Dealing with property from deceased estate?

[nzspokes]

After some advice from those that have been there with that. My old man passed away a while back and I have just got the go to clear the house.

What do you do with all the stuff? Items that the family wanted have been taken, photos etc.

Is it best to sell to a second hand dealer? Get a auction house in?

One thing I do know is I not going to list 3000 auctions to TM, feck that.

Any advice appreciated. Well any good advice anyway.

[Reckless]

Garage sale weekend is most common Spokes.
The buyers come to you, you only have to shift the stuff to the front lawn etc etc.
Whats left can go to the Sallies after that theres the dump.

Sorry for your Loss mate

[BuzzardNZ]

Donate it to the Salvation Army.

[caspernz]

If there's stuff left of value, then second hand dealer or TM for that. The rest is often of value to St John op shop or Salvation Army op shop.

All comes down to how much time and energy you've got left to put in.

[Oakie]

Garage sale weekend is most common Spokes.
The buyers come to you, you only have to shift the stuff to the front lawn etc etc.
Whats left can go to the Sallies after that theres the dump.

Sorry for your Loss mate

Yeah we did the garage sale when my father-in-law passed away. He was a guy who never threw anything away 'because it might come in handy one day" so there was heaps of stuff. It was actually quite fun but we nearly went to far and almost sold the mother-in-law's car on the day too.

[nzspokes]

Garage sale weekend is most common Spokes.
The buyers come to you, you only have to shift the stuff to the front lawn etc etc.
Whats left can go to the Sallies after that theres the dump.

Sorry for your Loss mate

Thanks Mate, would probably just put it around the house. Way too much to drag outside. Do people buy lounge suites etc at these things, never been to one.

Do the Sallies take bulk lots?

[nzspokes]

Yeah we did the garage sale when my father-in-law passed away. He was a guy who never threw anything away 'because it might come in handy one day" so there was heaps of stuff. It was actually quite fun but we nearly went to far and almost sold the mother-in-law's car on the day too.

Did you sell much? How did you work out price? Just made it up as you went along?

[oldrider]

Trying to deal with this situation ourselves right now - getting rid of $$$$ of treasures that we hoard for a rainy day - just have to develop a brutal mindset!

Not easy! Don't want to leave a situation like you have got for our kids to deal with! - Good luck with that!

[BMWST?]

my mum recently had a fall and had to move out.The place was still full of dads stuff too,lots of tools and old electrical stuff, some stuff never used.We got an auction house in.They came and got it,and it all goes.Can get some good prices,but some disheartening stuff too.I think a lot of second hand dealers frequent the auctions.You pay fees of course.The auction houses know their stuff,and will use their knowledge to get the best prices on the good stuff,but as i said you pay fees.It was the only way for us,as we live out of town.The house was already on the market so we had to move quickly
If it is just normal household stuff i think i would donate to sallies etc.Garage sales are a pain

[James Deuce]

The Sallies don't want broken, worn out stuff. Get a skip and be brutal. Then sell or donate the good stuff left. It reduces the workload tremendously.

[oldiebutagoody]

After my Wife died I spent a year just mentally adjusting. Letting go of things that belonged to a loved family member can be fraught with pangs of regret, .......was it their favourite pair of slippers? We get the picture.

When I decided to move on I was firstly interested in passing heirloom furniture or long held antique stuff to the kids once one of them had a place of their own to keep it safe.

Day to day sundry stuff was left behind. I had to ask do I need 5 beds, 3 microwaves, 5 dinner stes, (actually I had the accummulation of the last 3 generations of inherited households to deal with).

Sallies etc will take the good stuff and leave you with rubbish, Local hospice shops take nik naks and ornaments, about 20 boxes of books went to St Johns for fundraising.

Then I looked around the neighbourhood and counted a half dozen families who looked like they needed stuff for the kids, so all th warm winter bedding and linens, pillows etc went their way. Most of it was brand new unused bought last season, as wives tend to do.

I kept my tools, tv's, lounge suite, everything kitchen related (including 50 odd cookbooks, god knows I need them) and ll th electrical appliances that were not duplicated, as any duplicates went to the neighbouring struggling families.

Rest is in storage. Shifted to Auckland and now live in a van. No just joking, all the rest fitted into a double storage unit until either I return to my house or sell up and move into another.

Be brutal. Disposing of deceased estate items does no disrespect to the deceased if it helps others in the process. Discarding to rubbish offhand however can cause you some regret in the future. Its not always about realizing cash for it either unless it still has to help with medical or rest home fees for a surviving spouse etc.

2c

[JimO]

just going through that now, i filled one of those clothing bins with clothes, some of the furniture we took the rest will be sold, the house i already owned but am selling it anyway so we have a garage full of stuff thats got to go somewhere, already had 2 skips in

[Oakie]

Did you sell much? How did you work out price? Just made it up as you went along?

Pretty much sold everything. There were a few old things of value that we got an antique dealer to look at and offer on first to make sure we didn't sell a treasure for a dollar. The rest of it we just put stickers with a nominated value on and then haggled if necessary. My best effort was to sell an old typewriter for a couple of dollars that the guy didn't want at all but that his little girl was playing with and I made him buy it 'because it'll keep her quiet for hours".

I think we made $800 on the day but that was a good 15 plus years ago so quite a good return. Our aim was to get rid of everything as much as it was to make money though so we were happy with the outcome. About all that was left over was about 20 Commodore computer consoles which I think we finished up giving to a school.

[Tazz]

Sallies are very picky, I don't bother with them anymore. When we went through this with a family member who was a hoarder, I sold off a few good things to cover the cost of a skip for all the junk, and then gave the rest to a secondhand dealer. You tell them the condition of getting some good stuff for free is that they have to take everything you give them whether they want it all or not.

A garage sale sounds good too, but then you have to deal with haggling ass hats.

[awa355]

Go through the old family photo's and put those and any documents of historical nature to one side. They may not mean much to you today, but in a few years a grandchild may well come asking about where/when her great grandparents lived and worked. For someone doing the family history at some time, these things can tell so much about the family ancestors. Once thrown out, they cannot be replaced.

Garage sales are for super cheap stuff that is worth nothing. Any valuable stuff needs to be deposed of elsewhere.