Clearing a House

ThemeOne

I'm currently in the massive process of clearing my parents' house and wonder if anyone has some tips on how best to dispose of certain items.

For example there's a collection of vinyl records - mostly jazz, classical and South American salsa, and some books dating from the 1920s/30s - some classics, some not, but nicely bound.

I'd say most of these items could have value beyond charity shop level, yet is it really worth exploring this route i.e. taking them round specialist shops etc? My instinct is these dealers wouldn't offer that much for most of them, and there's the effort of doing it to take into account when I have a lot of other things to do.

If anyone's faced a similar issue I'd be glad to hear what you did.

Tuesday_Tenor

While most of my parents household items went to charity shops there were a few exceptions:

- They had a few ornaments and small items of furniture that I knew had been 'precious' to them, even though of no great financial worth, and it felt a bit disrespectful to just give them away to a charity shop. I knew of a monthly 'household' auction in the area and arranged to put about 20 items in that. Nothing I couldn't take there in the car; just one occasion; when fees taken off they raised about £160, which was actually more than I anticipated. It require a bit of effort (initial enquiry visit, packing up, taking items in, collecting payment) but I was glad I did it.

- Dad had been a carpenter, with lots ( and duplicates of) tools. We kept some for ourselves; friends and neighbours were offered next choice, as a memento, as well as for usefulness; the vast majority went to the specialist charity, Tools for Self Reliance, who were happy to take everything, even old tins of nails and 'bits', which meant I didn't have to further separate the valuable from the tat.

- A secondhand book dealer paid us for a box of more interesting books and said they'd accept general books, but probably wouldn't pay for them. By the time we'd packed up the vast majority of them a few weeks later, the bookshop were no longer interested as they'd just cleared a property of about 10,000 books and had no more space! So they went to charity shop.

For specialist items like records you might find an auction. If not I'd explore value and interest with a dealer or two but not to the extent of spending lots of time to get the absolutely best possible price if it's a matter of a few hundred pounds, given the 'cost' of your time.

ThemeOne

Thanks, that's really useful. There will also be tools to dispose of, so have made a note of the tools charity you mentioned.

Tuesday_Tenor

Yes, I was glad I did the auction. Dad wasn't really interested in the few ornaments mum had bought over the years but did really like his own silver-plated fox that had pride of place on the mantelpiece. It went for £35 at the auction, and I felt pleased that I hadn't just 'thrown it away' (aka giving to charity shop, in these circumstances). Other things were large vases and jugs, nice large mirror, some delft pottery, some whole teasets (had been gran's, and still boxed away since her death!), box of brass things, a few silver items, box of misc china ...

Also at the end, the estate agent selling the house organised for someone to remove the furniture. IIRC they did actually pay us a bit. I thought they'd be charging for the service as there was nothing very interesting left after my sister and I had taken the few interesting heirlooms. You'll find 'house clearance' adverts in the local paper, and charities that specialise in furniture, such as the British Heart Foundation' will also do this.

It's a sad process, packing/selling/chucking out the tangible things left of someone's life. I valued the activity/making progress but the memories of items, some not seen since childhood, brought tears as well. Look after yourself, don't try to do too much at once

pmlindyloo

If you have time it is worth having a google in the area for auction houses and people who specialise in vinyl records, books etc.

In many cases the people will come to you and have a look at things. (Suspect they are always looking for that special something!)

We didn't bother taking things to them - too time consuming.

It really is worthwhile doing this as someone's 'junk' is often someone's treasure.

jackyann

We were in a similar position. This is what I did:

Rang a couple of specialist auction houses and said "I won't be upset if they're not worth anything, I just want to know what it's worth my time taking to you"

Took books & a few "vintage" clothes to Oxfam. They (and a few other charities I think) have specialist volunteers who will ensure that the best price is obtained for anything out of the ordinary. It may not benefit you financially, but you know that they have been carefully looked at (we did know that they got a very good price for some of the books)

Freecycle / freegle can also be good for making sure someone gets good use from things (although again, you won't get any money). We know of people who have really benefited from some of the pieces of furniture & tools that we gifted - and my favourite was a youth group who "sampled" 78s for the DJing that some of them did! Best to make sure you offer on a large group.

There are some charities (Workaid is one) who collect & refurbish tools of all kinds for re-use.

Do beware of just googling books & records. Some sellers will either be taking a punt, or simply mistakenly list something at a high price. Look for what the items have sold for, not what the sellers are asking!

Also be aware that the auction houses, antique shops etc. will be offered a lot of items likely to be in the possession of 70-80 year olds. I was sure that some memorabilia from "the Coronation that never was" would be valuable, but it wasn't - I've put it away so that my grandchildren might be able to sell it!

Good luck

Savvy_Sue

Still retain vivid memories of doing this myself, and the best money we spent from the estate was on a house clearance company, I'm trying to remember if they were recommended to us by the auction specialist we called in, or the estate agents we were planning to use. Either way, they were absolutely fandiddlytastic and worth every one of the considerable number of pennies spent on them!

If there's a local auction house, worth asking them to come to the house: ours noted everything of value, but did point out that there were some things of value they were not prepared to put up for auction (bedroom full of wool, anyone?), and some things of no value which they WOULD auction. Confused? me too ...

Anyway, once the auctioneer had taken away what they were prepared to sell, the house clearance people started. They were definitely of a mind to reuse and recycle as much as possible, although I think they were very glad that we re-homed most of the wool in the end.

Initially they left the house furnished but clear, and then did a final clear just before completion.

Every now and again we wondered if we could finish the job, but the thought of moving all that furniture quickly convinced us not to bother trying.

If you're anywhere near Reading, let me know and I'll send their details.

Oh, we also used the local TSR chap for tools, and he was also prepared to take scrap metal, including a filing cabinet which had seen better days!

Yorkshireman99

ThemeOne wrote: »

I'm currently in the massive process of clearing my parents' house and wonder if anyone has some tips on how best to dispose of certain items.

For example there's a collection of vinyl records - mostly jazz, classical and South American salsa, and some books dating from the 1920s/30s - some classics, some not, but nicely bound.

I'd say most of these items could have value beyond charity shop level, yet is it really worth exploring this route i.e. taking them round specialist shops etc? My instinct is these dealers wouldn't offer that much for most of them, and there's the effort of doing it to take into account when I have a lot of other things to do.

If anyone's faced a similar issue I'd be glad to hear what you did.

Freecycle can be a good place to get rid of a lot of things. I have found it invaluable.

Brighty

When my parents died, I planned to do all the work myself to save cash and maybe make a bit, sell off as much as possible to antique shops, second hand shops, ebay etc. Then take the rest to charity shops, then get a skip to empty the rest of the junk out.

I went down in a van one weekend to take home the furniture I wanted to keep, along with all the personal stuff and jewellery etc. While I was there, I got the letting agent round to take pics and start the ball rolling on getting it rented out. The plan was to then start the selling off and emptying on following weekends.

It didn’t pan out that way in the end

The Fri after that weekend, agent rang to say someone wanted to rent the house, great, that was quick, but wait, they are currently in a hotel and so want/need to move in on Wednesday??

Oh that was a busy Friday.

Found a house clearance company that were free on the Monday, also booked EPC survey for Monday morning as well as Gas safety certificate.

Train down Sunday afternoon, had a real good go through everything to make sure every last photo, keepsake and bit of jewellery etc was gone. Monday morning house clearance company emptied the entire 3 bed bungalow, plus garage, plus shed, took the whole lot away, cost £300, took them less than 2 hours from start to finish, big lorry and 3 blokes, saved so much work and hassle, and not that expensive really when you think a skip is at least £150.

Got gas cert done, EPC done, hopped in dads car and drove it home (sold that to a fella at work a few weeks later). Tuesday, cleaners went in, Wednesday, tenants moved in. Done, Phew.

That was a stressful few days, but we had some very happy tenants, 4 years on and they're still in there. Tenants and agent were amazed we got it done in that timescale, so was I

Brighty

getmore4less

You can get a hint of value by trying to buy the same things you have.

It does not work for everything but can give a clue.

vintage and retro stuff is having a bit of a comeback so there is a market.

with things like this it is a trade off of your time against the stuff finding the best home rather than landfill.

We are still clearing 6 years later but there was no rush as there was space to keep the stuff and go through as and when we felt like it.

Newly_retired

We took about 2 months to clear my parents' house.
Removed all items the family members wanted to keep.
Sold some almost antique furniture to a dealer we had met previously. He paid a surprisingly good price for things we had considered merely old fashioned.
We took clothes etc to charity shops.
Books went to a specific charity my father had listed in his will.
A few items went to a museum.
Filled three skips, mostly from the loft and junk room.
Called in house clearance people, who have a junk/ collectibles shop my dad loved to visit. They valued what was left at around £100, I.e items they could sell. We had to order another skip for them to fill with wardrobes they didn't want. Shame, but no time to do anything different as we didn't live nearby. The charge to clear the rest of the house was £100 , so we broke even. They left the place clear, clean and tidy. Job done.
I've made it sound easy, but it wasn't. Lots of family helped.
Vinyl records are currently popular.