Real Estate prices in Boston are very attractive right now and the time is right to move from that 6,ooo square foot home in the metrowest into a condo in Boston. Your biggest problem? What to do with all your furniture!
How do you sell fine furniture confidentially and smoothly? Squishing 14 rooms of pre-owned furniture into an 1,800 square foot condo is physically impossible, and deciding where to put the furniture you don't take with you can prove to be equally daunting. Like any big undertaking, it's best to break this process down into steps.
- Start with pieces that have seen better days and are at the end of their useful life. Make a list of these pieces and come to terms quickly with the fact that short of a family heirloom, nobody in your family is going to want your old, broken down furniture.
- Check with your church or local non profits to see if there is an upcoming auction that could find a use for them.
- Have a yard sale if you'd like, but as for pieces that don't sell, it's best to take them to the swap section at your local transfer station.
- Consider the size, scale and color of your smaller home and (again) quickly come to terms that oversized pieces won't make this trip. Even if they are recently purchased high-end home furnishings, it doesn't mean they belong in your new home (especially if they won't fit).
- Don't save furniture for your kids. The thought is nice, but kids never want the furniture they grew up with.
- My parents have made a few moves since retiring and have moved and stored the bedroom set I had as a kid as well as my brother's. We recently sold both sets in our store once my folks realized that these bedroom sets would remain in storage forever.
I can't tell you the amount of times that we have moved 70% of the furniture contents from a home, charged around $100 to do so, and wrote some handsome checks to the consignors as a result of the sales. Not only did these consignors benefit by turning their furniture into cash, but they also avoided hefty moving and storage costs.
Economize your downsize with smart planning and dispassionate decision making. It's hard to leave home and the things that represent the best time of your life, but putting your best foot forward means not looking back. Build a plan and get there.
