This is a digital book (PDF) you download straight after paying. Nothing is shipped.
For families clearing a parent's home

Before anything leaves the house, look closer.

Before the Estate Sale walks you through clearing a family home in the right order: what to protect first, what's worth money in every room, and how to get through it without a family fight.

Get the guide for $37

Instant PDF download, 72 pages. 7-day money-back guarantee.

Cover of Before the Estate Sale by Frances Whitcombe
Frances Whitcombe

When my mother died, my brother and I had six weeks to empty a house she had lived in for fifty-one years. On the second day, I filled a box with what I was certain was kitchen junk: old tins, a dented tray, a tangle of tarnished spoons. It was on its way to the curb when I turned one of those spoons over and saw the word Sterling.

A week later, my brother and I stopped speaking for a month over a dining table neither of us actually wanted.

Those are the two great dangers of clearing a family home: throwing away something valuable in a hurry, and losing each other in the process. I wrote this guide so you avoid both.

Frances

This guide is for you if…

What's inside

Six parts, written as a plan you follow from the first day to the last, with checklists, fill-in pages and word-for-word scripts. A few of the pages:

Look inside

Real pages from the guide. Tap any page to see it full size.

How it works

You pay

Through Gumroad's secure checkout. Card, PayPal or Apple Pay. One payment, no subscription.

The guide opens

Your download appears on the next screen, about a minute later. Read it on your phone, tablet or computer.

It stays in your email

Your link is emailed to you too, so you can open the guide again any time, or print the pages you need for the house.

Before the Estate Sale, by Frances Whitcombe

Before the Estate Sale

  • The full 72-page guide, as an instant PDF
  • The First 48 Hours: securing the house, the papers and the hiding places
  • The Five Boxes sorting system and a fair Who-Gets-What rotation for siblings
  • Room-by-room pages for 12 rooms, and a 10-page Field Guide to marks and makers
  • The Sold-Price Method, selling options compared, and estate sale company questions
  • Word-for-word scripts for estate sale companies, dealers and family
  • Printable working pages: Room Tracker, Ask First Inventory, Who Gets What and more
  • Five bonuses: The First Weekend, box labels, 25 Things to Check, the Family Meeting Agenda, and Your First Online Listing

$37 one payment

Get the guide for $37

Secure checkout by Gumroad. Instant PDF, nothing shipped.

Seven days to decide

Read it. Walk the first room with it. Check the hiding places. If within seven days you feel it wasn't worth it, reply to your receipt email and you'll get every dollar back. No forms, no questions.

About Frances

Frances Whitcombe is 72 and lives in coastal Connecticut. She has helped families clear more homes than she can count, starting with her own mother's, and she shares what she's learned so you don't have to learn it the hard way.

She is not an appraiser, a lawyer or an accountant, and she'll never pretend to be. Anything that might be truly valuable, she sends to a certified appraiser, and the guide tells you exactly when.

Frances's first rule: nothing leaves the house until someone has looked closer. The details are usually underneath.

Frances Whitcombe

Questions, answered

Is a printed book mailed to me?

No. It's a PDF you download the moment you pay. Nothing arrives in the mail. You can print any page at home, and the box labels and working pages are made to be printed.

How does it arrive?

Gumroad shows your download straight after checkout and emails you the link with your receipt, usually within a minute.

Will it tell me what my parents' things are worth?

It teaches you how to find out. Prices change constantly, so instead of a list that goes out of date, the guide shows you how to look up what similar items have actually sold for, and when to ask a certified appraiser.

My parent is still living. Is it still useful?

Yes. There's a section on clearing a home with a parent who's downsizing or moving into care, and on keeping the stories even when the things go.

My siblings and I don't agree. Will this help?

That's one of the main reasons it exists. The Family Meeting, the Who-Gets-What rotation and the sibling scripts are built to keep a family talking.

What if it's not for me?

Reply to your receipt email within seven days and you'll get a full refund.

Before the first box leaves, read Part 1

It's six pages, and it protects the house, the valuables and the family.

Get the guide for $37

Instant PDF download. 7-day money-back guarantee.

P.S. Shake every book before it goes. Page 29 explains why.