Tips on How to Making Money From Your House Clearance
Completely clearing a home of all its junk and cleaning it so that it is in a liveable condition can be a time consuming, not to mention a costly task. Here are some ideas on ways to either save money or make some money back on your house clearance:
Saving Money:
• Call a number of clearance companies for the best quote, don’t just accept the first one you get. This doesn’t mean go with the cheapest company, especially if the quote they have provided is much less than the others you have received as this may mean they are a rogue company. Rogue companies save money by fly-tipping waste rather than paying to dispose of it properly, and may not have insurance covering you in the event of something going wrong or damage being caused to your property. Avoid hiring a rogue clearance company at all costs.
• Do as much of the house clearance yourself as you can. Get friends and relatives to help. This may not be possible if you are too busy of live at a distance from the property, but you can hire a clearance company to do everything for you.
• Consider when you want the house clearing, the costs may be greater in peak season, so if you can wait a week or two to save some money, it is advisable. You will need to attain details of the variance in prices dependent upon season from each individual company.
• Ensure that the rubbish from your home is disposed of properly, if you are clearing the home yourself then make sure you use a disposal company licenced to take rubbish. If you use a clearance company ensure that they provide you with a waste transfer note, or a receipt showing the company contact information and detailing that the rubbish is the responsibility of the company to dispose of correctly, doing this ensures that if your waste is fly-tipped and is traced back to you, you will be covered, without any proof you could be liable to pay a fine of up to £5000.
Making Money:
• Sell as much of the items cleared from the home as you possibly can. Where and how you sell the items will greatly depend upon the value of the item and the condition it is in. Here are some ideas of how and where you can see your things:
o Advertise privately in local newspapers or newsletters.
o Use an auction website such as eBay.
o Use a free advertising website such as Gumtree or pre-loved.
o Use free advertising locally, display notices in shops and post offices.
o Tell everyone you know what you have to sell, by word of mouth alone you could get rid of at least half of your stuff. Beware, however, that if you are selling to someone you know, or who knows someone you know there may be an unspoken obligation of ‘giving them a good rate’.
o Car boot sales: or table top sales are an ideal way to get rid of a lot of stuff that people may want but are not going to pay a lot of money for. You would be surprised at how much this can total up to, things like books and DVD’s being sold for 50p or a £1 a time soon mount up. Before you go to a car boot sale or something similar consider how much you are willing to sell each of the items for, and what realistically you think you are likely to get so as not to put people off by asking for too much.
• Keep an eye out for any antiques or special looking items, most of the people who end up on programmes like ‘cash in the attic’ have found their treasure while having a clear out.
