Sometimes you can take it with you
Finders keepers, losers weepers. It's a venerable policy — especially when you find a rogue Popsicle at the back of the freezer. But when you're selling your home, not everything around you stays yours.
“Buyers can easily fall in love with your home as the result of a fixture, appliance, yard ornament, built-in or feature that you, as the owner, intend to take with you, because you feel it is yours,” broker Gerard Splendore of Warburg Realty in New York City told Apartment Therapy.
To determine what you can take and what you should leave, you need to differentiate between fixtures and chattels. Fixtures are a permanent part of the property and you typically need tools and hardware to remove them. Chattels, meanwhile, are things you can simply pick up and walk away with without mess, damage or invasive procedures.
Apartment Therapy ran down some specific examples.
1. Light fixtures
The answer's right there in the name, isn't it? “If the lighting is attached to the house, such as a ceiling light, chandelier or wall sconce, it would be a fixture,” says Kris Lippi, realtor and owner of Isoldmyhouse.com. A plug-in lamp, however, is chattel.
2. Appliances
In general, appliances like refrigerators, washers and dryers are considered personal property. “However, if the appliance has been built into the kitchen in any way or customized, such as refrigerator doors matching the cabinets, this now becomes a fixture,” Lippi says.
3. Built-ins
Built-ins like bars, bookcases, counters, desks and vanities are classified as fixtures and should stay put. Splendore says that taking these with you is like removing every other step in a staircase, or removing the doorknob from the front door. It's poor form.
4. Features and structural parts
Maybe you've spent a small fortune upgrading your home with hand-painted Spanish tiles, a claw foot tub or Mahogany flooring. Sadly, they all have to stay with the house. If you need consoling, consider the words of C.S. Lewis: “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” Then, suck it up and let it go.
Take heart, though — there are some unexpected things that can remain yours.
“You can take outdoor furniture, ornaments, plants, planters and grills,” says Splendore. Curtains, rugs and wall-mounted TVS are also fair game, but you have to leave the TV'S mounting hardware if you can't remove it without damaging the wall. Consider an inclusions and exclusions rider in your selling documents to avoid any confusion.