Well, I thought I had seen everything... but not really... check this out: an agent in my firm had a buyer whose offer had been accepted on a bank owned property. The inspection was scheduled for the next week. Because of the lender requirements, the buyer had purchased and installed two lighting fixtures over open wire junction boxes... Nice fixtures that they expected to keep using once the purchase had closed.

There were issues with leaking pipes as well, so the listing agent called in his plumber to repair the pipes. When the buyers and our agent showed up for the inspection, the light fixtures had been removed. The inspector would have to return again once this issue was taken care of. This of course would cost the buyers additional money.

The buyer agent called the listing agent to let them know what had happened. He said that the only person who had been in the house other than our agent and buyer to install the fixtures was his plumber. He called the plumber, who at first denied anything about it.

Then, the plumber finally acknowledged that when he repaired the pipes, his wife was with him, and she liked the fixtures, and thinking it was not an issue at all, he removed them for installation at his own house. @*$%!?#

What?

I say, WHAT?

You thought it would not be an issue that you stole the seller (he thought) property? You thought it would be okay? What on this precious earth where you thinking?

My agent managed to get the fixtures returned, but I have never heard a contractor say that he actually thought it was not a problem to remove fixtures from a house for sale. Never in my born days... I had seen the results of such actions, what with copper removed, furnaces removed, etc., but I had never actually had a contractor SAY that he thought it was okay to do this...

My imagination goes nuts for a few hours, but in the end, for our buyers, it worked out okay... but I think this plumber should be jailed...

What do you think, we would like to know.