Catawba Publishing

About 6% of Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 move each year, according to the Over-50 Council of the National Association of Home Builders. Baby Boomers are less likely to be the hoarders their parents were who lived through the depression. The boomers have grown up in the age of disposable living. Most are less tied emotionally to “stuff” and look for the most expedient means of reducing their clutter and possessions once having decided to downsize. However, if you are the recipient of “stuff” from your parents, and grandparents, it becomes more complicated as to disposal of these heirlooms. Or couple this with being in the sandwich generation of dealing with your aging parents “stuff” and still having your college age or grown children’s “stuff” stored at your home.

Jan Robbins Durr, a certified appraiser of personal property and estate liquidator sees the latter dilemma daily. For many caught in the present economic times, if pressured to sell their parents homes and most of the contents, every dollar counts to pay for their future living expenditures. This book was developed to help anyone whether a boomer or older to make sense of the countless decisions of what to keep or sell. Step by step you are given the tools to make informed decisions or at the least to know when to bring in outside expertise.

This is a how-to book for selling a lifetime of “stuff”. Ideas for equitable division of possessions with siblings, organizing, research resources, pricing, and preparation for a successful sale are laid out in a clear path to empty a home but retain as much monetary value in a depressed market.