Recently, one of our neighbors sold their home and they had a Nest thermostat. This became an issue during the sale process. The prospective buyers wanted the Nest to remain, but current owners wanted to take it with them.
This brought up the question of whether the Nest was considered like a major appliance and was part of the home. Or was it more like the furniture, which moves to the next residence with the original owners.
As we move to a world where more devices in the home become part of the Internet of Things, you can see where this issue could become quite thorny.