We’ve all wondered if we can make some serious money from the stuff tucked away in an attic, basement, or the back of the cupboard, but could there be enough to actually help you move house?
As moving house is an expensive ordeal, finding something that could knock off a portion of this price is the dream, and especially with inherited houses, there are a few ways you can leverage the items in the house to help you with this. Compare My Move has researched the most efficient ways you can make a little extra money when clearing out a house for your big move.
Self valuation
Self-valuation will usually get you the best value as you aren’t having to pay someone else to do it for you. Many online resources can help you in your self-valuation, the most effective being searches for the same or similar items in online marketplaces such as eBay, Gumtree, or Facebook Marketplace. You can also value your items physically in pawn shops or with some known experts in a certain field.
There are some downsides to self-valuation. Although you could be getting a lot more money as you don’t have to sell at trade price or pay someone to value your items, there is also a chance you’d be getting less money by not having the items valued. They could be worth a lot more than you think, and this will be hard to decipher without a professional valuation.
Self-valuation can also take quite a long time to do, as you have to sort through your items and work out which are of any value. Whereas house clearance companies, auction houses and professionals will usually be able to spot a valuable item much quicker.
House clearance companies
Most house clearance companies will value items themselves and buy them from you at a trade price. They will then deduct the price of the items from the house clearance cost, which could actually leave you in profit if enough is found. Before finding out how much a house clearance will save you – you need to know how much it’d cost.
To find out how much you can save during a house clearance you first need to know how much you’d spend on a house clearance. The average price of a house clearance is between £325 and £595 but this is affected by a few factors, but the main change in price will depend on the volume of items you need to clear.
The next biggest effect on cost will be the actual items you are clearing from your house. Some items will always cost a little extra to move – here is a list of the main culprits of adding cost to your house clearance.
The money you make on house clearance services from the valuables they are clearing will depend on the company you use. Some may donate the valuables they have been asked to clear to charities or recycle them – but you will get no money from this.
Some will take the valuables at trade value and give you the money for them, meaning that if you have enough valuable items your costs will be covered and the house clearance company will then pay you any extra profits beyond the house clearance cost. It must be noted that the trade price of an item could be much less than if you were to sell it yourself or through an auction.
When comparing house clearance companies, it is important to check what they will do with the valuables they find, this way you know whether to extract your valuables beforehand or leave them to the professionals. If you know that the valuables in your house could go for roughly £600 in trade price, hiring a house clearance company could save you the hassle of self-valuation, and still make a profit.
Auction houses
It is very common for auction houses to also offer house clearance as the service can be a treasure trove of valuable and antique items. House clearances from auction houses work the same as any other house clearance company – except instead of buying any valuable items you have for a trade price, they are put up for auction. The amount the items are sold for at auction will then be deducted from the cost of the house clearance, and if it exceeds this cost, given back to you as profit.
The main benefit and drawback of using an auction house clearance instead of a regular house clearance company are the same, the fluctuation in price. With a house clearance company, you will usually be given the trade value for any valuable item you have, but with an auction house the price you get is the price it is bought for, this could be more than the trade value, but it could equally be less.
Auction houses that also offer house clearance services will be able to properly value any items that you have, and know where to start with the lowest bidding, so it is more likely that the item will sell for a trade price or above than it is for the item to sell for under.
Charitable house clearance
Charitable house clearances are house clearances, done by not-for-profits that cost you nothing. In return, the charity gets to keep any valuable items to donate or sell. The biggest upside of using a charitable house clearance is that they will collect your items for free. However, there are a couple of downsides that come along with it.
The more obvious one is that you won’t get money for the items that could have a good amount of value, however, if you don’t think you have enough value in your items to make a profit or don’t mind your items being donated to charity, this isn’t too much of a concern.
The other downside is that most charitable house clearances won’t fully clear your house, and will simply take the items they could donate or sell for free. Acting as more of a free collection service than a house clearance service. This could be perfect if you need furniture or other items removed at no cost – but if it’s a bigger job that requires the clearance of other non-valuable items then you may need to hire a separate house clearance company anyway.
David Sayce, Co-Founder of Compare My Move said, “We all look to save a little money when moving house, and finding unwanted valuables during a house clearance can put a little dent into your overall costs.
“From antique furniture to Pokemon cards, there’s always something tucked away that could sell for quite a bit. However, finding the best way to value and sell these items is crucial. Always talk to your house clearance company about valuables before your house clearance.”
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