It’s all junk now – do your kids a favor and ditch it while you can! H/T daytrip:
http://www.nextavenue.org/nobody-wants-parents-stuff/
So please forgive the morbidity, but if you’re lucky enough to still have one or more parents or stepparents alive, it would be wise to start figuring out what you’ll do with their furniture, china, crystal, flatware, jewelry, artwork and tchotchkes when the mournful time comes. (I wish I had. My sister and I, forced to act quickly to avoid owing an extra months’ rent on dad’s apartment, hired a hauler to cart away nearly everything we didn’t want or wouldn’t be donating, some of which he said he’d give to charity.)
Many boomers and Gen X’ers charged with disposing the family heirlooms, it seems, are unprepared for the reality and unwilling to face it.
Dining room tables and chairs, end tables and armoires (“brown” pieces) have become furniture non grata. Antiques are antiquated. “Old mahogany stuff from my great aunt’s house is basically worthless,” says Chris Fultz, co-owner of Nova Liquidation, in Luray, Va.
On PBS’s Antiques Roadshow, prices for certain types of period furniture have dropped so much that some episode reruns note current, lower estimated appraisals.
And if you’re thinking your grown children will gladly accept your parents’ items, if only for sentimental reasons, you’re likely in for an unpleasant surprise.
“Young couples starting out don’t want the same things people used to have,” says Susan Devaney, president of NASMM and owner of The Mavins Group, a senior move manager in Westfield, N.J. “They’re not picking out formal china patterns anymore. I have three sons. They don’t want anything of mine. I totally get it.”
Read full article here:
http://www.nextavenue.org/nobody-wants-parents-stuff/
The biggest consignment store in North County:
Yeah, I won’t be keeping any furniture either. In fact, our own is outdated.
Actually there are businesses that take care of it, in terms of estate sales. What I have told my nieces and nephews who will have to clean out the house I live in, is to pick what you want and then call an estate sales company to have a sale. Include having the estate sales company haul off what does not sell to the appropriate place. (My house is the one my parents lived in and also contains a good bit of stuff from one grandparents home) Why worry about it when alive, there are folks that take care of the situation for a slight fee.
“Actually there are businesses that take care of it, in terms of estate sales.”
I have a feeling in the near future that business is going to be boom(er)ing!
It’s about time to pay for the 1970’s. Just ’cause ya’ll haven’t abused booze, cocaine, or prescription drugs in 30 years doesn’t mean that while you did, you weren’t frying your brain, leatherizing your liver, or turning your aorta into a cartoon balloon.
Coroner opening a chest in the autopsy lab:
“Gee. He was only 66. Oh, look! A poodle!”
there are folks that take care of the situation for a slight fee.
You should probably get out more Lyle. Nobody does anything for a ‘slight fee’ any more.
If you have a smaller home, you have to drag your junk down to the consignment store, and end up with 30% to 40% of whatever they can sell it for, which will be about 50% under what you think it is worth.
If you have a larger home, and the estate sale is done on-site, maybe 60% to 70% of the 50%.
Or call Goodwill and they will haul it for free.
“Nobody does anything for a ‘slight fee’ any more. If you have a smaller home, you have to drag your junk down to the consignment store, and end up with 30% to 40% of whatever they can sell it for, which will be about 50% under what you think it is worth.”
I think they have a bit of leverage since many survivor’s want to get on with it, and not deal with the hassle of trying to getting “the best price” for an niche service.
It’s like funeral expenses. Sure, you don’t HAVE to pay the $10,000. You can do it hella cheaper. In fact, if you buy the shovel on your Home Depot card, you get cash back!
In particular consider the case where the family is dispersed over the country rather than local, then the travel expense could likley exceed the cost of the sale also. (Note that also things differ between urban and more rural communities) I have seen several estate sales around were I live. (county population 40k), in fact one almost blocked the street one day with cars parked shopping at the sale. The slight fee might mean you get the house cleaned out for zero net, i.e. the sales agent keeps the proceeds and cleans out the house.
You can take the Chargers out of the City but they will still be the Chargers.
Who? 😆
Went through this recently when my Dad passed away and Mom moved to a much smaller apartment. We hired an estate sale company but with all the unsold stuff (again, who wants brown furniture and old lamps, etc), and paying the fee, it was not worth the effort. The amount of cash cleared was a pittance. It would have been better to donate the whole lot – certainly a lot less work!