Am I being irrational??

NYGrlAtHeart

We just sold our house and now the buyers real estate agent is saying that "window coverings" is in the contract for us to leave. He is saying this includes my drapes. I am off the wall furious because to me window coverings are blinds. Drapes are window treatments. I would never agree to leave my drapes here...we are a military family and are not going to be buying all new stuff every house we move to. I am trying not to stress about it but I am so mad...and keep in mind these are VERY expensive drapes. I plan on standing my ground and saying No but my real estate agent is saying well lets see what happens. I don't want to see what happens because they are not getting them!!!!!

Ahhhh that felt good to get out!!! Thanks for letting me vent! 

NYGrlAtHeart

Oh! And then my real estate agent said well they offered full price so we should be flexible. What?!? I didn't tell them to offer full price!! So because they offered full price should I give them my couches too?!? My grapes go with all of my decor and I refuse to give them up! 

Ok, I am really done now!  

bmstee03

I wouldn't give them up. They can live without your drapes.

kanne529

I've always heard that it was only things that are attached to the wall...like if a picture frame is screwed in instead of just hanging on a nail that it went with the house.  I would think drapes (unless attached to the wall) would come with you.  Good luck!  I hope you get to keep them!

BellaAmor215

no! dont give them up... theyre offering what youre selling the house for, and that usually doesnt include decor... even blinds... why would the real estate agent offer your things like that??? and why would yours allow it?? w/o even discussing it with you! im actually in the middle of buying a house right now and the only things included are appliences...

lilmel6

kanne529:

I've always heard that it was only things that are attached to the wall...like if a picture frame is screwed in instead of just hanging on a nail that it went with the house.  I would think drapes (unless attached to the wall) would come with you.  Good luck!  I hope you get to keep them!

This was my understanding too. I would just take them.

kimandjared

No way!! You are not being irrational at all! I have never considered my drapes as part of the window covering unless otherwise specified. I always thought window coverings were just the blinds as well. Just because they offered you full price doesn't mean you have to give them everything they want! GL!

Anna&Matt

Technically drapes are window treatments so if it's in the contract, I'm not sure what you can really do. Maybe offer them a break on the house price if you are taking them if they throw a fit but otherwise I think you would be forced to leave them legally.

LucyVanPelt

I know it's frustrating but it's most likely in the contract you signed with the buyer (I know it was in ours when we sold our place). 

If you feel so strongly about it, I suggest having your agent ask the buyer if they will allow you to take them.  You can offer to reduce the purchase price by $100 or $500 (or however much you think they are worth). 

Anna&Matt

PS - I know this because we have very expensive custom curtains and purposely are excluding them from our house listing when we go to sell. We were advised to do this by our friend who is a realtor.

dunvilles

We just sold a house recently and the blinds would be included but not the drapes unless they specified that in the contract. but.... on the other hand, I wouldn't let drapes be a deal breaker either. Good Luck!!

kimberleigh30

By law, I think you have to keep some sort of window covering on when you leave, but what you choose to leave is totally up to you. ?If anything I'd go and but the cheap plastic blinds for like $5 each and just use them. ?Take your curtains.?

swimrbride

Honestly, I would just tell the buyers you really want to take them. I can't imagine that unless the curtains were really netural that they would go with their decor. When we bought our house the sellers did leave all the curtains and we got rid of all of them except the ones in the bedroom (they happened to have curtains that were the exact same color our bedroom stuff is accented in). So odds are they would probably get rid of them anyways.

Mama2MyBabies

When we bought our house, all the drapes, blinds & ceiling fan came with the house. When they wrote there contract, there should have been a place for them to write in if they wanted them or not, If its not in the contract then your good. But other wise if you signed the contract & it was in there, then they go with the house. Check with you real state agent, they should be able to check that.

Anna&Matt

kimberleigh30:

By law, I think you have to keep some sort of window covering on when you leave, but what you choose to leave is totally up to you.  If anything I'd go and but the cheap plastic blinds for like $5 each and just use them.  Take your curtains.

that's not the case in our state - it has to be the exact window coverings they saw when you showed your house. But it might be different in different places. I would definitely ask your real estate agent.

rhawkins06

For our house we had to buy all new drapes. They left all the blinds but took the drapes. Then they tried to take the mirrors from the bathrooms and patch the holes in the walls, what, they thought we wouldn't notice???

kimilane

kanne529:

I've always heard that it was only things that are attached to the wall...like if a picture frame is screwed in instead of just hanging on a nail that it went with the house.  I would think drapes (unless attached to the wall) would come with you.  Good luck!  I hope you get to keep them!

This. My mom is a real estate agent and this is usually the rule. Don't let your agent screw you over. Check with your agent's "Broker In Charge" if you can't get a straight answer from them.

JulieK08

TRUST ME. Leave the drapes, you don't want to lose the sale of the house in this market due to drapes. I had to leave my drapes at the last house we sold, all in all, it was about $3,000 worth. BUT, overall, we lost $60,000 on the sale of the house, and THANK GOD we don't have to keep paying on it. We live in Michigan and I would never THINK of ruining a full-priced offer due to some drapes, even expensive ones. Now, our situation may be different because the market in our state is devastating, but that's just my two cents. I would seriously consider getting over it and I'm not trying to be mean, just realistic.

lfen0526

Usually when you sell a house, that isn't even listed in the contract, because it's a given. ?Those are for those windows. ?We have ALWAYS left blinds and drapes.

NYGrlAtHeart

I am def leaving the blinds because in the contract it says window coverings. I consider drapes window TREATMENTS. And every window in the house has blinds on them...it's not like I am take drapes off windows that do not have blinds!

SusieQ1982

Honestly, I would have thought window coverings included drapes, so I'd be pretty pissed if it was written into a contract and you tried to take them.

Here, you specifically exclude things in a listing that could be considered part of the home that you are not willing to leave behind. Buyers can write in a request for anything they want but you have the right to say no.

The nonspecific term window "coverings" might get you into trouble legally.

Oh, and here it's also illegal to take out your stuff and replace it with cheap items and call it a day. It has to be the stuff the buyer saw.

ara072580

My real estate agent was pretty clear that it had to be things that were attached to the house only (we just bought a house)- so they had to leave the blinds and actually also had to leave the curtain RODS but not the curtains themselves.  They did leave some of their curtains... honestly, my thought on the curtains was that they had bought them to match their stuff, why would I have a right to them?  My agent said we could ask for anything, but I didn't bother, I would hate it if someone did that to me. 

dtrigg

I agree with the PPs - This is not something to lose a full priced offer on your house for. I live in Alaska and the market was barely touched and I still wouldn't chance the buyers backing out for some drapes. Seriously - you're getting hundreds of thousands of dollars, buy some new drapes, even if they were expensive.

Are these drapes seriously worth getting legal action taken on you for? I think the buyers would win in this case, and probably either ask for more stuff because you were being stinky or if you raise too much hell about some freakin' drapes, they'll back out because it seems a little crazy and wonder what else you're going to try to pull.

 I'm not trying to be mean. I work in a real estate office and these are the kinds of crazy things that buyers go 'uhh, well no thanks if you're going to go all apesh!t over drapes.. I'll find a new house with sane sellers.'