You may or may not have to pay a commission on the sale of the piano. However, 6% would probably be no more than the sales tax you would pay if you bought it in a retail situation (and you won't have to pay for delivery, so you've probably saved more than the commission already!)

A good real estate agent will pass along your request to the seller's agent. That's all they can do.

When I wanted to buy some things from the owner of the house I'm in now, I just asked him -- no need to get the realtor involved. Some of the stuff wasn't for sale, but other stuff was, I just wrote him a check. That's all there is to it, don't make it harder than it is by involving the realtor.

Many sellers prefer to not deal directly with the buyer.

Thank you for your replies. The seller is out of the country and I am just dealing with the agent. I’d like to know if she’s legally entitled to get more money.

No. Brokers get the commission for the sale of the house. Personal property transactions go between you and seller. My last house I sold completely furnished. My lawyer told their lawyer for either him or his clients to bring a bank check for the total cost of furnishings to the closing. Do not have either broker involved.

When we sold our large home in NY the young couple asked if they could buy our furniture. I was stunned as we had a large contemporary home with three floors of furniture.

I told them I'd think it over and get back to them. The buyer gave us their phone number. When I spoke to them a few days later, I agreed to meet them at the house to see what they wanted.

Knowing we were downsizing I thought it might be a good idea to sell some of the large pieces. We did not involve the Realtor at all as we met privately at the house. We had not closed yet.

They wanted our dining room furniture, bedroom furniture, TV's, family room furniture. They wanted our dishes (no deal).

We let them have our kids bedroom furniture and beds, most of the family room furniture, guest room furniture. We never discussed it with the Realtor at all.

I would recommend telling your Realtor that you'd like to speak to them directly to discuss selling anything. I would keep her out of it entirely. I'm sure the buyers can call you on the phone and I would insist on that. The Realtor has no place in this transaction.

Jane

No comment on realtor involvement, but if the owner is out of the country, I’m sure you would be doing them a favor by taking the piano off their hands (barring any potential of it being a family heirloom or owner is a serious musician). Piano moving can get pretty costly, esp if it’s a grand or baby grand— and the value/ demand for pianos & musical instruments in general has seemingly nosedived in recent years. Good luck!

Only use the agent to pass along messages to the owners. Not to get involved with the transaction!

Put our house on the market. Got an offer. Counter-offered. Buyer came back with "We'll give you that price if you throw in the piano and the window treatments. SOLD! Good news: we didn't have room for the piano in the new house anyway. It's not weird in NJ to ask them to throw in anything that catches your eye as part of the deal.

I'm a realtor and sold my house 1.5 years ago. I had a baby grand Yamaha in perfect condition. (Steinway market is a little different.) It was not easy to sell! I originally paid about 10K for it and had to sell on consignment for about 4500. I agree with @violetsnapdragon, ask for it as an inclusion in negotiating for the property.

It sounds like the OP is beyond the time to have negotiated the piano into the sale. I agree that the agent should have no monetary involvement on any furniture buying/selling.