Surprise! What did the seller take with them that you expected would stay with the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Their weird smell? 10 years later, on a hot summer day, I can still smell them.

No, that's the mice. They did not take them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It its a fixture attached to a wall (closet fixtures, wall sconces, towel bars, curtain rods) it goes with the house unless you exempted it in the contract. That's real estate law. If you take stuff like this you risk negating the sale.

DC law? Or NOVA law?

Drapes are not attached to the walls. The rods are but drapes are not.

Draperies and blinds are not considered permanent fixtures but the rods are definitely in this category. (Permanently installed plantation blinds ARE permanent fixtures.) Shelving, closet fixtures, bathroom mirrors, wall lamps. ALL of these are permanent fixtures unless you list them as not included in the sales contract. I've seen buyers walk AWAY from a sale at closing over issues like this because something had come up in the meantime that they liked better, and they got back their due diligence $. It went to court and judge ruled the buyers were at fault. This was over fancy closet installations and a stove. You are gambling if you take this stuff.

[Anonymous]

There are some cheap folks on this board. I am trying to imagine taking apart the elfa and moving with it and I just can't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, if taking what is "yours" involves using tools to dismantle/remove from the walls and take down - it is a fixture of the house that isn't "yours" anymore unless it is specifically stated that those things do not convey.

I can not even imagine showing a house with custom closet shelving in place and then removing it at the time of the sale as a nasty little surprise for the new owner.

I'm shocked that people do that actually.

By that argument, basic artwork and other things should be left too. For us, tools are no big deal. Our house came with nothing and we are slowing redoing everything. Why leave stuff that you spent a lot of time picking out to have to replace it all? If I choose a color curtain rod, more than likely the new owner will want something different and replace it. So, it will get tossed when I could reuse it.

Uh, no. Taking a picture off the wall is not the same as removing drapery rods from the wall or disassembling a *installed* closet shelving.

It is exactly the same thing as taking drapes off the wall.

Have you never done any work around your house? Or do you hire out everything?

Well, I said "drapery rods" and "installed closet shelving", but whatever. I will disagree with you that taking the drapes down is as easy as removing a picture from the wall - I can take a picture down in 5 seconds. Taking the drapes off involves removing the rod and then sliding the drapes off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This wasn't a surprise because they told us it didn't convey, but the washing machine. That in itself I didn't find odd, but they left the dryer. I was glad I only had to buy one and not both, but I still found it weird.

I would have bought both so they match.

It wasn't like it was a particularly old dryer. Maybe you're into throwing money down the drain, but I'm not that fussy about my laundry appliances that sit in a mud room. I ended up just buying a washer that was the same brand as the dryer and they match well enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe people bother to take light bulbs! The last thing I want to do is move more stuff.

Taking the light bulbs, shower curtain rods, drapery rods, blinds, smoke detectors and....leaving a slowly dying fish in the highest kitchen cabinet....would all be indicators to me that the seller had a Big Time problem with the buyer.

I also can't imagine an amiable seller taking all of the window treatments w/o being clear to the buyer that they did not convey.

Why are you assuming the sellers are fully rational? Some people are just jerks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:blinds and curtains for every window in the house. They also took the silverware basket from the dishwasher, all of the fire alarms (they were there during our inspection) and all of the light bulbs.

was it a foreclosure or something? I can see this in those situations, but weird for regular sellers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This wasn't a surprise because they told us it didn't convey, but the washing machine. That in itself I didn't find odd, but they left the dryer. I was glad I only had to buy one and not both, but I still found it weird.

I would have bought both so they match.

It wasn't like it was a particularly old dryer. Maybe you're into throwing money down the drain, but I'm not that fussy about my laundry appliances that sit in a mud room. I ended up just buying a washer that was the same brand as the dryer and they match well enough.

I would still want them matching. Sorry.
I just re did my laundry cupboards and added granite counter tops. I want the washer and dryer to match.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the convenient outlets in our old house were the newer USB integrated outlets. We had 3-4 per room. I knew I wanted the same convenience in the new house. We swapped them out for standard outlets.

That is cheap and mean!

[Anonymous]

For the sellers who have done this sort of thing and/or the buyers who have encountered this sort of thing....

Was their animosity between buyer/seller during the contract process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Glass shelves in the bathrooms (from Restoration Hardware), the lamp post from the front yard, ALL of the paint (which was stacked in the basement every time we were in the house, including the walk-through...a huge pain because there were so many different colors in the house and we could have used the paint for touch ups...ended up having to paint the entire house due to damage when previous owners removed things from the walls).

This happened to us and I just don't understand! I'm sure they were not going to use it in their new house in Florida.

[Anonymous]

The seller left a leak in the basement with a bucket and a note that she was "sorry". I made a few calls and she had to pay for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the sellers who have done this sort of thing and/or the buyers who have encountered this sort of thing....

Was their animosity between buyer/seller during the contract process?

For us, yes. It was an unpleasant transaction. Seller seemed to hate us, even though we offered full price and they accepted. It was downhill from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised how many people think window treatments, like the curtains not blinds, should stay. Do you expect the shower curtain to be left?

In the contract language, window treatments do convey. Unless you write in that they don't.

And yeah a shower curtain liner is nice if you leave it. Who wants to spend a full day moving and then not have a shower curtain to shower with the first night?

Who wants to use someone else's used shower curtain? Ew.

Do you never shower when you stay at someone's house? My shower curtains aren't gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Their CAT!!

They gave it to a neighbor, and as an outdoor cat, it lurks in our yard and constantly begs to come 'home.' It even dashed inside our house once and I had to catch it.

Ugh, how cruel to the animal, and to you who has to deal with this and cat poop in the yard. I'd catch it and take it to a shelter.

I would let it come in. Love cats!