What STAYS AND What GOES When You Sell?
If you’re selling your house, there’s something you should know: The people who buy your house may have a different idea of what you’re going to leave behind than you do. To avoid conflict or hurt feelings, it’s important for you and your buyer to fully agree on what’s to be left behind.
As any veteran agent will tell you, heated disputes can develop over both expensive and inexpensive items and these disputes often end up in court.
There are plenty of ways to tell would-be buyers that items which hold special value to you won’t be transferred as part of a transaction. For one thing, you can convey that information in the home’s original listing or in a marketing brochure.
Another way to communicate what doesn’t go with the deal is to leave a little card noting that fact next to the item. Suppose, for instance, that you have no intention of letting go of a brand new washing machine. Then why not leave a card on top of the machine indicating that fact?
You could also remove the items you prize before your house is shown to prospects. Replace expensive items you’ll be taking with inexpensive equivalents purchased from a local home center store. Then put your precious pieces in safe storage.(up)
Also, there is usually an addendum on the purchase and sales agreement that allows the purchaser to make a list detailing what items they would like to stay with the home when you leave. You may then review this list and add or delete items you want to take. After the purchase and sales agreement has been signed by both parties, there should not be any disputes - provided the list is detailed enough.
Stress the sentimental value of hard-to-store items you want to keep. Did you receive a pair of fine rose bushes as a wedding present from your godmother when you married a few years back? Then chances are good that the rose bushes have more value to you than the people who will next inhabit your property. You probably can’t dig up the roses and store them elsewhere before you move. But explaining your emotional attachment to the plants and your plans to keep them should avert a flap with any reasonable person who buys your home - so long as the buyer has been forewarned that you’re taking the roses with you.
Learn about local customs and laws on what conveys in a sale. In many locales, any item that is permanently attached to walls, ceilings or floors is automatically part of a transaction when a seller moves. On the other hand, an appliance that merely plugs in is a negotiable item.
That means the buyer who purchases your place can expect to keep a built-in microwave, but not necessarily a microwave that can be readily moved. Making unwarranted assumptions can get you in trouble - maybe even into court. What’s more, a dispute that arises in the process of selling a house could cause an otherwise willing and able buyer to back out if he senses you’re not playing fair.(up)
And don’t by chintzy on the details. Have you ever moved into a new home only to discover that the seller has removed every last little item of convenience, such as light bulbs or the inexpensive welcome mat you need on your first rainy evening there? Then you know how infuriating the experience can be. Do you really want to be remembered as the seller who couldn’t spare a dime?
Smart Moves by Ellen James Martin. Copyright 1998 Universal Press Syndicate. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. Copyright 1998 Norwest Mortgage, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any format without written permission. Norwest Mortgage and design is a registered service mark of Norwest Corporation. Information subject to change without notice. 8A0420A
