Closing out home of loved one after move to assisted living, advice?

Here's the reality on estate sales. I've had one for my in-laws home which had more than 50 YEARS worth of accumulation in attics, basements, garages, etc. As people get older, they just can't keep up with maintaining all their "stuff". It gets old, dusty, dirty, brittle, etc. After family members took what they wanted, we hired a local estate company. We had the option (for an additional fee) to have them "take care of" the remaining items. What they do is, they load it up in truck and take it away. After an estate sale, there is literally nothing left of value. That truck will go to a dump. Estate companies do not have the personnel to sift through leftovers to resell or donate.

We chose to deal with the leftovers ourselves. I then washed and cleaned what I donated (please don't donate dirty dusty items to charity) and hired a clean out company who hauled the remaining stuff away. It was a truck and a half of "stuff".

As we age, please consider family members who are left behind. In 2 years, I had to "clean out" 50 years worth of my parents AND my in-laws houses accumulation alone. It was mentally and physically exhausting as I am a VERY sentimental person. All those items brought back memories and there were many days I would drive home after working in their houses all day and sit in my driveway and cry -- for the loss of my parents and in-laws and the fact that we (as a society) accumulate so much "stuff" that our family members do not WANT. What we think is valuable is NOT to our children. Trust me. Do your family a favor, and donate your items NOW before leaving it for family members to deal with. After 40 years of marriage, I pretty much have had that conversation with my 3 children. I know what they want of our "stuff" and it's not much. In fact, hardly anything. I am in my early 60's and my goal is to clean out as much as possible while I'm able to do it. Don't wait hoping your family wants your "stuff". Do it NOW.

I am a Realtor. Please find a reputable estate company by asking your friends, etc. Yelp is not usually the best place to find that company as owners often post their own reviews. Same with a reputable, experienced, local real estate agent - ask around, do your own local research, etc. to find a good fit for you.

Selling a property "As Is" does NOT mean you leave everything in the house for someone else to deal with. "As Is" simply means that any inspections are for informational purposes only and the Seller(s) will not be making any repairs, etc.

You will also need proof that you're legally able to sell the house.

I'm a licensed Realtor in MD.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Good luck!

My husband and I spent a number of months cleaning up my dads house and moving things to mini storage that needed to be gone through later. He never threw away a piece of paper and as his legal conservator, I'm still sorting through all of this to be sure I keep 7 years of tax returns, etc. Once we had everything out and moved to nini storage that myself or siblings could possibly want, we hired an estate sale company to do the rest. Dad had a couple workshops out back that the rats had moved into and they even cleaned those out for me because there was no way we were going to do that. They got top dollar for a lot of things and also sold both of my dads cars at far more than I would have asked.. They took everything out when the sale was done. Yes, they took a large amount of the proceeds from the sale but so worth it. They got far more than I would have. Wonderful people, too. I follow their sales here in town and have been to several. Dads house has been for sale for several months. We've dropped the price once but might do again soon. I had not planned on having it for sale this long. People have commented it needs updating - yes - but all doable while living there. An estate sale company was definitely the way to go for us.

I am in the middle of this situation with my parents house. I found a AL facility much closer to me and my family, which is a great place. Now trying to empty many years of stuff to sell the house. What I am finding is that the estate sales people in the area are too busy or are scheduling sales 3-5 months out. No one in the area is picking up donations, and many places are only accepting limited drop-off donations or none at all. Thank You pandemic. We have taken home more the things than we needed; are taking some to places in my town accepting donations, and will be calling a junk collector to carry out the things I can't manage myself. My parents would not like what we did but we are doing the best we can. Instead of selling it in 3 months, it has now been 8 months. Part of the problem has been me though, as I have been trying to carry-on life at my house and make many 1 to 3 day trips to work on theirs. Not looking for advice here, but sharing the reality of how things have changed in some parts of the country.

Homes tend to sell sooner if they have been professionally staged. Usually a realtor will have somebody who can do that. My sister and mom have both sold homes in the last couple of years. From their experiences:

1 - Box up everything that is personal, religious, alcohol-themed, has semi-clothed figures, or profanity.
2 - Box up everything until you have achieved a hotel room level of decoration.
3 - Store all this is a garage or storage unit.
4 - Empty out the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator.
5 - Get a professional cleaner in to do a thorough cleaning, including carpet.
6 - Cut the grass and mulch flower beds.
7 - Get a professional photographer (realtor usually has a good one) to take great pictures of the home.
8 - Once property posts, most homes are sold in less than 1 month.
9 - You can sell contents of home to one of those second hand buyers once the property sells. Sometimes home buyers want to but the furnishings.

Juse finished doing this for my mom in Memory Care. My sister and I , spent many months working a few days each week, sometimes together, sometimes separately. Now we are lucky, Mom and Dad planned ahead, and has savings and LTC insurance, so Medicaid rules or her needing funds did not apply. So knowing mom would want her things to be used by family first, then sold/donated we went to work. Mom saved ALL my and my sister schoolwork! toys, board games, even my old brownie uniform. It was hard to go through, as we kept getting distracted by memories. My mom and dad's correspondence during his wartime service!
So my sister and I took what we wanted, then grandkids, then other close family members and friends. We shredded tons of paper(think tax records dating to the 50s) Go through all purses, and all paper. Keep records dealing with the house like insurance claims and maintenance or loans..
We found more than $3000, in travelers checks and cash tucked away. Part in a dresser( they lived on Gulf coast, was their run from the hurricane money, part among old vacation memorabilia. Over $200 in coins. We boxed up hundred of photos dating to the early 1900, some were my grandparents (young grandad grinning on a motorcycle!) My son took her piano and now my grandchild is learning piano on the same piano I did.
Once family had everything we wanted, and personal papers either shredded or kept and trash had been discarded, we contracted with a local person to do an estate sale. They washed, displayed and priced everything and ran the sale for 3 days. They take a percentage of the profits, what % varies with company. Ours, once complete, let us look over things one more time, and then said they would donate or discard what we didn't want that didn't sell.
Once all that was done, I hired a cleaning service to do a deep clean on everything, and we put it on the market.
The check for the sale will be placed in her retirement accounts along with proceeds from the sale to be used for her care.

I would caution you just not to sell without going through things. Some of my college paperwork was still there,, which had my social security number all over it, and of course all my parents tax records. Which could be an issue with identity theft.

My mother and dad were hoarders. Especially of papers and correspondence. My dad lived to 96, my mother (99) is still alive. When we sold their house, it took two 20 yard dumpsters just for their paper trash, leaving 96 boxes or tubs full of "important papers, don't get rid of those!". My cousin had a great idea. We took all of their other stuff out on the lawn, put up a sign that said, "Every item - $.25 cents!" By the end of the day, all of their thousands of useless items were gone!

Gracie, thanks for sharing the good advice on checking before something is discarded.  Medical records with SS numbers, or records with account numbers, could be financial manna in the hands of those w/o scruples.

I sold to *We buy ugly houses*
The house was a nightmare! Deferred maintenance, sewer problems.
They said anything we didn't want or couldn't move to just leave. They work with charities that come pick up unwanted furniture, kitchen items etc.
We went through everything and removed ALL paperwork, photos.
It was a huge relief to unload it. I got more than I expected given the really bad shape it was in. She and my father were chain smokers. 60 years of nicotine crap covered every surface in a smelly, grimey yellow sludge. I'm a non smoker can you tell?
Of course if the house is in good shape you're better off clearing it out and selling yourself.

Ten years ago, mom was still in her house and I was maintaining everything and knew I couldn't keep it up.  I was exhausted and it was no longer safe for her to be there alone. We were waiting on a brand new assisted living facility to be built two minutes from my house.  Once it was complete, I called a realtor and listed her house.  I told the realtor we needed at least a days notice to show the house because I had to go there and clean the house to make it presentable and take mom out of the house.  I work full time and have a home of my own, so managing her and all of this was no walk in the park.  Luckily the home was shown maybe 10 times before it sold.  Moms furniture was too big for her AL apartment, so we bought new apartment sized furniture and I tried to make it a fun thing for the two of us.  "Decorating her cute little apartment".  I listed her large old furniture on craigslist and sold it.  Once mom was moved into AL, I then had the chore of going through everything....the garage, the attic, closets, etc.  It was exhausting and I was angry. I was angry that mom had dementia at a young age, I was angry that I didn't have any help, I was angry that she had so much crap in the house....I was just angry.   I hauled many things to GoodWill to donate what I didn't think I could sell.  Everything else was thrown out.  Pictures and documents were thrown into huge storage tubs and taken to my garage to be gone through when I wasn't under time constraints, because we had to be out of the house by a certain date.

Mom didn't have any money to hire help, so I had to do it myself.  Even if mom would have had money to hire folks for the heavy lifting, I would have had to have gone through everything first, because she had stuff hidden.  I didn't have a clue what all was in that house. 

I know my mom couldn't have predicted in her wildest dreams that she would be diagnosed with dementia in her 60's, especially when her mom was still alive and living alone and sharp as a tack!  So mom had not downsized or organized or planned.  I hope to have my things in better order so that my daughter is not saddled with the stress of everything I went through with my mom.