friends bereavement and disposing of possessions

[JULIEWOOLIE]

My friends mother in law recently passed away and she is finding it really hard to sort out her possessions.If you ask for a house clearance firm to go in how do you know they are trustworthy and would they tell you if something is of any value,is there any other path i can advise my friend to follow?

[sandbach99]

Do you have an auction house in the area, not a big name like Christies, just someone fairly local , most do house clearances as well and as they are better trained to spot a valuable, even then they are not always right but if two 'experts' have seen what is in the auction the price will normally reach its' correct value.

But do whatch their commission fees they can be a bit of a shock and then there is VAT.

You can always ask more than one auction house or house clearance company to give you a valuation.

[Buenchico]

(2-part post):

If your friend goes to a firm of secondhand/antique dealers which offers a 'house clearance' service, she will have no way of knowing whether the prices she receives are fair.

A much better solution is to look under 'Auctioneers and Valuers', in Yellow Pages, and phone a few which offer their own house clearance service. Some will charge for actually clearing the house of its contents; others might do this for free (because they'll make their profit later). Any decent firm of auctioneers will set aside any particularly valuable items for inclusion in a specialist sale (such as for antiques or jewellery). Everything else will go into a general sale.

Obviously, your friend will have to pay commission on the sales. Most auctioneers charge around 15% + VAT (although they might charge more, perhaps 20% + VAT, if they cleared the house for 'free'). However, your friend will know that the auctioneer will be working in her interest because a high bid benefits both her and the auctioneer.

[Buenchico]

A hypothetical example might help to illustrate things:

SCENARIO 1:
Let's suppose that a secondhand dealer clears the house and spots a good quality antique table which he knows will fetch at least �300 in a general furniture auction. Some dealers might not even mention it and just pay a flat fee of, say, a couple of hundred quid, for clearing the entire house (which has other contents worth several thousand pounds at auction). Other dealers might want to show how 'honest' they are and say something like, "That's a nice piece. I can't really buy that with the general house clearance. I'll tell you what, I'll give you fifty quid for it".

SCENARIO 2:
An auctioneer clears the house. He's offered to do it for free but will charge 20% + VAT for his commission on sales. He spots the same table and, because he conducts the same auctions which the secondhand dealer attends, he also knows that the table will make �300 in a general auction. However, he also knows that he's got a specialist sale, for this type of furniture, scheduled in 6 weeks time. He clears the house and sells most of the items at a general sale. He keeps the table back for the specialist sale, where it makes �400. He charges �94 in commission (including the VAT) but that still leaves the vendor with �306.

Which would your friend rather have? �50 or �306? Both the secondhand dealer and the auctioneer want to maximize their profit. The only way the secondhand dealer can do this is to work 'against' your friend (i.e. to pay very low prices). The only way the auctioneer can do this is to work 'with' your friend (i.e. it's in both persons' interests that the auctioneer should get the maximum bid).

Go to an auctioneer, for house clearances, every time.

Chris

(PS: I was typing while Sandbach99 was posting. It's good to see that we're in broad agreement!)

[JULIEWOOLIE]

Thanks so much to you both, it is so nice that people bother to give others their knowledge when some of us are so totally in the dark.Thankyou I have printed this off and will pass it on X