Replace LEDs with incandescents before moving - jerk move?

[Chaplin]

We're planning to sell our house soon as we'll be moving to enable me to take a new job and for my wife to FIRE.

Over the last 12 years I have consistently worked to lower our electricity consumption. The effort has paid off - we recovered any investment we made within a few years and continue to enjoy the lower expense. One change of course was replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

So the question is this: would it be a jerk move to put the incandescent bulbs back in before moving and take our LEDs with us? With appliances and any significant items you have to be explicit about what's included in the sale, but I don't think bulbs fall into that category.

I'm leaning towards just leaving them. After all, we have recovered our costs and it would be a direct action to benefit the world in lieu of any donation. On the other hand, if everyone else takes their LEDs with them, we would probably have to replace a bunch of incandescents wherever we move to, plus anyone buying our place would bring theirs with them, but not need to use them, leaving us as the suckers out in the cold.

It may be the most minor AAM question ever, but I'm still curious to hear what you have to say. Negative bonus points awarded if this devolves into a "discussion" about climate change or lifecycle costs.

[Zamboni]

Personally, I would leave them in the house. If you do decide to take them, then you should replace them all before putting the house on the market . . . don't show the buyers one thing and then move out to leave them another. I think bulbs would be considered an integral part of the "permanent hardware," like drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures.

I now ask about similarly mundane things, like screens, after buying a house only to discover that all of the window screens were taken away. It has never occurred to me to ask about bulbs . . . but I've never bought a place with especially nice bulbs in place.

[lbmustache]

How many bulbs are we talking? I personally think you should leave them there, unless money is so tight that you can't afford new ones for your new house (?)... I don't really see the point in taking all of them, spending money on incandescent bulbs, and spending some time replacing every bulb in your house.

Over the last 12 years I have consistently worked to lower our electricity consumption. The effort has paid off - we recovered any investment we made within a few years and continue to enjoy the lower expense.

I am curious about this! What have you done to lower your electricity consumption?

[seattlecyclone]

Our new house came mostly with CFLs and LEDs, but I'll admit to swapping out the two incandescents I did find before we listed the old house.

[wawot1]

I'd leave them. 

Yes, does strike me as kind of a jerk move.   

A few other thoughts:
 1)  the cost of LEDs is coming down all the time - presumably you'll be spending a lot less to buy new ones today than similar ones you bought years ago. 
2) does your new house already have LEDs?  (assuming the jerk you bought it from didn't take them!)
3) would your old LEDs even fit in your new house?  My house has all sorts of specialty bulbs for recessed lighting and fixtures that required some serious searching on Amazon to get LEDs with the right sized bases....
4) A lot of utility companies will give you special deals on energy / water saving devices - new LEDs, water saving toilets, a credit towards a new fridge if you get rid of an old inefficient one, etc.  You may be able to get a good deal on some more LEDs

[ToTheMoon]

Personally, I would leave them in the house. If you do decide to take them, then you should replace them all before putting the house on the market . . . don't show the buyers one thing and then move out to leave them another. I think bulbs would be considered an integral part of the "permanent hardware," like drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures.

I now ask about similarly mundane things, like screens, after buying a house only to discover that all of the window screens were taken away. It has never occurred to me to ask about bulbs . . . but I've never bought a place with especially nice bulbs in place.

I agree with Zamboni - especially the bolded part.

[Slow2FIRE]

Leave them in place.  LEDs have come down in price considerably.

If you spent money on fancy "smart lights" that are wifi connected (Phillips Hue, etc), I'd take those with me.

[JLee]

Decent LEDs are ridiculously cheap now - I wouldn't bother.

[albireo13]

A lot of lamps you'll be taking with you.  Not worth the bother and kind of a low-class move.

  Anecdotal story:
  We bought a house 18 months ago where it was on the market with NEST thermostats throughout the house.
After the closing we discovered the sellers had taken the NEST thermostats and replaced them with cheap-a$$ thermostats from a big box store.
We were none to happy.  They were $250 each.

  After a minor battle, we finally got reimbursed.  It took a letter from our lawyer to get it done.

[Linea_Norway]

Personally, I would leave them in the house. If you do decide to take them, then you should replace them all before putting the house on the market . . . don't show the buyers one thing and then move out to leave them another. I think bulbs would be considered an integral part of the "permanent hardware," like drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures.

This!

Wouldn't it be better for the environment if the new owners also used LED bulbs instead of energy consuming ones? Therefore it is better to leave them there.
We recently started the process of replacing the halogen bulbs that came with the house into LEDs in the kitchen, where after an electricity flimmer 3 halogen lights were broken. We thought the LED bulbs were finally affordable. We replaced them in the 2 rooms where we have the lights on most.

[MayDay]

We have a supply of incandescent bulbs we are still using up. We put them in in the winter (heating the house anyway!) And use LED lights in the summer.

When we moved out of our rental I left some of the LED's I had put in, and took others. I didn't do out of my way to remove every LED we bought, but I swapped out the ones that were easy to grab and felt no guilt since we left some.

Now my Hue bulbs (merry Christmas Mayday!) I would definitely move!

[remizidae]

This is not something I think I (or the average person) would notice. Surely if the buyer wants new bulbs, that is not a noticeable cost compared to the cost of buying a new house. So, it depends how altruistic you are.

[Clean Shaven]

The first house I bought had some outside security light type lamps, with BR30 large bulbs.

After closing when I moved in, the seller had replaced those bulbs with regular indoor ones. Cheapskate!

[JLee]

This is not something I think I (or the average person) would notice. Surely if the buyer wants new bulbs, that is not a noticeable cost compared to the cost of buying a new house. So, it depends how altruistic you are.

If the seller wants to bait-and-switch, that's not a noticeable savings compared to the money involved in selling a house...

[GuitarStv]

We're planning to sell our house soon as we'll be moving to enable me to take a new job and for my wife to FIRE.

Over the last 12 years I have consistently worked to lower our electricity consumption. The effort has paid off - we recovered any investment we made within a few years and continue to enjoy the lower expense. One change of course was replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

So the question is this: would it be a jerk move to put the incandescent bulbs back in before moving and take our LEDs with us? With appliances and any significant items you have to be explicit about what's included in the sale, but I don't think bulbs fall into that category.

I'm leaning towards just leaving them. After all, we have recovered our costs and it would be a direct action to benefit the world in lieu of any donation. On the other hand, if everyone else takes their LEDs with them, we would probably have to replace a bunch of incandescents wherever we move to, plus anyone buying our place would bring theirs with them, but not need to use them, leaving us as the suckers out in the cold.

It may be the most minor AAM question ever, but I'm still curious to hear what you have to say. Negative bonus points awarded if this devolves into a "discussion" about climate change or lifecycle costs.

LED bulbs last forever and good ones are pricey.  In your position I'd look up the price of buying cheap CFLs to replace them, figure out how much money would actually be saved . . . and if that amount was less than 500$, I'd probably just leave stuff as it is.

I don't think that I'll ever buy an incandescent bulb again, they're ridiculous power hogs and I'd expect any owner to immediately toss them . . . so it would be a giant waste.

[JLee]

We're planning to sell our house soon as we'll be moving to enable me to take a new job and for my wife to FIRE.

Over the last 12 years I have consistently worked to lower our electricity consumption. The effort has paid off - we recovered any investment we made within a few years and continue to enjoy the lower expense. One change of course was replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs.

So the question is this: would it be a jerk move to put the incandescent bulbs back in before moving and take our LEDs with us? With appliances and any significant items you have to be explicit about what's included in the sale, but I don't think bulbs fall into that category.

I'm leaning towards just leaving them. After all, we have recovered our costs and it would be a direct action to benefit the world in lieu of any donation. On the other hand, if everyone else takes their LEDs with them, we would probably have to replace a bunch of incandescents wherever we move to, plus anyone buying our place would bring theirs with them, but not need to use them, leaving us as the suckers out in the cold.

It may be the most minor AAM question ever, but I'm still curious to hear what you have to say. Negative bonus points awarded if this devolves into a "discussion" about climate change or lifecycle costs.

LED bulbs last forever and good ones are pricey.  In your position I'd look up the price of buying cheap CFLs to replace them, figure out how much money would actually be saved . . . and if that amount was less than 500$, I'd probably just leave stuff as it is.

I don't think that I'll ever buy an incandescent bulb again, they're ridiculous power hogs and I'd expect any owner to immediately toss them . . . so it would be a giant waste.

They're really not, though! High CRI bulbs are in the ~$2/ea range now.

[GuitarStv]

Well they were.  I haven't had to purchase any in a long while.  :P

[civil4life]

Great Topic

I am planning to put my house up for sale in the next year or so and was thinking about this.

I have over 20 recessed lights that are dimmers.  I still have the old incandescent. 

I recently bought a Wink and I am looking to upgrade even further to compatible lights.  Right now the cheapest price I can find is about $14 per bulb.  One thing I was wondering do wifi bulbs use more a significant amount of more energy to be wifi enabled?

Also I have a Nest.  I plan to replace before putting on the market.  Our local gas and electric company provide a good programmable thermostat.

[lizzzi]

Personally, I would leave them in the house. If you do decide to take them, then you should replace them all before putting the house on the market . . . don't show the buyers one thing and then move out to leave them another. I think bulbs would be considered an integral part of the "permanent hardware," like drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures.

I now ask about similarly mundane things, like screens, after buying a house only to discover that all of the window screens were taken away. It has never occurred to me to ask about bulbs . . . but I've never bought a place with especially nice bulbs in place.

I agree with Zamboni - especially the bolded part.

This. Also leave some toilet paper in the bathroom.

I've found in buying and selling houses over the years that it's best to have the contract as detailed as possible about what stays and what goes, but sometimes things slip between the cracks. We bought a beautifully landscaped home with pretty perennial gardens around 20 years ago--and when we moved in, found that the previous owners had dug up some of the nicest plantings and carted them away with them. Annoying as all get out. Never thought to include in the contract that the perennials were included in the sale.

[Reynolds531]

I once bought a house that on closing only had three bulbs that weren't burnt out.

How long did you have to save burnt out bulbs to do that?! I installed CFLs and went on with life.

[YttriumNitrate]

At least in my section of the Midwest of the US, LED bulbs can be bought for about $1 each. When I moved 18 months ago, I replaced all the bulbs in the old house with LEDs (it was becoming a rental) and also put in LEDs at the new house. For the rental, if the LEDs help avoid a single day of vacancy, they have more than paid for themselves.

Swapping out the bulbs seems like a jerk move that may end up being penny-wise and pound foolish. While most buyers will probably just grumble about it and continue on with the sale, you might run into a stubborn SOB who will take your light bulb trick as a sign that there are other more serious (and more expensive) things you are trying to slip past the buyer.

[HipGnosis]

We have a supply of incandescent bulbs we are still using up. We put them in in the winter (heating the house anyway!) And use LED lights in the summer.

Thank you for this idea!! 
When I moved in, the vast majority of the bulbs in my house were 100W incandescent, generic brand bulbs (I suspect the previous owner got them from where they work).  They are now in 2 shoe boxes in a closet as I replaced them with CFLs (and then replaced those with LEDs).  I thought of putting them on eBay, but I'm pretty sure packing and shipping costs would the profit.

[JLee]

We have a supply of incandescent bulbs we are still using up. We put them in in the winter (heating the house anyway!) And use LED lights in the summer.

Thank you for this idea!! 
When I moved in, the vast majority of the bulbs in my house were 100W incandescent, generic brand bulbs (I suspect the previous owner got them from where they work).  They are now in 2 shoe boxes in a closet as I replaced them with CFLs (and then replaced those with LEDs).  I thought of putting them on eBay, but I'm pretty sure packing and shipping costs would the profit.

Electric heat is terribly inefficient and you're not going to see much heat from stuff that's ceiling-mounted anyway.

Holding onto incandescent bulbs is pointless today, IMO.

[Chaplin]

Thanks all. I think we're all mostly on the same page: leave the LEDs.

[Jaayse]

Personally, I would leave them in the house. If you do decide to take them, then you should replace them all before putting the house on the market . . . don't show the buyers one thing and then move out to leave them another. I think bulbs would be considered an integral part of the "permanent hardware," like drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures.

I now ask about similarly mundane things, like screens, after buying a house only to discover that all of the window screens were taken away. It has never occurred to me to ask about bulbs . . . but I've never bought a place with especially nice bulbs in place.

I never knew that was a thing, when I bought my condo there was a cosmetics mirror in the master bathroom that was attached to the wall that I just assumed was going to come with the house since it was actually attached.  I was very surprised and upset when I moved in to find a bunch of holes in the bathroom wall and no mirror, but I didn't know it was something I could do anything about.  I ended up having to install a hand towel holder with a modification (see journal for full story) because of how spread apart the holes were before moving out in order to rent the place out. 

I wish I had known this before so I could have brought it up with my realtor... he did see the holes and all and seemed surprised too, but he didn't tell me they shouldn't have done it.

[Prairie Stash]

We have a supply of incandescent bulbs we are still using up. We put them in in the winter (heating the house anyway!) And use LED lights in the summer.

Thank you for this idea!! 
When I moved in, the vast majority of the bulbs in my house were 100W incandescent, generic brand bulbs (I suspect the previous owner got them from where they work).  They are now in 2 shoe boxes in a closet as I replaced them with CFLs (and then replaced those with LEDs).  I thought of putting them on eBay, but I'm pretty sure packing and shipping costs would the profit.

Don't do this. It ends up costing more in heating costs. Natural gas can generally heat your home for 1/4 the cost of electricity, if electricity was worth $0.03 it would make sense to use incandescent bulbs to supplement your furnace, is your electricity that cheap?

Toss incandescent bulbs in the garbage. Unless you want to toss money in the garbage instead...

[Linea_Norway]

Personally, I would leave them in the house. If you do decide to take them, then you should replace them all before putting the house on the market . . . don't show the buyers one thing and then move out to leave them another. I think bulbs would be considered an integral part of the "permanent hardware," like drawer pulls and plumbing fixtures.

I now ask about similarly mundane things, like screens, after buying a house only to discover that all of the window screens were taken away. It has never occurred to me to ask about bulbs . . . but I've never bought a place with especially nice bulbs in place.

I never knew that was a thing, when I bought my condo there was a cosmetics mirror in the master bathroom that was attached to the wall that I just assumed was going to come with the house since it was actually attached.  I was very surprised and upset when I moved in to find a bunch of holes in the bathroom wall and no mirror, but I didn't know it was something I could do anything about.  I ended up having to install a hand towel holder with a modification (see journal for full story) because of how spread apart the holes were before moving out in order to rent the place out. 

I wish I had known this before so I could have brought it up with my realtor... he did see the holes and all and seemed surprised too, but he didn't tell me they shouldn't have done it.

When we  bought our cabin, the previous owner had removed all lamps and some of the panel ovens. He shouldn't have done that either, but we didn't know that by then.

Nowadays in Norway broker are better at giving yiu a list of what needs to stay in the house. That is indeed everything of lights, ovens, ktichen equipment as long as it is installed or built in. And a clothes cupboard in each bedroom. When we bought our house, the refrigerator was removed. But as it was a seperate one and not a built-in one, we had nothing formal to complain about. Although I thought it was a jerk move to remove the only fridge from a kitchen.