Buried in Someone Else’s Belongings

Dear Daniel,

I recently bought a home and used an out-of-area agent. It was someone who called me after I clicked a box on a real estate search site. I didn’t realize I’d end up with an agent who didn’t know anything about the area the home was in, or any pertinent information about the home. Lesson learned. My question is: the home I bought came “fully furnished,” but it was basically full of crap that needs to be hauled to the dump. What could have been done in the purchase agreement to save me the hassle, time, and money of clearing it out?

— Buried in Someone Else’s Belongings, Clare County

Dear Buried,

First, a moment of silence for whatever that agent considered “due diligence.” Clicking a box on a website and getting a callback isn’t hiring an agent, it’s answering a sales call that happened to come with a license number attached. I’m sorry you found that out the expensive way, in a house full of someone else’s decisions.

But let’s get you fixed for next time, because this one’s a simple problem with a simple paperwork solution. Here’s what should’ve happened, and what to ask for going forward:

“Fully furnished” should never appear in a purchase agreement without a list attached. That phrase, on its own, is doing nothing for you. It’s a feeling, not a fact. What you want is a Personal Property Addendum. It’s a written, itemized list of exactly what’s included in the sale and what isn’t. Couch, yes. Couch’s mysterious contents, no. If it’s not on the list, it’s not yours to keep, and it’s not your problem to remove. It’s the seller’s.

The agreement should specify who removes what, and by when. Even with a clean list, somebody must haul things out before closing or before possession. A good purchase agreement names that person, usually the seller, and gives a deadline, like “all personal property not listed in Exhibit A shall be removed prior to closing.” Without that line, you inherit the cleanup by default, simply because nobody assigned it to anyone else.

A pre-closing walkthrough exists for exactly this reason. It’s not just to check the furnace runs. It’s your last chance to stand in the house, point at the pile of who-knows-what in the basement, and say “this needs to go before we sign.” A local agent walks that property with you and knows to look for it. An agent working off a phone script three counties away does not.

If the seller won’t commit to clearing it, you negotiate around it, in writing, before closing, not after. That might mean a price reduction, a cleanup credit, or a holdback of funds in escrow until the property’s empty. Any of those works. What doesn’t work is a verbal “oh don’t worry about it” from a seller you’ll never see again after the closing table.

Here’s the bigger thing, though, underneath the dump runs and the rented truck or dumpster: a purchase agreement is the only document that can protect you once the deal closes and everyone scatters. An agent who knows the area knows to put these things in writing because they’ve seen what happens when they’re not. That’s the whole value of

Clare County Review

REAL ESTATE ADVICE

By Daniel Dwyer-Snyder, Associate Broker, Manager  CENTURY 21 Signature Realty – Clare County  989-708-1847 Info@RealtorDaniel.com

Have a real estate question or curious about a career in real estate? Email it to Info@RealtorDaniel.com or Mail to: CENTURY 21 Signature Realty, Attention Daniel Dwyer-Snyder, 1102 N. McEwan Street, Clare, MI 48617