I can tell you for a fact unless its been 10 days or less or the items are unique no trade type things that can be easily tracked chances are theyre gone. I had a homing beacon in city hall that got lost when the town died, gm got it back for me but not the furniture or bags of space re parts I lost. Told me anything over 10 days is lost unless you can provide very detailed specs for location type style ect.
kina suxs ya lose a house in the city to that packup BS but ya can have it 2 years on the outskirts of theed or cnet and keep it with no chnace of accidently joining a city. go figure...