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Enshope Asked May 2019

My mother passed away a little over a week ago. Who has good advice on sorting out her home and selling it quickly?

My mother was in assisted living three months, and we could not sell the condo because her will gave her a life estate, even though it was transferred to my name. Now we have this huge task of sorting out and staging her condo for sale. We need to act quickly because we got her a reverse mortgage so we could afford her living there. Now it works against us each month it is unsold. Any tips or advice on clearing out, sorting and selling a home would be appreciated. Thanks

JoAnn29 May 2019
So sorry about Mom.

JoAnn29 May 2019
I would get it on the market first.

I took a room at a time. First thing was get a trashbag and throw out any old bills, things that can't be given away or sold. Have a good shredder. Keep IRS and state income tax for at least 5 years. I keep receipts for anything I own. Clean out closets and drawers of clothing. Undies get trashed. Other clothing I donated.

I am not a yardsale person. Takes more time than the money u get. I donated anything I didn't want or family to thrift stores. Our local one supports a school. A friend had a yardsale to support a childrens camp. My Church has one every summer. That China and crystal, sad to say, our children don't want it. Pictures I put in a box to look at when I had time. Magazines got recycled. Books donated to the library. Furniture to Habitat. (they picked up)

There were 4 of us. I bought storage boxes and put our names on each. As I cleaned out, I through pictures of them and things I found of theirs in their box. Then I gave it to them.

Don't let it overwhelm you. Try not to be too sentimental. Remember, someone's going to have to clean out ur junk.

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JenniferLeigh May 2019
One option is to hire a service to clear it out and handle the sale, for example something like this: http://www.caringtransitions.com/Services/Estate-Sales

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