primitive wants to get rid of used furniture

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1112250

Oh my.

no_hypocrisy (25,878 posts)    Thu Feb 19, 2015, 07:53 AM

Do businesses exist to purchase the contents of homes?
 
My attorney is pressing me to bypass an estate sale and put all the furniture into a dumpster on March 7.

First, I'm offended by disposing of good furniture simply because it can't stay in a house. It shouldn't go into a landfill unless it were broken, ripped, etc.

Second, I need the money from the proceeds of the sale. Since my father died in April last year, I've had to cover the expenses of two homes and without employment.

I would have asked this question earlier, but this came out of the blue. Even my realtor had planned for an estate sale after a sales contact would be signed and to have even a modicum of furniture out for showing the house. Plus I've spent 10 months cleaning out the clutter in 14 rooms including the attic and donating/disposing of stuff like an upright piano, stairlift, etc.

If you can't think of anything, it's OK. I'll have a charity with a big truck pick up the stuff. I really can't stand the idea of a couch in a dumpster, etc. 

Renew Deal (60,312 posts)   Thu Feb 19, 2015, 08:31 AM

1. There are services that will come in, photograph, tag, and advertise
 
And depending on where you live you will probably get a nice long line. I'll try to find the name of a service. But there is a cost.

Antiques draw extra attention. 

no_hypocrisy (25,878 posts)    Thu Feb 19, 2015, 08:57 AM

2. I don't mind the service fee.
 
At least I would be getting SOMETHING instead of paying for a dumpster and throwing away stuff. I *wish* we had antiques unless the 1960s is now the new "antique".

THANK YOU ! ! ! !

BTW, the home is in New Jersey.

Mopar151 (6,814 posts)    Thu Feb 19, 2015, 09:32 AM

4. In New England, you call an auctioneer!
 
Or you advertise an "Estate Sale" in the newspaper - same section as yard sales. Sounds like your realtor has a handle on things, your attourney not so much. Give the house buyers first shot at the estate furniture? Or hold an open house/estate sale! (The atty may be seeing a situation - like troublesome heirs - that does not exist in your case) We had a big yard sale to clean out before renting the old house on the "family farm" - The thing that amazes me are the antique dealers that show up at the crack of dawn, hoping to get the best stuff - thus the line "early birds pay double!" seen in many yard sale ads.*

*Damn.

That is such an excellent idea.

It'd keep vultures like the notorious re-seller the vindictive primitive "Vinca" away.

no_hypocrisy (25,878 posts)    Thu Feb 19, 2015, 09:45 AM

5. I would prefer your alternative,
 
but my attorney is threatening to walk away from representation if I don't go with him on this. And if he walks, repairs won't be made as he's dealing with the Executor who ignored my pleas before I hired my attorney.

And I have an auctioneer but he's taking only choice pieces, leaving me with a decent set of furniture that doesn't deserve disposal/the dumpster. It's like throwing away 2/3 of a roast because the meal's over. It can be salvaged.

Mopar151 (6,814 posts)    Thu Feb 19, 2015, 10:24 AM

6. I'd hafta ask why????
 
There has to be some used furniture dealer, consignment store, thrift store, etc who'll take the stuff, even for pennies on the dollar. But I'd have to hear a lot more than threats, and I really wonder about the quality of the representation you're getting. 

[Carl]

My guess is that the OP has no claim to the furniture so is using this bouncy to set the stage for being justified in stealing it.

[Linda]

Mopar151 (6,814 posts)    Thu Feb 19, 2015, 10:24 AM

6. I'd hafta ask why????
 
There has to be some used furniture dealer, consignment store, thrift store, etc who'll take the stuff, even for pennies on the dollar. But I'd have to hear a lot more than threats, and I really wonder about the quality of the representation you're getting.

I was really wondering about the quality of furniture he was selling....and if he doesn't want to throw it in a dumpster..if the furniture is all that good...what's wrong with donating it to the Goodwill or the Salvation Army?

[franksolich]

My guess is that the OP has no claim to the furniture so is using this bouncy to set the stage for being justified in stealing it.

What I got out of it was the delightful suggestion, "early birds pay double."

I dunno why I never thought of that, those years that I had garage sales, when I lived in Lincoln.

There was one time I was setting things up outside for a sale advertised as starting at 9:00 a.m.

This was about 6:00 a.m. on a summer morning; I wanted to have everything all set out and displayed in a good manner, by the time the sale opened.

I was still unloading boxes and setting things up on tables, in a hurry because it was going slower than I thought it should, when one of the locally-known re-sellers parked in front, and strode up to the front yard.  It was 6:00 a.m.--three hours before the advertised start of the sale.

She was a Vinca-looking woman, and started going through boxes of stuff, and asking me questions--the persistent one being, "will you come down on this?"

At first, I politely mentioned that yeah, I would, after the sale'd been going on a while, like maybe mid-afternoon.  But for right now, well, I was trying to get the best price possible.  I gently suggested that if she wished to haggle, as the sale wound down would be the best time, and so she should come back later.

She insisted her time was valuable, and she didn't have time to come back.

"And these things might be gone by then; will you come down on this?"

I could sense she really wanted about six items, antiquities that weren't mine (I was just selling them for a friend), and which were already priced far below their "book" values.

There was a garden hose running water in the side-yard, and I went over to pick up, advancing towards the avaricious old bat as if I were going to spray her.

She left.

Everybody else plays by the rules, showing up at, and after, the scheduled opening time; I dunno why these "early birds," these greedy windfall profiteers, the re-sellers, think they're exempt from following the rules of decent and civilized behavior.