Is it customary/ok to leave anything in the house after you sell it?

[BarefootScientist]

We're moving cross-country in less than two weeks, selling our house and renting an apartment. Our new place isn't going to have a garage and we're obviously not going to be fixing and renovating like we were here. So my DH wants to leave a whole bunch of stuff for the new owner. Things like...

*wood
*lightbulbs
*caulking
*extra paint that matches the walls
*storage shelf in the garage and in the storage area under the stairs
*supplies for basic electrical fixes, etc.
*extra flooring tiles
*extra curtain rods, screens
*basic tools like miter box and saw, yard tools, sandpaper, etc.
*hoses
*fertilizer, wasp killer

Now, things like extra floor tiles and paint I am sure the buyer will want. And hoses it makes more sense to leave. But the rest I am not sure about. Things like tools and stuff especially. Believe me, I would love to leave it all for her as it would be tons easier, but I don't want her to have to deal with getting rid of a whole bunch of stuff she doesn't need/want, and I don't want it to cause issues with the final walk-through. Should we leave it for her, or should I just post on craigslist that I'm having an open garage next weekend?

I've tried having my real estate agent ask her about it, but nobody has been getting back to me. So if anyone out there can give me an idea about what type of stuff is ok to leave, that would be awesome.

Thanks!

[MsVyky]

Our home came with all of the stuff you listed (and more!) and I appreciate it SO MUCH. It's great knowing that if I chip the paint or gash it somehow, that the exact matching paint is in the basement storage room. They left us extra furnace filters, paint, matching hardware for all the random things in the home, Shelving units....

You can always ask during negotiations if they'd like it or if they'd prefer you to get rid of it.

[mirlee]

Our house came with three work benches, various woodworking tools, a Shopsmith, curtains, wrapping paper ca 1970, and some other odds and ends. Since you have no use for it, I say just leave it. Just be sure to leave it all neat and label paints for their rooms.

[Viola]

When we moved into this house, the storage room in the basement had a lot of carpet samples left over. Roof tiles were left in the garage, one closet was stuffed with empty paper and plastic grocery bags, they left the pool chests and toys and lawn chair cushions, though no lawn chairs. They left a lot of cut wood on the patio. But there is a gas insert in the fireplace, they just used the wood camping. I called their realtor and had her remove the wood, but all the rest of the stuff we kept or slowly got rid of ourselves.

I'd leave the paint, tile, hoses, shelving, screens. I don't know about the caulking, wasp killer, fertilizer, curtain rods or tools. If the tools are in good shape, I'm sure they could get rid of them easily. They may want the wasp killer and fertilizer, but they may not, and may not want to figure out how to dispose of it. The caulking might be useful, but I don't know what the shelf life is on it, how long it takes to dry up. Same with the paint, but you figure the cans themselves have useful information. Now the extra curtain rods--if there is a place in the house for them, I'd leave them, but otherwise I'd get rid of them.

What kind of wood is it? My issue is I didn't want wood on my patio because we had no use for it and it was a home for bugs, black widows, etc. I could have called someone to pick it up, but I called their realtor since they left no way to contact them besides that.

[Novella]

Can you contact the buyer and find out?

This could totally go either way. For some people it would be a wonderful treat (eg. younger couples getting started). For others, it would sour the deal and they'd always feel you'd dumped a bunch of junk on them because you couldn't be bothered to clean the place out properly.

[Eman'smom]

All that stuff was left at our house and I hated it. It made more work more trash and more frustration for us. They painted the house in "oops" 5 dollar paint from home depot and then left the cans for touch ups The first thing we did was paint even before unpacking. So it was all a big waste. There were jars of rusty nails in the garage, again more work for us.

[lifeguard]

The paint & tiles - yes.

Everything else - no, unless you cleared it with the buyers. I've lived in several houses where the previous people left stuff & although some of it I ended up using/liking most of it was just another item on my to do list to find homes for the things or some how get them to the dump. It's just rude imo & the next time we buy we intend to put a clause in that EVERYTHING must be removed with a penalty if it's not.

[ParisApril]

When we moved into our house the garage was full of stuff and we were not happy. We had already told the previous owner we didn't want anything as we were downsizing and already had tons of stuff.

Our Realtor had to hire someone someone to get rid of it all for us on closing day and she charged the cost of that to the previous owner.

Bottom line. Find out if they want it first. If they don't get back to you, you can gift things to a thrift shop because they will be happy to have it there.

[kate42]

Our house in NY sold about seven months after we moved to TN. We left a LOT of home improvement type stuff. We moved into an apartment and just didn't have the room for it.

A young couple bought our house and, from what I've been told, love the fact that we left all that stuff.

[beanma]

I say no to the wasp killer and fertilizer. Lots of people don't want those chemicals around.

I'm okay on the paint and tile.

I'd take the tools or sell them on craigslist, but they have some value so it wouldn't be too terrrible to leave them.

I'd probably pack up the lightbulbs. You don't know what kind they like. Maybe yours are tungsten and they only want fluorescent or vice versa.

Basically, I'd prefer to have a clean slate. I don't think there's a room in our house (and certainly not the outside of the house) that is the same color as the previous owner painted it, or if it is, I want it to be another color. I do think it's fine to leave the paint, though, in case they want your colors, but unless you can get in touch with the new owners I'd pack it all up. Have they closed on it, yet? Maybe you could box everything up and ask at the closing. If they say, "sure we'd love to have it" leave the boxes in the garage, but otherwise take it with you.

Might be nice to leave some toilet paper, though! I think it would also be a nice gesture to leave a bottle of wine somewhere and a note wishing them well if you want to leave things for them.

[Ola_]

I say leave the extra paint, tiles, and one hose. Take everything else unless they say they want it.

[Annie Mac]

I'm in the leave the paint and tiles, but get rid of everything else camp. The last thing I'd want to do when moving in to a new house is have to make a garbage run, and for things that I might not be able to easily dispose of, or have to pay to get rid of.

[earthmama369]

I'd try again to clear it with the buyer. We appreciated the two records our seller left in a kitchen drawer detailing which companies handled the oil deliveries and the garbage pick-up. That was useful. The paint (many of it in rusted-shut containers), the curtain rods, the tiles, all that stuff she left without asking us? A complete PITA to try to get rid of. We were painting in our own colors anyway and the rest was just more *stuff* to deal with while moving, and not even our own stuff!

[LaughingHyena]

We didn't leave paint as it had mostly dried up and we figured the new owners would want to repaint pretty quickly anyway since we hadn't done it for a while. Had it been fresh I would have left any spare.

We did leave spare tiles and laminate flooring, with a note saying which rooms they had been used in.

We took all our shelving but were happy to find some in our new garage since we needed more.

I wouldn't leave chemicals or tools though, unless you know the new owners want them. I'd ask around neighbours or freecycle and see if you can find them a home.

We have been left loads of paint, spare tiles and a bathroom suite (they had started renovating but not finished) It's still sat there waiting for us to go through it and rehome it since very little is our taste and a lot of it (paints, tile adhesive etc) has got too old to use.

[BarefootScientist]

Originally Posted by beanma

Maybe you could box everything up and ask at the closing. If they say, "sure we'd love to have it" leave the boxes in the garage, but otherwise take it with you.

That wouldn't work. The moment closing is done we're gone on a 14+ hour drive. And there is WAY too much to box up, and we don't have room to bring it.

Thanks for your opinions, everyone! I think what I'm going to do is try to get rid of everything but the paint, tiles, curtain rods (we have blinds on those windows), shelving, and anything else that actually has a specific purpose in this specific home. I'm trying to craigslist things we want money for this week, and then next weekend I'll hold an open garage and anything that doesn't sell or leave for free then I'll freecycle, and if things aren't gone by Wednesday evening (2 days before closing) we'll haul it to the dump. All assuming, of course, I don't hear differently from the buyer.

And for the record, I'm really not trying to be rude.

[BarefootScientist]

Oh, and if anyone can think of a better, faster, easier way to get rid of this type of stuff, I am ALL ears.

[mouso]

Craigslist open house for free sounds good. When we sold our houses at different points we removed everything- except paint and whatever the buyer said they wanted. We even vacuumed.

And I agree with taking it, we are buying a house now that is FULL of stuff. I am truly hoping that it is all gone. I can barely figure out how we are going to move and set up with 2 small kids and no family, much less get rid of a bunch of stuff.
It would be beyond overwhelming.

Good luck with your move!

[chel]

our first house had lots of stuff left. some stuff like jewelry that the owners must have taken off while cleaning. luckily, they lived locally and i could let them know as i found it and they would pick it up with any mail left over. they went by the home for after school pickup and i would just tell them to check the mailbox.

they left paint (even if the paint is old, it's great to know the exact brand/shade) tiles, carpet pieces, paper goods, etc

overall i was very happy with them leaving stuff.

when we sold we had to leave an outside patio seat/chest as it was frozen to the ground and we couldn't move it. i also left some cleaning supplies that our movers couldn't take. i also left some weed killer, etc

[Ola_]

I wonder if Habitat for Humanity would be interested in it? Since they do construction and all, but I'd call and find out first.

[Ruthiegirl]

Freecycle! Best way to ditch tools and half used paint/construction supplies.