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I am trying to figure out the best way to get rid of most of a houseful of stuff when I sell my house and move (I am downsizing in 11 months... greatly). This includes furniture (nothing too expensive but not the cheapest either) to include living room, dining room, and two bedroom sets, office furniture and storage shelves, oriental rugs, dishes and crystal, silverware, kitchen appliances, TVs, decorations, etc. My wild guess is there is less than $10,000 worth of goods in the house to get rid of.
Literally, I am moving from a 2000 sq ft townhouse and what I want to keep I can fit into the back of a 10' U-Haul.
My thought was estate sale, but I know very little about those. I also thought about yard sale this summer for a lot of smaller stuff and then, when it's time to move, just donating the larger furniture to charity and writing it off on taxes. I thought about donating the smaller stuff and just having a junk company haul the rest away, including the furniture when it's time (but I know that would be the most expensive option and the furniture, while not perfect, isn't junk either). Someone even suggested to me to sell the house "fully furnished" (I am not sure if anyone would really want that though).
Since there are a lot of Realtors here, I figure someone must have some experience with this (or know about the details of what might work). Or maybe someone else here has experience emptying out a house either to downsize or was involved when a relative died and the house needed to be emptied and sold.
In your opinion, what was the best option as far as saving money and ease of ridding oneself of so much stuff?
If I go the yard sale route, I need to start soon since it's now yard sale season.
Try facebook marketplace, and ebay. For ebay, you can set up the listing for free local pickup and cash on pickup. Craigslist is next up in line, but doesn't seem as hot as facebook marketplace. When you sell stuff, make sure it's cash only. Don't accept check in case of scams.
You can also google consignment stores in your area. Call them and call your local charities and see if any of them are willing to pick up unwanted furnitures.
Try facebook marketplace, and ebay. For ebay, you can set up the listing for free local pickup and cash on pickup. Craigslist is next up in line, but doesn't seem as hot as facebook marketplace. When you sell stuff, make sure it's cash only. Don't accept check in case of scams.
You can also google consignment stores in your area. Call them and call your local charities and see if any of them are willing to pick up unwanted furnitures.
The consignment thing might work. I didn't think of that. Thank you for the idea.
I should have been more clear. I really don't have the time to pack up and sell things on Ebay one-by-one and bring them to the post office, etc (for the smaller stuff). And I don't have the time to keep having people come over to the house to buy one thing at a time. I work full time, am a single mom, and when I move, it will be my daughter's senior year at high school which will mean a lot of other things will be going on that will take up my time (from senior year stuff, to visiting colleges, graduation, etc).
It's literally a house full of stuff. That's why I was thinking estate sale (all in one weekend, people come in and buy what they want and leave). I could advertise an estate sale on Facebook or Craigslist though (if I do it myself instead of hiring an estate company).
I am trying to strike a balance between the most money saving decision along with the best time saving decision.
If you have the heart to do a garage sale, or Craigslist, or FB Marketplace, or NextDoor, etc....
you will get more money than in an estate sale or consignment sale.
Those folks take a large commission for selling.
Furniture is in great demand in many places. Folks are waiting for months to get stuff from manufacturers. I have talked to a lot of people who are amazed how fast stuff goes, and at very good cash prices.
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.
Thanks! So garage sale for the smaller items (that I can actually drag out of the house) and maybe just donate all the furniture (or find a consignment place that can haul the furniture away)?
All I know is hiring a junk company to haul away a kitchen set, dining room set, family room set, office furniture, storage cabinets, and two bedroom sets will cost a small fortune. It would probably take up a whole truck.
I think, if nothing else, the Salvation Army might take all that furniture away for free. It's decent stuff, just not high end. Except the couch with is Ethan Allen.
If you have the heart to do a garage sale, or Craigslist, or FB Marketplace, or NextDoor, etc....
you will get more money than in an estate sale or consignment sale.
Those folks take a large commission for selling.
Thanks! Yeah, I figured it would be at least a 50% commission for an estate sale.
My wild guess is there is less than $10,000 worth of goods in the house to get rid of.
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.)
When I sold my last residence and moved into the house my new wife owned, the things I didn't manage to sell I put out by the curb and put an ad on craigslist that it was all free, they had to pick up. Then I came back 2 days later and hauled off the remainder to the dump. Most of it got taken so it wasn't bad. Everything that someone took was 1 less thing I had to haul off.
I suggest you attempt to sell your stuff earlier rather than later. You may discover no one wants your stuff - even for free.
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