THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406030515
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By Heidi Glick, Special to Real Estate Weekly
DATELINE: 940604 LENGTH: Long
Years ago, one of his clients was selling her Norfolk home and moving to North Carolina, says Hogge, with GSH Real Estate. During the walk-through with the buyer, she pointed to a wooden birdhouse, mounted on a 25-foot pole cemented into the ground outside, and casually said that someone would come by to remove it.
{REST} But the buyer, who already signed the contract, assumed the house included the birdhouse. He would not buy the home, he told Hogge, unless the birdhouse came with it.
The seller was just as adamant about taking the birdhouse with her.
``I didn't want to lose the sale, so I told the dear lady I would buy her an equivalent birdhouse and send it to where she was moving,'' Hogge says.
The woman accepted, he says, and the sale was saved.
Because the contract didn't mention the birdhouse, Hogge says, both buyer and seller could argue that it belonged to them.
Real estate agents all over South Hampton Roads have similar stories to tell about items, big and small, that buyers assume will stay with the house and that sellers insist on taking with them. These include wallpaper, carpeting, landscaping, sheds, heating oil in a tank, light fixtures, ceiling fans, stoves and dishwashers.
Consider, for instance, an antique chandelier. Should it stay with the buyer? After all, it was hanging during the walk-through, and the contract said nothing about it leaving.
Or should it go with the seller? After all, it's a prized family heirloom, and the contract never said anything about it staying.
Ultimately, the buyer and seller will have to come to an agreeable solution.
Buying and selling homes is an emotional process, often involving items with real or sentimental value that can make or break a sale, agents say. Knowing what goes, what stays, and what's negotiable when a home changes hands can help everyone out.
``If someone has an antique chandelier in the house and they have no intention of leaving it with the house, it would be well-advised of the seller to take that chandelier out and replace it immediately,'' said Linda Transeau, a Re/Max agent in Chesapeake.
She advises home sellers to remove all items they plan to take with them when they move. Sellers can also put a sign next to such items, stating they are not part of the sale.
Most important, Transeau says, sellers should note in the contract any item they intend to keep, even obvious ones - such as the antique chandelier.
The same strategy holds true for buyers. If a buyer wants to make sure an item, such as a window treatment or a flowerbed, will stay with the house, he or she should specify that in the contract.
``The safest thing anybody can do in any situation is itemize everything and anything,'' Transeau said.
That's the advice David Rudiger gives. He's a lawyer with Mays & Valentine in Norfolk and legal counsel to the Tidewater Association of Realtors.
``The best rule to follow is if you are the buyer and you're counting on getting it, make sure you say that in the contact,'' he said. ``If you are the seller and you want to keep it, make sure you say that in the contract.''
Rudiger says he learned this rule the hard way.
Soon after closing on his first house about 10 years ago, he drove up to the property and noticed something seemed different.
``It was because the seller had dug up all of the flowers in the flowerbed and taken them with him,'' he says. ``I personally think that something planted there would count as a fixture and be included in the property. Potted plants wouldn't stay. If it's stuck in the dirt, it ought to stay.''
The seller, of course, thought differently.
Once inside the house, Rudiger discovered that the seller had taken the dishwasher, too. A few days later, a company tried to retrieve the seller's heating oil out of the tank.
``If it doesn't say something in the contract,'' Rudiger said, ``the seller is entitled to pull all the oil out of the tank.''
But after some negotiating, Rudiger says, the oil was not removed.
Rudiger now advises his clients to have the oil prorated, he says. In other words, the home buyer pays the seller for whatever oil is left in the tank, based on the going price.
In the past, Rudiger says, a rule of thumb held that if an item is attached to the wall by a nail, it's considered a fixture and should stay; if it's attached by a screw, it can be removed.
``But I'm not sure if that is a particulary good rule anymore,'' he says.
Today, the main questions to ask, he says, are how important is the item to the property, and how much damage will its removal cause.
For instance, if a shed is just sitting in the back yard on cinder blocks, the seller can probably remove it. However, if it has a concrete foundation, Rudiger says, it probably should stay with the home.
Also, built-in appliances, including the stove and dishwasher, generally stay with the buyer, he says. However, if the appliance is free-standing, like a refrigerator or microwave, it can go with the seller.
``Some things you think should stay with the house legally could go, like light bulbs,'' Rudiger says.
He's even heard of a case where a seller took down the wallpaper.
In all sales, Rudiger says, household items are negotiable.
Darlene Lamb, president of the Tidewater Association of Realtors, advises buyers to make sure the contract says ``existing'' appliances will remain with the house.
Occasionally, she says, a seller who owns, say, a deluxe refrigerator tells the buyer that the sale includes a refrigerator. But when the buyer moves into the house, he or she finds that the refrigerator has been replaced with a smaller one.
Also, Lamb says, when an agent writes a contract, make sure everything is spelled out.
``Take time to write out each individual thing,'' she says. ``Spell out each item that you wish to convey with the house, vs. a blanket reference to everything in a listing agreement.''
An important rule to remember in buying or selling a home is: Don't assume.
Hogge has heard of a case where a first-time buyer and seller agreed that the washer and dryer, both against a wall, would stay with the house. The contract even spelled this out.
Still, when the buyer went to use the appliances, he realized there was no hookup, Hogge says. The buyer assumed the machines were ready to operate, but in reality, they were just being stored against the wall.
M. Alice Watson, a managing broker with Century 21 Action Plus in Virginia Beach, also says to watch out for bookshelves. Some are built-in and should stay with the house. Others are free-standing, and thus removable, even though they seem built-in.
When disputes occur after the contract is signed, the buyer and seller must come to an agreeable solution, with the help of an agent or lawyer if needed. Suing is a possible, but not practical, option.
``The best thing to do,'' Rudiger says, ``is to sit down, be reasonable and take the emotional aspects out of it. by CNB