Emptying Dad's House
I don’t think I have ever written about this, so I am doing it now for documentation.
When my dad died, I was left with the task of cleaning out his house. My sister and I got the few things we wanted to keep, but that was just a few knick knacks here and there. When we were finished, the the house was still fully furnished. It still had all of it’s appliances. There was still lawn care equipment and other odds and ends that needed to go.
I went through the house on a Sunday and put masking tape that said, "NOT AVAILABLE" on a few things I still wanted, such as my Dad’s aluminum ladder. Then I posted an e-mail to the staffs of the two schools I was working at with a message like this: I need to empty out my parents’ house. I do not want to sell anything. I will be in the house from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Tuesday. You are invited to come and take anything you want. There are a two rules: 1) You must load what you take yourself. I am not carrying anything. 2) Everything is available, unless it has a sign on it saying it is not.
When Tuesday came around, about twenty of my coworkers came to the house. They brought trucks and helpers. They started claiming things and taking them away. Some of my dad’s neighbors came and asked me what was going on. I told them and invited them grab whatever they wanted, as well.
I extended the time to 8:00 PM. When I finally turned out the lights and headed home to my house, the only things left in Dad’s house were a sofa, an artificial fireplace, and the few things I was not giving away.
The next day at work, one of my coworkers sheepishly approached me and asked if he could come back. He asked if he could have some of the many mirrors my Dad had on the walls. I told him he was welcome to take whatever he wanted. We went that afternoon. He showed up with a leather tool-belt, an electric drill, and plenty of tools. He took the mirrors. He took the ceiling fans. He took some of the light fixtures.
I really felt bad about the sofa. It was in mint condition. The only problem was that it was ugly as hell. It was a blue color and covered with ornate copper urns with huge gold and silver flowers. I took a picture and sent it out to the staffs. I mentioned how it was in mint condition and could easily be recovered. The cafeteria manager came to the house with two of her brothers and took it. We were all shocked when we took the cushions off and discovered that it was a sleeper. The original plastic was still there, and it looked like it had never even been opened up. I often wonder if Mom even knew it was a sleeper. I know she bought it as a close-out piece.
I moved the rest of the stuff I was taking out of the house and called "We Buy Ugly Houses". The guy came and walked around the house. Then he sat in his car for almost an hour. When he came in he offered me $39,000 for the house. I had already looked into my options. If I were going to put it on the market to sell, I would have needed to make $80,000 of renovations. My other option was to rent it out, something I was not interested in.
I looked at the guy and said, "You and I both know that I could get more for this house. We also know that you could have offered less. I’ll take it." We shook hands and signed the papers. He told me that I did not need to worry about getting anything else out. They would haul any trash, etc. themselves.
The only snag in the process came when I learned that my dad had not done anything when my mother died. As far as the courts were concerned, she still owned half of the house. I had to get death certificates and prove that she had died before him. It all worked out in the end.
My sister wasn’t as happy as I was to unload the house. She had wanted me to sell it to one of Dad’s friends. But, I didn’t want any of the headaches that might have led to. The house had a crack in the foundation that went from one end to the other. Once all the carpets were out, it was really easy to see. I just wanted to get it off my hands as fast as possible.