My washing machine broke down yesterday, but I wasn’t too
concerned as I have two spare ones. I’ll
also be fine if the fridge packs in, if 9 guests need somewhere to sleep, if I
want to host a dinner party for 20 people or if I have the urge to go skiing. Allow me to explain….
A few weeks ago I sold a property and the owners asked me
for advice on how best to clear out the furniture as they live in the UK and
didn’t have any use for it. Firstly I
got the man from the ‘Troc’ round to have a look. The ‘Troc’ is a large warehouse full of
second-hand goods for sale on behalf of owners; there are several dotted around
the region and they are fantastic places if you are looking for bargains and
trying to furnish an empty property.
Unfortunately for my ‘owners’ while some of the suggested prices were
very good, the Troc would take 50% sale commission, would charge to transport
everything from the house to the depot and also wouldn’t take everything - so
there would still be extra costs for taking the rest of the stuff to the tip
and/or the charity shop. The owners
would have received a ridiculously small amount of cash for their furniture –
so this got me thinking…..I suggested that I pay them a lump sum for the entire
contents of their house, and that I would oversee the clearance of all the
rubbish and unsaleable items, and also get the house cleaned ready for the sale
date.
It is fair to say that on paper this had seemed like a good
idea – the furniture was clean and modern and I had some clients who needed
various items for their new villa, also I manage several rental properties that
are always needing new items, and I have room in my house and garage to stock
the ‘surplus’ and sell it at leisure. In
practice it was a different story. The
property was a village house but also had a separate apartment – so apart from
the fact there were 5 bedrooms (9 beds, 7 bedside tables) there were also two
kitchens (washing machines, fridges, microwaves, kitchen equipment) and two
living rooms (Sofas, TVs, tables). I
also hadn’t thought too much about the contents of cupboards so there were
several surprises – some good ones, such as Ski equipment, golf-clubs and a
keyboard, but also some bad ones such as
out-of-date food and old tins of half-used paint. The final straw (or cherry on
the cake) was the discovery of a huge quantity of garden furniture tucked away
in the loft – solid teak that weighed a ton that needed removing through a tiny
loft-trap on the 4th floor….. My partner and I were barely on
speaking terms after all the trips it took to empty the house.
So far I think I have ‘broken even’ – but have lost the use
of a spare bedroom and my garage, so if anybody needs 9 portable fans, a
Play-station, two sledges, 4 sofas or a keyboard covered in Bart Simpson
stickers, please give me a ring!
