Sell house with fish tank?

[ReefWhatYouSow]

Hi everyone,

I have a pretty established 210 gallon reef tank that I built into the wall of a large closet. The closet is used as a fish room and holds my frag tank, sump, 35 gallon ATO, and sink. The stands were welded and painted. A lot of work went into it but I'm 100% okay with leaving it behind when selling our house. Mainly a timing issue for me.

Has anyone ever sold their house with their fish tank included in the sale? If so, did you add anything to the sale price or give an additional price if they wanted it? I probably have more than $10-15,000 in it so it would play a small factor in my decision.

Thanks!


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[mcgyvr]

IMO that is going to limit your potential buyer pool and lower the value for those that dont want a tank...Talk to your realtor...They will guide you in how to proceed...
Hopefully being near the coatlst in Florida helps..but I kind of doubt it...

 

[zheka757]

Im following this, my 400g tank is in a wall also. and im not planning to stay in this house for very long.

 

[ajoe]

Why not just make it an option to potential buyers? You want the system here is the price. You don't here is the price. Simple. I like simple.

 

[stempy07]

I sold my house with a 500 gallon built into the wall. At first the buyers LOVED and seemed really excited about it. Then after inspection they changed their minds and wanted it tore out. It had already been written into the contract but I was told that if I decided to not tear it out at their request they could nit pick the inspection and ask for very minor stuff to be fixed and then use that to back out of the contract. It ended up being a real headache with timing. I wish I would have just tore it out before listing, it would have made my life a WHOLE LOT easier.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

+1 for taking it out. The headache of trying to sell the house with a large built in fish tank is likely going to be much worse than the headache of removing it. Unfortunately, most people aren't very into fish tanks, especially large built in ones and the maintenance and cost that comes with running one. I certainly wouldn't expect to get any extra value out of the house with it, and may even expect a bit of a drop as people may see it as something they're just going to have to figure out how to remove at some point.

When I bought my house the owners left a piano behind. Even on wheels, this 800 pound beast would be a huge hassle to move and left imprints in the hardwood floor wherever you moved it because it was so heavy. I ended up just keeping it partly because it's so hard to get rid of. I ended up refinishing my floors, in part to the gouges from the piano.

Another house I was closing on had a built in elevator because the last owner was handicapped. At first, I thought it was a fun novelty and could be used to at least take the groceries up from the garage to the first floor, but proved to be a big liability during inspection and would cost a fortune to remove. Ended up not getting the house. The couple that had bought the house is working on removing it and has been quite the headache for them as well.

I guess the point being, unless you get lucky enough that a buyer happens to already be into reefing, you're likely not going to get any higher offers with the tank, and would also inadvertently be driving away alot of potential buyers by having it. I imagine your realtor would agree, but perhaps in your area they could be a benefit. Your realtor would be able to gage from past experiences what is most likely for where you live and your type of house.

 

[HumbleFish]

If there's a local online forum in your area, you can try listing the house on there first to gauge any interest. But if you don't get any bites then selling the tank with the house is probably just going to work against you.

 

[JTL]

Imo it will be a negative so remove it.

 

[Steveb]

My wife's a realtor and every time she has shown a house with a built in its been a negative. Like has been said you are limiting yourself to a much smaller buyer pool.

 

[Jcohen9999]

going thru that now...lost a lot of potential buyers because they couldnt see past the tank which I had the realtor assure them it would be removed along with all the plumbing.

In hindsight I should have removed it before going to market.

glws

Jeff

 

[sde1500]

100% would not add anything to the price of your house by keeping it. May be a selling point to a very select person. But definitely expect to be tearing it out to make the sale.

 

[FullBoreReefer]

I just sold my home 6mths ago. New buyers requested my in wall 90 be removed, wall repaired and painted, or they’d walk. I would have said no, but wife and I were already at our new house for about 4mths and were tired of the double mortgage payments. I surrendered haha

 

[gargoylenest]

yeah just sell all your live and equipment to locals, sell the tank, close the wall, finish your closet, make it like it never existed. Normal people, when they buy a house, dont want more work or reno. And theres is always the worry about mold.

 

[lukewithcats]

you would need to atleast be able to recommend someone to service the tank and be willing to shut it down. the tank is one thing but all the equipment may look messy to others and that could be a problem.
Your best bet would be to call in a realtor and see what they say, maybe you could clean up the equipment and put up curtains over the tank so they can see what it would be like without it.

 

[lukewithcats]

Maybe call in a realtor but you should at least be prepared to tell them how much it would cost them to hire someone to run the tank. You cant expect the new owner to be a reefer. lots of people have built in tanks and you just need to point out how flexible it is, they could have a shark or koi or plants or empty it and put some decoration inside. lots of options, you need to make it as flexible as possible.