Replacing Reserved Items

[cully]

Didn't they keep the light fixtures they took out to put their own fixtures in when they bought the house?

They should put those back in.

[karen_in_nh_2012]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

That's simple Karen. The problem with removing the items prior to listing are:

1. They don't want to pay to replace them

Hmmm ... they're going to have to when the house sells ...

Originally Posted by MikePRU

2. They don't want to risk replacing the items with something that will scare away a buyer. You never know what the taste of the person who buys your house will be.

But of course what they HAVE (the "reserved items") could also "scare away a buyer." You never know the tastes of other people.

Originally Posted by MikePRU

3. They don't want to list the house without lights or with wires hanging from the ceiling, etc. Buyers don't have a lot of imagination and it's better to leave things in place IMO than remove them and let buyers wonder what the "finished product" so to speak would look like.

Oh, I absolutely agree with the fact that most buyers have no imagination -- when I was looking for a house back in 2003 and again in 2011-12, I was told that I was unusual in that I didn't expect anything to be "perfect" -- e.g., I wanted my 2012 house to be one I would live in for 20+ years, so I would expect to change things myself, over time (and that's what I am doing). But I wasn't suggesting that they list without lights or with wires hanging from the ceilings -- I was suggesting that they replace their "reserved items" before showing the house.

I LOVED the knobs and pulls at my former house (still own it but now rent it out) and knew that I would want to use them again when I remodel my current house, so I simply bought others that were quite nice (and the same finish, bronze) but not extravagant and installed those.

Originally Posted by cully

Didn't they keep the light fixtures they took out to put their own fixtures in when they bought the house?

They should put those back in.

When I changed things at my last house, I didn't always keep the item I was replacing -- most of the items were donated to a local charity.

[cully]

They knew in advance they weren't going to let them stay, that they were special items. They planned poorly. I know lots of people in the same position. Before they list they install what they want to stay.

[dblackga]

I'd price them out and ask for an allowance to replace them. I sincerely doubt the house was priced to allow for replacing those items, and those items add up - one door knob in a kitchen may be $.50 -- or if it's truly upscale cabinetry that requires a certain type of pull, the knobs could be as much as $3-5 a piece -- and that adds up. Ideally, the items should have been removed and the home outfitted with fixtures commensurate to what is expected in that neighborhood (i.e., no cheap WalMart chandelier in a neighborhood of million homes.) But it wasn't.