moms are dying every day. It’s like a tidal wave,” she says. That means a flood of household items is pouring into the market from a vast number of garages, attics, and basements at the same time.
So for all those reasons, please keep in mind that generally speaking, you don’t have the upper hand in determining the value of your parents’ household items. The buyers do. And “what we’re seeing now is a significant decline in value and a strong buyer’s market,” Hall says.
As long as you go into this project with reasonable expectations, the process of selling your parents’ property can be a positive experience. You’ll probably make at least some money. You may also have the opportunity to meet the people who will be providing a new “life” for the belongings that were important to your parents. But be prepared for the time and effort involved, and decide whether that commitment is going to be worth the return you’ll likely have.
Even if you don’t meet the buyers—which you may or may not want to do, for reasons you’ll see shortly—you’ll at least know that some of the objects that your parents bought, preserved, looked at, and touched are circulating widely in the world. Even though your parents are gone, all these strangers are still valuing the decisions they made long ago.
So let’s start looking at how to have the best possible selling experience, starting with garage sales.
Garage Sales: The Do-It-Yourself Approach
Lynda Hammond was rummaging through the items at an older woman’s garage sale near Phoenix when she came across a collection of antique clothes irons.
Hammond, a former TV news anchor who still has a love for listening to people’s stories, had to learn more. “She grew up with 13 brothers and sisters. Her mother would wake up at 4:00 a.m., and every morning until 6:00 a.m., she’d iron clothing. It was a beautiful way for this woman to start her day quietly. It was a soothing, therapeutic time for her, since at 6, the kids would wake up and all hell would break loose.”
Clearly, the irons were a treasure that helped this woman remember the care that her mother provided so long ago. I applaud her for letting them go when she no longer needed them, though I’m hoping that she kept the best iron that most strongly evoked these memories.
I also think she made the most of a terrific opportunity to share her mother’s legacy with Hammond and the other shoppers that morning. Now, even you and I have “met” this mom as she quietly ironed before dawn, and her legacy lives on!
Hammond has turned her fascination with garage sales into a career through her Web site, GarageSaleGal. She offered some surprising ways to get the best return from your garage sale with the least hassle. No garage? This advice applies to yard sales, too.
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Real-World Downsizing Discovery
Beth says: When my parents moved to assisted living and later passed away, I really wanted their dining room set. I had so many memories of family celebrations, baby and bridal showers, and graduations around that table. I could not let it go, but it never fit well in my house. A few years ago, I let a young family have it, and I bought a smaller set that I love and that fits the room and my taste. The memories were not in the furniture! I guess I thought it would help me hang on to my loved ones, but it was just stuff.
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Skip the price tag on your items. Traditionally, an early step in the garage sale process has been to buy a sheet of tiny stickers, write prices on them, and affix the stickers to your belongings. Don’t, Hammond urges.
For one thing, those stickers cost money. They also take a lot of time to fill out. And the occasional unethical shopper may switch the price tags in order to take home an almost literal steal.
But the main reason not to price your goods is because the buyer might make a much better offer, Hammond says. “Let’s say you decided you want to get rid of that 1940s sunflower-shaped cookie jar. So you’d take a dollar for it. Now let’s say someone walks up and remembers the 1940s sunflower-shaped cookie jar that they broke when they were a child. This person might easily pay $30 for this, and you’ve undercut yourself!”
Sell on a day when you have less competition. Put your stuff out on Friday