How much detail on asset list?

[starvingart]

I'm just listing my assets and I'm not certain if I need more detail. If I put:

Sony 42" TV, Joint Owned, 2 yrs old, $300

Is that good enough or do I have to put the model number? I could make myself crazy trying to get model numbers for all the stuff I have. Thank you all so much for your help. This site has been really great. Oh, I'm in Florida btw.

[StartingOver08]

Put your items in catagories and list very broad descriptions: TV $100 (for example)

Most of us assign too much value to our things. It is only worth what it can be sold for on the open market. Think garage sale prices.

[dakota112]

Trust me, most of what you own may be valuable to you but it is junk to other people and won't even sell for 10% of what you paid if you are lucky. That is how a pawn shop owner told me to value items, of course unless it is gold bullion or some other precious metal or rare object of art.Don't we all wish.

[starvingart]

Okay, I have heard of valuing items at "garage sale prices" but apparently here in Mid-Florida they value things differently, can anyone speak to that? Thank you so much for your help, it really is helpful.

[mtbc]

Even at used-goods retail stores or on eBay or whatever you'd probably be surprised how little much of your stuff is worth!

[momofthree]

Our attorney didn't even separate out our household goods. Things like furniture, housewares, electronics, etc were all lumped together under "household goods" with a total value of around $3000, with no individual item worth over $500.

[starvingart]

Thank you all again. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight and not worry so much. Heh! The exemptions in Florida just plain suck. I just read on here that in my area 90% of BK's DO have an appraiser come into the home. So that is why I was wondering how much info. I need to supply. I don't want them to think I was trying to pull anything. I know how old my stuff is, most everything on my list is over 10 years old but it looks like it doesn't matter if they just assign a random value anyways. Thanks again, so much. It helps having this forum.

[spanky]

We itemized and our paperwork preparer and even the clerk at the court said it was too much. "Household Items" is apparently more normal.

[sawdust14]

Our attorney only wanted the total household amount. He said the trustee had no interest in normal household items anyway. I said, "how does $3000 sound"? He said "Fine", and that was the extent of our household items inventory.

[mtbc]

Seeing as I am pro se I itemized a few of those items out just in the leftmost column, but mainly just so they could see that I understood what "household goods" actually means.

[starvingart]

Thanks again everyone. I am now sure (except that it's Mid-Florida area) that my Excel, 5 column, detailed list is toooooo much. At least I have learned how to total columns though! You know I'll have so many more questions as this progresses. Thanks.

[beachymama]

I am in the Ft. Myers district. When I filled out my paperwork, I put down garage sale prices, like $50 for a sofa, $5 lamp, $100 laptops, $5 end table, $50 dresser, etc.

When the appraiser came, she put $150 sofa, $400 head board, footboard, queen sized bed, $250 TV armoire, $460 for a 2004 iMac G3 (non-intel) computer, black Maytag stove (which came with the house in 2005) $350!!!!

I have no antiques, no jewelry, I am a bargain shopper with a good eye who shops at outlets. A single mom with 4 kids, one in college. I filed BK because my ex stopped paying child support and I fell behind. The furniture and stuff was all purchased from 2002 to 2005.

This trustee made me feel like a criminal because the appraiser said my household goods were worth $8900 and I only exempted $1000 for household goods (but on my BK papers, it looks like they only exempted $500).

They want me to pay $833 a month for 14 months to keep my stuff. For that amount of money, I can buy new stuff!

This sucks!

[mtbc]

It may just be a negotiating tactic to see what they can get away with. They'd like money from you, but they sure don't want to have to sell your stuff. Honestly, I'd have been tempted to offer some deal to them where they just take and sell every one of the household goods, even including $1,000 of stuff by their pricing, but they give you a dollar cash back for every dollar below $4,000 that the total sale price comes to. That might concentrate their mind. They stand to win if their appraisal is even anywhere close to reality, after all.

It really ought to be possible to challenge the appraisal by, for instance, picking some of the larger-ticket items and showing what winning bids have gone for on eBay and suchlike, or how much things really cost through things like Amazon marketplace, or, for specialist collectibles, in the pricing books you can get (pawnbrokers can advise), along with photos of your own stuff to confirm the condition, and submitting all that as exhibits in what you file. That is, not for everything, just enough to show how unrealistic the appraisal was.

None of the above is legal advice. I'm not qualified to give that. I'm just saying what I'd be thinking if I were in your situation.

[spanky]

I'd be tempted to call their bluff and say "OK, take all the stuff and sell it" to see if they blink. There's no way they're really going to want to do it - except maybe for some high dollar items (if any).

Sounds like they're looking for an offer of cash instead.

[momofthree]

They want me to pay $833 a month for 14 months to keep my stuff. For that amount of money, I can buy new stuff!

This sucks!

Ummm...yeah, that's almost $12k!!! I'd tell them to feel free to come take it! You can definitely buy a house full of new (used) stuff for less than that!