Business
- The buyer comes into that living room in the new home that they just bought and they notice that big chandelier is gone. Boy, are they upset and maybe they should be. They assumed, maybe wrongfully, that that big chandelier was going to convey or stay with the house upon sale. There are lots of items that cause confusion. And one of my jobs, I represent sellers and buyers but specifically sellers is to make sure that all the items are identified as items that will stay or they will go, they will be retained by the seller. And they will be gone at closing. On the first page of the contract, ya know, a lot of this is addressed right off the top there. Improvements are defined as the house itself, the garage and anything that could be considered an improvement and here's the key word, that is attached to the real property. The real property is the house and everything attached to it, personal property is pretty much everything that isn't. There's still some vaguery there. Under improvements you have accessories. That's a long list, it could be curtains and draperies, window shades, above ground pools, artificial fire logs. It goes on and on and also there's an opportunity there for the seller to state that there are exclusions. These items will not convey, will not go along with the house but yet, in today's world, there are still many opportunities for confusion unfortunately. So let's go over just a broad view here of what items stay with the house. You will get with the house upon closing. First of all, there's that key word again, is it attached, if it's bolted, nailed or mounted, it stays, if it grows out of the ground, if it's landscaping, bushes, trees, it stays. If it's anchored to the land in some way, like a swing set or a basketball hoop that's mounted and cemented to the ground or maybe a shed, it stays. And if the buyer really wants to have an item convey, stay with the house upon closing, could be mirrors, could be custom drapes, anything like that, then those items that are to go with the house can be addressed in a non realty addendum. And I provide those documents and guidance for folks who are listing their homes, selling their homes and also buyers but this is really something that should be addressed right at the outset by the seller. And I make sure that happens and we clarify all of that. Very dear friend and a very experienced real estate attorney once told me that words in the air are not there. It all has to be in writing. That works, I'm Cliff Hahn, broker, owner of Hahn Real Estate, serving all of Central Texas in the Greater Austin Area where it's always time to buy Texas.