What Stays And What Does Not When Selling A House In North Carolina?

The question of what has to stay and what the seller does not have to leave always comes up in North Carolina. The North Carolina Real Estate commission describes it as personal property things you can take with you as a seller. Real property has to stay with the house upon transfer (unless other arrangements have been made) So what is real property? Real property is the land and all structures that are permantely fixed on the property. Now, certain variations of things constitute real property in North Carolina. They consider a stove, dishwasher and blinds to be real property. Those items were affixed to the house and are part of the natural flow of the house. Meaning that the countertops and cabinets were specially removed so as to fit a stove and dishwashers thus making them part of the house....Anything that is built in can and usually is considered real property. The same goes true for light fixtures in the house. Personal property is considered items you brought into the house and thus are yours and can be removed with you. Some items that come up in discussions on whether they are real or not are refrigerators, washer and dryers, curtains and curtain rods.... These items are considered to be personal property and the seller is not under any obligation to leave them with the sale of the house.. Now, as Realtors in North Carolina we input listings into the Multiple Listing Service and thus we put in the fixtures and items that are staying with the house. So if the seller said I will include the refrigerator with the sale of the house then a realtor will include it in the listing so the prospective buyer knows it is included in the house. But the Buyer's agent will still have to make note of it on the offer to purchase contract since it is personal property and otherwise can be argued it was negotiated out of the contract. Just because a seller has not included an item in the sale price of the house does not mean it is not for sale or negotiable into the contract...As a Buyer's agent I have asked for items in the offer that the seller was not including; but the buyer wanted. You never know what the seller will part with or will not part with until you ask. On the seller side I have used items the seller said he/she did not care if they stayed with the house or not as a negotiating tool when trying to sell a house as well.. There is fine line in terms of what stays and what does not stay....Make sure you ask your Realtor if you are thinking something is staying or not if it is personal property or not and then ask them to negotiate it into the contract if it is personal property. Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United www.davedicecco.com