Sunday, April 22, 2018

Memories for sale:What is a household worth?


Memories for sale: what's a household worth?


Story by
Marni Jameson
It's so true: Some things in life you just can't put a price on. Until you have to. When it's up to you to liquidate your parents' treasure-filled home, you need to price the priceless.
How much for that baby grand piano Mom used to play? How much for the sideboard that served up every Thanksgiving dinner you can remember. How much for the porch swing Dad built?
When selling is both unthinkable and necessary, it's nice to have outside experts.
Such reason did not prevail last year when I cleared out my parents' home several months after they had moved into assisted living. I did not have experts. I had myself, my sister-in-law, one week and a learning curve that didn't curve but shot straight up like a flagpole.
Who else could do the job justice? I reasoned. Plus, I didn't want to give anyone a cut of the profits, which were going straight into my parents' long-term care fund.
But looking back, I see the value of experts.
They knew then what I know now, and wish I'd known. For starters, they know how emotional, irrational and deluded those of us selling our parents' belongings -- heck even our own stuff -- are when estimating value. But those were our baby bibs!
MaxSold founder Barry Gordon put it bluntly: "Things are worth what people will pay." A four-year-old Canadian company now in the United States, MaxSold (www.maxsold.com) clears out homes. The company sends in a team that organizes household items in batches or 'lots,' photographs them, then uses social media to sell them locally through online auctions.
"People think that when they put their price on items, they have control of the price. They don't," Gordon said. "The buying market will determine the value." Holding out for a price can leave you holding onto the item.
I know I turned down several offers for my parents' antique marble-topped nightstand, which I now have parked at a family friend's house across the country.
Clinging has its costs, especially if you need to ship an item, move it, or heaven forbid, put it in paid storage. (Dear readers, please, before you get a storage locker, call me. I will talk you off the ledge.)
Gordon cites this example. Say someone has a dining room set and would feel awful if they sold if for anything less than $2,000. A buyer offers $800, which the seller turns down. Then, because there's no room for it, the set goes in storage. Three years later, at $100 a month, the seller has paid $3,600 to hang onto it and finally sells it for $500.
Better to yank the Band-Aid off now, even if it hurts. And it will.
Although no two households are alike, in Gordon's experience, the contents of the average North American home, after the family has taken out what they want to keep and paid the liquidator, yields between $3,000 and $10,000. He's heard other liquidation professionals say the average house yields about $5,900.
"Our process is not designed to replace the important work," said Gordon, referring to the sifting, sorting and saving family members must do first.
But once the family decides what won't stay, if they're not up to selling items themselves, they need to step aside.
"Dealing with a family home paralyzes people," said Gordon. "It can takes the toughest, most organized, efficient people and slow them to an absolute standstill."
His advice: "Don't work yourself into a frenzy trying to control things you can't. What you can control is how much of your life you put into the process." Here's what else you can control:
  • Your options. When clearing out a home, many families, including mine, hold an estate sale, where individual items are tagged and the public is invited on a particular day. The sale can - and did -- create a chaotic environment, which is hard to control, especially if a lot of people show up. Others work with a bulk buyer, who pays one price to take everything away. What you lose in profit you gain in convenience. A liquidator, like MaxSold, is a hybrid. It batches and auctions off goods from the house and reports all sales to the client.
  • The location. More than 99 percent of household belongings sell nearby, said Gordon, whose company uses 35 social media avenues to promote auctions locally.
  • Timing. How long families take to clear a home ranges widely and is highly personal. "I've seen clients go through the process in light speed, burning through the sorting in a day, and others take several years, and still not make much progress," said Gordon. "A good healthy time frame is probably a couple of weeks."
  • Package deals. Bundling items is a tactic I wish I'd done more. Although I put items for the estate sale together - mom's two dozen dried flower arrangements, her 40-some flowerpots - I tagged each item rather than said $50 for all. You'll move more merchandise faster, and more efficiently, if you make groups: all figurines, all items in the cleaning closet, all pots and pans. "Buyers can't pick and choose," Gordon said. "They buy the lot."
  • Your reserves. In an auction, a reserve is a price below which a seller will not sell. "We don't allow that," said Gordon. "We ask sellers if they are done with the items. If they are, we sell." It's a trap to think that having a reserve ensures you get the price you want. Only place one if you're prepared to keep the item.
  • Your goal. If your goal is to clear the house, accept that you may not get top dollar, but that you will get what the market is paying. "Clients need to release themselves to the competitive market," Gordon said.
*****
Syndicated columnist and speaker Marni Jameson is the author of "House of Havoc" and "The House Always Wins" (Da Capo Press). Contact her through www.marnijameson.com.

Friday, January 26, 2018

Senior Friendly Guide to Downsizing


I recently read a “downsizing” article from GoodCall®, a company whose mission is to give the reader the knowledge, tips and tools to make “good calls”. There are as many lists on" Tips to Downsize" as there are seniors looking to downsize!  Although most articles offer the same basic advice, I always find it interesting to read the different perspectives from which they are written.
The article acknowledges that most seniors know there will come a day when they’ll have to downsize, either to simplify their lifestyle, cut costs, be closer to children and grandchildren, or to address medical needs. Following are their tips to make downsizing easier.
Senior-Friendly Guide to Downsizing
1. Start early. Give yourself plenty of time for this process, because it will inevitably take longer than you expect. Take your time, and don’t try to sort through your entire house in one day or weekend. A couple of weeks to a month is a more realistic timeline. Take it one room at a time, and take breaks throughout.  
 “Go through each item one by one,” says Alison Kero, CEO of ACK Organizing in Brooklyn. “It’s important to give everything you own your attention for at least a second or two.  It will also help you develop a great decision making system because you’re learning how to focus and then choose, if even for a second or two.”  If you aren’t rushed, you’ll find downsizing to be much less stressful.
 2. Start small. You probably already have a couple of things in mind to toss out in the kitchen or garage, but avoid diving into such a big room at the very beginning. You have years and years of things to sort through. Start in an area with little emotional attachment. The laundry room or linen closet are good options. Understand your needs. If you’re moving into a two-bedroom house, four sets of sheets should be plenty. The rest can go.  
 “Garages/attics/basements are notorious for being the hardest rooms to tackle,” says Debra Blue, co-founder and CEO of Blue Moon Estate Sales. “These rooms tend to accumulate all the old hobbies, boxes, old holiday decorations, and clutter. They’re also known to be rather uncomfortable spaces. In the summer it’s too hot, winter it’s too cold, and in the springtime it can be too humid.”
 3. Eliminate rooms you won’t have in your new home. If you’re moving to an apartment or townhome, you might not have a garage or office space. Nearly everything in those spaces will need to be sold, donated, tossed, or relocated to other rooms. These areas might also be good items for consignment or Craigslist sales; nice office furniture and outdoor tools are more valuable than old sofas or mattresses.  “Organize backwards,” suggests Jamie Novak, author of ‘Keep This Toss That.’ “A common suggestion is to pick out the stuff you don’t want and pack the rest. Try the opposite – pack the keepers. What’s left can be looked at and most can be shared or donated.”
 4. Get rid of duplicates. You’ll find this is especially true in your kitchen. You have two or three spatulas and ladles; a couple of oversized stock pots; four different sized cookie sheets; a blender, a food processor, a coffee grinder, and a nut chopper. Now’s the time to reduce the clutter. If you’re feeling wary of handing off that second roasting pan because you use it every Christmas (but at no other time during the year), consider giving it to a child or grandchild who can bring it over for the holiday and take it home when they leave.
 5. Only make Yes or No piles – no Maybes. When you’re going through years of belongings, some things are going to tug at your heartstrings, and you’ll be tempted to make a third pile of things to keep if you have space. Don’t fall for it. You’ll end up with a Maybe pile that’s bigger than either of the other two, and you haven’t really made any progress in sorting, just moved it across the room. Take a hard look at every item you pick up. If you use it regularly or expect to in your new home, keep it. If it’s been sitting in a closet or on a shelf for a year or more, it’s time to let it go.
 “If you already weren’t using it, or didn’t like it, why on earth would you want to pack it up and schlep it to your next house?” says Hazel Thornton, of New Mexico-based Organized for Life. “I know it sounds silly, but people do it all the time. Moving isn’t cheap, either; do you really want to pay extra to move stuff you don’t even want? Don’t delude yourself by telling yourself you’ll deal with it at your next destination. No, you won’t.”
 6. Reduce collections creatively. It can be hard to let go of a lifetime collection of porcelain dolls or snow globes from all your vacations, but they will eat up a lot of space or else end up stored in a box where you’ll never see them. Instead, pick a couple to keep and take high-resolution photos of the rest, then have them made into a photo book that can sit on your coffee table or mantle. You and guests will be able to enjoy them without the clutter. There are also tech tools or websites such as Fotobridge.com that will convert those boxes of photo negatives to digital. 
“This is a great way to thin out big collections and focus on the one that really brings joy. When it comes to the rest of your collections or newer ephemera, take pictures with your smartphone! You’ll enjoy it more when it comes up in your digital photos than it being stashed in a drawer or box. The memories will continue to live on through photos and conversations with loved ones.”
 7. Don’t be afraid to sell things yourself. With Craigslist, Ebay, numerous smartphone apps, yard sales, and an abundance of consignment shops, selling your belongings has never been easier. You probably won’t make a ton of money on most items, so consider how much time you want to invest. Yard sales are usually faster, but items won’t sell for as much. Craigslist has its drawbacks, but you’ll have a much wider audience and can probably get more for your stuff. Consignment is a good option for high-end furniture, handbags and other accessories; prices are reasonable, and they’ll sometimes pick up heavy furniture for you. If you aren’t handy with a computer, your grandchildren can probably help. But if that all sounds like more than you care to deal with, hiring a firm to run an estate sale might be your best bet.
 8. Consider legacy gifts early. Is there an antique clock in your foyer that you plan to one day leave to your son? Maybe a china collection your granddaughter adores? If there are certain heirlooms or pieces you plan to leave to your family in your will, consider instead giving those gifts now. This has two benefits: you’ll get the items out of our way, and you’ll be able to enjoy the feeling of giving those items to your loved ones now. While you’re at it, find out if there are any items your children want that you don’t know about – you might find an easy way to make them happy and lighten your load. 
9. Allow some time to reminisce. While you’re cleaning and sorting, there will be some days when you want to stop emptying the kids’ bedrooms and just look through the kindergarten drawings, soccer trophies, and once-prized stuffed animals. It’s OK to pause and let the nostalgia take over for a bit. Cry if you need to, or move on to another room and come back. This is why you started early – just don’t let it prevent you from eventually getting the job done.
 “I always ask my clients how the item at hand makes them feel,” says Morgan Ovens, of Haven Home in Los Angeles. “If it brings up any negative feelings, let it go. If it brings happiness of course it stays! The idea here is to only be surrounded by things you absolutely love. Isn’t that a great goal?”
 10. Use this as a chance to bond. Invite the kids and grandkids over for the weekend. Talk to the young ones about where you bought your favorite trinkets. Tell them about your family’s heirlooms. Let them help pack, ask questions, and spend time with you. Get help posting items for sale online. It can be one more moment your family shares together in the house you’ve loved – before you start making those memories together in your next home. Remember that it’s your family that’s important for the memories you cherish, not the stuff around you.