Sell house with fish tank?

[ReefWhatYouSow]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice. We're about to put our house up on the market and are trying to determine what to do about the tank and list/sale price. 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!
Nate


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[BigDave]

Hate to say this, but I doubt you'll get anything for the tank in the sale of the house.

I just got finished taking my tank down yesterday so we can put our house on the market next month. Mines only a 120, though. I sold my livestock and moved all the equipment to the garage.

Best thing to do is speak with your realtor and see what they say. Mine recommended taking the tank down because of how big it was in the room I had it in.

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[Padgetto]

I sold my last house with a 180 built in wall aquarium. I offered to remove it and repair the wall because I kind of wanted the tank, but she said the house would be worth more. I think they added 5 k to the sale from memory. I told them it would be an empty tank and they were ok with it. So I transferred all my fish and corals along with rock and substrate in to a temp aquarium in the garage and then moved that tank to the new house.
Crappy part was when my wife didn't let me spend 5k on the new aquarium lol.


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[RivieraBayReef]

I actually purchased a house which had a 260 built into the wall of the dining room with access via the garage. Seller offered to remove it, but since I had experience I kept it. Not aware of anything being added onto the price as he was expecting to have to remove it.


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[Daimyo68]

Definitely talk to your realtor.

Personally, I would leave it installed and running, and ask 5-10k more on top of your realtors suggested asking price. That 5-10k more would keep you in the same "shopping" market without losing "views" of ppl looking for a new home in a specific price range (which is usually a 20-25k spread).

If the new owner wants the system, the price is already factored in, everybody wins,

if they don't want it, one of 2 things happen:

They give you asking value and you remove the tank with minimal cost uncured to repair the wall, and you keep the system

or

They negotiate you down from your listed asking price, you keep the tank and still get more than they would have offered at a lower asking price (the tank was just a bonus that you were willing to leave for the new owner)

 

[BlueCoast]

house hunting now and I see a fair number of listings where a big or unusual "item" conveys to the new owner unless requested by the seller to remove. I've seen a few with inwall or large tanks the owner wants to leave when they move.

I would leave it, why remove and patch when you don't know if the new owner would want it. You can always do that after the fact if the new owner doesn't want it.

Daimyo68 has a lot of good advice, just don't push it so far as to scare away potential buyers. As mentioned, a good realtor will have dealt with this before.

Too bad you aren't in St. Pete.... I might have just gotten a house with a builtin 210

 

[Seagars]

Lots of good comments but as most buyers are extremely myopic about what they are looking at it will be more of a problem unless you get a fish person that is also looking for have a tank and dedicated room. Someone with a ton of knowledge in the industry. Then they already probably have a tank and equipment.
Good luck either way!!!

 

[richgoose]

I dont know Segars, if I was house shopping and it had a huge built in with a fish room, my old smaller stuff would get sold off bang bang bang... just me

I would list a little higher and see what happens