If unexpected items are left behind, the buyer may delay the closing until they’re removed.
Here’s what you need to know about moving your belongings — and what to do if you really don’t want to or can’t:
Certain items can’t be taken to the curb
Depending on where you live, certain items aren’t allowed in the trash or recycling bins. For instance, hazardous waste — including paint, pool chemicals, household cleaners, and pesticides — should be taken to a Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection site.
Proper disposal helps prevent pollution and promote public safety. For instance, many HHWs contain toxic heavy metals (e.g. lead or mercury), dioxins and other carcinogens. If these materials are improperly handled, they can cause serious consequences, such as entry into the food chain, birth defects, cancer, or dead wildlife, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Other items are simply too big to move without help, such as an inoperable car. In those instances, you can either opt to pay for repairs, sell it to a junkyard, or tow it to your new place to decide what to do later.
Hiring someone to move your things can be costly
Some people may need assistance moving their belongings from one location to the next in order to complete the task by closing. For a local move (less than 100 miles), you might expect to pay between $800 to $2,500, based on national averages reported by Forbes.
Planning to move more than 100 miles? That average jumps up to $2,200 to $5,700.
For out-of-state moves, you should contact the moving company directly and inquire if:
- They will take on the job. Some companies don’t handle out-of-state moves or they subcontract it out.
- They will complete an in-person estimate.
Skipping this step could result in major sticker shock when faced with the final cost of the out-of-state move.
Certain circumstances make it difficult to move belongings quickly
Life comes to us in waves — and sometimes those waves lead to the immediate need to relocate. Maybe there’s a sudden illness in the family and you need to relocate to be closer to a treatment center. As a result, you may not have time to sort through all of your belongings or sell the furniture. You just need to pick up and go, leaving everything behind to take care of what matters most.
There are also situations where someone passes away and leaves the house to an heir. That heir may live out-of-state and not have the financial means to fly down to go through the family member’s belongings. Or, when they do fly down, they discover that the house is uninhabitable due to the excessive amount of stuff. In the latter situation, the heir may have to foot the cleaning bill (which can run $4,000, on average, for the cleanup, waste removal, and minor repairs of a 2,000 square foot hoarder home) or they can try to sell the house “as is” — and hope a buyer is willing to look past the mess to see the potential.
A fire or flood can also lead to the sudden need to move. When that occurs, it’s actually not safe to physically get or transport your belongings — and you can’t typically use them again anyway.
“There are a lot of situations where you have to leave furniture behind because you can’t actually use it again and trying to transport it is more of a hassle than it’s worth,” says Shane Sullivan, Meridian Trust Vice President and Managing Director of Acquisitions. “It’s damaged, it smells like smoke, it’s rotted out or there’s mold. Once, I actually had to leave my own apartment and belongings behind because they were filled with toxic mold.”
In any of these situations, dealing with personal effects can be painful when you’re already coping with an illness, loss or disaster.
Sell your house to a home buying company that lets you leave belongings behind
If you don’t have the time or money to move or sell your belongings, you can leave them behind if you sell them to a home buying company like Meridian Trust.
With more than 15 years in the industry and thousands of houses purchased, we make the process quick and easy. When you call us, you speak with a licensed real estate agent who will ask you a series of questions to better understand your situation and property. Then, we utilize our advanced buying tools to make a cash offer.
If you’re not able to take your belongings with you, we work with you to discuss what needs to be left behind. We’ve purchased hoarder houses and inherited houses with inoperable boats and cars the heir didn’t want.
Once you sell the house to us, we take care of everything.
Best of all, we donate many of the unwanted items to The Salvation Army, in order to help give others a leg up. “We try to give back as much as we can to the local community,” says Shane. “Sometimes, people leave things behind that others could still use because they live thousands of miles away and they don’t have the ability or time to come down and get it. Or it would cost them more to come get it than it would to just replace it.”
How much of your unwanted stuff can you leave behind when you sell your house to Meridian Trust? There’s no specific amount, says Shane.
Past home owners have left behind unwanted couches and old jet skis to rooms filled wall to wall with stuff. Disclosing how much you plan to leave behind is not necessary, but it is helpful in helping Meridian Trust provide you with the most accurate price estimate to buy your house up front.
After you initially call us to get an estimate to buy your house, we’ll work with you to schedule a time to stop by and take pictures. When we know exactly what will be left behind from the beginning, it helps everyone stay on the same page in terms of price.
However, rooms filled with unwanted stuff won’t deter us if we want to buy a house — we’ve seen it all.
We also always check with the owner if something of value is left behind to see if they want to pick it up or give it away.
“If anything looks valuable or like an heirloom that people may actually want, we always call the original home owner to let them know,” says Shane. “Some of that stuff can be really sentimental and emotional for people. They really appreciate that we took the extra step to call and let them know about it.”
For more information about how you can sell your house and leave your stuff behind, call us at (954) 807-9087.
Note: This guide is for informational purposes only. Meridian Trust does not make any guarantees about the sufficiency of the content in or linked to from this blog post or that it is compliant with current law. The content within this blog post is not a substitute for legal advice or legal services. You should not rely on this information for any purpose without consulting a licensed lawyer in your area.
