Are You Moving to a Smaller Home? Here Are Some Items You Should Never Toss
A caller recently asked us this truly smart question . . .
“My mom and dad’s lives have changed completely over the last two months. They are both working from home, not traveling to work, so they don’t need to live within commuting distance of New York. Their children, including me, are grown and don’t plan to spend much time in the house we grew up in. Their house has appreciated in value, and they should be able to sell it for a nice amount of money and move to a smaller retirement home or to a retirement community. So they are about to make a move from a big old house that is filled with stuff to a smaller residence. So . . . what are they likely to own that they shouldn’t just toss out when they leave?”
That’s a Smart Question . . .
Do you have parents who are downsizing? Or are you planning to downsize your own residence? It’s an issue that seems to be on more people’s minds in the aftermath of the covid-19 crisis.
Deciding what to keep and what to part with is a very personal matter. Certain possessions, after all, have great emotional value for you that exceeds their dollar value. So perhaps the first step to take is to identify those items and set them aside if you have no intention of getting rid of them. With them “off the table,” you can focus on finding items like these, which contain precious metals, and which can be worth quite a lot.
Old watches, rings, and other items of jewelry
Tableware, serving dishes that are silver-plated or made of sterling silver
Barware, including silver measuring cups, silver ice tongs, silver-rimmed drinking glasses
Computers, televisions, and electronic devices of all kinds, which contain gold in their circuit boards
Refrigerators, oven ranges, clothes dryers and other appliances that contain thermocouple wire that can contain platinum
Coin collections, especially those that have not recently been appraised by qualified experts
Firearms and collectible knives, which can have silver and even gold decorations
Trophies and awards, especially old ones, which can be made of silver or plated with gold
Gold-filled eyeglass frames that are sitting in dresser drawers
The contents of safes, which in some cases have not been examined for years
Take Your Time, Make a List, Then Call Us
When emptying out a house, you are likely to make the biggest mistakes if you are in a hurry. Maybe you just want to get the place cleaned out, so you call in a junk-removal company and explain that you only want the place empty. Or you call a company that organizes estate sales and let them evaluate what you have and what it is worth. Taking easy shortcuts like those only encourages unscrupulous businesspeople to take advantage of you.
The better approach is to take your time, create an itemized spreadsheet that contains photos and descriptions of what you own.
You can then call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344 and let us make some suggestions about how you can obtain the most amount of money from the items you no longer want.
Downsizing can be a time to reclaim the value in precious metal items you own as you start a new life with a meaningful infusion of cash.