Our Services

Estate Sales

We start by meeting with you at the home and conducting a walk through of the house in order to assess the contents. In our experience, an estate sale usually brings the most money for the contents, but in some cases we will recommend that certain items be consigned to a specialty auction house or sold on E-Bay. In situations where an estate sale is not possible, we can make arrangements for sale of the contents by auction, consignment, and/or private sale.

Our fee for an estate sale is a percentage of the sale proceeds, based on the amount of work required to prepare the house and contents for the sale. This includes cleaning and preparing the house for the sale, boxing up photos, family memorabilia, documents and mail for delivery to you, set up and display of the contents, pricing of items including research of fair market re-sale value, advertising, permits, staffing of the sale, a detailed and accurate account of the sale proceeds, and post sale cleanup of the house.

We offer a free consultation and will gladly provide references from our past clients.

Estate Cleanouts

Estate cleanouts range from houses that need to be cleaned out in order to put the house up for sale to "hoarder" houses. We will go through the contents of the house, separate the items that can be sold from the trash, retain all legal and financial documents for delivery to you, and properly dispose of all trash and hazardous waste.

Estate cleanout services are provided on an hourly basis plus dump fees. There is no charge for the initial consultation and we will gladly provide you with an estimate for the project. This service is considered an administrative expense of the estate and we will provide you with an itemized bill that can be included on the probate court account.

Asset Research Services

We often work with estates where there are years of accumulated documents and unopened mail, and the executor does not have the time or the expertise to go through everything. We offer professional document review, know what has to be kept and what can be shredded, and will return the retained documents to you organized and labeled. We frequently find assets that the executor was not aware of - our largest find to date was an investment account with over $60,000.

We also offer a comprehensive asset research service for executors, administrators, and guardians. We have extensive experience in locating assets - examples of our finds include savings bonds, stocks, safe deposit boxes, unclaimed funds, life insurance policies, and out-of-state property.

This service is considered an administrative expense of the estate and we will provide you with an itemized bill that can be included on the probate court account.

Inventories & Appraisals

An Inventory & Appraisal is a list of the assets of an estate, including the contents of a house or storage unit. Usually the Executor estimates the value, but in certain circumstances a professional inventory is necessary. We also frequently work with estates where the fiduciary has no idea what is in the house or storage unit and needs someone to go through all of it.

We start by meeting with you to view the contents and to discuss what type of inventory is necessary – specific items only, whole house inventory, whether you need the boxes numbered and cross referenced to a master list of contents, etc. - and if a specialist appraisal will be needed for items such as rare books, stamps, firearms, etc.

We are USPAP certified (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice), and the Inventory & Appraisal we prepare will comply with local Probate Court Rules, and include a description, photograph, and fair market value of each item or group of items.

This service is considered an administrative expense of the estate and we will provide you with an itemized bill that can be included on the probate court account.

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If you would like more information about our services, or would like to schedule an appointment for a free initial consultation, contact us by phone at (937) 654-5959 or by e-mail at information@somersethouseservices.com.