What Actually Sells, and What Gets Binned

Sells reliably

• Tools and workshop equipment. Hand tools, power tools, machinist tools, hardware in drawers. The single most underestimated category in the house.
• Mid-century furniture and lighting. Roughly 1950 to 1975. Teak, walnut, tapered legs, atomic shapes.
• Costume jewelry. Sold by the piece and by the lot, and often outperforms the fine jewelry in the same house.
• Kitchenware. Pyrex, cast iron, Corningware, small appliances in their boxes.
• Vinyl records, stereo equipment, musical instruments.
• Holiday decorations. Particularly pre-1970 Christmas.
• Paper. Postcards, maps, photographs, advertising, ledgers, sheet music.
• Sporting and outdoor gear. Fishing, hunting, camping, and in the lakefront communities, anything to do with boats.
• Sewing and craft supplies. Fabric, patterns, machines, notions.

Sells poorly, whatever it cost new

• Large brown furniture from the 1980s and 1990s. Dining suites, wall units, entertainment centres. Frequently unsellable at any price.
• Formal china and crystal. Full services included. The market has largely gone.
• Collectible plates, figurines and commemorative anything. Sold as investments, worth a fraction now.
• Encyclopaedias and general books.
• Exercise equipment, unless it is nearly new.
• Mattresses and upholstered seating, for hygiene reasons more than taste.

This list surprises people, and it is worth saying plainly: the things a family expects to carry the sale are often the things that do not, and the things they apologise for are often the things that do.

Why the overlap is so painful

Look at the two lists. Almost everything in the first one is small, dusty, stored in a garage, basement or attic, and looks like clutter. Almost everything in the second is large, prominent, was expensive new, and looks like the valuable part of the house.

That is the whole problem. Families clear the first list to get at the second, and the sale loses most of its value before anyone professional walks in.

The one rule

Do not dispose of anything until someone who does this for a living has walked the house. The opinion is free and takes about an hour. If they tell you there is nothing worth selling, you have lost an hour and gained certainty. If they tell you the garage is worth four thousand dollars, you have just paid for the whole exercise several times over.

When you are ready to work out which kind of sale suits the house, the four question tool is the fastest way to a straight answer.