What Actually Stays With the House When You Sell in Florida
The fight nobody sees coming in a home sale is not the inspection. It is not the appraisal. It is a washer and dryer.
I have watched it happen. Everything is smooth, the loan is clear, the sellers have already moved out, and then the buyers walk through the day before closing and the laundry room is empty. Now two people who have never met are angry at each other over appliances, and there are twenty four hours to fix it.
It is the most avoidable problem in this whole business. So let us go through it.
The general rule
If it is attached to the house, it stays. If it is plugged in or sitting on the floor, it goes.
That is the rule people carry in their heads, and it works most of the time. Ceiling fans, light fixtures, built in shelving, the dishwasher, the range hood, window treatments, the mailbox. Attached, so it stays.
Free standing refrigerator, washer, dryer, the shed you can pick up and move, potted plants, the TV and its mount depending on how it was written. Not attached, so the assumption goes the other way.
The problem is that the rule in your head is not the rule that governs the deal. The contract is.
What the contract actually says
The standard Florida contract has a preprinted list of what conveys with the property. Then it has a line where you write in anything additional that is included, and a line where you write in anything excluded.
Most contracts I see have both of those write in lines completely blank. Which means the preprinted list is the whole agreement, and anything not on it was never promised to anybody.
Here is why that still turns into an argument. The buyer did not read the preprinted list. The buyer looked at the listing photos, saw a washer and dryer in the laundry room, and pictured them there. That picture felt like a promise even though nothing in the contract said so.
The contract wins. But being right at the walkthrough is not the same as getting to closing on time, and that is the part sellers underestimate.
Why fixing it late costs so much
Say the buyer is upset and everybody agrees to a small credit to settle it. Sounds easy. It is not, not at that stage.
Once the Closing Disclosure has gone out, a change to the numbers means the lender has to rebalance the file. Depending on the loan, that can mean it goes back to underwriting, and that can mean a delayed closing. On a five hundred dollar disagreement, buyers will usually decide the loss is cheaper than the delay. But now everybody has spent two days on it and nobody is happy walking into the closing table.
And no, do not solve it with a side payment outside of closing. If money is changing hands over this, it goes on the settlement statement where the lender and the title company can see it.
What I do differently now
I stopped putting washers and dryers in listings. Full stop.
Not in the photos where I can help it, not in the remarks, not implied anywhere. Sellers change their minds. They will tell me in March that the appliances stay and then in July their new house does not have a laundry hookup that fits, and suddenly those appliances are going with them. If the buyer never had them in their picture of the house, there is nothing to argue about.
The same goes for anything a seller has any feeling about. That chandelier from their old house. The custom shelving. The refrigerator they bought two months ago. If there is any chance it walks out the door, we say so up front, before the listing goes live.
If you are selling
- Decide before you list, not at the walkthrough. Walk your own house and make two lists. Staying and going.
- Take anything you are keeping out of the photos. Or take it out of the house before we shoot. What buyers see is what buyers expect.
- Write the exclusions into the contract. That is what the exclusion line is for. Verbal understandings between agents are not worth anything at the walkthrough.
- Do not swap anything out quietly. If the nice fixture leaves and a builder grade one shows up in its place, that is a problem even if you thought you were being generous.
- Replace what you remove. Take a ceiling fan and leave bare wires and you have created an inspection issue on top of an argument.
If you are buying
- Do not assume the photos are the contract. Listing photos are marketing. The contract is the agreement.
- If you want it, write it in. The line is there. Use it. It costs nothing at offer time and it is not negotiable later.
- Bring it up during inspection, not at the walkthrough. You have leverage during the inspection period. You have almost none the day before closing.
- Use the walkthrough for what it is for. Confirming the house is in the condition it was in, that repairs got done, and that nothing broke while it sat empty.
The stuff people forget to talk about
Beyond the laundry room, these are the ones that come up here in Polk County over and over. Water softener systems. Generators. Above ground pools and pool equipment. Wall mounted TVs and their brackets. Security cameras and doorbell cameras. Fruit trees and landscaping a seller wants to dig up and take. Detached sheds. Propane tanks, and whether they are owned or leased.
Every one of these has a reasonable argument on both sides. Which is exactly why it goes in writing instead of staying a conversation.
The whole point
Nobody remembers a smooth closing. Everybody remembers the one where they argued about a dryer.
Five minutes with a pen before the listing goes live is what buys you a quiet week at the end. That is really all this is.
General information about how these deals usually go, not legal advice. Your contract and your situation control the outcome.
Thinking about selling in Polk County and not sure what you are allowed to take with you? Ask me before you list, not after.