Is it normal to be expected to leave your curtains when selling a place??

DH and I are selling our trailer and the Realtor we met with told us we needed to take down any curtains or drapes we didn't want to leave behind. That it was expected they would stay with the place.

I've never heard that before. I grew up first in rented places, then military housing before my parents bought the place they are in now. I'm not happy about it either. I already took down some I definitely want to keep. I'd have taken them all down but I want to have the place look nice for showing without having to go out and buy more curtains! It's not like there aren't blinds up behind them!

Now I'm wondering if that also includes my shower curtain.... I was planning on leaving the liner of course; but I'm not leaving the one that matches my whole bathroom set!

No, its just your curtains over windows. It is commom, but anything you do not want to sell with the house tell your Realtor to stipulate that. And if you dont want to sell any of them, make sure she includes that in the listing. Dont take them down, though.

Originally Posted by Pami

No, its just your curtains over windows. It is commom, but anything you do not want to sell with the house tell your Realtor to stipulate that. And if you dont want to sell any of them, make sure she includes that in the listing. Dont take them down, though.

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I agree that you don't want to leave any bare windows, or rather, you want it to look finished. I wanted to keep some of the curtains at my old place, so I bought the cheapest pair of lace curtains to hang in their place - it was a victorian house so the lace worked.

Around here, no.....if selling a home, one leaves the furnishings up untill they move, or pack them.

There is no expectation of leaving the curtains or anything like that as it is not considerred a fixed part of the home......plus people's styles vary greatly, so I don't know why it would be expected that a previous owner leave their curtains/blinds/etc.

Some homes (mostly foreclosures) don't even have fixtures left!
I would say curtains aren't normal to leave, I personally wouldn't want someone else's curtains anyway and have not been asked to leave them on the same hand
but leaving blinds on some of the windows is not unusual.

I think it really depends on the area, but at the same time, most of the houses DH and I looked at this year didn't have curtains hanging up. Most had blinds, but at the same time, the listing information (the detailed stuff that we got from our realtor) did stipulate which window treatments were staying or not.

We did decide on a house, and our closing date is June 30. Luckily for us, the family is moving back to China, therefore selling EVERYTHING and what they're not selling, they'll give us. We're buying their formal dining set, and all master bedroom furniture, but they're giving us the lawn care items (mower, etc.).

So, work it all out with your realtor.

I read that anything that is physically attached to the house is expected to be included. Blinds are usually in that desciption....besides, they might not fit the windows at your next house. When I bought my house, some of the windows had curtains. But I took them down....I don't like cutains. Dust catchers for the cats to climb, that's all.

In my area, blinds usually stay, curtains don't. Just make sure that your Realtor stipulates in the listing that the window treatments do not stay. When I bought my house 20 years ago, there were no window treatments left in the house at all.

In my livingroom, I bought matching fabric from the furniture manufacturer, and made padded cornice boards for my windows. They probably wouldn't fit any other house I moved to, but I really doubt anyone else would have furniture that would go with it! I suppose I would leave them if a buyer wanted to keep them and change the fabric. The issue is moot, as I don't want to sell my house anytime soon, lol!

I've always left my curtains even if they don't want them, because i've always had new ones made for the new house.

It's not expected here. I would also have it stipulated what's not included.
My cousin had it stipulated that the basement was set-up for surround sound. The new owners expected him to leave the whole system behind. Lesson learned: Be specific in the stipulation.

I have no idea what the "norm" is in the US, but here in Canada, you can leave everthing up until you move, BUT, anything that you are taking with you must be stipulated in the Sale Agreement, i.e., specific light fixtures, drapes, ceiling fans, etc. We've pretty much always had the drapes and ceiling lights included in any house we bought since often the drapes are custom made. Now bearing that in mind, we did pay the sellers a bit extra at our last house to leave the custom drapes but that was an aside agreement and not in the actual sale contract. We also had a lovely stained glass lamp that a friend had made me, so that was stipulated in the sales agreeement that we would be taking it with us. We did, however, have to purchase another light to replace the one we took. Naturally we just bought a "cheapie". If they wanted a more expensive light fixture they could buy it themselves.

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

DH and I are selling our trailer and the Realtor we met with told us we needed to take down any curtains or drapes we didn't want to leave behind. That it was expected they would stay with the place.

I've never heard that before. I grew up first in rented places, then military housing before my parents bought the place they are in now. I'm not happy about it either. I already took down some I definitely want to keep. I'd have taken them all down but I want to have the place look nice for showing without having to go out and buy more curtains! It's not like there aren't blinds up behind them!

Now I'm wondering if that also includes my shower curtain.... I was planning on leaving the liner of course; but I'm not leaving the one that matches my whole bathroom set!

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It is written into the contract. Contracts normally go through many iterations with offers and counter offers, including what stays in the home. When we sold our last home all our drapes were custom made and would not go in our present home so was not an issue.

Like a few other posters have said, drapes, curtains & blinds are only included if it's not specified in the sales agreement. They work the same way as including appliances. You have to specifically say which appliances are included in the offer, likewise you can specifically say that the living room curtains are not included, should you wish it. Just make sure you agent puts it in your sales contract and you'll be fine.

I certainly wouldn't want to take all the drapes down as soon as the house goes on the market.

I wish I'd thought to ask here before we met the Realtor Saturday!! I'd have told her to stipulate on the contract the window treatments and my shower curtain (yes they said the shower curtain, the decorative one, not the functional one that I intended to leave, is expected to stay!) I had no intention of taking down my mini-blinds; and a few of the curtains are custom made to this house; but I'm still shocked I have to either replace or give up my other ones! It's not like we're making a profit on this place! I mean the contract we signed was on carbon copy paper! This is no Caesars Palace.... it's a trailer for cryin out loud!

Frankly I'm a little miffed with the Realtor too. She didn't make it seem like specifying those were not included was even an option. And to make matters worse; we had someone look at the house today with some of those window treatments and my shower curtain still up.... Which should have been a good thing... Also the pictures she took of the house for the listing have all that up! Foo on them!

You can still ask her to rewrite the listing contract to include the ones you want to keep. This is your home that she is just helping you to sell.

As long as no one has signed a contract to buy your trailer, you can make changes in the listing. And no, you are not expected to replace the things you take with you. The realtor may be thinking that you will get a higher offer if the curtains (and other minor things) are included, but if that is the case you should be asking for more to start with. If the realtor won't work with you on this you need to find a different realtor.

I have never heard of leaving curtains unless they are custom made. Usually this is stated in the ad for the house. As well as what appliances if any are part of the deal.

When I bought my first house the sellers took anything that wasn't nailed down and a few things that were. They left the worn out window shades and bent up curtain rods. And a horribly filthy rug that was the first thing to go.

My second place (a condo) was new construction and there were no shades, curtains or curtain rods. At the time I had no money and lived for over six months without curtains. The first few months all I had were towels hung in the windows of the bedroom and bathroom.

When I sold that condo I left the curtains in all the rooms except the bedroom. The windows in this condo are twice the size and those curtains just wouldn't fit. So rather than take them down and pack them I just left them in place.

It wasn't something that was talked about or written into the contract. I just left them. It seemed like the thing to do.

The girl that bought it was young and had never lived on her own. I remember my disappointment when I moved into my first house and looked so bare. I thought it would be nice if the place looked close to what she saw when she agreed to buy it.