4 ms·

We may be listing ours soon, and if we do I'm even swapping the LED bulbs for whatever's cheapest at the store. They're only about a year old and the house will

by ashark 9y ago

We may be listing ours soon, and if we do I'm even swapping the LED bulbs for whatever's cheapest at the store. They're only about a year old and the house will sell for zero more dollars if I leave them up.

pavel_lishin 9y ago
How much are the LED bulbs? I don't think I'd bother taking the time to save fifty bucks on a house move.
- ashark 9y ago
  Heh, it'll be less than 1% of the total time I spend doing touch-ups and such. Maybe three minutes to save, yeah, $50-75. A tiny extra amount of effort on the actual packing and move, but time saved buying new bulbs when the ones in the next house start burning out makes up for that. Besides, I've got most of 'em in in-socket splitters (makes one bulb socked into two) in crappy basement fixtures which I'm pretty sure will make an inspector look twice, so probably worth taking down ahead of time anyway.
  - lucaspiller 9y ago
    Three minutes to change all the bulbs?
    - stronglikedan 9y ago
      Sure, if you have nine people helping you.
    - ashark 9y ago
      A half-dozen lightbulbs, and that long for taking the new ones out of the box and moving the ladder around.
- Zpalmtree 9y ago
  At least in the UK some packs of LED bulbs go up to something like £50 for 3.
vincentkriek 9y ago
Is leaving lights in the house you sell an American thing? Unless it's built in lights like spots, all the bulbs and even fixtures usually move with the person where I'm from (the Netherlands).
- ashark 9y ago
  Incandescent bulbs here are so cheap (and fragile, especially if they're used) they're definitely not worth bothering with, and they're still really common. Even CFLs are really cheap now, and don't travel as well (or last as long) as LEDs. Light fixtures would almost never go—either they're $20 pieces of crap that aren't worth unwiring (then wiring back up at the new place), or they're nice enough and suited specifically enough to the space that the new buyers definitely want them to stay. If you wanted to keep one you'd have to take it down before listing, and replace it with something else.
- 5555624 9y ago
  Lights in light fixtures usually stay, while lights in lamps go. I don't know anyone who removes the lights from overhead fixtures, ceiling fans, etc. In the house I just moved into, all of those lights were there, even if the light switches were not.
- bluGill 9y ago
  the fixtures are wired in, and thus legally part of then house. You need to add additional language in the paperwork if you want to take them. If you want to take one with you your realtor will probably advise you to replace it before you list the house. Of course as other have pointed out, fixtures are generally either generic, or specific to the room they are in: in either case it doesn't make sense to take them with you even if you can. Technically you can take the stove, fridge, washer, dryer, window coverings; but almost nobody does. The buyers realtor will automatically put a clause in the contract that they stay. It saves everybody the effort and cost of moving them, and generally the rest of the room matches them and not the new house. Sometimes this isn't done but that is rare. Light bulbs are not in the contract, but they aren't worth the bother to remove.
  - 9y ago
perl4ever 9y ago
That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that spending money and effort replacing good bulbs with not-so-good ones is a negative-sum action for the system of you+the new owner. Leaving them in is zero-sum. I left all the LEDs I put in my last apartment when I moved.

by ashark 9y ago

pavel_lishin 9y ago

How much are the LED bulbs? I don't think I'd bother taking the time to save fifty bucks on a house move.

ashark 9y ago
Heh, it'll be less than 1% of the total time I spend doing touch-ups and such. Maybe three minutes to save, yeah, $50-75. A tiny extra amount of effort on the actual packing and move, but time saved buying new bulbs when the ones in the next house start burning out makes up for that. Besides, I've got most of 'em in in-socket splitters (makes one bulb socked into two) in crappy basement fixtures which I'm pretty sure will make an inspector look twice, so probably worth taking down ahead of time anyway.
- lucaspiller 9y ago
  Three minutes to change all the bulbs?
  - stronglikedan 9y ago
    Sure, if you have nine people helping you.
  - ashark 9y ago
    A half-dozen lightbulbs, and that long for taking the new ones out of the box and moving the ladder around.
Zpalmtree 9y ago
At least in the UK some packs of LED bulbs go up to something like £50 for 3.

vincentkriek 9y ago

Is leaving lights in the house you sell an American thing? Unless it's built in lights like spots, all the bulbs and even fixtures usually move with the person where I'm from (the Netherlands).

ashark 9y ago
Incandescent bulbs here are so cheap (and fragile, especially if they're used) they're definitely not worth bothering with, and they're still really common. Even CFLs are really cheap now, and don't travel as well (or last as long) as LEDs. Light fixtures would almost never go—either they're $20 pieces of crap that aren't worth unwiring (then wiring back up at the new place), or they're nice enough and suited specifically enough to the space that the new buyers definitely want them to stay. If you wanted to keep one you'd have to take it down before listing, and replace it with something else.
5555624 9y ago
Lights in light fixtures usually stay, while lights in lamps go. I don't know anyone who removes the lights from overhead fixtures, ceiling fans, etc. In the house I just moved into, all of those lights were there, even if the light switches were not.
bluGill 9y ago
the fixtures are wired in, and thus legally part of then house. You need to add additional language in the paperwork if you want to take them. If you want to take one with you your realtor will probably advise you to replace it before you list the house. Of course as other have pointed out, fixtures are generally either generic, or specific to the room they are in: in either case it doesn't make sense to take them with you even if you can. Technically you can take the stove, fridge, washer, dryer, window coverings; but almost nobody does. The buyers realtor will automatically put a clause in the contract that they stay. It saves everybody the effort and cost of moving them, and generally the rest of the room matches them and not the new house. Sometimes this isn't done but that is rare. Light bulbs are not in the contract, but they aren't worth the bother to remove.
- 9y ago

perl4ever 9y ago

That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is that spending money and effort replacing good bulbs with not-so-good ones is a negative-sum action for the system of you+the new owner. Leaving them in is zero-sum. I left all the LEDs I put in my last apartment when I moved.