Community Forums

baluncru · 08-20-2019, 08:53 AM

We are planning to sell the house and go RV full time. Trying to figure out what to do with all of the household items we will not be taking with us. We have been donating items to local charities, etc., but we are considering an estate sale to sell everything else including furniture. There is a local company that specializes in estate sales but take 40% of the sale. They advertise that anything not sold during the sale they will take on consignment to their store and sell it there.
It seems like a lot less hassle than having multiple garage sales but is it really worth the high commission? We have a couple of things that might be considered antiques, besides me, but probably not a lot big value. The furniture and big screen TV, and some appliances are the big ticket items. I have no idea on how to proceed and losing a lot of sleep over the issue and want to hear what others have done.

Thanks for the insights and advice.

Bob T.
Cal City, CA

KennyGolub · 08-20-2019, 09:04 AM

Going full time and getting rid of everything in our S&B home was tough for us.

We sold stuff, but everyone wanted it for next to nothing, and we ending up settling for that. Gave a lot of stuff away to family and friends.
I think no matter what you do, you are not going to get what everything is really worth.
JMHO

.

Jim_HiTek · 08-20-2019, 09:05 AM

Two advertised estate/yard sales on separate weekends from Fri thru Mon, then a few days where Goodwill and other charities picked up what they wanted. Then a Freecycle ad the third week from Tues thru Fri. Cleaned out the house and garage fine.

Sold some big ticket items at a huge discount but it was worth that to get rid of it.

AE Wanderer · 08-20-2019, 09:06 AM

Cal City. Did alot of dirt bike riding between there and Randsburg in the 70's.

Had a final Thanksgiving dinner with all the kids. Told them to bring their trucks and trailers. After dinner, we told them to take what they want. Then, we donated alot to charity. Rented a 10x14 storage unit. Last year, we went to a 10x10. Next November, we will let the rest go and end the storage unit. In there, we kept a few things incase we did not like full timing. Turns out we love it.

Enjoy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by baluncru

We are planning to sell the house and go RV full time. Trying to figure out what to do with all of the household items we will not be taking with us. We have been donating items to local charities, etc., but we are considering an estate sale to sell everything else including furniture. There is a local company that specializes in estate sales but take 40% of the sale. They advertise that anything not sold during the sale they will take on consignment to their store and sell it there.
It seems like a lot less hassle than having multiple garage sales but is it really worth the high commission? We have a couple of things that might be considered antiques, besides me, but probably not a lot big value. The furniture and big screen TV, and some appliances are the big ticket items. I have no idea on how to proceed and losing a lot of sleep over the issue and want to hear what others have done.

Thanks for the insights and advice.

Bob T.
Cal City, CA

Waiter21 · 08-20-2019, 09:06 AM

I've considered this also... As soon as the DW says GO, I'll call the auctioneer and tell them to send me a check when they are finished..

Yes, I understand that I may not get a price that I think something is worth, but its either do it myself and go through all the aggravation, or let the Auctioneer do it.

Domo · 08-20-2019, 09:22 AM

This is exactly what we did.

You have to be ready to let everything go for pennies and not look back.

The team will set up tables, categorize and label EVERYTHING with a price and at the end leave your house "broom clean" if you specify that in your contract.

You can reserve one room for "owners items" and simply move what you do want to keep into that room.

We had sold a few major items and given some away before the big sale - however, we had a ton of stuff left - from coat hangers to old clothes and nuts and bolts -- all was sold or carted away. In our deal, there was no consignment in their shop - what didn't sell simply went to them.

At most we received under $5K for the sale - YMMV based on your neighborhood and time of years, etc. The key for us was, we were letting go and changing our lives.

No regrets... but I do miss my table saw...

ClassAboater · 08-20-2019, 09:32 AM

We went from a 5 acre place with a three bedroom home, three car garage and a large two story barn, tractor and nursery business down to a live aboard a boat with a small storage unit.

The large ticket items sold with Craig's List ads. (commercial greenhouses, furniture, tractor, appliances, and such) The smaller items could have gone with a garage sale... but, we just hate them. We donated most of this to a local charity and took this off our taxes the following April 15th. Our kids took a few items, our neighbors bought our gardening tools and a few odd and ends.

You can't forget that you are liquidating, your sale prices have to reflect a liquidation. Expect to negotiate down from your liquidation price. Remember that this is selling used items and you want it GONE...

We kept our tools, computers and a few family items. Scanned our family pictures and gave them to our kids on a CD (kept a copy for us also). Put a lot of our nicer kitchen items on the boat.

I do have an office for my business (we are not retired) so a few antiques and art we wanted to keep was put there.

Just remember that you are releasing yourself from this stuff for a different life in your RV. It is this stuff that is holding you back now. It can all be replaced with updated stuff at a later time if or when you feel a house with a foundation is needed again.

TXTiger · 08-20-2019, 09:45 AM

When I went full time I was lucky that I had a friend who owned a bicycle shop and had just retired. He let me store all my furniture in his warehouse that he didn’t sell with the bike shop. Two years later he called me saying he was selling the warehouse and I had one week to move everything out. I didn’t want to pay for storage as I did not know when if ever I would want the furniture back. Storage would for several years would be more than the furniture was worth. I called several estate sale people and all advised that it the furniture was not staged in a house they were not interested. I called a second hand shop and he met me at the warehouse. I told him he had to take everything, not just pick and choose. He made me a low offer but I had no choice, I had to move everything out. That was 4 years ago and I am still in n the road.

153stars · 08-20-2019, 07:31 PM

I didn't read all posts but there are garage sale groups you can join as well as plain marketplace on facebook. Stuff like furniture ,TVs household decore that's fair price goes fast .IMHO Similar type grab boxes. Off Seasonal stuff is a little harder . A good place to advertise any sale you do.

super_rep · 08-21-2019, 09:08 AM

We sold our house furnished. No hassle at all.

baluncru · 08-21-2019, 09:10 AM

Thanks for all of the responses, lots of good info.
We are planning to full time now that we are retired. We do not expect to get high prices for our items but we were wondering if the total sale would even be worthwhile for the estate sale company to even run a sale for us.
Garage sale are an option and we will probably do at least one, but past experience here is that we sell a little but put a lot of work into preparing/tear down.
We have donated plenty to various charities, clubs and schools that could use some of the stuff we had and will probably do some donations.

Thanks again.

**Spdracr39** · 08-21-2019, 10:22 AM

You are ending one life and beginning it isn't about what it's worth as much as the savings on not paying for storage.

Sandy Swede · 08-21-2019, 02:49 PM

You are certainly about to make a major life change. Have you thought about going full time for say, 6 months, to make sure you want to give up your home? Perhaps you are way past this point, but my instinct is that most folks would never be sure they made the right decision until 6 months to a year later. Best of luck on whatever you decide.

Crasher · 08-21-2019, 06:03 PM

We have no desire to go full time, however, if we did, I would sell our homes fully furnished except for some personal things important to only our family. Three years ago, we bought our winter AZ home mostly furnished. We needed most of the items and gave away what we didn't want. If I were going to liquidate one of our homes, I wouldn't want to deal with garage sales or estate sales. Too much of a hassle. I would list it furnished and be done with it. Have a Realtor appraise it and add in a reasonable amount for the furnishings. There's a buyer out there that will want it. Let the buyer deal with getting rid of what they don't want.