Why you should not try to buy — or sell — furniture with the house. Especially now.
The second most-visited page on my website last month was a blog I wrote in 2017 about why you shouldn’t sell furniture with a house.
I’ve mentioned the complications of buying and selling furniture in other blogs, most recently as an example of issues we’re addressing because of Covid, but I shouldn’t be surprised that many wanted to read this post; lately there’s been a lot of talk about whether the contents should come with the house … and my opinion remains unchanged.
Here’s that blog as posted in 2017, followed by a brief proscript.
Let me give you some advice: Don’t complicate the sale of your home with the sale of furniture.
And don’t try to buy it, either.
I know it seems benign. The seller doesn’t need or want some or all their furniture, and the buyer can use some things to get started, so why not sell it? This way, instead of dragging their unwanted furniture to the next place or moving and storing it, the seller gets to leave it where it is, and score some cash with the convenience.
What could go wrong?
Everything and anything can, and frequently does.
It’s a total head scratcher, but nothing destroys a deal faster than furniture.
A Case in Point
In almost no time the parties reached an amicable deal on the real estate. Seller was leaving the area; buyer loved everything about the house and offered a reasonable sum for most of the contents. An inventory was presented, each item photographed, and a separate sale contract was agreed to. In the time from signing to closing, the seller became increasingly emotional and little by little offered to swap out some of the agreed items for others. The reluctant purchasers agreed. At the walk-through, the purchasers came upon a note from the seller explaining that their children could not part with a particular item and that she was sure the purchaser would understand. The item had been moved out. They understood but expected compensation. … It was a long day, the sale closed but with an escrow agreement and bad feelings.
Real estate is personal, and furniture and furnishings are much more so
The sellers are reminded of when they shopped for it, how much they paid for it, how they used it, and how much they love it … whereas the buyer sees it as being worth a small fraction of the original price. The seller sees prized, carefully selected and much-loved possessions laden with memories and the buyer sees used, worn, stained, discolored and convenient-to-have stuff.
Remember Linus — Charlie Brown’s blanket-carrying friend? In clinical parlance, that blanket is what’s called a transitional object. Most of us had and maybe still have the same need to hold on to something tangible. Psychologists understand the so-called transitional object as necessary to quell anxiety.
To many of us, our smartphone serves the same purpose. (Admit it. What feeling comes to mind when you misplace your iPhone?)
Holding on to something special and wanting to keep it close by is very primitive. Ever notice that your dog may grab a toy before heading outside? Mostly, it’s normal and does not require medicine or therapy. But at times of high anxiety, like selling a home, moving, or changing jobs, we are especially inclined to reach for familiar objects. At the most extreme, hoarders keep objects to deal with a debilitating degree of anxiety.
It can be that to many sellers, furniture and furnishings are transitional objects. Therefore, the struggle to price and to sell those items isn’t logical. It’s emotional. The irony is that the owners of the likely overvalued items no longer want or need what the buyer must have. The relative values are totally opposite to who wants and needs the very same goods. That is probably reason enough for the exchange to create conflicts.
There are no easy or simple guidelines for managing orderly real estate transactions even when they are not further complicated by furniture and furnishings. Real estate contracts try to do this by detailing what is included in the sale. Those items are usually (but not always) physically attached to the “real property.” Examples are bathroom fixtures, kitchen cabinets, major appliances, built-in bookcases, etc.
Tables, couches, and vases don’t make the cut.
The home seller is usually best served by engaging a professional to sell the contents. If you aren’t taking your furniture to your next home, call in one of the companies that do this, let the buyers know ahead of time, and let them buy the furniture from the person operating the estate sale if they so choose. The seller usually gets about two-thirds of the money the sale brings in. It will probably end up close to what the purchaser would have paid you but without the hassle and your home will be left ready for the closing in “broom clean” condition.
But if the parties insist on including contents, agents and attorneys generally encourage the parties to hold off on discussion of furniture and furnishings until the contract is fully executed, and then advise that the parties come to a separate agreement for the exchange of any contents. Combining real estate and furniture complicates more than emotions: The relative values must be identified for tax, recording, mortgage, and appraisal purposes.
Postscript: 2021
Four-plus years later, I can’t say much has changed.
However, the pandemic wreaked havoc here as it did everywhere else: Since early 2020, supply chain delays have seriously slowed down production and delivery of furniture and many home goods. This means that, unlike in pre-pandemic years, it’s no longer the case that homeowners do not need the contents of the homes they are selling. Just as purchasers want to keep everything because they predict it may take months or even years to fully outfit their new home, the sellers need to take their belongings to use while they await the delivery of new décor.
Recently a negotiation almost blew up because the purchaser asked that all the contents remain. The sellers were willing to leave some, but the purchaser wanted everything. He suggested that because they were downsizing, they would not need “all that stuff.” To which the sellers asked me to remind the potential purchaser they were downsizing — not dying.