How to price furniture?

[minnie1928]

I just received a contract on my house (yay!) and the buyers asked if we were willing to sell our furniture, artwork, etc. Obviously, the Disney artwork and Big Figs are off limits! But, I'm actually thinking about selling our kitchen, living room, dining room, office stuff. It's all several years old, but in many cases still looks new. We bought classic stuff, so it's not trendy and it's still in style. I can look up to see how much we paid for things, and I know I won't get full purchase price and since we did actually use these things for years I couldn't rationally put full price on it anyway. The little things I'm ok pricing, but the bigger stuff (sofa, dining room set, etc) has me perplexed. Any ideas?

 

[cbg1027]

Take a look on your local craig's list page and see what others are asking for similar items.

 

[mickeymaker2003]

Do you actually want to sell your furniture for some reason? If you are just going to buy the same stuff over again and moving it isn't too big of a hassle, I wouldn't sell unless they paid the price it will cost to replace it.

 

[Pakey]

We sold a lot of furniture with our home as it was all custom done for that house. We sold everything in the family room, the living room, the office, the guest bedroom and in our son's bedroom (it was custom modular pieces that would have never fit in the new house anyway). They also purchased some of the area rugs (we had hardwood floors) that had been made to match the furnishings.

We took our art, our dining room furniture, breakfast nook furniture and master bedroom furniture (except for the bed coverings and upholstered chairs in the sitting area as that stuff all coordinated with the window coverings). They would have purchased everything but I wanted to keep certain pieces.

We sold it for $25,000. It cost at least 3 times that amount. It was high quality, timeless furniture and looked brand new.

 

[minnie1928]

I am contemplating the sale because we are moving cross country from a 3000 sqft house to a 1110 sqft apartment. The apartment lease is for 6 mths, during which time we'll house hunt. The next house will probably be smaller. So selling sounds appealing for several reasons.

 

[singleinthe city]

Moving cross country is costly. I would only move what you absolutely love and sell the rest. Furniture also seems to never be the same when you move it. Unless it is a family heirloom, I would just think of it as a reason to shop at your new locatoin.

 

[starry_solo]

I would also see how much local furniture stores are selling similar items for and then discount it for use (maybe by 1/3)?

 

[katesorad]

I'd offer a whole house bundle. With the Craigslist market here in San Diego, I'd price it around $1,500 for everything (dining set, living room furniture, and bedroom set). Also, put in the ad that you're willing to sell pieces separately. Couches can bring between $50-$500 depending on the couch. If you have an older floral piece (even if it's in nice condition), price it on the lower end. I'd price it $150 and be willing to go down to $50 if you have to.. that kind of thing just doesn't sell, but it seems to be what a lot of people have! Bedroom set.. maybe $400 or so if it includes the mattress.

Take detailed photos of things. Even if you don't post all of the photos in the ad, you can have them on hand for people who may want a more detailed photo of the piece. And people will want to come look at the pieces- so make sure they're very clean when you take the photos and that they look the same when they come to look at them.

Also, indicate if you come from a smoking or non-smoking household, with or without pets, and how long you've owned the pieces, as well as where you purchased them from. If you're selling a Thomasville piece, for instance, it's going to go for a higher price than a generic piece you found from the discount furniture store (though a lot of my stuff is from discount stores and I love it! People like to hear that what they're buying is high end)

 

[lovemylife]

This is interesting, because we just bought a house and the people did not want to move the furniture and offered it to us. Granted the house was used by a 91 yr old woman, but they left us 2 bedroom sets, a kitchen table and chairs, recliner sofa and end tables and a few tvs for $250.00. We bought it because we didn't know how long it would take for us to get our new furniture and we are moving into a bigger house and needed more to furnish it. Whatever we don't think we will use, we will donate to GoodWill.

 

[laurafergie]

You could pay for an hour or two of an appraiser or auctionier's time (around here that would like $75 an hour)

Have them walk through the house and mark with a post it note what current market value is. I would have them write a signed letter stating that they have given their best opinion on the home's contents due to their experience in, blah blah.

ETA Current Market Value is what moneys you can expect to receive for said item - NOT what said item's replacement value is.

I have been present when this done many times, for real estate, tax purposes of estate, insurance needs or owner just wants to know.