You may think that this is obvious and that the topic doesn't deserve the time it's taking to write this post. I certainly would have agreed with you before last Thursday.
I scheduled a final walk-through for my client on Wednesday as we were scheduled to close escrow on Thursday morning. I had commented to a colleague that this had been a smooth escrow and darn it, I didn't knock on wood.
Wednesday's walk through had a few minor events, which I won't bore you with. My buyer asked for a price reduction to cover items that were not taken care of as agreed. We also asked for another walk-through the next day to see if the heater worked after having the oil tank filled the next morning.
The next evening, we went back for the final, final walk-through as we had to close sometime on Friday or be in jeopardy of losing the transaction altogether due to other issues.
The heater indeed worked, the seller's said no to the price reduction to cover the other items, my buyer was considering his options, including letting the home go, when he noticed a pile of tree limbs in the yard and pointed it out to me. We went outside to investigate and the very large Redwood tree that was standing in the yard the day before was gone.
How does a tree over three feet across disappear over night? Where did it go? How did it get there? Who took it? These are all questions my buyer and I felt needed to be answered before moving forward.
I immediately put in a call to my office manager and asked him, "What do you do when this happens to your buyer"? How strange? He has never had that happen. In fact, no one in our office has ever had that happen. In fact, has anyone in AR land ever had that happen?
Trees are considered real property and have to stay with the home.
Agents - Tell your clients that they can not take their trees with them when they move. Don't take it for granted they know that.
Sellers - Trees stay with the property. You can not remove them unless it's agreed to in the purchase agreement.
Buyers - If the tree was there when you wrote the contract, it should be there when you close escrow.
Some of the buyers questions were answered and yes, escrow closed. I learned A LOT from this transaction.
Thank you for stopping by. Your comments on this post are welcomed and appreciated.
;)
;)
Fran,
Did the selling agent know or find out when you called him/her? I assume that never closed. wow what a story!