@so bacon I agree.
you have two transactions occuring
1) sale of real estate where any capital gains is based on the selling price of the real estate, less its aquisition cost, etc. this is a capital asset subject to capital gains tax.
2) personal items which presumably are being sold for less than their original value. As such there is no tax reporting requirement and no tax to pay, There is also no capital asset being sold so there is no ability to report the loss on a tax return.
there is no ability to add the personal items to the cost basis of the home. if you don't split out the personal items, you are going to overpay the capital gains tax.
it's more than a "win-win", it's really the way you are supposed to do it.
