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Comment by cesarb | Hacker News Reader

> People move into new homes.

Don't people bring their appliances with them when moving?

It varies by market a lot. In my part of Canada -- for example -- appliances are almost always included with a house or apartment purchase. Similarly, I only recently learned that in large parts of Canada, it's the norm to rent or lease your water-heater either from a third party or from a utility. Out here in BC, that's not really a thing AFAIK.

Generally not in the US.

When you make an offer to buy a home, there will be a section that lists the furnishings/appliances/things-not-nailed-down that are included in your offer. Your real estate agent is going to check the boxes for appliances without even asking you. You could tell the agent not to do that, and the seller could say no. But that would be unusual.

I can tell you as a real estate agent I almost always recommend to my clients that they leave the appliances... appliances are a pain to move! No guarantee that your old appliances will fit in the respective places in the house you are buying, likelihood of beating up the walls and floors as you move them in and out of houses, and often it will cost you as much to move it as it would to just buy a new one. Further - the buyer of your home generally doesn't want to have to go spend thousands on new appliances right after they dropped a big chunk of coin buying your house. It definitely makes an impression on buyers, especially how petty it looks if you are marketing a luxury home where the sellers have stripped all the appliances - does not give the impression of luxury to a prospective buyer.

none of this is anywhere near true.

A new refrigerator is roughly $1k for a cheap one, don't tell me someone is going to charge more than that to move a single item. Hell, I've paid for an entire move for less than that.

Why would they be paying to move it at all though when the house they are buying already has perfectly good, and often better, appliances than they would be moving anyway.

Dude - consider mainstream buying options like say, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. There are apartment sized refrigerators going for nearly $1000. Can you find a super low end model for under $1K? Sure - but that's not what the majority of people are putting into their homes for a family unit of 2+ people. Can I throw a washer and dryer into the back of my truck? Sure - but that's not what people are going to do if they are moving outside their immediate vicinity. At minimum they are backing up the U-Haul, at the high end they are bringing in movers.

sounds like you agree with me, the idea that it's cheaper to buy a new refrigerator vs moving it is ridiculous.

People will rationalize all sorts of poor decisions.

wut?

I live in the US and I don't know of anyone who chose not to bring their appliances with them.

I think some people take others leave them.

It’s not uncommon to leave them depending on where you’re going. A new home might already have new appliances included.

What part of the US?!? I don’t know of anyone that didn’t leave them behind! That is really amazing

The cost of moving some things outweigh their value. Particularly longer distances or on smaller vehicles.

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