Do Blinds Come with My New Home?

Are you in the market for a new home? Congratulations! This new chapter of your life is bound to be exciting, but also filled with questions you likely never anticipated.

For instance, you may be curious if the purchase of your new home will include the window coverings like blinds, shutters, or shades.

While some home buyers want to start fresh in their new house and plan to toss the existing window treatments anyway, you may be in love with the existing window treatments and want to keep them.

It would be a huge disappointment to walk into your brand-new home and see that every window is bare, when you weren’t prepared for it.

Don’t let the rug be pulled out from underneath you! Make sure you read the fine print of your contract and check if the window treatments will be included.

While each state has unique laws, remember these 3 key points regarding whether blinds will come with your new home or not:

1. Fixtures are usually required by state law to stay in the house and be sold with it.
2. By reading the contract and knowing relevant state regulations, you can determine if the blinds will stay or not.
3. Ask! You can communicate with the seller about whether blinds will come with the purchase of the home or not.

Fixtures Are Usually Sold with a Home

You may wonder exactly what a fixture is, and with good reason, because the answer varies by state. In real estate jargon, a “fixture” is different from personal property. Generally, anything permanently affixed to your house with nails, screws, cement, and so on, is considered is said to be a part of the house, and must be sold along with it, because it is a fixture. It would stand to reason, then, that this would include blinds, shades, and shutters. However, curtains and draperies are usually considered personal property and are not sold with the home.

The definition of “fixture” varies by state. Learn more here about how to determine what a fixture is and is not, in general.

Ask the Seller

If you’ve already fallen in love with the look of those plantation shutters or honeycomb shades, make sure you tell the seller, because they may be willing to include them with the sale of the home even if they’re not legally bound to by state law. If you don’t ask, you won’t know. So, ask the seller if they’re planning to take their window treatments with them, and see if you can negotiate for their inclusion with the purchase of your new home. Make sure you verify everything in writing, because verbal agreements are easy to break.

Read the Seller’s Disclosures in the Purchase Contract

Some sellers include a disclosure in their seller contracts that fixtures will or will not “convey,” meaning, they will or won’t come with the purchase of the home. The answer about whether window treatments will be included in your new home depends on whether the seller has outlined in their property disclosure that window treatments are included. If you have a question about new house blinds, you can ask about the specific window treatments you’re referring to, whether it’s blinds, shades, shutter, curtains, or even the curtain rods.

Looking for beautiful window coverings from a blind installation company near you? Turn to your local Bloomin’ Blinds for a FREE in-home estimate. Simply call (855) 457-1022 today!