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 When selling or buying a home, you need to think ahead about what you are actually selling along with the property and the house.
The general rule is: "if it attached to the structure or the ground, it is real property and stays with the house".
This confuses many people, especially when selling/buying their first house.
For example, as a renter you may have been used to removing your curtains and taking them with you when you move. Since they are probably "attached" to the wall in some manner, the buyer may assume all window coverings are staying with the house.
This can cause a disagreement. Small disagreements in real estate tend to spread like viruses, moving from minor issues to more major issues. Then in turn: emotions rule and logic melts away like a scoop of ice cream on black asphalt in the midst of August. If not handled properly it can become an ugly sticky mess.Disagreements have the potential to become "problems" -- except that in real estate, problems don't exist. We see them as having “challenges" instead.
If your Realtor® refers to something as a "challenge" -- you may have a problem.
So if you want to take your curtains with you, make sure you put it in the contract. You shouldn’t "assume" anything...
...because buyers and sellers can argue about the silliest things.
Believe it or not, there are stories about how deals fall apart because the buyer wanted the sellers to leave the welcome mat. But it must have been a really nice welcome mat.
Another incident involved the gas logs in the fireplace. The sellers wanted to take them and the buyers wanted them left with the house. Normally, gas logs stay with the fireplace. Real wooden logs you are free to take with you when you move.
Chandeliers are another common argument point.
The point is that you need to think about these things in advance. If you have to unscrew a screw, claw out a nail, detach anything from the interior or exterior structure, or uproot anything from the ground -- and you want to take it with you when you move -- put it in the contract. That way there are no possible misunderstandings later.
We strongly recommend that you go through the house "room by room" with your CHB agent so that all possible “challenges“are handled in advance. |
