Buy My House But I’m Buying The Toilet

In any market, buyers and sellers spar on lighting fixtures, window treatments and appliances, with million-dollar deals settled on items that sometimes cost several thousand dollars. Generally, anything affixed to the walls – cabinets, sinks and toilets – is considered part of the sale, and removable items such as light fixtures and mounted flat-screen televisions fall into a gray area that gets hammered during contract negotiations. If an item is gone, it is often replaced with its contractor-level equivalent. But ultimately, a contract can contain whatever terms a buyer and seller agree to.

And this year, buyers are accepting some swagger.

In East Hampton, sellers of a $2.2 million home decided they wanted to keep a pair of fruit trees, although removing them left two spaces next to the swimming pool.

Even the sellers agent got confused. “Where did that come from? The buyer goes crazy, it messes up the landscaping,” he said. Yorgos Tsibiridis, a partner broker for Compass, representing the sellers in the deal. The trees, about one meter tall, were a gift from a grandparent to the sellers’ children, and it turns out the deal was broken. “No, I will cancel the contract if they don’t let me take them with me,” Mr. Tsibiridis said.

And so, a landscape architect came in recently and dug the trees in time for the closing, which is expected to happen in a few days..

Beyond power grabs, there are other factors at play. As the global supply chain continues to bounce through the pandemic recovery, housing supply is scarce, but so are appliances, furniture and building materials. As sellers leave their homes, some look around and realize that they cannot replace the items they have left. So why not get them?

During negotiations for a two-bedroom co-op in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, vendors insisted on keeping the kitchen appliances, washer, and dryer. If buyers want to, they can pay $10,000 for second-hand Samsung devices. Buyers freaked out as the demand for the $430,000 flat was not specified in the listing.

“They thought it was too trivial and cheap to throw it out there at the last moment,” he said. Jack Chiuis a joint broker with Douglas Elliman, who represents buyers. He said they would have changed their offer if they had known that the devices were excluded. “He hit them from the left field.”