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Ours want to close soon but before that they want us to remove the "junk" we left behind.
The "junk" is a couple of small rolls of leftover carpet. The carpet in the house is new. Another piece of "junk" is the late-model lawn mower we thoughtfully (or so it seemed) left for them.
When I heard about this from our agent, I said, "OK. They're either new homeowners or they're crazy."
Every dwelling I have ever purchased has come with extra carpet for patching damaged areas. But hey, whatever. We put new sod in the front and back yards. It is thick and lush. Sure hope they're going to hire a lawn service. Or maybe they'll save money by not watering it.
Of course some buyers will ask for things that one may not understand.
The buyers of our first house were a little more bold in their request. The house was only 5 years old, and while we "broke even," they did get a good deal. After the contract was signed our realtor asked theirs if they would like to keep the outdoor play set since they had a young child. They were very happy to have it stay, but had been afraid to ask for it. House was inspected and no issues came up. A few days after they inspection period passed they asked if we would install a garage door opener. They suddenly realized we didn't have one. We said "no." The play set we agreed to leave cost far more than a garage door opener and was much easier to have installed.
I don't see a problem w/them not wanting your lawn mower - either sell it or give it away. They may be planning on getting rid of carpeting all together or their own color, whatever. Just get rid of everything.
Yeah, my first thought is they don't want the carpet and are going to replace it. Personally I can't stand carpet but love to see it in places because unlike tile it is super easy to remove. So I don't care when I walk in and see it but I don't need to keep it around.
Now I wouldn't ask the owner to throw it out unless they were being dickwads during the process. Even then I'd save my ire for something serious and push for that. Who knows though, maybe they have bad backs or something and don't want to deal with it. If they asked me to remove the extra tile in the attic I'd do it without complaint.
We got rid of the carpet in our house and replaced it with wood as soon as we moved in. You can't really "patch" carpet (at least not well) anyway.
Perhaps they already have a lawn mower and don't want to store 2 of them. Maybe theirs is nicer/newer/better than the one you left. Maybe they prefer an electric lawn mower or a riding one.
Unless those things were written in the contract, you probably shouldn't have left them.
We see a thread like this pretty regularly from both the seller's and buyer's POV. Most of the time it comes down to a discussion about the sales contract which, of course, is pretty much the final answer. We as buyers had a hell of a time getting our seller to clean out the house and yard before we took possession, and it took tortuous discussions with our respective agents mediating to get it done.
That's why I sort of wish we could encourage a direct buyer-seller walkthrough before closing to discuss these things directly. Also this could be a good time to go over stuff like "what does this switch do," and, "who does your gutters," etc.
When i bought my most recent house the P.O. left a bunch of crap behind. It took a while to get rid of it all. And it cost money to dump it. I can tell you the next house i buy it better be empty of ANY belongings or “stuff”. When I have sold houses in the past I got rid of anything that was not part of the house.
When we sold, we left (and have at every house) extra carpet, paint (marked as to which room), tile, and wallpaper. Turns out our most recent buyers replaced all the carpet and painted the entire house after they closed. Fortunately they didn’t ask us to take back the old stuff. If the tables were turned, I’d just get rid of the stuff myself.
Paint stores can match paint easily from only a tiny chip of paint, so it isn't necessary to leave old paint which most likely wouldn't be used (or even usable) anyway. Disposing of old paint cans can be a real nuisance if done properly.
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