Decided what to keep and what to sell is one of the many difficulties involved with losing a parent. But the process does not have to be as draining as you might think.

There are many methods of liquidation that people use in these situations.

Some people sort through everything and facilitate the sales themselves through selling items online or at a yard sale. A smoother process, though, is to hire an estate liquidation company to stage a sale – like McNeil Liquidations in Edmond.

Of course, it’s always beneficial to talk to people you know who who may be able to recommend companies to find good, experiences liquidators. Then cross-check those lists with reviews online. Not all liquidators will be appraisers, but the best ones should at least have one on speed dial.

Regardless of if you decide to manage the sale yourself or hire a professional, though, it is important to have your items cataloged, researched and appraised so that you have a better idea about what types of offers your should expect and accept.

A word of advice: Don’t shortchange the things you think look worthless. It is far better to have something appraised as worthless than to assume that something is and later find out it was worth thousands of dollars.

Finally, after the estate sale, the remaining items can be reevaluated to do one of three things with:

  • Sell items to a gold buyer. The items that were appraised may be able to be sold directly to a gold buyer. We accept more than you might think!
  • Donate items to thrift stores. Anything that functions well, but isn’t worth the time and effort to try selling away, can be donated to places like Goodwill and Salvation Army.
  • Discard the rest. After all is said and done, whatever you haven’t kept, sold or donated can likely be discarded.