So you get to the final walk-through and the house isn’t in broom clean condition. This is actually more common than you would think. Sometimes sellers purposely leave belongings behind, sometimes it’s just a mistake. With my personal residence, we did the final walk-through and everything appeared to be removed. Two weeks later we were investigating the dark corners of the attic and found a sad dresser that had been collecting dust for many, many years. We bought the house from a relocation company and they didn’t want anything to do with it. The dresser remains in the dark corner today.
Here’s an interesting article from the New York Times real estate section that discusses what renters and sellers leave behind. Sometimes you can apparently luck out with a flat screen tv and a bottle of wine! Good luck!