Trash to Treasures

There is an old quote by Yotam Ottoleghi “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. First, I would like to update this quote to: “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure”!

I have been a certified personal property appraiser for 22+ years and have been buying and selling household contents for 30+ years. One thing I have learnt time and time again is that many items that people think are valuable have little value and many items that people think are trash do indeed have a least some monetary value.

Approximately 60-70% of my business is estate related appraising household contents for probate, distribution, donation and to sell.

I cannot count how many times people thought there was little to no value of their parents or relatives household items. Often, I arrive to appraise the items the family feels has value and there is a large metal garbage bin in the driveway or yard. I always have a quick peak before I go into the house. My estimation is that in roughly 90% of the time there are items in the bins that look like trash but are indeed treasures.

Basement, Garage, Attic

From my 30+ years of experience the hidden treasures are usually not in plain site. Usually, the treasures are located in the basements, garages, attics, crawl spaces and sometimes tucked away under stairs. Often stored in unmarked boxes or bins.

Online Auction

Last summer I managed an online auction downsizing sale. There were several boxes and items located in the basement that were organized by my client beforehand to go to the trash and for donation. I convinced my client to let me put these items in the online auction.

There were several 1980’s toys, 1990’s video game systems & games plus a Commodore 64 personal computer system. I turned this trash into over $2000.

This is only one instance of many where an experience professional certified appraiser has turned trash into thousand of dollars.

Contact an Appraiser

If you are an executor of an estate or downsizing yourself or a loved one, before you throw anything out, my advice is to have a certified appraiser come and visit. This will help give direction on which items have value, which items to keep, which items to donate and which items to throw out. Just the piece of mind of knowing that items worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars did not end up in a landfill is worth the few hundred dollars to hire a certified appraiser!

The secrets in the jewellery box!

When I am hired as an appraiser I often hear from clients that their mom, aunt, sister or grandmother never bought or had any good jewellery. Trust me – there are secrets in the jewellery box! Recently I was appraising the contents of a 1 bedroom apartment in the Bathurst and Eglinton area of Toronto. This estate had belonged to an elderly lady who had never been married and had lived on her own most of her life.

In this particular case the lawyer of the estate was also the executor. He had told me that she was never married and only had some minor jewellery in a small jewelry box in the bedroom. After close examination I found several gold & diamond rings, bracelets and necklaces as well as vintage designer costume jewelry. I also found a very expensive gold & platinum wedding band from Tiffany’s!

I know there is definitely some stories located in the jewellery box as well as some valuable items. It is always a good idea to hire an experience appraiser who can find value where others cannot!

Executor's Duties in Ontario

As an Executor you have been given the very important and sometimes thankless job of being the executor of an estate. It can be very overwhelming and confusing. I remember a quote by Henry Ford: “there are no big problems, there are just lots of little problems”! This is great advice in life but especially when it comes to dealing with an estate.

First of all it is important to know that you are entitled to compensation for your time. Time is money and often being an executor can be very time consuming. Now let’s get down to the role, responsibilities and duties of an Executor. First of all you will need to arrange the funeral. After that you will need to need to secure and appraise the assets of the deceased. The assets include real estate, vehicles, furniture, artwork, investments and bank accounts. From there you will need to apply for probate. Next you need to provide accounting to the beneficiaries. Finally you will need to distribute the assets of the estate.

This all sounds simple enough but can be a very thankless drawn out tasking. My advice – hire good professionals to help along with the process. Having a good accountant, lawyer, real estate agent and appraisers will insure that you have preformed your duty to the best of your abilities. There are also professional organizers that can assist you in sorting out and cleaning up the residential home of the deceased. Often the any real estate will have to be sold and needs to be market ready. This is where a professional organizer is worth their weight in gold.

Do you know who else is worth their weight in gold – a professional appraiser! Having a detailed list of all the personal property (artwork, furniture, china, jewelry,etc.) and the fair market value of the personal property will show that the Executor has done their due diligence. The government requires a fair market valuation of all assets including all the furniture, china, artwork. Many lawyers recommend an appraisal report of all the personal property but all lawyers should insist on having this tasking done.

It is important to remember that being the Executor is a big undertaking but this undertaking can be broken down into many smaller tasking. Hiring good professionals will help reduce the time and stress involved and insure that you as the Executor have done your due diligence in regards to your role and responsibilities of the estate.