Call some realtors, they should know of investors that wil buy it.
Okay, this is a good example of a house that should be sold "as is".
I assume she has owned it a long time so it has lots of equity, it should be easy for the right price. The new buyer will just have a crew come in to clean it out.

I think there are companies that will do house clean-outs; one I have heard about is 1-800 Chuck It.

OTOH, it is also possible that buried amidst all the stuff are things your DH may wish to have - or even stashes of cash and valuables that you wouldn't want to lose. It is not uncommon for older people who become confused and ill. And even if you think your MIL has no assets, you may be wrong about that. I had a neighbor who was so poor he was on public assistance and SSI. His home healthcare workers got frustrated with his living conditions and dumped his stuff outside on the ground. When I saw that, I immdiately called his adult protective caseworker to meet me on the site because I knew he often hid cash in between the pages of books and magazines and in plastic bags tucked in canisters, etc. We found hundreds of dollars for him, along with many things we packed up and saved for his daughter.

Since it's your MIL, you and your DH may also have to consider the interests of his siblings, if he has any.

Sorting through all that stuff may not be the most fun thing you do, but if you wear Tyvek overalls, and gloves, and perhaps even dust masks you'll get through it.

I am sorry your MIL's health is declining and she has had to leave her home. That's very sad for her and her family.

Molly

Here is a link to clean out companies by state from the children of hoarders website.

The cheapest way would probably be to rent dumpsters and hire day labor to clear it out. If not cleaned out, you will get a very low price. I personally would buy something like that, but I'd be giving you dimes on the dollar.

Here is a link that might be useful: Children of Hoarders website link

Our local newspaper and "Penny Pincher" always has ads for individuals who will clean out a house. Often they do not charge if they can keep what they want (they resell it). If there is lots of junk you might offer to pay for a dumpster and let them keep what they want. It will be easier to sell the house if it is empty.

What a mess! This sounds like a "disaster" of a house, so look for a Disaster Restoration Service. There are specialty companies who focus on cleaning homes after a fire or flood and who do mold remediation work. Servicemaster has a branch that specializes in disaster restoration. You may need to hire an insured crew (in moonsuits?) to avoid being sued by someone who contracts a disease from cleaning up this house.

OTOH, what will you have after the cleanup? Is this a saleable house? Or, is the only value in the land? If the latter, you could just tear it down and they'll cart it all away in dumpsters, refuse, rafters and all.

Boy, Jena, this really brings back some unpleasant memories. My MIL lived in Southern California and we live about 9 hours north. I have to admit that I didn't really care for my MIL and even from afar she tried to make us miserable. Thankfully my husband didn't put up with it. Regardless we still occasionally went down to visit her as the rest of VDH's family lives in that area as well.

We were never allowed in her house, not even to use the bathroom. I pretty much figured out why just from what her back yard looked like. A peek or two inside the back door confirmed that she was like your MIL. I never wanted to go into the house after that anyway. I swear that instead of washing dishes she just went out and bought new ones.

When she passed away about 12-13 years go her SO called hubby's aunt and told her to call my husband and come clean his mother's 'crap' out of the house. I went through a really bad period where I was totally angry and disgusted with her, and even moreso after we finally walked into the house and opened up the three sheds. Rats lived everywhere. We walked out and didn't go back down for several weeks. By then both of us had finally gotten past most of the anger and dug in along with the help of my husband's aunt and cousins. The SO was nowhere to be seen the whole time we were there and we found out later that he had moved to Nevada a couple days after my MIL's death, the day before we arrived.

And yes, we wore masks and gloves and washed our clothes in the hotel laundry room every night. We knew that we were taking on more than we could (or wanted) to handle so we brought in several large dumpsters and hired a crew from a company that the aunt had found that does that kind of cleanup. We helped and supervised what was tossed out. My husband and his relatives found alot of things that brought back memories and several insurance policies and for that reason I'm glad that we didn't just shovel everything.

I've never in my life been so disgusted and sickened by that house. My husband also has the packrat gene but the memory of his mother's house keeps it in check (and I double check that).

My main point of all the above is to say to try to deal with your anger first, then make the decisions that you and your husband will have to make once your MIL moves into the care facility.

Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best because I know that what lays in front of you isn't going to be easy, for either you, your husband, or your MIL.

Jenna

I would second being careful to not just chuck it all away, although I can also see how it might be worth it to just do so with mess of that proportion. When my great grandfather died, my mother opend and duped out all the prescription medicine bottles, bottles of tylenol etc. Inside she found diamond rings from my great grandmother he'd hidden inside. In the closet were bandaid tins with thousands of dollars inside. The elderly and mentally unwell do illogical things. How terrible to have to live in such squallor with no desire to be rid of it.

Also check the pockets of old clothes, I know people that hide money there and in old pocketbooks as well. Books of course. Check for hollow spots in the wall or attic

Call up a dumpster rental company... near me, home depot rents them... also get some wheel barrows... Put on some old clothes.... and get crackin.
I'm not sure if you're going to be profiting from the sale or if your mother is but if it's you it make no sense to not just tough it out. If you're adamant about this serious cleanup job it will cost you many thousands of dollars for a job that will probably take half a day at the most, especially with some day laborers.

Tear out the carpets while you're there, repaint the walls, disinfect and deodorize and then you can think more clearly about what to do.

Donate everything you don't want and get a tax write off or freecycle everything. There is someone, somewhere that wants whatever you don't.

If you call one of those quick sale companies, you won't get nearly what you could have. I agree with the others on here. I'd try to clean it out.

Quirky,

Half a day? I don't think so. My mom was also a hoarder who stashed things in odd places so nothing could safely be just tossed. It took my sister, brother and I (along with spouses and sometimes even the kids) about 5 days to clean out her 1600 sf home. She also had an unknown mouse problem in the basement. We didn't just shovel things out, though. She had many, many antiques and valuables, so we had to split into keep, donate, and trash piles. The latter was of course the largest! But even if you're just trashing everything, it will probably take a couple of days. After all the stuff was gone, we had a cleaning crew come in and take care of the worst of what was left.

Of course, it wasn't so bad because we were not bitter about doing it. I know Mom would have done it (and more) for any of us. In fact, I actually look back on that week fondly as it brought all us siblings closer. All of us working together with the bonus of many fond trips down memory lane...

"I know Mom would have done it (and more) for any of us."

Think of all the years, not just days, of cleaning up after kids that moms have already done. A few days seems insignificant by comparison.

Well that leaves you with just one question then...
What's in it for you?

Quirky, maybe you just don't understand. People do it because of moral obligations. And they do it willingly due to family obligations. What's in it for them? Nothing. They are just doing the right thing.

Been there. Done that. Don't regret it either. Couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't.

Maybe I could use some lessons in moral obligations but I believe it was a matter of selling to an investor or going through the trouble to clean out all the junk and get it in a condition where it would sell for market price. Maybe the difference in price is not worth the time it would take to clean it out. I have only seen such hoarders on TV, I haven't tried to actually do it in person. It sounds easy enough but like the poster mentioned it's probably a lot easier said than done to get it sorted out. I don't even know where the poster is geographically in relation to the house. It might make more sense to just wash your hands of it in a fast, painless sale to an investor. Is this immoral?

If the owner of the house is going into assisted living, would a fast closing/cash be so bad? I say if it's possible clean it out, fix it up and get as much as you can for it but the poster and her family will have to make that call.

My aunt who raised me was a hoarder. Its a mental illness that endangers the individual. My husband was awesome because I had such a hard time facing the situation. My aunt's history of abuse ..... oh lordy! Anyway, we emptied the house and sold it fairly quickly to an investor. He fixed it up and flipped it. I really didn't care what we got for the place--we didn't have the skills or the time to make the repairs. We were not wealthy, and the money was important to provide care for the aunt. Individuals who worked for the state were very helpful and understood the stress. However, sometimes you just need to make the decision and get on with life!

Hope I get more help from my daughter-in-law when it's time that I need some help. Hope my son sticks up for me!!!

Given the limited facts we have, I don't understand why anyone would think the OP has failed her moral obligations. The mother has left her house and entered an assisted living facility, so her needs are taken care of. The OP implies that money from the house sale is not an issue, so it doesn't appear that the mother needs the cash from selling the house to continue living at the facility. Many of the people who responded to the OP have discussed cleaning up the house and selling it as a benefit to the son and his siblings, rather than to the mother. Does the mother need the money? Will she be sent to a Medicaid level nursing home if the house doesn't sell? And, given the dreadful condition of the place, would its sale clear enough to make any difference?

So you have a choice to clean it out yourself, have someone else clean it out, or just sell the house with all the crap still in it. There are several things to consider when deciding which is best for you.

If the proceeds of the home are going to end up going to the state or the assisted nursing center then I'd go the easy route of selling the house with everything in it. I'd probably take a day and try to go swiftly through each room just to see if I could recover important paperwork, family items, and any item that I think might be valueable.

If you benefit from the sale then the additional money from cleaning out the house (either yourself or hiring someone) before selling the house may be worth the additional time and aggravation.

I don't think the decision of what you do is at all related to how you feel about MIL but moreso getting done what needs to be done and what will work best for you. These days none of us seem to have enough time and this will be a major project to undertake.

Uh Michael?

The moderators have deleted your posts twice now. Any chance you could lay off the judgemental attitude?

I, OTOH, feel a moral obligation NOT to leve behind a disgusting mess for my family to clean up. Or a barn, shed or series of storage units full of junk I couldn't ber to get rid of.

It's difficult enough to go throught the effects of someone you loved dearly who took reasonable care of her/his affairs. I know because I've had to do it a number of times. Why would anyone think it's OK to impose on their loved ones the extra burden of cleaning up filth and mounds of junk at such a difficult time?

It's unfortunate, but a fact of life, that some people live in these conditions because of mental illness and/or dementia. But no one in their right mind should kid themselves into thinking that it doesn't matter in what condition they leave their affairs after they're gone.

Getting our things in order and keeping them that way is the last loving thing we can do for our families.

Of course, that's just MY opinion.

When my family cleaned out my grandmother's house which was a cluttered mess, not as bad as described above though, I think they were lucky they did not hire a company as they discussed, because I found her old doll in a box, from when she was little. It is over 100 years old and worth $600+. My family was cool and gave it to me since I collected dolls.

But you may just find something like that... just like on those TV shows!

quiltglo -- Just wanted to say I finally read your post and followed the link. Who knew there was an organization to help hoarders, and one specifically for Children of Hoarders! I'd seen TV "docu-dramas" on this compulsion, but didn't know about the support group.

I'm a firm believer than no therapist can help more than a support group. (Not to choose one over the other, but both in tandem.) Nobody understands a problem like a whole group of other people who have been through it themselves.
(My understanding came through an adoption search and support group, but it applies across the board.)

An article in our newspaper today described a non-profit group called National Association of Senior Move Managers. They specialize in matching up families and companies that work specifically with older people who need help with decluttering and/or moving.

This seems like a good resource.

Here is a link that might be useful: Senior Move Managers