Tips on Emptying or Packing Up a House for an Estate Sale After a Death

Having had several deaths in the famiy I have had to empty three households in the past year and will l be emptying a fourth in the near future. The last one is just because I'll be selling the house I've lived in for the last 35 years.

Doing something like this is a tremendous job. For most people the best thing you can do is get some friends to help with the general organizing. I like to work alone so I prefer handling it all myself. First of all, if it's a relatives's home you're dealing with or you are executor of an estate as I was, it's important to deal with any obviously valuable pieces befor dispersing anything. If there are family members entitled to items let them take those. If there are items in a will being assigned to family members make sure they get them picked up immediately. This clears the way for the next step.

Get an appraiser. By hiring an appraiser, paid for by the estate, I was able to price items correctly before I allowed dealers in. I was quite surprised at the value of some of the pieces in my Aunt's house, art work in particular. I have friends who own antique shops and auction houses so I notified them first once everything was appraised. Once those pieces were gone or while I was waiting for their pick up I went through all the small items, dishware, silverware, decorative pieces and either packed them for donation or kept them out for the dealers. I also called some acquaintances and put out feelers for anyone who needed basic furniture, bedding rugs, odd chairs and tables, garden tools, items like that. I could have held a garage sale but I felt that was too much work and I dind't want to nickel and dime. People came and picked up desks, beds, simple lamps and tables and the regular rugs, tools, laddersand items like that. It made them happy and it made my job easier.

Clothing: Although all the clothing was going to charity I made a point of going through every pocket to make sure nothing was tucked away. My Mom had a habit of pinning valuables to the insides of cothing or tucking them in hems of clothing.I donated these items to a local church and made sure to get a receipt for tax purposes for the estate.Many places have drop boxes for prescription glasses.

Personal photos and albums: They can be distributed to family, of course.

Important papers: I went through all desks and any papers I found and created files distinguishing what went with the house that would be sold, what would be needed for tax purposes and bank information. All this was placed in a mesh bin in files that I could easily access and transport to my home. All magazines were notified to discontinue subscriptions. All Insurance companies were notified. Their was health, car and household insurance to be notified. People, organizations, stores, credit cards, and more to be notified.

Phone books: I went through personal phone books for information as to what doctors she was a patient of, dentists and any family members or frends I wasn't aware of so I could notify them.

Mail: Have it forwarded to your home and be prepared to deal with many companies.

Cars can be sold and as executor you can sign the title. In this case the car was totalled in the accident she was involved in.

Pets: An important thing people don't think about is what will be done if you have a pet and you pass away. Many adoption agencies require that you have a deisgnated home for the animal or the name of someone willing to take responsibility for the pet. My Aunt did not but she had a surviving brother who was willing to take the cat she left behind. My husband and I transported the cat out to his home with all it's papers and belongings. Unfortunately , shortly after that he had an apartment fire and the cat was displaced. I located her and had her shipped down to my daughter in Florida.This Uncle recently died so it worked out well for the cat even though that sounds bizarre.

You don't realize when its an entire house you have to empty everything from food in the pantries to toiletries has to go somewhere. From bedding to curtains, medicines, sewing needles, laundry detergent,every little thing needs to go somewhere.. You may have cars, several cars to deal with. There are things like garden tools and furniture to find homes for.

Great sources for disposing of things n good usable condition are churches, Vietnam Vets, Salvation Army, Good will and sites on the internet like Freecycle.com (we dealt with Bergencountyfreecycle). Names of appraisers and antique dealers come in handy. You can give valuable items to auction houses. Our town also has a "clean up day" where you can put items at the curb and people can pick them up until the garbage men collect them, it's meant for bulky trash.

I had the house sold within a month and all paperwork was done without too much trouble. Selling it quickly meant emptying it quickly though.

Have legal size pads ready so you can write down:

Lists of items and what you plan on doing with them.
Names of important peope you need to contact
All insurance companies and their phone numbers
Organizations you're planniing to donate to and how to reach them
List of people to contact, friends and acquaintances
Phone numbers for newspapers to be notified
Lawyers names
Accountants names (taxes will be due)
Mortuary names
Bank information (checking,savings, Financial advisors,safety deposit boxes)
Have several copies of death certificates and the paperwork assigning you as executor.Many places accept copies.
Have plenty of tape,boxes and magic markers on hand to help pack and organize things.

An important lesson from all this is you should have all the important papers , all information as to your banking, your pets in a book along with the names of all important people to be notified at the time of your death. Peope don't like to deal with this but it's going to make the surviving members of your family able to put your things in order and it will give them a sense of your wishes. List what your pets habits and likes are. List your burial wishes. Be sure to have an up to date will. My Uncle just died shortly after having prepared a will. The problem was he didn't get back to sign it.

As an executor you have a lot of responsibility and it doesn't just end. WIthin a month of my Aunt's passing,my Mother died, then my sister seized and I had to empty and sell her home as well. She survived. I have since sold her home and my Mother's. If nothing else, I have become, not by choice, quite an expert at being an executor. Even if you aren't appointed executor or executrix as a family member you should take an interest in preparing your nearest and dearest and makeing the outcome easier for them at a time when emotionally they will be overwhelmed.