When Buying or Selling a House What Stays & Goes?

Buying or selling a house can often be a confusing and drawn-out multi-step process that usually takes several months to complete if not longer.

Because of this, it’s not uncommon for home buyers and sellers to have many questions about the process, including how the furniture and other items in the house are handled when the home is sold.

So to clear up any confusion, we thought we would answer some of the most common questions about whether certain household items stay or go when the home is sold. 

What Items Stay and Go When You Buy or Sell a House?

It’s not always easy to figure out what stays and what goes when you buy or sell a house.

But as a general rule, if the item or piece of furniture is affixed to the home or built-in, it’s considered part of the home and not personal property and should stay.

To clear up any further confusion though, we created the below table that lists furniture and common household items and indicates whether it’s customary for these items to stay or go when you buy or sell a house. 

Items that Typically Stay and Go When You Buy Or Sell A House

Defining what qualifies as a built-in feature of the home or personal property, can sometimes be open to interpretation though.

So when in doubt, whether you’re the buyer or the seller, you should always ask and be clear to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to certain items.

When You Buy a House Does the Furniture Stay?

While furniture can be included in the sale of a home, this is typically not the case, unless specifically stated or negotiated.

As homes are generally sold unfurnished, which means that it’s being sold without any furniture or decor items.

Because of this, you can assume and expect the furniture to be gone, after you buy and take possession of the property.

As it’s customary for the seller to remove all furniture and personal belongings from the home, once it’s sold and before the buyer takes possession.   

Do People Get to Keep the Staging Furniture?

Staging is a popular way to maximize a home’s appeal, accentuate its strengths, and minimize its weaknesses, in order to increase its value and help it sell more quickly.

And one of the most common and popular forms of staging is to add furniture and decorative items to an empty or vacant property, to make the house feel more like a home and less like an empty box.

Usually handled by a professional staging company, the furniture and decorative items in the home are typically on loan from the staging company.

So when the home sells the furniture and decorative items used for staging will go back to the staging company.  

This means that when you buy a house that’s been staged, you do not get to keep the staging furniture or decorative items, as these effects are on loan from the staging company that owns them.  

However, there are some instances where the furniture inside the home being used for staging is from a local furniture store, as a means to advertise the furniture and or store.

And in these instances, the furniture while not free is typically available for purchase.

When You Buy a New House Does it Come with Furniture?

New houses are rarely sold furnished and are almost exclusively sold unfurnished, which means the home is being sold empty without any furniture or decorative items.

Unless the furniture in question is built-in, such as a built-in outdoor grill, a built-in bookcase, or a window seat

As with every rule though, there are exceptions, as some new home builders, especially high-end home builders, due choose to sell their homes either furnished or partially furnished.

As they consider the furniture and furnishings to be an extension of the home and their overall vision for the property.

Do Homes Usually Come with Appliances?

Most homes come with appliances, which depending on the house can include a range/oven, a dishwasher, a microwave, a garbage disposal, a central vacuum system, a trash compactor, and garage door openers.

The only potential exception to this rule is distressed homes, such as foreclosures, short sales, and potentially estate sales, as these types of homes can sometimes be missing their built-in appliances.

In these cases, if the distressed home is missing certain appliances, you can assume that they will not be included in the sale of the home.

When it comes to certain types of appliances, however, such as refrigerators and washers and dryers, whether the appliance is included in the sale of the home is not always so cut and dry.

As refrigerators and washers and dryers are usually not considered built-in appliances and because of this, it’s not uncommon for the seller to remove these items, once the home is sold and before the buyer takes possession of the property.

So when looking at a property for sale, it’s always best to ask what appliances are included in the sale, especially when it comes to refrigerators, washers, dryers, or any other non-built-in appliance, so there are no surprises.

Can You Negotiate Furniture When Buying a House?

As the old saying goes “everything is negotiable”, and this includes the furniture inside a home being sold.

So if you’re touring a home and see a piece of furniture or multiple pieces of furniture you like and want to stay with the home, don’t be afraid to ask if the furniture is for sale. 

In fact, the seller might welcome such inquiries, depending on their situation.

As the seller could be moving across the country or downsizing and leaving the furniture behind might make their move a little easier plus put some cash in their pocket.

If you choose to buy furniture in a home that’s for sale though, there are a few things to keep in mind.

The first is to make sure that everything is in writing and specific, meaning which specific piece of furniture is being sold and for how much.

Secondly, if you’re financing the home, any furniture being bought, which is considered personal property, will more than likely need to be outside the contract for the purchase of the property, as home lenders do not like seeing personal property being sold as part of the home on the purchase contract.  

Can You Include Furniture in a Mortgage?

Furniture and home furnishings are considered personal property and not real property, which is a term used to describe the land and everything attached to it, because of this, the furniture cannot be included in the mortgage.

As home lenders are in the business of loaning money to purchase real estate and not personal property.

If you’re wondering why lenders won’t allow you to include furniture or personal property in the mortgage though, there are actually several good reasons for this, which we’ve outlined below. 

Why Lenders Won’t Allow You to Include Furniture in a Mortgage

• Furniture and personal property can be difficult to appraise.
• It would add unnecessary complications to the LTV or loan to value ratio for the mortgage.
• If the buyer were to default on the home loan, there is nothing preventing them from taking the furniture with them.  Leaving the lender with little recourse and no way to recoup that part of the loan.

What Appliances Do New Homes Come With?

Whether a home is new or old, they typically come with all built-in appliances, which can include:

• Range/Oven
• Dishwasher
• Microwave
• Garbage Disposal
• Refrigerator (Potentially, More on This Later)
• Central Vacuum System
• Garage Door Openers

Beyond these basic built-in appliances though, new and old homes can differ in what appliances they come with.

Because while new construction homes will typically only offer basic built-in appliances, older homes can sometimes include other non-built-in appliances, such as washers, dryers, free-standing freezers, and built-in space heaters.

Do You Leave the Washing Machine When Selling a House?

As mentioned in the previous section, the seller can leave the washer and or dryer behind when they sell the house, but this is not required, as washers and dryers are not considered built-in appliances and are instead considered personal property.

However, buyers and sellers can sometimes have differing opinions on what constitutes a built-in appliance and what doesn’t.

For instance, it’s not uncommon for front-load washers and dryers to have cabinets or shelving built around them or over top of them.

So does this make them built-in? 

Because of this, whether you’re selling your house “for sale by owner” or with a real estate agent, it’s important to be clear on what exactly stays with the home and what doesn’t.

So you don’t have an upset buyer on your hands that was expecting to find a washer and dryer in the laundry room only to find an empty space on the floor where they used to be. 

Does the Fridge Stay When You Sell a House?

Like washers and dryers from above, refrigerators can be a bit of a grey area on whether they stay or go when you sell a house.

However, most people consider the refrigerator in a home to not be a built-in kitchen appliance, and as such the seller can, and often does take the refrigerator with them when they sell the home. 

In fact, this is one of the main reasons why new home builders often don’t include a refrigerator in their appliance package when they sell a new home.

Well that, and the fact that this lets them save a few thousand dollars on the cost of the home.

Just because traditionally the refrigerator is not considered to be a built-in appliance though, doesn’t mean the buyer feels that way.

So if you are planning to take the fridge with you when you sell the house, make sure the buyer is aware of this, to avoid an upset buyer.

Do You Leave the Curtains When You Sell a House?

Curtains and blinds are considered a built-in feature or fixture of the home, much like lighting and plumbing fixtures, so they should be left when selling a home. 

However, that doesn’t mean that you must or have to leave the curtains, just understand that this is what is customary or typical. 

So if you do plan to take the curtains, make sure this is conveyed to all potential buyers, so that everyone is on the same page.