's been swept. I did that and it was worth every penny of the commish.
I've done multiple large garage sales in my life and I hope never to do one again. It takes days to set it up (pricing, arranging things), then the day or days of the actual sale it's a total madhouse, need one person just to make change, one person to keep an eye on things (or else it'll all walk away, especially smaller higher value items), and one or two people to actually sell all the stuff (no one wants to pay the price you've put; you will dicker on every single item). If you do a full two day garage sale you'll be totally exhausted afterwards, and you'll still have a large fraction of stuff you've got to dispose of. You'll find you're stuck with some stuff because you were too rigid on the price and you'll regret having let some other stuff go for too little.
Nope, find a couple people who do estate sales, show them what you have, compare their proposals, have it done. Go stay somewhere else for the week before the sale, DO NOT be present at the time of the sale, come back to the empty house, trust me it'll be worth it.
All that Ebay/Craigslist stuff is for people who have NOTHING ELSE in their lives to do.
Thanks. I am leaning toward estate sale, followed by donating whatever is left (although it looks like some estate companies take care of that too). I don't mind the sizable commission of even a zero dollar gain if it takes a lot of stress out of my life and everything is taken care of without costing me a lot. A dumpster or junk company is a stress free option too, but that will definitely cost money. At least I might break even with an estate sale.
At the bold, selling a houseful of stuff on Ebay seems really stressful due to the time it would take selling each thing, hundreds of things, one-by-one. I don't have the time. Right now, my first free weekend to do a garage sale is July 3 and I don't know if that's the best weekend for a garage sale (and I am not sure if there will be a family BBQ this year too). And I keep thinking, how am I going to drag out, literally, all the stuff in my house into my driveway to sell it? How do I drag the leather couch, TV cabinet, book shelves, etc into the driveway? And where would I put the smaller stuff? I think I could fit maybe 4-5 6 foot tables in my driveway, but that won't be enough.
I don't think I've been clear that I am literally selling just about everything. I am moving from a 2000 sq foot, 3 bedroom townhouse into a two room "in-law suite". I'm taking care of my mother with Parkinsons. I need to fit everything into about 400 sq ft and I won't have a kitchen, family room, or office or any of that. I'll be sharing those rooms and she already has everything.
Last edited by WalkingLiberty1919D; 05-19-2021 at 08:11 AM..
Over several months I made multiple trips to Goodwill, sometimes two or three trips per week. My car was filled right to the top too. The other items I put on the curb and posted on Craigslist as Free on the Curb! Everything was picked up and a couple of guys even helped me get big items out of my house in exchange for some good, free stuff.
photo of single items, put it on craigs list. price it to sell quickly.
state in the add that you will not help carry it, that it is cash only, and they need to bring helpers to carry large pieces out.
main thing is, price it to sell quickly. this makes it easy for you, no need to be greedy, and it saves you money in the end by not having to pay someone to haul it away. Typically once people realize you have (a) decent stuff, and (b) it is priced very low, they will walk out with way more stuff. They come for one piece and walk out with 4 or 5 pieces, and then they come back and get 10 or 12 more pieces. You don't even have to price it. When they see what you have and start pointing stuff out, you say "$100 for those 8 pieces" or something like that. They are thrilled and it is easy for you.
i have done this with moves, and people are so happy to get nice pieces, at what they feel is a great deal. they are always able to pay cash, and they always have helpers to carry it. when it is a good price, it goes right away.
this has only ever left me with a few pieces at most. i do one of two things. I put it on the curb with a big FREE sign taped to each piece, and it is gone within the weekend. Or I put it on Craigs list stating FREE and the street intersection"corner of James and 3rd."
One piece was very very hard for me to part with. I could not even bring myself to list it, it was a custom made beautiful wooden trestle table, and it carried a lot of emotional attachment. So I had the kids help me take it to the curb (i knew it would go instantly) taped a FREE sign on it, and took us all out to a nice meal. By the time we returned it was gone and I felt good about it. Someone somewhere is loving that table as much as i did, with the additional story I am sure they are telling "you are not going to believe we got this table for free, let me tell you how we found it"
Thanks. I am leaning toward estate sale, followed by donating whatever is left (although it looks like some estate companies take care of that too). I don't mind the sizable commission of even a zero dollar gain if it takes a lot of stress out of my life and everything is taken care of without costing me a lot. A dumpster or junk company is a stress free option too, but that will definitely cost money. At least I might break even with an estate sale.
At the bold, selling a houseful of stuff on Ebay seems really stressful due to the time it would take selling each thing, hundreds of things, one-by-one. I don't have the time. Right now, my first free weekend to do a garage sale is July 3 and I don't know if that's the best weekend for a garage sale (and I am not sure if there will be a family BBQ this year too). And I keep thinking, how am I going to drag out, literally, all the stuff in my house into my driveway to sell it? How do I drag the leather couch, TV cabinet, book shelves, etc into the driveway? And where would I put the smaller stuff? I think I could fit maybe 4-5 6 foot tables in my driveway, but that won't be enough.
I don't think I've been clear that I am literally selling just about everything. I am moving from a 2000 sq foot, 3 bedroom townhouse into a two room "in-law suite". I'm taking care of my mother with Parkinsons. I need to fit everything into about 400 sq ft and I won't have a kitchen, family room, or office or any of that. I'll be sharing those rooms and she already has everything.
I took a summer off in 2014 to sell my parents house and had to figure out what to do with 50+ years of stuff. The house had sat empty for 3 years with an occasional visit from my brother and a next door neighbor as a caretaker. We moved my Mom in with us in 2010 and she passed in 2013.
I interviewed several Realtors and from the one I picked I worked with an estate sale company, actually it was just a husband/wife team who were around my age. After deciding on the estate sale I was able to just enjoy hanging out in the house, seeing old friends and neighbors and was able to do some touching up fixing and painting.
The estate sale pretty much emptied the house, they sold stuff, donated what was left and cleaned up all after I left the house for the last time. They worked with the realtor and were ready by closing. I did offer to friends and family to come and take a few things and that created some temporary friction between the estate sale folks and me. Actually very few took me up on free stuff but several of my relatives attended the estate sale and bought things.
My favorite memory from the experience was hanging out in my childhood house in my home town still fully furnished and when I hit the road and left, my last memory of it was just how I remembered it with my parents.
Best of luck with your house cleaning and caring for your Mom. My Mom also had Parkinsons and progressing dementia I did find a small very homey adult day care facility helpful watching her when I was at work.
photo of single items, put it on craigs list. price it to sell quickly.
state in the add that you will not help carry it, that it is cash only, and they need to bring helpers to carry large pieces out.
main thing is, price it to sell quickly. this makes it easy for you, no need to be greedy, and it saves you money in the end by not having to pay someone to haul it away. Typically once people realize you have (a) decent stuff, and (b) it is priced very low, they will walk out with way more stuff. They come for one piece and walk out with 4 or 5 pieces, and then they come back and get 10 or 12 more pieces. You don't even have to price it. When they see what you have and start pointing stuff out, you say "$100 for those 8 pieces" or something like that. They are thrilled and it is easy for you.
i have done this with moves, and people are so happy to get nice pieces, at what they feel is a great deal. they are always able to pay cash, and they always have helpers to carry it. when it is a good price, it goes right away.
this has only ever left me with a few pieces at most. i do one of two things. I put it on the curb with a big FREE sign taped to each piece, and it is gone within the weekend. Or I put it on Craigs list stating FREE and the street intersection"corner of James and 3rd."
One piece was very very hard for me to part with. I could not even bring myself to list it, it was a custom made beautiful wooden trestle table, and it carried a lot of emotional attachment. So I had the kids help me take it to the curb (i knew it would go instantly) taped a FREE sign on it, and took us all out to a nice meal. By the time we returned it was gone and I felt good about it. Someone somewhere is loving that table as much as i did, with the additional story I am sure they are telling "you are not going to believe we got this table for free, let me tell you how we found it"
You don't understand, OP's talking about a WHOLE HOUSE FULL OF STUFF. You try this one item at a time business, you'll be at it for months.
Unless you have desirable items and are in an area where people will actually pay for stuff, forget the yard sale.
It will be a HUGE waste of time, a lot of work and you'll be dealing with people picking up something that's 50 cents and asking if they can pay a quarter. Lather rinse repeat. Totally not worth the effort.
Just call a company to pick it all up or donate it all.
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