Selling Stuff And Downsizing

[Mike OReilly]

We moved out of our land home over a year ago. Although we had taken small steps over a year prior, our major stuff-shedding happened over a span of about four months.

We first gave or sold some stuff to friends and family. Then we used online classifieds (Kijiji in Canada, some Craig’s) to sell higher-value things. Then came the big yard sale, and finally mass donations. We got pennies on the dollar for the stuff we sold, but since the point was to shed, it didn’t really matter.

We didn’t have to deal with realtors in our house sale, but if you need one I would negotiate a lower commission, and then just suck it up. It costs what it costs. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

I was surprised at how much effort it took just to get rid of our modest amount of stuff. We lived in a 900 sq. ft house, so we really didn’t have that much compared to most people, but it was still a PITA.

I personally had no issues letting things go. The older I get, the less attached I’ve become to stuff. Sentimental stuff, family heirlooms … it’s all just more stuff anchoring me down. I will say though, my spouse had a slightly more difficult time of it, which is why we still own a small storage trailer awaiting us should we ever move back into a land home.

If I were to do it all again I would have started even earlier. Actually, my advice is not to accumulate more than you actually need ... but this seems difficult in our culture of always-more.

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by scarlet

My husband and I are a year out from buying our Catamaran and moving aboard. We currently own a modest home that we are prepping for sale. We also plan on selling the vast majority of our stuff. So, I could use some help navigating this process..

To start off, I have a few questions..

1. I was shocked at the high "commission" rates the real estate agents are charging these days. Has anyone had luck selling their own home? Or, have any good books or resources that could help me decide if this would be an option for us?
2. Any suggestions for the best way to sell specific items? Are estate sales the best way to go? What about these apps out there like "let go"? are consignment stores a good deal? are there specific items that are better to craigslist? or e- bay? We invested so much over the years in creating our home.. we'd like to get more than pennies on the dollar for it.
3. As excited as I am about this whole adventure.. it's just a bit... scary.. getting rid of everything... Anyone find this a challenge to 'let go'?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed...

lol, i'm tryin to get out of jersey this month, boat been on hard about 15 yrs, new motor,head, sails, everything lookin good cept some electrical stuff may have the yard do or it'll take me a week to figure it out while learning. but yes, scarin the hell outta me, get rid of my biz , cars, household stuff, and goona go live like that. but heard it here and in books and articles and even the guy from cte autopilot the other day said it, everyone finds an excuse not to leave yet.. thinkin the people are right. just go.. so remind myself everyday and i have to remind myself that i been waitin for this for a long time, don't find a reason not to go and i got a bunch.. let the chips fall where they may. doubt i'll have regrets and with my level of income i live pretty good considering how little i make but my overhead is so low, non boaters and guys in the pool room are sayin i'm nuts.. well i'm gonna be nuts in st maarten i hope.. good luck all the best

[Mycroft]

My husband moved from a three bedroom house with a full basement and a three car garage with no room for a car because it had table saw, lawn maintenance equipment, exercise equipment...

Prior to moving aboard I lived in an RV for 30 years so the move ment nothing to me. Like another post we got a studio apartment so that he could see if he could be happy with only what would fit aboard.

It took him a year but he brought one carload at a time and we went through each item. If he said he wanted to keep an item, I ased where will you put it. Sometimes he was about to decide he didn't need it, sometimes he gave up another item he wanted less.

We do not have any storage building, no relatives are storing any of our things and we feel free.

You will never get "what its worth" from anything so you decide how much work you want to go through to get rid of things.

After we were through we had an open house and invited friends, relatives and anyone we could thin of to come and help themselves... It was a fun party atmosphere rather than a day of morning. Everything went to a good home. Books and DVDs take the place of the at home libraries and photo albums. Take pictures of those choldhood memory pieces of art.

If you can not do this alone get a real good friend to as you... Why do you want to keep this, how will your life be better if you keep this,

You will save a lot of money not having a car or a motorcycle or a payment on anything.

[UNCIVILIZED]

When living aboard I had "the one year rule". Meaning that if I hadn't used something in over a year, then I didn't need it, so I'd find it a new home. And when I'd think about buying something when I was out & about, I'd ask myself the question "where will I keep this if I buy it"?

[cofc]

I didn't read every reply, so forgive me if some of this has already been covered.

1. We sold our house ourselves. We paid a flat fee agent to list it on MLS, ($300 I believe) and then stipulated that we would pay the buyers agent 3%. It certainly helped that our house was in a very desirable part of the city, but it wasn't a major hassle at all. We had 4 offers above asking within the first 24 hours. The buyers agent scheduled all of the inspections and appraisals, as they normally do. We were very up front and open about everything and the process couldn't have gone smoother.

2. We sold most of our stuff on craigslist. In my previous life I was a police officer with a take home patrol car, so I didn't worry too much about just having people come to the house to check stuff out. If I was doing the same thing now, I'd probably use one of the areas at the local police department that they have set up for these type of transactions. Anything that wasn't sold or given to family was donated to Habitat for Humanity.

3. Getting rid of all of our stuff was my favorite part of the whole experience. From the beginning it amazed me how much of a burden all of this junk was. Everytime I got rid of one more thing I felt more and more free, plus I knew I was that much closer to moving onto our boat. My wife struggled a bit with getting rid of stuff, but as she saw me get rid of my personal stuff it became easier for her. Although she did wind up keeping some "sentimental" crap whereas I trashed it all.

[Igwet]

Sell your house through Forsalebyowner.com and for $399 you can get it up on all the MLS accounts - Realtor, Trulia, Zillow, Redfin - the same ones an agent uses. You can offer a % to a buyer with a broker / agent and this willbe required or you cna be blackballed by all the realtors. Realtors post MLS and 95 % of people look online. Realtors aren't worh 6 % to point out a bathroom. You can negotiate yourself with the buyer. When offering a % (2 for example) you can state on the listing that you wil pay a Bonus to a Buyer Agent of $1500-$2000 ONLY if they sell the house within 1 % of the list price - this drives good and aggressive agents / brokers who want extra $ to bring in buyers at your asking price and so you are not being beat up on price. Also specify that someone coming to your house has to be Pre Qualified and Appointment Only and this stops people from wasting your time and just walking though to gawk. I have sold a few houses this way and it sells faster. Like you i am selling off all possessions, less a few items, and moving onto my boat and cruising the Pacific for a few years. Best of luck you your sale - and don't let a realtor intimidate you and push you need them more then they need you. Forsalebyowner.com and FSBO.com - they are actually 2 diff companies and Forsalebyowner.com allows you to upload on their site for free to begin and $399 for the MLS process.

[hamburking]

Excellent topic!

I sold my own home, and got top dollar for it. I made a really complete web page with lots of pictures, and wrote my own ad (with pictures) to publish in the real estate section of the local newspaper. I showed the house 14 times over about 2 months. I used a method called a dutch auction. I started with a high price, and dropped the price $2000 per week. I made sure to advertise this, and made sure to keep the price updated correctly. This generated a lot of interest. I had people say to me..."well, if its still for sale in 10 weeks, I'll be back" and that sort of thing. I found that at a certain price, suddenly I had multiple offers, and the house was sold. NO COMMISSION. I got a fair price, and the buyers (IMHO) got a good deal, better than comparables nearby, and yet I took home more cash since I didn't have a commission to pay. Everybody won, except the real estate agents...who hate people like me, because I proved that their entire career is not necessary.

I've also sold almost everything I own a couple of times. A big yard sale in the spring has always worked for me...with lots of advertising and reasonable pricing. More recently, I use kijiji...around here its excellent. I understand that in other areas craigslist or letgo are the way to go.

The hard thing to accept is that stuff you paid a lot for is actually worthless. TV's electronics, collectables, even furniture all worthless except when brand new in a store. And if you are a smoker or have pets, your stuff is less than worthless. Some things are difficult to get rid of, even for free. Textbooks for example.

My advise...get what money you can, then donate or give away the rest. Your time and frustration is not worth the few dollars you might have made. Focus on the future, on your boat and your upcoming adventure.

Best of luck to you, and please let us know how it goes!

[hamburking]

I had an easy/quick way to get rid of almost everything of value that I owned....my wife left me, and took everything. Yes, she had me sell the boat before she told me she was going. Now I have no boat, no wife, and no money. Its like starting over. Plus I got "downsized" at work. So instead of heading to the caribbean with my wife as I had planned for my retirement, I'll be the guy begging of coins at the corner so i can buy food. So sell your crap and be happy...you have a great life. All that can change in an instant. You own the stuff, don't let the stuff own you!

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

When living aboard I had "the one year rule". Meaning that if I hadn't used something in over a year, then I didn't need it, so I'd find it a new home. And when I'd think about buying something when I was out & about, I'd ask myself the question "where will I keep this if I buy it"?

While I agree with this rule in general, there are plenty of exceptions. For example, flares, fire extinguisher, life raft, diarrhea medicine...I'm happy I have not needed to use any of these ever, but I still keep them around! Also, I keep a suit for attending funerals...every year I don't wear it is a good year.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by hamburking

I had an easy/quick way to get rid of almost everything of value that I owned....my wife left me, and took everything. Yes, she had me sell the boat before she told me she was going. Now I have no boat, no wife, and no money. Its like starting over. Plus I got "downsized" at work. So instead of heading to the caribbean with my wife as I had planned for my retirement, I'll be the guy begging of coins at the corner so i can buy food. So sell your crap and be happy...you have a great life. All that can change in an instant. You own the stuff, don't let the stuff own you!

All I got was child support, alimony and the mortgage. Never had to tin cup it.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by Cadence

All I got was child support, alimony and the mortgage. Never had to tin cup it.

Obviously I'm exaggerating a little, to make the point, and cause its funny (hey, I gotta laugh...better than crying about it). I'm still living in our house, taking care of my kids, but a lot has changed. Mostly, all my plans for sailing in my retirement are pretty much gone. And the house really is pretty empty...which I kind of like.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Obviously I'm exaggerating a little, to make the point, and cause its funny (hey, I gotta laugh...better than crying about it). I'm still living in our house, taking care of my kids, but a lot has changed. Mostly, all my plans for sailing in my retirement are pretty much gone. And the house really is pretty empty...which I kind of like.

Best of luck. I was lucky being young and retirement was eons away.

[Sea Dreaming]

We have been working on getting rid of stuff for two years. Some people really like their stuff! I spent some time early on congratulating myself for personally owning very little. Getting rid of stuff has not been a problem for me for the most part.
But then we bought the boat....
Frankly that has led to more stuff! Needed stuff. But stuff all the same. A boat, a cruising boat, might not have room for great aunt mabel's antique knickers, but the stuff on a cruising boat seems endless.

[prbarton]

Originally Posted by scarlet

My husband and I are a year out from buying our Catamaran and moving aboard. We currently own a modest home that we are prepping for sale. We also plan on selling the vast majority of our stuff. So, I could use some help navigating this process..

To start off, I have a few questions..

1. I was shocked at the high "commission" rates the real estate agents are charging these days. Has anyone had luck selling their own home? Or, have any good books or resources that could help me decide if this would be an option for us?
2. Any suggestions for the best way to sell specific items? Are estate sales the best way to go? What about these apps out there like "let go"? are consignment stores a good deal? are there specific items that are better to craigslist? or e- bay? We invested so much over the years in creating our home.. we'd like to get more than pennies on the dollar for it.
3. As excited as I am about this whole adventure.. it's just a bit... scary.. getting rid of everything... Anyone find this a challenge to 'let go'?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed...

Feeling overwhelmed is perfectly natural. But the feeling passes. Especially when you begin to focus more on where you want to be and less on what you have to do to get there.

We moved onto the boat about one year ago. Sold the house, cars, motorcycles, planes and stuff. Put the treasured items in storage or in the kids houses. It took a year to get it all done.

But, the freedom we felt when we closed the door of our house and unpacked our bags on the boat was indescribable. I will never go back.

I have to admit though. For me the transition was easy. For the wife . . . it took a while.

Best wishes for you on your new adventure.

[lotek]

Originally Posted by chris mac

I can only offer info on the house. We are about 3 years out from moving aboard. However I renovate and flip houses, or did, when the market was hotter.
A Realtor does earn that commission, when you have a good one. I watched houses sit forever when listed with com free, or privately. Ours were usually priced higher and sold quicker. Twice we missed a bidding war by hours. (other offers came in after we closed)
Just like any service profession there are good and bad realtor's. Research your area and find a good one.

In Texas it's 6% split between the listing and selling agent. I know my wife works her tail off for that 3% cut.

For Sale By Owner (FSBO in the trade) is always an option but if you are FSBO a realtor may well bypass your house when showing homes to buyers because they don't earn anything.