Relative died. How to clear the house?

nickinoodle_2

Not sure where to put this to be honest, but wonder if anyone can help me.

Sadly my great aunt passed away the other week, and it is now down to my family to clear her house, so it can be sold.
She lived in a absolutely massive house, that is crammed to the brim with sutff! None of the items we particularly want, but know there are some vases, ornaments, cutlery etc that are worth a fair bit.
Does anyone know of any companies or anything that will buy stuff like this off you?
Also there is a couple sofas, furniture, beds etc. Had thought of selling on ebay or free ads sites but to be honest we don’t have the time to catalogue and photograph everything, and as her house is in London, it’s not v close. So what can we do with it all?!!! lol no rude answers please lol :rotfl:

Any suggestions would be really grateful

bekkki1

you could put an add on the local free cycle, they have to collect themselves so would save you some time

Justie

the easiest way is to get a local auction house to come and value anything worth selling - it may not get you the best price for each individual item but should get the more expensive items covered and if it's going to auction (ie on the open market) you know you're not going to be ripped off by being offered a pittance for something worth more. There are companies that specialise in house clearances but I think they give you a sum for the lot and you may then miss out if there are some items of value.

non antique furniture can only be sold if it has the correct fire safety labels etc so you may find that you have some bits of furniture that you can't sell - Freecycle is probably the best place for that or see if there are charities in the area who will take it.

as for what's left have a garage sale - you'd be amazed how much you can raise and it takes less time and effort than ebaying.

Obviously the more time you have and the more effort you can put into it the more money you'll get but it sounds as though you need easy options. Just check what the will says about disposal of her estate and make sure all those who are likely to inherit agree with the general way of disposing with everything.

belfastgirl23

My BIL worked for a clearance firm for a while and he said it was amazing how often they found money etc. Be sure and have a very thorough going over of the house before you call in a firm.

Hope it all goes okay!

Jake'sGran

My daughter had all this to do for her father in law but the place was a mess. There was nothing valuable but she did manage to sell, very easily, two good quality reclining chairs. A lot of small stuff went to the charity shops. I suggested having a garage sale but they did not like this idea. These days my daughter is constantly throwing really good stuff away when she changes a room (seems like every month!). She used to put things on the tip but now I have insisted she lets me know and I contact one of the charities - think it was Freecycle last time and they came and took a lot of stuff away. They have to be genuine before I will contact any organisations. Hope you manage to get it sorted easily.