What are included on the sale of home

What is the name of your state?CA

I am selling my house. After going to contract I told the buyers agent that the garden lights and garage cabinets will not remain. The lights are the ones that you put in the soil while the cabinets is screwed on the garage. Before the end of the home inspection contingency he sent my realtor an addendum saying that the 2 items will remain. I counter it that it will not remain. He didn't accept my counter and send another counter that it will remain. All contingencies of the buyer will expire today. What can I do? Should I tell him that it's not possible and just void the contract or I'm legally bound to leave it? The original contract did not say that it will remain/not remain.

THanks.

[Souix]

Originally Posted by jojosale03

What is the name of your state?CA

I am selling my house. After going to contract I told the buyers agent that the garden lights and garage cabinets will not remain. The lights are the ones that you put in the soil while the cabinets is screwed on the garage. Before the end of the home inspection contingency he sent my realtor an addendum saying that the 2 items will remain. I counter it that it will not remain. He didn't accept my counter and send another counter that it will remain. All contingencies of the buyer will expire today. What can I do? Should I tell him that it's not possible and just void the contract or I'm legally bound to leave it? The original contract did not say that it will remain/not remain.

THanks.

***Reject his Addendum asking for those items. However, do you really want to kill a sale because of that? Also, why is your Realtor not advising you on these things?***

[HomeGuru]

Yes, I agree.

[JETX]

I also agree.....
and add that your post is confusing...

You said, "All contingencies of the buyer will expire today". If you are still arguing contract terms (addendums), there is no contract. And without a contract, the contingency 'clock' doesn't start.... and won't expire today.

[nextwife]

Good grief. If you wanted these ATTACHED items excluded, you should have said so in the listing sheet, or at minimum BEFORE accepting the offer. Why are you all fighting over these items after the fact?

And lets get real, are these items worth losing a sale over? Garden lights have gotten better and cheaper in the last few years, and you are talking about some old used cabinets? C'mon.

Heavens, sometimes I think this is more about winning the argument than selling one's house.

The standard is that anything attached to the real estate (no, not hung paintings and the family pictures) is PART of the real estate UNLESS specifically excluded. So if the cabinet sits in a corner on the floor, it is furniture and not included. If it hangs from the wall, it's part of the property.

I remember a broker who got a phone call from a buyer after closing. The seller had taken the round steel fireplace from the family room when they moved out! And yes, it had vented through the roof. Their arguement "Well, WE bought it, it didn't come with the house when we moved in!"

So my realtor told me that my answer to them about the addendum was denied by the buyer. My actual answer was:
' The cabinets in the garage and the decorative lights on the garden will NOT remain'

They didn't sign it and instead put a note:
' Seller should not remove the 2 items.'

They will still continue the sale and they are planning to sign their loan docs and close by next week or 7/13. But the buyers realtor said,'We will go from there" and said something about small claims court.

Is that possible?

Thanks for all the advice.

Originally Posted by nextwife

Good grief. If you wanted these ATTACHED items excluded, you should have said so in the listing sheet, or at minimum BEFORE accepting the offer. Why are you all fighting over these items after the fact?

And lets get real, are these items worth losing a sale over? Garden lights have gotten better and cheaper in the last few years, and you are talking about some old used cabinets? C'mon.

Heavens, sometimes I think this is more about winning the argument than selling one's house.

The standard is that anything attached to the real estate (no, not hung paintings and the family pictures) is PART of the real estate UNLESS specifically excluded. So if the cabinet sits in a corner on the floor, it is furniture and not included. If it hangs from the wall, it's part of the property.

I remember a broker who got a phone call from a buyer after closing. The seller had taken the round steel fireplace from the family room when they moved out! And yes, it had vented through the roof. Their arguement "Well, WE bought it, it didn't come with the house when we moved in!"

NEXTWIFE,
you must be right, maybe i'm just pissed off because I accepted their offer w/o knowing about all these things and maybe I just want to win the argument. I'll think about your advice, maybe it's time to move on, huh, and forget about those cabinets and lights.

Thanks.
-jojo

[nextwife]

Moving on is a really good idea. It's just stuff. Not worth "holding you up" from your plans, huh?

At minimum, why not offer a COMPROMISE? Take the lights, leave the cabinets?

[HomeGuru]

Writer, did your Realtor explain to you the definition of the terms real property and fixtures?

[biglittle]

NextWife: Yes, attached... that means it stays, right. He even said they were screwed in to the wall.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by biglittle

NextWife: Yes, attached... that means it stays, right. He even said they were screwed in to the wall.

**A: not in all cases. If the fixture can be removed without damage to the property or the property can be restored to original condition, then it could be removed and not considered part of the real property. Especially, if the item is not an inclusion in the sales contract. Notwithstanding, the writer should leave those items in as part of the sale and close.

[biglittle]

Originally Posted by HomeGuru

**A: not in all cases. If the fixture can be removed without damage to the property or the property can be restored to original condition, then it could be removed and not considered part of the real property. Especially, if the item is not an inclusion in the sales contract. Notwithstanding, the writer should leave those items in as part of the sale and close.

True. If there is something that I want with a property that I'm not sure is included, I put it in the contract to make sure I get it.

[faithandhope]

We've even had a buyer haggle with a seller over a custom shower curtain that matched the bathroom wallpaper. It should all be spelled out, but you're right that if you love the house, it may be worth letting the little things go. The garden lights are a strange one though, because they will be hard wired to an outlet or on a timer. Are they taking the lights and leaving the wire in the ground or digging up the wire too? Digging up the wire can do damage to the lanscaping but leaving the wire is a hazard because now there will be perforated holes in the wiring from the prongs on the light and they can short out and cause an electrical fire if still plugged in. Check with your inspector on that and see what he recommends. Best of Luck.

[HomeGuru]

Maybe it's those solar lights with no wiring.

[faithandhope]

I certainly hope so, Home Guru. If not, it's certainly a strange item not to include.