Top Tips for a Successful Estate Cleanout

Clearing a family home is rarely just a logistical problem. It usually happens under time pressure, often after a loss, and frequently with family members in different cities and different states of readiness.

What follows is the order of operations that tends to work, drawn from doing a great many of these.

Before anything is moved

1. 1Establish who has authority. The executor or trustee makes the decisions. Without that settled, every disagreement becomes a negotiation and nothing gets finished.
2. 2Secure the property. Change the locks if keys are unaccounted for. Empty homes attract attention, particularly once a death notice has been published.
3. 3Locate the important papers first. Will, trust documents, deeds, titles, insurance policies, tax records, military discharge papers, bank and brokerage statements.
4. 4Photograph every room before anything moves. This resolves later disputes about what was there, and it is useful for probate and insurance.
5. 5Do not discard anything for the first pass. Sort into rooms, not into bins.

Where valuables actually hide

People of a certain generation frequently did not trust banks entirely, and the results are consistent enough to be worth a checklist.

• Inside books — particularly Bibles, encyclopaedias and cookbooks. Cash and documents are pressed between pages.
• Taped beneath drawers and inside dresser frames.
• In coat pockets and inside shoes at the back of wardrobes.
• Freezers and refrigerator compartments, wrapped in foil.
• Behind picture frames and inside the backing board.
• In toolboxes, coffee tins, sewing baskets and film canisters.
• Under carpet edges and inside curtain hems.

Getting an appraisal before you sell

The categories most often undervalued are costume jewellery that is not costume, mid-century furniture, tools, cameras, fountain pens, vinyl records, military items and anything Asian in origin. The categories most often overvalued are formal dining sets, china services, upright pianos, encyclopaedias and collectible plates.

A general appraiser will walk a house for a modest flat fee and flag what is worth a specialist. That is money well spent before an estate sale, not after.

Handling family disagreement

Most estate conflicts are not about money. They are about items with meaning attached, and they are made worse by time pressure and grief.

• Circulate a photographed inventory before anyone visits, so requests are made in the open rather than by whoever arrives first.
• Use rounds. Each person picks one item in turn, order rotating. It is slow, and it is far better than the alternative.
• Sell what more than one person wants but nobody needs, and split the proceeds.
• Set a deadline for claims. Open-ended timelines stall the whole process.

What it costs and how long it takes

Estate cleanouts are quoted after walking the property rather than over the phone, because the spaces that drive the price are the ones nobody mentions on a call — the attic, the basement, the shed, the back of the garage. Size and how full the home is are what set the number, and you get it in writing before anything is loaded.

Most cleanouts are completed in one to two days once scheduled. The clearing is rarely the slow part — the sorting and the family decisions are.

A realistic timeline

1. 1Week one: secure the property, locate documents, photograph everything.
2. 2Week two: family selection rounds, appraisal of anything flagged.
3. 3Week three: estate sale or consignment for items with value.
4. 4Week four: donation of usable remainder, then the full cleanout.

If you are working against a close of escrow or a listing date, say so at the outset. A good cleanout service will tell you honestly whether the date is achievable rather than discovering the problem on the day.