Sad duty to perform...

[LostInTheWoods]

Very recently, we lost my FIL after a long illness. While it was "a blessing in disguise", as they say, due to how he had deteriorated so much, he is still very much missed by his family.

Among the thousand other things that go on around you when a family has to go through these times, his daughters are left to care for his estate. Part of that estate includes two tractors and various pieces of equipment. Being that he was our first parent to pass away, we really have no experience to draw on as what to do next with those items. So, I figured to good folks on TBN might share some good advice.

There are so many options, I guess it's a little confusing on what to do now. Try to see if local tractor dealers are interested? Ebay? Craigslist? Auction?

What's the best way to determine a decent estimate of their value? What would you do in this situation?


Many thanks,

Lost

 

[crusty 1]

Sorry for your loseI think most folks around here have an estate auction.Seems to bring many people and items generally sell at higher prices,frees you of the tire kickers and cheats that may try to take advantage of you.Dave

 

[jlsmith]

Sorry to hear about your fil passing. If you could post some picks of the equ. with hrs, im shure the tbn family can give you a few starting prices. I would b glad to look it up and give you a price. Then put it on creigs list and c what happens.

Jeremy

 

[sunnyside360]

Sorry about your loss. Been thru this and know your situation.
As far as value of equipment, you may find some help here
Tractors, Used Tractors, Tractors For Sale At TractorHouse.com - Manufacturers
For advertising/selling, Ebay is ok but I've had better experience on craigslist. You also have the classified section here on tbn as another option.
Good luck.

 

[studor]

I guess it depends on what you want to do. If there is a lot of stuff that you have no interest in staying in the family, auctions are fast and relatively easy. If you want time to make decisions, you can always use Kijiji, ebay etc to sell individual pieces but you will end up with all the leftovers. With only one "parent" out of five left , If I had it to do over again I would have joint accounts and transfer ownership of most assets to one sibling or the other half of the couple prior to the actual event so that disposal was trouble free and title would not be an issue. In terms of the value, if you are sentimental what you get is never enough, --if you are not, you will be surprised at what people will pay for junk!

 

[forgeblast]

Around here a lot of people do estate auctions. Call around and see if you can get the best price. The good thing about them is that if a relative wants a piece of equipment or if two want it they can bid on it, after all is said and done you can split what you made. It solves a lot of fighting.
It also shows why you need a will. Not somethign to think about but when my mom died suddenly of cancer, went from healty to hospice in less then 6 mts, we were glad she had the will it made a horrible situation less stressful.

 

[Reg]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I think an auction will bring the best prices for the most items.
"Bidding fever" is ugly as all heck from the buyers' POV, but would be to your advantage as a seller.
Not to sound callous, but the bottom line is probably that you want as much for "it all" as you can get, not just the few major items.
Selling piece meal would drag it on and on, probably best to get it over with.
Holding an auction with the MAJOR items as the attractions would get the idle and curious folk there who will probably bid $10 or $20 for the little stuff that they wouldn't actually GO there for.
Lots of little stuff adds up, but the two tractors and implements are what will bring folk in, so selling those first would leave you without much to draw folk in to buy everything else.
So you could be faced with a whole season of yard sales to dispose of the rest.

 

[CurlyDave]

When our neighbor died, his children had a professional auctioneer come in and sell everything.

They got much better prices than what I expected, although there were a few items which went for bargain prices, on the whole it was more than anticipated. And, best of all, it all happened in two days of auction, with a lot of work being done by the auctioneer. Don't underestimate the value of this. If a survivor has to sell each item individually on craigslist or ebay, it can take a long time and will be emotionally draining.

The neighbor had lots and lots of stuff, and it would have taken more than a year to sell it off one piece at a time. Who would do it, and what would they get paid are the questions that split families.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

Around here a lot of people do estate auctions. Call around and see if you can get the best price. The good thing about them is that if a relative wants a piece of equipment or if two want it they can bid on it, after all is said and done you can split what you made. It solves a lot of fighting.
It also shows why you need a will. Not somethign to think about but when my mom died suddenly of cancer, went from healty to hospice in less then 6 mts, we were glad she had the will it made a horrible situation less stressful.

Fortunately, no fighting here. Only survivors are the two adult daughters, and they have been very agreeable on what each hopes to keep as far as sentimental items. No will, but like I said, they are both on the same page.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

When our neighbor died, his children had a professional auctioneer come in and sell everything.

They got much better prices than what I expected, although there were a few items which went for bargain prices, on the whole it was more than anticipated. And, best of all, it all happened in two days of auction, with a lot of work being done by the auctioneer. Don't underestimate the value of this. If a survivor has to sell each item individually on craigslist or ebay, it can take a long time and will be emotionally draining.

Emotionally draining is a pretty good description. After 5 weeks in the hospital, complete with a series of ups and downs (the "ups" being just enough to hope that he might turn the corner), followed by funeral arraignments, visitation, funeral, hospital bills...there's hardly been time for real mourning.

There's no particular hurry to do anything with the property at this point. And it will probably be some time before the girls are ready to move forward with it. But when they do, they typically come to me for suggestions. So I feel like its a small thing to offer what little I can do to find out what suggestions I can give them when the time comes.

Auction seems to stand out to me as the least hassle to the family. With auction, can a "reserve" or minimum price be set for each item? No one is expecting to get rich here, but I'd hate to see the man's legacy disappear for pennies on the dollar.

I suppose having a tractor dealer purchase the whole lot at a fair price would be even less hassle, but I don't know how commonly that occurs, if ever.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

Sorry to hear about your fil passing. If you could post some picks of the equ. with hrs, im shure the tbn family can give you a few starting prices. I would b glad to look it up and give you a price. Then put it on creigs list and c what happens.

Jeremy

Jeremy,

Thank you. I don't have any pics at this time. I'm not even 100% on exactly what equipment he does have.

I know he had (I hate writing that... "had" )two Ford tractors, eighties models I'd guess. A 4600 and a 5600. He also had a disk mower (7ft?) and a wheel rake, as well as a rotary cutter and a couple other pieces.

 

[DaveOmak]

I agree with the others on holding an auction.
Around here, families hire an auction company and they do all the advertising, selling etc. I have been to many auctions. The most interesting aspect is neighbors from miles come to attend. Seems they want to help out the family. Prices are higher than you would expect.
I have no proof of people paying higher prices to help the family in their time of need but it is an observation that I would like to believe.
In my OP, farming communities are like that.
Here, anyway, food trucks come in to provide eats and it is a pretty cool social event.

Disposing of loved ones items is difficult at best. An auction might make it easier for everyone.

 

[dodge man]

Sorry to here about your FIL.

I agree with others, auction is pretty painless. As far as reserves, I think most auction companies don't like to do that, but it is possible. Its tough to predict what stuff will go for. I've seen something worth $100 sell for $10, and I've seen stuff worth $10 sell for $100. You could probably do better selling the stuff yourself through ads or Craigslist, but it would be a lot of work.

 

[SPIKER]

Im in a some what similar prob. My brother died a week ago, he owed lots of money to me personally as i helped him out for years. He had PKD and it took him from us Monday night the 7th. Anyhow I loaned him $ for a truck which was put in his name. All of the family knows about the $ I have loaned him over last years here and know I bought the truck./ Problem being there was no will and next to no real valuables other than the truck.
I have the truck in my position's but no title and not sure how to get one. here in Ohio wondering what to do.?

Mark

 

[twarr1]

Sorry for your loss.
I agree, auction may be the best way to go. If you try to sell it piecemeal you'll invest a lot of effort and still have the less desirable stuff left over.
We have lots of auctions around here and it seems some things goes for way more than they should and some goes for way less.
You might get an idea of what the family wants to do and keep that in mind when setting up the auction. Might want to keep a mowing rig if you're going to keep the property for a while, for example.

 

[Marveltone]

Having recently lost my FIL last year and my MIL this spring, I can really relate to your situation. My wife was an only child, so we inherited the farm, but there still remains a lot of personal items we have yet to sort through. We hope to deal with everything as the appropriate time comes.

Whereas I have no useful advise, I hope and pray that you and your family can work through this as briefly and painlessly as humanly possible.

Joe

 

[CurlyDave]

With auction, can a "reserve" or minimum price be set for each item?

In the auction I am familiar with, there were reserve prices on a few of the vehicles (cars/trucks) but not on anything else. An auctioneer is not going to be interested in a minimum on furniture and personal possessions. Tractors yes, maybe an implement.

Keep in mind, the purpose is to dispose of all the belongings, not to have a bunch of things left at the end.

 

[WayneB]

One thing that has become popular around here is the Estate Sales. We have several people that operate estate sales and will come in and evaluate the items for sale, tag them with a set price and then take control of the actual sale day (s). Nice thing is they do all the work and sorting and you will know the price prior to the sale day.

They advertise the sale in the local papers and craigs list and I was surprised at the number of people that go to these sales. Turns out to be one large well orgainzed yard sale.

We recently went to one that had farm equipment for sale and all of the items were priced and sold for what was listed on the tag. As for smaller items they were willing to talk about the pricing and accept an offer.

Just might be worth checking out?