The biggest challenge is when the children walk into their parents’ homes feeling completely overwhelmed by the accumulation of "stuff." Because this generation rarely threw anything away, the children are left to dissolve the estate often with consequences.
Among the myriad of bread twister ties, Cool Whip containers, pie tins and peanut butter jars, you will find accumulations that are amazing. Paper and plastic abound, as do clothing items, collections, newspapers, magazines, catalogs and 50+ years of National Geographic.
But somewhere deep down in that accumulation are treasures, take it from one who has saved a $5,000 turn-of-the-century Louis Vuitton trunk from the dumpster or $100,000 painting on its way to Good Will. Most children do not know the truth worth of their parent’s home’s contents. What they believed to be of value, due to generations of family stories, is often inflated and inaccurate. By the same token, items the children feel are "junk" are often worth far more than they ever realized.
Such was the case when I recently walked through a home with the executor. There were a few laundry baskets piled high with stuff and I asked him what these baskets were. He simply replied that the items in the baskets were going to Goodwill because everything in them was "ugly." It didn’t take me but a moment to recognize the extremely rare vases sitting on top of a pile. "This vase may be ugly to you, but it’s worth at least $25,000. Are you sure you want it to go to Goodwill now?" I said with a smile on my face. Several weeks later, both vases sold for nearly $60,000.. It pays to know what you have before you dispose of it in any manner. You just never know what you’re going to find!
Have you ever found a treasure in the belongings of someone who has passed away? What was it and what did you do with it? Have you ever found a treasure at an estate sale?
| August 29th, 2008 at 5:57 am
My parents lived on the family farm, in the same house for over 40 years. They loved the farm and it was hard to leave. In fact, after my father passed away, my mother stayed there until she could no longer live alone. My sister beautifully took charge of the move. My brother and I pitched in to help. It was so difficult and there was so much junk! 40+ years of junk.
From my childhood I remember my mother running the business end of the farm. I always thought it odd that my mother would write the checks for my father to sign (men always signed the checks back then). When I grew up, I realized that I’d never seen my father, who only had a sixth grade education, write anything more than his name on checks. I knew he was an avid newspaper reader, but I’d never seen him write.
The biggest treasure? Among all the years of papers my sister found a single love letter from my father, written to my mother while they were courting. Talk about priceless …
MsGreene