I still harbor bad feelings about my parents and in-laws regarding their stuff.
Neither addressed their collections of stuff. It left bad feelings between some family members in addition to lost time and money on others.
Part of any home search should include the right sizing/downsizing aspect of the stage of life and the property itself.
I will have to clear out my parents house one day. I have talked with my parents about this, and while it will be work, it will be what it will be. There is a plan in place to get it done and it won't be fun that is for sure. The hard part will be going through their stuff. That is a statement about the emotional aspect of the work, not the physical.
We have had the conversation, and I see it covered in various YouTube videos and "print" media regarding thinks that parents own. Often parents or grand parents want to hand down furniture which kids or grandkids don't won't or don't have room. Getting one's head around this fact is hard for some I think.
I have some stuff, and there is stuff at my parent's house I would like to keep, but I simply don't have the room. It is mostly furniture that my grandfather made. I really don't want too have the furniture pass outside the family but I don't think we will have space for it all.
My good friends were angry at her parents for not downsizing and leaving a “mess” to sort when the parents both passed within months of each other…
I was hard on her and said nothing says you can’t walk away or call the realtor to handle it…
My brother gets several of these listings every year and he does it all and the heirs get a check.
Often the heirs are distant or unable to travel or overseas.
Just did one where the son is in England… made one visit and turned everything over to my brother and was very pleased with the result…
Part of my plan is to donate stuff to local charities near my parents house. Some of this has been done already but more will be done when it is time. The real estate broker has been chosen for the most part and that is how the house will be cleaned up and sold. My parents house is in an area with lots of old people so there are people who deal with estates.
For years, I used furniture I got from the condo of a man who had died and the family just wanted the stuff gone. Did not cost me a penny and it was good furniture. Heck, it was better than the stuff we have now, but we did not like the look of the free furniture so donated it and bought what we liked.
I do not understand being angry at parents for not downsizing. My parents really struggled with the idea of moving and it was just too much for them to do mentally. We moved quite a bit as a family, so for better or worse, they knew what it takes to move. I looked at what it would cost to pack their stuff and move it but even that was too much for them to handle. At some point, people just want to stay and not go any where. That is part of the No Go Years phase. I have seen this with family members. They wanted to move at some level but the positives and negatives where just too much for them to make a decision. I keep saying if you can't make a decision on moving, then the right decision is to do nothing.
Now I am saying to myself and wifey.
