I’m Selling My House. What Should I Do About My Stuff?

Ok, you’re selling your house and you need to make tough decisions about all of your belongings accrued over the years. You wonder whether you should sell, move, or donate these items.

Let me help. Here’s a great guide on how you should systematically go about this procedure as well as give you tools and resources to make this process smooth and easy.

Disclaimer* This task will take hours & if you’re a hoarder, then this is not for you my friend. Please consult a doctor or a priest for professional help.

First thing you need to do is grab a notepad and write down three categories: Must Have’s, Sale Items, and Donate Bait.

Now, walk around your house and begin categorizing your items. Remember, must have’s are items you can’t live without such as sentimental belongings, sale items are item’s you can do without and if it doesn’t sell, you are ready and willing to donate them. For donation items, let your heart decide what they will be and honestly, be ready to discard these items if necessary.

Now that you’re done categorizing, let’s explore how to execute each category in the most effective way.

• For your Must Have’s: Here’s a hint: Go to your local UPS store and ask for their discarded boxes. Remember to pick up a pack of bubble wrap on your way out. Depending on how many items you have, either ask help from a friend with a truck, hire professional movers, or rent a u-haul truck.
• For your Sale Items: It’s time to do some self-appraising. Type your item into craigslist, amazon, and google to see how much your item is retail or used. Then discount it appropriately and write down the price. Once you have done so, you could either have a garage sale or post it on craigslist, amazon marketplace, and facebook. As a last resort, auction it off on Ebay.

Here is a hint for those who want to avoid the inconvenience. Amazon’s fulfillment program allows you to dump all your stuff in a box, send it to them, and let them sell it for you at a low fee. Other services such as chegg & half.com are great for selling books and for excess clothes, you can use Etsy, or other great companies like Threadflip.

Another technique we’ve used here at ODIGO is, bargaining with the buyers of your house to sell furniture, paintings, appliances and other items to them.

• For Donate Bait: find your nearest Goodwill or Google search charities in your area. Look into Taskrabbit.com, Furniturebanks.org, Freecycle.com, DonationTown.org, or connect with a local church. There are charities who will even pick it up from you.

That’s it. It may not be easy and if you’re watching this, you should probably start right now.

I hope this helps.

Again, this is Peter, your modern expert at ODIGO from Washington state. Stay tuned for more great real estate tips.

Peter