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I think wall-mounted items can be a problem. I remember years ago when my parents sold a house, they had a full-length mirror attached to the master bath door. They took it with them, and the buyers complained that it should have stayed with the house. Ever since then, I've tried to be safe rather than sorry.
I am putting my current house on the market soon. I have a small wall-mounted TV in the kitchen; the contractor did some kind of set-up where the wires are not visible. Not worth it to try to take that out, so it will stay. However, I also have a 20" flat-screen on a corner wall-mount in my bedroom. The mount wasn't cheap and I want the same set-up in my next place. So I just took the whole thing down and spackled/painted the wall, so the buyers don't even see it and I didn't have to put it in the "excluded" list. I probably would do the same with a cabinet-mounted can opener that I wanted to keep.
I once had a house I was selling that had a "storage type" cabinet in the kitchen, the type that you'd buy at a home-improvement/box box retail store. I figured it would be moving out with the rest of my furniture, since it was not attached to the wall and was "just" a cabinet. But when the buyer found out, he was very upset, and wanted it left. That was OK with me, since it was just a $100 item and the sell was more important than the cabinet, but the potential for misunderstanding was impressive to me. Nowadays, when selling anything, I am much more careful to put into writing what stays. Nothing that is not stated as part of the sell is going with me.
thank you all for the excellent advice and suggestions.
In reading the contract, the $1500 was held in escrow "in order to insure that the seller vacates the premises within the 5 day period and that the appliances, plumbing, heating and electrical systems are in working order, roof free of leaks, and the premises are broom clean at the time the seller vacates."
According to the contract, the sellers' attorney was to release the escrowed funds 48 hours after we vacated unless the buyer says not to (which they did with their first letter). I'm really not sure why my attorney is still holding onto my escrow money even after getting a copy of the letter that the buyers signed, stating to release the escrow. According to my contract, the buyers have 60 days from the day we vacated to notify my attorney that "an action has been commenced". So basically, they are going to take us to small claims court because they really have nothing to lose by doing so.
Just great.
You're the seller and your lawyer is holding the money?
Tell him or her that you've satisfied the conditions and you want your money.
Talk to a real estate attorney, not city-data. Everything you're asking about varies by state and you might rely on someone like me here giving regular person opinions when you need a real estate attorney. It'll probably cost you $100 to talk with one.
Thanks for sharing this article. It was quite funny - especially the Statue of Liberty story.
We bought a house 1 1/2 years ago, and the listing from the getgo said that the extra fridge in the garage wasn't staying with the house. It wasn't a big deal; I assumed the owner wanted to take it with him. A few weeks after moving in, I met a neighbor who said to me, "I've only been in your house one time. They sold us a fridge for $30!" This house was over over $500K, and they were concerned about leaving us a fridge that they eventually sold for $30? I imagine the hassle of getting it out of the garage wasn't worth the $30. Oh well.
I haven't read every post on here, but it sounds like the buyers did not do a walk-through before closing. If so, that's their problem. As to the alleged 75 boxes, for example, I went through my new home before closing and noticed a rather large item left in the basement that probably weighed 500 lbs. "It comes with the house," said the seller. "No it doesn't," said I. I told him we would not close until that item, another item and a pile of junk in the garage were removed. He complied.
On the other hand, my buyers tried to keep several hundred dollars in escrow money because they claimed some vague items (none of which were mentioned in our contract) were not working. I think they expected to get some bonus money from the purchase and thought we would relent since it was not a large amount. I told our attorney to simply tell them I would see them in small claims court. They released all the escrow money.
Light bulbs need replacing, are they serious you have to be kidding? On an as is sale? You cant make this stuff up, that is unbelievable I am so sorry for some of the human race and their total despicableness. What idiots.
I haven't read every post on here, but it sounds like the buyers did not do a walk-through before closing. If so, that's their problem. As to the alleged 75 boxes, for example, I went through my new home before closing and noticed a rather large item left in the basement that probably weighed 500 lbs. "It comes with the house," said the seller. "No it doesn't," said I. I told him we would not close until that item, another item and a pile of junk in the garage were removed. He complied.
On the other hand, my buyers tried to keep several hundred dollars in escrow money because they claimed some vague items (none of which were mentioned in our contract) were not working. I think they expected to get some bonus money from the purchase and thought we would relent since it was not a large amount. I told our attorney to simply tell them I would see them in small claims court. They released all the escrow money.
Yeah, I was not at one of my walk-throughs as I was moving in from CA. My agent did it for me. The sellers left me all their leftover paint -- peach, pepto-bismol pink, seafoam green, arrrrgghh. The first thing I had done before I moved in was have the entire house re-painted, so I surely did not want their paint. But you know what a pain it is to get rid of paint....I had to open the cans and let them dry out, took quite awhile.
The seller of my current home left his old crappy aluminum trash cans and a bunch of tree debris out by the shed, as well as an old fire extinguisher. I was not in a laid-back frame of mind because he had been such a pain. So I refused to close unless the stuff was removed. I have a bad back and there's no way I felt like lifting and bundling up his trash. So they quickly drew up a paper promising to come back and get it right after closing. And they did. I'm sure the all thought I was a crazy you-know-what, but it was the principle of the thing. The stuff should have been cleared out.
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