Inherited a House In Georgia Full of Stuff? What to Do With Everything Inside

If you inherited a house in Georgia full of stuff, you’re probably wondering where to even begin.

The furniture. The boxes. The kitchen cabinets full of things. The closets. The garage. And years and years of belongings that someone accumulated over a lifetime.

Very rarely does someone inherit a house that’s completely empty. Most of the time, you’re dealing with the belongings of a loved one and everything they accumulated over the years. As people always say, you never realize how much stuff you have until you move. I’d add that you never realize how much stuff someone has until they pass away and you have to clean out their house.

I’m actually dealing with this myself. My grandfather passed away in April, and as I’m making this video in September, we’ve been in the middle of probate for a while. We’ve taken some things out of his house, but we still have to go over there and tackle the bulk of the cleanout.

So, if you’ve inherited a house full of stuff, what should you do?

Decide Whether You’ll Clean Out the House Yourself

The first thing you need to figure out is whether you want to handle the cleanout yourself or hire somebody to do it.

Obviously, that depends partly on how much money you have available. It also depends on how much stuff is actually in the house.

Before you start moving everything, I’d recommend walking through the property and taking a high-level inventory.

Figure out what you’re dealing with.

Take pictures and videos of the rooms, furniture, boxes, garage, and everything else. If you eventually decide to hire a junk removal company, those pictures and videos may help them give you a general idea of what the cleanout could cost.

They may be able to estimate whether you’re looking at a few truckloads or a much larger job. The actual cost can vary, but having pictures gives you a starting point.

Figure Out What’s Valuable—and What Isn’t

One of the most important things to do when cleaning out an inherited house is figuring out what has actual value.

And there are really two different types of value you need to think about: sentimental value and monetary value.

A big mistake people make is assuming that a lot of the things in the house are worth a lot of money simply because they belonged to their loved one or because they seem old.

That can lead people to try to have an estate sale or list everything on Facebook Marketplace for more money than anyone is actually willing to pay.

Then the stuff just sits.

You have to be realistic about what you can actually sell something for.

I make this mistake myself sometimes. I have a few things listed on Marketplace right now, and I absolutely hate selling stuff on Marketplace. I hate dealing with the people.

For example, I have an off-road roof rack that came off a car I bought. The roof rack was around $1,500 brand new, and I listed it on Marketplace for $500.

I’ve had multiple people message me, and after the usual “Is this still available?” questions that often go nowhere, their first real question is:

“What’s the lowest you’ll take for it?”

My response in my head is basically, “What do you think the lowest I’ll take is? $500, you idiot.”

Just make me an offer!

And people do the same thing when they’re buying houses. Even investors will sometimes jump straight to, “What’s the lowest you’ll take?”

That’s not really how I like to approach things. Let’s have a conversation and figure things out first.

The same idea applies to the belongings inside an inherited house. Don’t automatically assume everything is worth what you hope it’s worth.

Go Through the House With the Family

Before you start throwing things away, make sure you go through the house with the family.

This part can sometimes get contentious.

One person might want something, while another family member wants the exact same thing. You need to figure out who is going to take what before you start getting rid of things.

You don’t want to make assumptions about what somebody else does or doesn’t want and then end up with hurt feelings on top of everything else you’re already dealing with.

So, go through the house together and communicate about what everyone wants.

Use Three Simple Piles: Trash, Donate, Keep

Once you know what the family wants, one of the easiest ways to organize an inherited house cleanout is to create three categories:

• Trash
• Donate
• Keep

Start by separating everything into those three piles.

Then go through each pile again.

Take another look at the trash pile to make sure something important didn’t accidentally end up there. Go through the keep pile and determine what each family member is actually keeping.

You can even do this as a family while you’re walking through the house.

If one person says, “I want that,” put it in the keep pile.

For larger items, you could even use different colors of masking tape. One color can mean trash, another can mean donate, and another can mean keep.

You can walk through the entire house and mark everything before you ever start moving anything.

That gives you a much better idea of what you’re dealing with.

What If the House Is Completely Overwhelming?

Sometimes an inherited house is just overwhelming.

Maybe it’s a hoarder house. Maybe there’s so much stuff that you don’t even know where to start. Maybe there are only a couple of things you want to keep and you want everything else gone.

In that situation, a junk removal company may make sense.

But there’s another option that a lot of people don’t realize is available.

You Can Sell the House As-Is With Everything Inside

I buy houses, and we buy houses full of stuff all the time.

In fact, most of the inherited and probate houses we buy come with some amount of stuff. Sometimes it’s a little. Sometimes it’s a medium amount. Sometimes it’s a lot.

A lot of people like the fact that we’ll buy the house with everything in it because they don’t have to spend the time and effort going through every single thing.

They take the things they want, and they leave the rest.

If you don’t want to deal with hiring a junk removal company, paying for the cleanout, coordinating everything, and spending weeks sorting through belongings, selling the house as-is with everything in it may be a much easier option.

If you’ve inherited a house and want to talk through your options, we’d be happy to help. Simply fill out the form below, and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

Should You Clean Out the House Before Listing It?

What if you’ve decided that you want to sell the inherited house the traditional way and list it with a real estate agent?

In that case, I would highly recommend cleaning out the house.

You want the property to be as decluttered as possible.

If you’re going to leave anything behind, you might leave a little furniture for staging purposes. But for the most part, you want to get rid of the majority of the stuff.

Why?

Because it can be difficult for buyers to see past all the belongings.

I can walk through a hoarder house and look past all the stuff. I can see the bones of the house.

But I do real estate for a living. I’ve looked at thousands of houses, and I’ve purchased hundreds of houses.

The average buyer isn’t necessarily able to do that.

When buyers walk into a house that’s packed with belongings, they may get overwhelmed. They may have trouble imagining what the house could look like without everything in it.

And they might simply decide to pass.

That’s important to keep in mind if your plan is to list the inherited house on the traditional market.

Should You Have an Estate Sale?

Another option people consider when they inherit a house full of stuff is an estate sale.

The thinking is pretty straightforward: “There’s all this stuff in the house. Maybe we can sell it and make some money.”

And yes, you can make money from an estate sale.

But I want to give you a warning: you may not make as much money as you initially think.

You may not even make as much as the estate sale company originally estimates.

And remember, you’re also going to pay the estate sale company a percentage of the sales.

There’s also some coordination involved.

You need to make sure the estate sale company can access the house. Maybe you need to let them in, or perhaps you give them a lockbox. The sale might happen in one day, three days, four days, multiple weekends, or whatever schedule they use.

The estate sale company may handle much of that for you, but it’s still another thing you have to coordinate.

So, an estate sale can be an option, but understand that it can take time and you may not make as much money as you expect.

If you want to go that route, I do know some good estate sale companies and would be happy to refer you to one.

What’s the Easiest Way to Deal With an Inherited House Full of Stuff?

At the end of the day, there are several ways to deal with an inherited house full of stuff.

You can do the cleanout yourself.

You can hire a junk removal company.

You can have an estate sale.

You can clean everything out and list the house with a real estate agent.

Or, if you don’t want to deal with the cleanout at all, you may be able to sell the house as-is with everything inside.

There’s no one option that’s right for everybody.

Some people have the time and want to go through everything themselves. That’s perfectly fine.

Other people just want the whole thing handled and want to move on.

Whatever works for you.

Inherited a house in Georgia full of stuff?

If you’ve inherited a house and you’re overwhelmed by everything inside, you don’t have to figure it all out by yourself. 

If you’re interested in listing the property instead, we can talk about that option too.

Fill out the form below, and a member of our team will be in touch with you ASAP.