My friends had nothing valuable. It was just regular furniture, etc. However, the money adds up when you sell things. My friends had already removed what they were keeping. My mom got rid of all personal letters, etc before she died. I have already done the same. My experience with auctions is that they keep much of the profits. Tools, etc that are in the garage sell really well.
I definitely agree with "the money adds up". We usually have a Town Wide Yard sale twice a year - June and October. Of course, the June one has been cancelled. As a recourse, I had started selling items from my yard sale pile on Facebook Marketplace. I pretty much kept to yard sale prices and have happily made numerous sales. Primarily have gotten rid of the stuff, but managed to put a little cash in my pocket at the same time. On a side note, I'm often surprised at what people will buy! LOL.
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That's good that your mom did that, and that you have done so too.Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
My parents did not, and I have sorted many of the letters out, but I'd like to get them all out of there, and do more trash removal.
Well, not like to, but feel I need to.
What are the consequences of just leaving things as they are in your parents house and having someone come in and clean up for sale and then sell the stuff?
I do not know what’s in your parents’ house. But I do know there’s a fair number of posters here who go through this same exercise in cleaning out our parents house because many of us are in that age. There are siblings who want to slow the process down and have concern about items in the house. There are others who just want to get get it all done.
I wonder what you see as reasons for careful removal of papers and letters?
My second question is: if you are going to remove papers and letters, how much time does it really take? I mean at this point what is left in the house that is useful? Your parents have been out of it for 2 1/2 years.
Strangers will throw letters away. You may be interested but your kids won’t. Plus it’s private and shouldn’t be seen by anyone.
There are still items in the house that I want, furniture from my grandparents and furniture that was given to me as a child but that remained in their house because my mom used it. We could not remove it earlier since my father is still living and wanted to return to the house and wanted everything the way it was.
There are things my mom wanted us to have, too.
Papers and letters have value to me, and as a courtesy to my parents, should be removed by a family member and not a stranger, for the reasons Terry said. I feel I owe them that; I can't provide hands on care for them but I can help them put their affairs in order before they die.
If this situation were up to me, it would have been completed two years ago. I am not the executor; nor do I have Power of Attorney for either parent.
The executor was supposed to remove all valuables from the house and handle the papers. He did some of this but only a portion On the other hand, my parents are alive, and we did not have my father's permission to do these things. It's not his fault.
My siblings did not want to handle the problem of the contents of the house. I want it over with as there is a buyer for the house.
Hope that helps clarify the situation. If not, then I guess it is one of those things that we have differing values and will have trouble understanding the other's viewpoint.
Last edited by Tybee; 6-19-20 at 8:14am.
Tybee, it makes sense to me. I would think with a buyer your siblings want to move things along. When my mom died they didn’t even pack things for the auction house. So they charged to do that and as a result made absolutely nothing from the sale. The apartment complex forbid sales and my mom died on the 19th. They wanted to be out by the end of the month so as not to pay rent. Between my sister, brother and SIL they easily could have packed it. Instead they sat around and read. My mom had deposed of much of her stuff so it would have been easy.
Oh my gosh, Terry, were we separated at birth, sibling wise?
Seems so Tybee. My mom moved a few times and each time I had to take 2 weeks vacation to fly out to help her pack and unpack despite one living a hour away and the other 6. They are older than me and retired earlier. When my mom was sick my sister said she wished I still lived in Wisconsin so I could help. They didn’t lift a finger for 14 years with my dad. If I had lived there they would have done nothing. During those years I used every bit of my sick and vacation to fly out to help.
Tybee, I can see why nothing of substance has left your parent’s house while your dad is still alive and kicking and aware, it is after all his house. But if he has now agreed to sell apparently, so now you can get out quickly. I would think you could clean up all paperwork in a weekend, if not giving final,disposition, at least gathering it in tubs for resolution later (although much of it could be pitched on the spot.) You could pick up the pieces of furniture that you want and put them in a rented storage unit. Then the place iS ready for outsiders to clean out.
It all depends on how much labor each one of you want to spend on it. I think it’s a perfectly valid decision to not spend any labor at all. I think it’s a perfectly valid decision to spend labor on it to get maximum money out of the estate. Both of those decisions are valid and reasonable.
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