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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The drapes! OMG we were exposed to the world!

The seller took the machine that hooked into the ceiling speakers all over the house so you could play music. He should NOT have taken that. It's been years, but I still think about how petty that was. And now the technology is old so I don't even know how to replace it.

That was petty, but you can buy an amp from Sonos that will connect wired speakers into a Sonos wireless system. We have a combo -- the old wired speakers and new wireless speakers, and it works great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

I paid $1,000 for my ELFA closet systems...so yes I'm taking those bitches with me. Just pointing that out.

Take them down before you show the house then. I know how ELFA is mounted (the top rack drilled into the wall, the rest hanging on those racks), so it's not totally unreasonable to take it, but you shouldn't show the house with it in place.

If it's anchored to the wall, it's a fixture which conveys unless explicitly excluded in the listing. If you want to keep it, remove it before showing the house or include language in the listing stating that it does not convey. Otherwise, you may end up having to fork over cash at closing to get the buyer to sign.

The way ELFA works, the top bar is anchored to the wall but everything else hangs off of that and can be taken down without any tools - as easy as taking a coat hanger off of a rack. It's a gray area, but anyone who saw it when showing wouldn't necessarily know it wasn't anchored to the wall. So that's why I said take it down before showing - you're asking for problems if you leave it up when showing.

Most people have their actual clothes in their closet during showings. I don't have elfa but I wouldn't want it to convey either. My parents spent like 7k on their elfa. You can adjust it to fit any closet.

The point is that you are misleading the buyer if you are not being clear that the $7,000 worth of closet fixtures doesn't convey. They would be making a $7,000 lower offer if they knew.Those systems are custom fit and screwed to the wall. They have a reasonable expectation that they'll stay. Do you take the old style wooden curtain rods, too? I guess you could cut a long Elfa shelf to fit a smaller closet, but it would take some engineering and buying of new materials to make a small closet set fit a bigger one. I'd rather just start over and get pieces that actually fit my new closets.

"I spent a lot of money on it" doesn't determine whether something is a fixture or not.

[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.

Ours did the exact same!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the ordinary grate, hardly pricey.

We always leave the grate, but I have a set of antique andirons and a fender that are worth a lot of money. The last time we sold, the buyer tried to ask that they convey. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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?

...

I would never use someone else's shower curtain liner. Disgusting. But HOTELS you say, I say: at least hotels have a guaranteed cleaning service.

You think hotel cleaners wash the shower curtain? Hah.

[Anonymous]

All of the bathroom mirrors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

Getting rid of that paint is a pain, too. You actually have to take it to the dump, you can't just throw it in the trash. And they sure as heck couldn't take it to Florida with them, lol.

I wonder if they asked through their agent and were told to pitch it??

We made a point of leaving the extra paint for our buyers (all labeled by room), but there was a thread on this before where someone complained that the seller had left half empty cans of paint. Others pointed out that they were trying to be nice, but I guess that's not immediately obvious to everyone. So, you never know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:We sold and took the thermostat, but replaced it with one of equal value that just wasn't as user friendly for us. Buyer said that the thermostat we took was one of the reasons they bought the house, so they'd like to have it back. Of course we gave it back, but thought it silly that anyone would buy a house for a thermostat.

They didn’t buy the house for the thermostat. They told you it was one of the reasons they bought your home (vs others ). Why wouldn’t you just buy the same damn thermostat for your new home instead of taking theirs? By the way, you may say it was of equal value but I bet it cost less and you thought you could get away with it. Otherwise, again, you would’ve just bought yourself the type you liked for your new place. Stingy and you got caught- good!

Not sure why you think it's great that I "got caught." I'm already sharing a story that doesn't cast me in a favorable light, so I'm not sure why you'd pile on with nonsense. We had an Ecobee in the house when we showed it and replaced it with a Nest. We had intended to take it off the wall for the open house, but the buyer gave us about 1 hour of notice the day it went on the market and gave us an offer 3 hours later. We never got to the open house, and they buyer really didn't want the Nest. I think that's weird, but ymmv

Why do you think that's weird? You didn't want the Nest. FWIW, I wouldn't want one either. I rented an apartment that had one, and it never worked as advertised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our buyer left a bunch of furniture and a vacuum behind. It was all there at closing and when we returned to the house a day later we found the neighbor in our home and an empty house. He said the previous owner left it to him. We didn't want to throw a fit because we were going to get rid of or sell the furniture (so ugly, but antiques). We let it go, asked the neighbor to leave, and changed the locks. A few days later another neighbor took our patio furniture (we could see it in their backyard). Was a weird situation because we didn't want to make enemies with our neighbors.

This is super awkward!

[Anonymous]

I can't fathom taking light bulbs. My guess is they use them again in their new home and the bulbs burn out after a month or so... what a PITA to deal with. Same with blinds- it prob. costs more to have them retrofitted than they are worth. They probably end up getting tossed. And seriously- toilet paper? Wowza.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Getting rid of that paint is a pain, too. You actually have to take it to the dump, you can't just throw it in the trash. And they sure as heck couldn't take it to Florida with them, lol.

I wonder if they asked through their agent and were told to pitch it??

We made a point of leaving the extra paint for our buyers (all labeled by room), but there was a thread on this before where someone complained that the seller had left half empty cans of paint. Others pointed out that they were trying to be nice, but I guess that's not immediately obvious to everyone. So, you never know.

Yeah, even if the paint cans are empty- it’s still a kindness to let the new owners know the paint colors you used. It’s pretty much impossible to match otherwise.

[Anonymous]

The old fireplace gate and poker stuff even though moving to rental

[Anonymous]

My seller took code for Fire/Theft alarm with home. He refused at closing to give it to me. Divorce did not want to sell.

A few weeks after buying my wife sets off smoke alarm. Turns out guy has hidden speakers in attic pointed out and super loud fire alarm going. All neighbors outside. Then multiple Fire trucks and ambulances show up.

Son of Bitch had wires in attic directly wired to telephone pole that called 911 and then fire dept again and again.

So the cops are threatening to arrest me if I don't stop calling 911. I kill power it keeps going son of bitch has a hidden battery back up. Then find alarm box and cut it and find out it is a dummy box. Finally cop has buddy whose a locksmith and find Real box to cut then we found hidden battery pack. Almost one hours of sirens.

Good times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't fathom taking light bulbs. My guess is they use them again in their new home and the bulbs burn out after a month or so... what a PITA to deal with. Same with blinds- it prob. costs more to have them retrofitted than they are worth. They probably end up getting tossed. And seriously- toilet paper? Wowza.

Some lightbulbs are expensive. I would take ours. Same with curtains and rods. They go with our bedding, rugs and furniture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The old fireplace gate and poker stuff even though moving to rental

+1. Ours too including the custom screen. The fireplace is curved and tall so don’t know what they needed with it.