Moving Abroad: The Sell Off Begins Right Now! It All Goes!
Moving Abroad: The Sell Off Begins! It All Goes!
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As you may know, in June of 2022, we started on a new journey of exploration outside of the USA. Update: I am back in the USA after 2 amazing years of traveling and living abroad!
In doing so, there were many tasks to perform for this new adventure and one of those tasks was to conduct an estate sale. Did you know it has been reported that the average home in the USA has about 300,000 items in it? This is a massive amount and the thought to have to sort through all these items alone cause a vast amount of stress.
If you are thinking of downgrading your stuff, maybe storing some items in a storage unit, and moving out of the country, living nomadically this post is for you.
I wish someone outlined the steps for me before I went on the research bandwagon, so here goes and enjoy! Leave a comment at the end if you found this article to be beneficial.
The Beginning of All the Fun
Take in a deep breathe before you begin as it will be a busy season in your life for a time. One you make the formal decision to sell, one big decision, right after it comes about 10,000 smaller yet very important decisions, which can lead to decision fatigue.
As best as you can, rest and take care of yourself during a very stressful life change.
Short Term or Long Term Rental or Sell?
I contemplated selling my house for a long while. The market had peaked in my area and I was ready to move on it. I was also in the mortgage industry, and had been for quite some time, and understood real estate cycles and the like. Many of you may remember the days of 2008…I digress.
I decided to sell as opposed to the other options that ran through my head for years beforehand. The market was ripe, and so was I.
The Realtor Research Project
If you are contemplating selling your home, you may either (1) have a local friend who is a realtor, or (2) may wish to explore other realtors in your area or (3) decide to take a different route.
Here is what we elected to do: are you ready to have the realtor conversation? Ok, let’s do this.
I didn't want to take the typical route of hiring a local realtor to list my house with the typical 6% commission structure.
I also didn’t want to use a program offered to be my bank to use their preferred realtor to get a bonus back after the sale of the home.
So, what were my other options?
(1) I could sell it myself.
As someone who has been in the mortgage industry for decades and in various departments (legal, compliance, origination, etc.) I could have felt very comfortable selling my own home, working with title and getting it closed myself.
I believe I could take pictures, market it, be available for showings, negotiate offers, and handle other aspects in order to get an offer in the hot real estate market were in at the time, or…
(2) I could go with a Flat Fee Brokerage
They could handle the listing, marketing, offers, negotiating, all of it, while I worked on the other tasks that came next. This is the option I choose.
I had a great experience with the brokerage firm I selected. They were there all steps of the way through to closing and were highly recommended. If you haven’t heard of this type or realtor or brokerage firm, look for one in your area as it may be worth considering.
I decided to go with this option.
Offer Accepted: On Your Mark, Get Set and Go!
House was listed and offers came in right away. I accepted one and from there my next task was to sell off the items in my whole 3/2 house (or put it in storage) in 30 days or less.
This move was going to be a little different than all my other previous moves.
From Show Ready to Estate Sale
My home looked amazing! It was in show ready state, the lawn was perfect, new paint, it was a beauty. Now I was going to take it from this organized state to a state of disarray by starting the process of moving out, and selling things.
Conduct Your Own Estate Sale
I never thought I’d be alive to conduct my own estate sale. Well, it’s a new day and age now isn’t it?
The next step in this process is to conduct your own estate sale, however, before deciding to conduct my own estate sale, I called up several local estate sale companies and consulted with their time frame, and their process. After learning about that industry a bit more, I decided to do it myself.
I ran yard sales when I was 10, how could this be any different?
Do It Yourself, Team I, Rah-Rah
I am so glad I choose to conduct my own estate sale. Here are the steps you will need to take in order to run your own estate sale.
Where to Sell Items
In addition to selling your items through the estate sale, you can list them online with several platforms. There’s Facebook Marketplace, LetGo, Ebay, OfferUp and a few more.
I had a lot of success with Ebay. I took a million pictures of my stuff and posted in instantly to the app, while doing this I was setting up to have two weekends where it would be estate sale weekends.
I did not have any success with Facebook Marketplace, though I leveled-up my scam detection abilities. I don’t think I will ever use this platform again to sell items. It was a huge waste of time for me.
My large items (beds, kitchen table, etc.) sold at the estate sale and my nicely used items that I could easily box up, sold via Ebay. I made so many trips to the post office during this time, that I sort of made friends with the staff there. Occasionally I wonder how they are doing today… If I am back in the area, maybe I will stop in and say hello, bring a coffee and see how they are doing!
Storage Units
Once you have conducted your estate sale, and shipped a billion packages through USPS because they sold on Ebay, now it’s time to think about next steps, Storage Units.
You may choose to get a storage unit for the remainder of your things, or your may choose to donate them to a local thrift shop, the choice is ultimately up to you with how you wish to handle your items.
Should you decide to get a storage unit, here’s a couple things we learned in this process:
There's Different Prices for the Same Size at Different Locations
A company may own storage units in multiple areas of town, they may be for the same size, but are priced differently. Do your due diligence and shop around to find the best offer.
Different Prices Online Vs. In Person
I toured several storage locations in my area, asked about pricing and learned they have a price in the store, and a different price on their website. The website price was less with the companies I toured.
Note: Sometimes there are exceptions to the above. Ask the salesperson in the store, if they have units with a large pole for example in the middle of the unit or in the corner. Sometimes these units, will go for less and these deals won’t be found online.
Always Tour the Storage Unit Before Committing
When viewing photos online, looks can be deceiving or the photos online may to be an entirely different location. Tour the facility and look for bugs in the hallway, or anything that is out of the ordinary.
Selling off everything, having an estate sale can be a busy and stressful time in your life. By taking the steps necessary to move forward, you can conduct the sale, sell off your items, move the remainder into storage and do it all within 30 days so you can start your next journey in life.
Are you thinking about moving abroad or even to another state? Are you going to have an estate sale? Are you going to hire a local realtor? Drop a comment below and let us know your experience!
