Real vs. Personal Property: What’s included and What’s Not When You Buy Your Albuquerque Home

(Transcript Snippet): “Tego:

Okay, Tracy. I thought I saw this topic and it’s, it’s actually interesting cuz it’s one of those topics that comes up in the real realtor community. We, we chat like what does this mean? So, so the question is what what’s included in. What’s not included with a home sale, you know, so what’s, what’s part of the house and what’s not part of the house. And in, in our world, we, we, we say it’s real property or personal property, or sometimes we use the term fixture versus personal property. Right?

Tracy:

Right. So real property versus personal property. It’s really interesting because a lot of times what the buyer thinks is staying with the house and what the seller thinks they’re leaving with the house can be two different things. So yes, best advice is to clarify upfront anything that might appear as though it is going to stay. But generally TGO, I love your analogy. Tell us I can’t take your thunder.

Tego:

Well, you know, and, and I, I got this from another realtor your so ago and they said, you know, a good, a good way to define what’s included and what’s not included or what’s, you know, a fixture or personal property is if you turn the home upside down and shake it, everything that falls out is personal property and generally does not stay with the house.

Tracy:

See, I love that. I didn’t wanna say it for you because you, you taught teach that a lot. So, so things like on our purchase agreement, it says curtain should stay with the house. Right?

Tego:

Well, it, it,

Tracy:

It says rods.

Tego:

Yeah. Well, it, it, it gives the opportunity to, to make sure that it’s clear in the purchase agreement, if it stays or if it does not stay right. Right. There’s

Tracy:

A whole list though, in our purchase agreement that says what should stay. So it, it gets murky though. Like some people say like a TV is affixed to a wall. Does the TV stay? Does the TV holder stay the bracket, the bracket because it’s bolted in. If there’s, you know, I’ve, I’ve had really common where it’s home office and somebody has bolted their files, you know, their open shelving or whatever, to a, a wall so that it doesn’t fall over and kill a child. Right. does that stay because now it’s a fix to the house.

Tego:

Right. And that’s one of the things, if you need a tool to remove it, then maybe it’s probably a fixture that stays with the house, but that would be a great example of that gray area. And like, not, not sure.

Tracy:

Right. We have a few things in our house that we have a fixed to the walls for safety, because we have a lot of people’s young kids over and we don’t want them to have something fall on ’em because they climb on it. Right. so it’s really good to clarify, but that’s one of the things that’s really important when buyers are putting offers together, if there’s anything that they clarify to, to make sure yeah. Whether it stays or not, you know, the other thing Tigo, is it physically attached? It usually stays, but like, think about a garage door opener. Right. Well, if you’ve got,

Tego:

It’s not right, or you’ve got the garage door opener, that’s attached to the house, the clicker, but you’ve got the clicker, which is an integral part of that system. So right. That, those types of things that stay right. Yeah. And again, they need to be defined in the purchase contract. So everybody’s very clear. Refrigerator’s probably the biggest one that comes up. Right.

Tracy:

So a lot of refrigerators look these days, like they’re built in, right. They’re counter depth built in look, but they’re not really built in. So it’s really important that if, you know, you want that refrigerator, that it’s on the purchase agreement, you know, we have the opportunity to exclude things that are typically included. So this isn’t a great example, but a lot of times people in like one of the bedrooms, they have curtains that match their bedding, that match their pillows. And you know, to be really clear, you say, I’m gonna take those curtains and they might have special curtain rods, or they might have a dining room chandelier that was grandma’s. And in that case,

Tego:

I love that example because that comes up a lot. So you’ve got this antique chandelier, your antique light fixture, let’s say, and you’re gonna, you want to exclude it from the sale. You definitely don’t want it included when you sell the home. What, what’s the best advice for somebody on that?

Tracy:

So it might not be an antique. It might be the one you just bought when you were in Scottsdale shopping. And it’s special to my advice is put up a new light fixture and box that up. You’re moving anyway. Don’t even let the buyers see it because all of a sudden that’s what they’re gonna want.

Tego:

And before you do photographs too, cuz I’ve heard of cases where in the listing, in the photographs and the MLS and they market it, there’s something that’s, that’s there, that’s attached and the photos and they, and when the buyer comes to buy the house, it’s not there any longer. And you say, well, you marketed it with that, that piece in there. So you, the other thing, you just wanna be very clear what what’s included and what’s not

Tracy:

Piggybacking on what you just said. Yeah. So it’s in the photos, but it wasn’t in the house when you looked at it. But think of how many people are buying houses today, just with the video tour. Good point. And to really like see and notice that that light fixture has been changed out with a, a, a cell phone tour of the house. You wanna be really clear. So what about things outside the house?

Tego:

Well, let me bring up one other thing. That’s come up more recently, which are things like a ring doorbell or a nest thermostat, you know, you paint pay 300, yeah. Video cameras, you paid $300 for a, a nest thermostat. Well, if your intention is to keep your nest thermostat, well maybe you should switch it out, you know, put

Tracy:

Back the old

Tego:

One. Right? Exactly. Or the ring doorbell or something like that. And there’s this kind of this argument out there. Well, if you need wifi to work for the, the ring, the work, isn’t that an integral part of the, the whole house system. And you can make an argument that it is. But again, it just goes back to make sure all that things clears audio equipment, right. Built in audio equipment. It can go on and on. So it’s, it’s more just making sure everybody’s on the same page when you go under contract. I

Tracy:

Remember a big controversy about a year ago and it was with regard to receivers and things that make the built in speakers go. Exactly. So, yeah, for sure. Yeah. And, and remember that a lot of times things that seller thinks they’re not leaving with a home suddenly become negotiable because the buyers saw it. So we’ve seen buyers, you know, it, it, this is outside of what lending will allow. So I’m, I’m talking cash buyers or a separate bill of sale. Right? Sure. Suddenly they want all the furniture. Yeah. Or they want the living room set or they want the dining room set or they, they saw things in the home and it just looks so good. They on it, you know, and

Tego:

You said something really quick. I just wanna just go back to, is you, you know, you can include personal property in a, in the, in the sale of a home. It’s just the, lender’s not gonna give it any value to it. Yeah.

Tracy:

Right. So sometimes the purchase agreement in the other section, it says that the refrige washer and dryer or shell convey and stay with the home. So a lot of times we have to clarify and add on to that sentence that says in as is condition at no value with no warranty. Right. So the lender can say, great, you can do that. But it’s as is, well, it’s no value because the appraiser’s not gonna give value to it. Right,

Tego:

Right.

Tracy:

Yeah. Outside things.

Tego:

Yeah. Outside things, sorry. Yes. He started to go there and interrupted you.

Tracy:

It would be the same. Right. But

Tego:

Like a fountain.

Tracy:

Yeah. It’s

Tego:

Better clarify that one. Yeah. Right. How about a concrete bench in the backyard?

Tracy:

Gotta clarify those things. Yeah. There’s a lot of remember that house we sold last year in Quin contestants. And there was a lot of personal art and it was big, heavy art type things like handcrafted bench and seating area where the person was a woodworker and it was very built in and yeah, a lot of that, we were very specific on what was staying and what wasn’t so always good to be co

Tego:

It.