What Should I Do With Decades of Belongings Before I Sell My House in Western New York?

By Merritt Kreutzer, REALTOR® | WNY Metro Roberts Realty

What should you do with decades of belongings before you sell your house in Western New York? As a Western New York real estate agent, I would start by deciding where you are going and how much room you will have there, then work backward from your listing date so the house is clear enough to photograph and show before it goes on the market.

A house you have lived in for twenty or thirty years holds more than furniture. There is the basement shelving, the garage, the attic, the closet in the spare room that has not been opened since the last move. There are the things you use every day and the things you are keeping for someone else.

Sorting all of it is rarely the hardest decision in a move. It is usually the slowest one. And because it is slow, it quietly sets the timeline for everything else: when the photographs can happen, when the house can go on the market, and how much pressure you feel once you start looking at your next home.

You can start on it long before you decide to list.

Should you sort your belongings before you know where you are moving? Start before, but make the final cuts once you know how much space you will have.

The early work does not depend on the next home. Old paperwork, duplicate kitchen items, holiday decorations you no longer put out, tools for a hobby you gave up, boxes from your children's school years: you can make most of those decisions today.

The harder decisions do depend on the next home. A dining table that seats ten, a second sofa, a workbench, a guest bedroom set. Whether those go with you depends on whether the next place has a dining room, a basement, a garage or a second bedroom. Deciding them too early can mean selling something you would have wanted, or paying to move something that does not fit.

So think of it in two rounds. The first round clears what you already know you will not need. The second round happens once you know the size and layout of where you are going. If you are moving for less maintenance, my article on what makes downsizing feel right in Western New York covers the bigger decision about what the next home should be.

How long does it take to clear out a house before you list it? There is no single answer, because it depends on how much is there, how many people are helping, and how many decisions are emotional ones. It almost always takes longer than people expect.

The useful way to plan is backward from a date. Pick a rough week you would like the house photographed. The listing photographs are the deadline that matters, because once they are taken, the house needs to look that way for every showing that follows.

Then work back from there:

• A week or two before photographs: final cleaning, touch-ups and setting up each room.
• Before that: hauling away, donation pickups and moving anything that is going to storage or to family.
• Before that: the sorting itself, room by room.

If your listing date is tied to buying another home, the clear-out sits inside that plan too. A house that is still full when the right next home comes along puts you in the position of making fast decisions about both at once. That is the kind of pressure the early start is meant to avoid.

In a Western New York winter, add some room to the schedule. Donation pickups, haulers and family help can all be pushed back by weather, and carrying boxes out of a basement on an icy day is slower and riskier than it sounds.

Where should you start? In the places you use least, not with the things that mean the most.

The basement, the attic, the garage and the back of closets usually hold the most volume and the fewest hard decisions. Clearing them early makes real progress you can see, and it frees up space to stage the sorting of the rest of the house.

Leave photographs, letters and family keepsakes for later. They take the longest per item, and starting there is how a whole weekend goes into one box.

A few habits keep the work moving:

• One room or one area at a time. Finish it before opening the next.
• Four piles, labeled. Keep, give to family, sell or donate, discard. Anything you cannot decide on goes in a single box with a date on it, and you come back to that box once.
• Measure the next home when you can. Floor plans and room sizes settle more furniture questions than any amount of thinking about it.
• Short sessions. Two or three hours at a time is often more productive than a long day you dread.

How do you decide what to keep? Start from the life you are moving into, not from the house you are leaving.

Ask of each item whether it has a place and a use in the next home. A kitchen full of serving pieces made sense when the whole family came to you for holidays. If someone else hosts now, or the next dining area is smaller, a few favorites may be enough.

For the things you are keeping for someone else, ask them directly, and give them a date. Adult children and relatives often want fewer things than you expect, and they would rather be asked than surprised. If they want an item, they need to pick it up by a certain week. If they do not answer, the item goes in the sell or donate pile.

For sentimental items you are not ready to decide on, keep them, but keep them together. A set number of boxes that move with you is a better plan than letting them stay spread through the house while you are trying to show it.

What do you do with the things nobody in the family wants? Sort them by where they can go, because each path has its own timing.

Sell. Furniture, tools, collections and appliances in good condition can sometimes be sold yourself, through a consignment shop, or through an estate sale company that runs the sale for you. Ask any company how they are paid, what they need from you, and how long the process takes before you sign anything.

Donate. Many charities accept furniture and household goods, and some schedule pickups. Call ahead, because what they accept and how far out they are booking can change. If you plan to claim a deduction, keep the receipts and ask your tax professional what you need.

Recycle or discard. Old paint, chemicals, batteries, electronics and bulky items usually cannot go out with the regular trash. Rules for bulk pickup and drop-off differ from town to town in Western New York, so check with your own town or village before you set anything at the curb.

Haul away. For a large volume, a junk removal company or a rented dumpster may be the practical choice. A dumpster in the driveway may need a permit in some towns, and it should be gone before the photographs.

Shred. Old financial and tax records, statements and anything with account numbers should be shredded, not tossed. Your tax professional can tell you how long to keep what you still need.

One caution before anything goes: set aside the papers that belong to the house itself. A copy of your deed and survey, records of a new roof, furnace or water heater, permits for past work, and warranties are worth keeping in one folder. Buyers often ask about the age of major systems, and the attorneys may need some of those documents during the sale.

How clear does the house need to be before photographs and showings? Not empty. Clear enough that a buyer sees the rooms instead of the contents.

In practice that means:

• Fewer pieces of furniture in each room, so the walkways are open and the size of the room reads.
• Counters, shelves and tabletops mostly clear.
• Closets and cabinets partly empty, because buyers open them.
• The basement and garage organized, with clear access to the furnace, water heater and electrical panel for the buyer's inspector.
• Personal photographs and collections reduced to a few.

You do not need to finish every decision to get there. Boxes that are packed, labeled and stacked neatly in one area of the basement or garage are fine. Boxes spread through every room are not.

If you are keeping furniture that will help the house show well, it can stay until you move. A house with a few good pieces in each room usually shows better than a house that has been emptied early. My checklist for what to do before selling a house in Lancaster covers the rest of the preparation once the contents are under control.

What does clearing out a house cost? It depends on the volume and on how much you do yourself, so I would not put a number on it here. What matters is that you plan for it instead of discovering it.

The costs to think about include a junk removal company or dumpster, an estate sale company's fee if you use one, movers, a storage unit if you need one, and cleaning once the house is clear. Selling furniture and household items can offset some of that, but it is wise not to count on it covering much.

A storage unit deserves a second look. It can be a reasonable bridge if your next home is not ready yet. It can also become a monthly bill for decisions you postponed. If you rent one, decide in advance what is going in it and roughly when it will be empty.

These costs belong next to the other costs of selling, so you see the whole picture before you set a listing date. My breakdown of what it costs to sell a house in Lancaster walks through the rest of what comes out of a sale.

What if the belongings are not only yours? The work is the same, but the decisions involve more people, and that changes the timing.

If you are clearing a parent's home, the family usually needs to agree on what each person wants before anything is sold, donated or hauled away. If the house is part of an estate, check with the estate's attorney before removing or selling anything of value. My article on selling an inherited house in Western New York covers the steps that come before the sale, and the selling a parent's home page explains how I help with that move.

If two households are becoming one, you are fitting two sets of furniture and belongings into one home, and both sides need a say. My article on which home to keep when two households become one walks through that decision first, because which house you keep shapes what fits.

What tends to slow people down? A handful of patterns come up again and again.

Setting the listing date before the clear-out plan. A date with no plan behind it turns into a rushed final week, and the photographs show it.

Starting with the keepsakes. It feels like the important place to begin, and it is the slowest.

Using a storage unit to avoid deciding. Paying to keep things you will sort later is still sorting later, with a bill.

Assuming family wants things. Ask early, and give a pickup date.

Throwing out the house's paperwork. The roof receipt in the kitchen drawer can be worth more to a buyer conversation than anything else in the drawer.

Doing it alone. Heavy items, basement stairs and winter weather are a reason to bring in help, whether that is family, friends or a hired crew.

Consider two hypothetical situations. These are illustrations, not client stories.

One homeowner in a Southtowns colonial has lived there for close to thirty years and wants less maintenance. They have not chosen the next home, so in November they clear the basement, garage and attic, ask their children what they want with a pickup date in January, and box the keepsakes. Once they find a ranch-style home with no basement, they know the workbench and the second sofa will not fit, and the second round of sorting takes weeks instead of months.

Another homeowner is helping a sibling clear their late father's house in a Northtowns neighborhood. Before anything leaves, the two of them check with the estate's attorney, agree on what each wants, and pull the deed, survey and furnace records into one folder. Then they bring in an estate sale company for what remains and book the photographs for after the final haul.

Neither one is doing anything unusual. They decided what came first before the listing date made the decision for them.

If you are thinking about a move and the contents of the house feel like the part you cannot get past, the order you do things in can make it manageable.

Get the free Next Chapter Roadmap. It walks through the timing, the money and what comes first, so you can plan the clear-out, the sale and your next home before you are ready to list.

Should I empty my house completely before I sell it?

Should you empty your house completely before selling? Usually not. A house with a few good pieces of furniture in each room tends to show better than an empty one, because buyers can see how the rooms work. Aim for clear and open, not bare.

Is it better to have an estate sale or donate everything?

Is an estate sale better than donating? It depends on what is in the house and how much time you have. Items of real value may be worth selling, and an estate sale company can handle that for you. Everyday household goods often move faster through donation. Many people use both.

Can I list my house while I am still sorting?

Can you list your house while you are still sorting? You can, as long as the rooms buyers see are clear and the unsorted boxes are packed neatly in one area. It is easier to finish most of the sorting first, because every showing after the photographs needs the house to look the same way.

When should I start clearing out if I want to sell in the spring?

When should you start if you want to sell in the spring? Now is a good time to start the first round: the basement, garage, attic and anything you already know you will not take. Save the furniture decisions until you know more about your next home.