Don't want furniture included?

Hi, this actually will effect the sale of the home and seller will loose out on buyers. If you don’t want the furniture, tell the seller you’re only willing to move forward with a clean sale on the house itself. Ask your agent to write the offer excluding all furniture. If the seller refuses, what most buyers do in this situation: They reduce the house price by the same $20K or accept the furniture (even if they don’t want it) and resell it after closing.

One additional angle to keep in mind is the financing side of the transaction, because lenders treat this very differently than buyers and sellers often expect. Furniture is personal property, not real property. Appraisers are valuing the house and the land, not the contents inside it. Because of that, lenders generally will not allow furniture to be included in the value of the home or financed in the mortgage. If a contract shows $20K allocated to furniture, underwriting may require that to be removed or separated from the purchase price. In some cases it can even complicate the appraisal if it appears the price of the home is inflated to cover personal property. Since you don’t actually want the furniture, the practical solution may simply be to accept it as part of the deal and deal with it after closing. There are many charities, churches, and local nonprofits that will pick up furniture for free, and some buyers end up donating it or selling pieces locally. Your Realtor should be able to point you to organizations that handle pickup. If you want to be a bit tactical about it, another approach is to get the house under contract first, then allow the lender’s guidelines to drive the conversation. Once the file is in underwriting, lenders often flag personal property in the contract and require it to be removed or adjusted. In that scenario, the lender essentially becomes the neutral party explaining that they cannot finance $20K of furniture, which sometimes gives everyone a clean way to restructure the deal. At the end of the day, it still comes down to a simple question: is this the hill worth dying on? If the seller refuses to move and the house is truly the right one, the furniture may just become a logistical issue you solve after closing. If not, you hold your line and keep looking. That decision usually depends less on the furniture and more on how much you want the house.

The listing actually states that you must purchase the furniture for an additional fee? Wow, this is a new one! You have the right to refuse the furniture, but the issue is the fact that you love the house. They are probably well aware of this fact, and it is one of those "call your bluff" situations to see who blinks first. There really is no easy answer to this, but you might have to risk losing the house by saying no if there is not amenable resolution.

You basically have three options: negotiate the furniture separately, push to strip it out of the deal, or walk away if the seller truly won’t move. Furniture is personal property, not real estate, so it’s normally handled with a separate bill of sale or included at “no additional cost” to avoid loan and appraisal issues. Ask your agent to: (1) get an itemized list and actual resale value of the furniture and counter with a much lower number or zero, (2) offer your best price for the house alone and state in writing that you are not purchasing the furniture, or (3) if the seller insists the whole deal is contingent on paying $20K for furniture you don’t want, have your agent clearly tell them you’re prepared to walk so they understand they’re risking losing a serious buyer. At the end of the day, they can condition the sale on this if they want, but you’re not obligated to accept; your leverage is your willingness to walk and your agent should be fighting for the house terms you want, not just the seller’s furniture payday.

Seller wants +$20K for furniture. You don’t want it. Option 1: Work with the deal • A) If you like the furniture and it fits your budget, you can include it. • B) Try negotiating the furniture price (ex: offer less and meet somewhere in the middle). • C) Agree to the $20K, but try to offset it by negotiating the home price down. Option 2: Separate it • Ask to buy the home without the furniture. • Seller may say no, but it’s still worth asking. Option 3: Walk away • If the terms don’t make sense for you, you can walk. • There will always be other opportunities. Big Picture “In my professional opinion, the goal is to make sure the deal works for you—not just to win the house. The final decision is always yours, and I’ll help guide you based on what aligns with your goals.”