How can I estimate the market value of my personal property?

Question

I need a way to get a rough estimate of the total market value of the contents of my house. Are there any rules of thumb (e.g., if your house is worth x, has y bedrooms, etc, the contents are typically worth $)?

Answer 1

are you talking the actual real estate or the possessions in the house? - two totally different things and one has no effect on the other. personal possession depends on age and condition - house depends on comparable local recent sales

Answer 2

The first important factor is location. Than you usually do have some standard ranges for a given criteria within the same location. What I would do is to search the market within your location for a similar house. That should give you a rough estimate.

Answer 3

I am not aware of any rules of thumb.  Rules of thumb are notoriously inaccurate anyway.  

You aren't going to want to hear this, but the value of the stuff in your house is most likely negligible.  Unless you have documented reasons to think your stuff is special (antiques that are appraised for high value, etc.) then it's about worthless.  

That 5-year old couch isn't worth much.  The used TV's aren't really worth anything, etc.  Look at your stuff in a different light - if you went to yard sale, what prices would you expect to see that stuff.  Used video tapes are worthless, used DVD's don't fetch more than a buck or two.  Used furniture doesn't have nearly the value that new stuff does.  This is the exact reason that you want replacement cost on your homeowner's insurance, because your stuff depreciates rapidly and isn't really worth much...  

Then you actually have to sell it.  That's a major pain too.  I wouldn't hold out much hope that your stuff has any real value.  

good luck!