Estate Planning Blog Articles

Estate & Business Planning Law Firm Serving the Providence & Cranston, RI Areas

How Can I Quickly Downsize?

Optimally, it’s best to spend months or years carefully purging excess belongings. However, life may get in the way, says The Independent’s recent article, “3 Steps to Downsize in a Hurry.” So let’s look at what we can do now:

  1. Collect paperwork. This includes photos, prescriptions, and perishables. You may want to box unsorted documents and photos for temporary storage in a climate-controlled area and sort through them later. Next, deal with the stuff that can’t be sold or donated, such as unneeded medications and perishable food that won’t be eaten in time. Nonperishable, unopened food items typically can be donated to a local food bank.
  2. Identify the ‘keepers’. These are possessions with a definite home. iIf someone’s moving, this includes things that will be going with them. However, if you’re clearing out after a death, keepers may consist of items destined for heirs. An executor officially charged with settling someone’s estate may be required to hire appraisers to value possessions before anything is distributed. If you have potentially valuable items, like antiques, jewelry, art, or collections, ask a personal property appraiser to help you determine what may be worth the extra effort of selling. However, hiring an appraiser can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, which may not always be practical.
  3. Decide what to do with the rest of it. If you have several rooms of furniture and household items remaining, think about an estate sale to help you dramatically downsize. Estate sales are often organized by professionals who advertise the sale, price the items, handle transactions and provide security. Estate sales agents may agree to donate or dispose of whatever doesn’t sell. They typically get 30% or more of the sale proceeds. Giving stuff away is another option. However, charities are often selective about what they’ll accept. Check their websites or call first to avoid an unnecessary trip. Some charities will send a truck to pick up approved donations.

Reference: The Independent (May 18, 2023) “3 Steps to Downsize in a Hurry”

How to Get Top Dollar for Home when You Downsize

You don’t need to plan on a lengthy renovation to sell your home and downsize. Smaller investments can help your windfall just as effectively. As most of us look at properties first from a laptop or smartphone, pictures are key. Even before the pandemic, 70% of house hunters toured the inside of a home online, according to a 2019 report from the National Association of Realtors.

To attract buyers and maximize your home’s sales price, Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “7 Essential Steps to Getting Your House Ready to Sell” provides seven tips, including a new way to stage a space in the digital age.

Release Your Sentiment. To sell your home, get over your emotional attachment and think of your home as a product. Just because you love your home’s brightly painted accent wall or bold, patterned wallpaper doesn’t mean a buyer will find it attractive. Look at the space as a buyer would — with a critical eye — to spot what needs to be changed or upgraded.

Depersonalize. Homebuyers like to picture themselves living in the home with their furnishings, so store your family photos and remove pictures from the walls and mantels.

Declutter. Downsizing your belongings helps your house demand a higher selling price. The less stuff in a room, the bigger it looks. You can hire a professional organizer, who will even call the movers and donate your giveaways.

Stage Your Home. If you need to move out of the home while it’s on the market or just want more neutral, attractive furniture to show off the rooms, staging can help.

Consider Virtual Staging. A cheaper alternative to traditional staging is to add pieces of furniture to pictures of the rooms in your house. These photographs can then be used on websites that show home listings.

Make It Brighter. Anything you can do to lighten and freshen up your home will pay dividends. Paint the outside accents of your home to increase its curb appeal. Use a product like Orange GLO to make cabinets and wood floors shine. Change light bulbs in lamps and overhead lighting for ones with a higher wattage. You can also swap out heavy window coverings with something that lets in more light, such as sheers. Light-filled rooms will energize potential buyers.

Go for Nice But Not Too Nice. If significant renovations are needed, restrict it to simpler projects, like upgrading kitchen appliances or bathroom cabinets. Don’t knock down walls to reconfigure the room’s footprint. Your improvements should be consistent with the average home prices in your area. You don’t want the nicest house on the block. If your house is in a moderate price range, go with moderately priced cabinets and appliances. If you go high-end, you’re not going to make the money back.

Reference: Kiplinger (Aug. 5, 2021) “7 Essential Steps to Getting Your House Ready to Sell”

Search
Join Our eNewsletter

Recent Posts
Categories