Can I Include Furniture in the Sale?
If you are going to be selling a house, especially if you have investment properties or vacation homes, you may be wondering if you can sell furniture items with the house, make some extra money, save on moving costs, etc. Most sellers want to buy new things when they move.
After all, getting new furniture is an integral part of the home buying process. Plus, many buyers would gladly pay an additional cost for slightly used furniture. But if so, does it need to be in a separate deal, or can it be included in the contract price? These are terrific questions that this post will answer.
Read more: How are Home Values Determined?
Furniture Included
Yes, you can sell a house with all the furniture included. But negotiating furniture is not easy, so it’s better to have an original price of the house, and another final price, with the home fully furnished.
As the seller, you should know what to expect from each piece of furniture. For instance, say the buyer only wants the living room furniture included.
How to Determine Value
All the furnishings in your house can be sold either per item, or all furnishings together, as in “fully furnished homes”. But, the cost of the furniture cannot be included in your home sale, without possible complications.
Start by locating the receipts, or finding the retail price online by brand and model number. Now you’ll have to objectively inspect and evaluate each piece. Check sellers online for used furniture pricing. See what others are selling for and have sold for.
How to Calculate by Piece
Regardless of how you decide to sell, whether as a fully furnished home or separately, as the seller you’re going to need to know how much you want for each piece. Just as a car depreciates every year, so does anything used that’s being resold.
Any stain, tear or cushion wearing will also be a deduction. To be frank, most used furniture has to be in pretty good condition to be worth more than 25-30% of the original cost. If your furniture is like new, you could get 50-70% tops.
Exceptions and Examples
The exception is truly antique pieces and designer or one of a kind pieces (custom-made furniture). For example, say you have a pool table and a dining room table, but neither will fit in the new house.
The pool table cost $2,500 and is in excellent condition, and the dining room table cost $850, is solid oak, but has a few scratches – both pieces are about 3 years old. You can take around $1,500 for both, give or take.
Should I Advertise?
If you want to get rid of as much of your personal property as possible, it’s still not a good idea to advertise it as a furnished home. Real estate agents say you should save this fact for the negotiations, as it can be used as a sales concession. Personal property is difficult for sellers to incorporate in a home sales contract.
What You Cannot Include
Well, you can’t include things like window treatments and light fixtures, of course, and the seller typically includes appliances. Other than that, if it doesn’t have sentimental value but it does have value, you can try selling it, or including it in negotiations. Be sure as the seller you know the original cost of the items, as a place to start from.
About the Sale
Ok so here’s the deal – many sellers have tried to include property like furniture in with the market value of the house somehow. The problem with that is that most buyers will be dependent on a home loan for a property purchase.
This means a home appraisal will be required for the loan, and house appraisers are not permitted to include anything else in their calculations like that. Plus, the lender isn’t going to lend the buyer extra money for furniture, period.
The Contract
This is where your real estate agent will earn the money from selling your house. Contract negotiation is what they’re good at, and they’ve got your best interest at heart – the more the seller makes on the sale, the more they make on the sale.
They could put furniture included in an addendum to the contract, but why do that when the buyer can just give you cash separately?
Do a “Side Deal”, Selling Separately
You don’t even need a real estate agent for this side of a house sale, after all, it doesn’t involve real estate! As the seller, you can easily ask any buyer to write you a separate check for the items you’re selling to them. Just be sure to keep an inventory of each piece and its price independently.
One Other Simple Way
You can never tell what the real estate market will value your home at. It may appraise for more than you hoped for, or just at the price you need. Talk to the buyers about the purchase of the furniture.
Then if they make an offer, you can make a counter offer for the amount you need with the furniture, and let them know then it includes the price of the furniture. If your home appraises for less than this, it’s understood that the buyer will bring the difference in cash (or check) to the closing table.
Sell Your House Fast – Kansas City
We hope this post answered your questions about pricing furniture at your home sale, and that you’ll remember our name when you just need to sell fast. We buy houses in any condition, no appraisals, no home inspections, no repairs necessary.
You can request a free, no-obligation cash offer just by filling out the short form right here. A cash buyer will be in touch shortly to schedule an appointment to visit the property in person. At that time, they can answer any questions you may have, and they’ll be prepared to make you a cash offer on the spot!
