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If It Is Attached To The House It Stays With The House!!!

By
Real Estate Agent with Coldwell Banker Residential

If an item is attached to the house (and not specifically excluded in the listing agreement and then again in the contract) that item stays with the house when the house is sold.   Period.  Repeat after me.  "It stays with the house..."  In the Texas form contract, on the very first page, there is a long paragraph of typical things that become part of the house once they have been installed.  Valances, screens, awnings, wall-to-wall carpet, ceiling fans, garage door openers.  The legal term for these items is a "Fixture".  It has been afixed to the real estate.  It isn't going anywhere...it has aquired the same status of permanence as the foundation, wiring and roof have.If It Is Attached To The Houe It Stays With The House

When I get a listing signed, I always have a discussion with the seller about the stuff that has been attached to the house.  Always.  Sometimes the seller doesn't hear me because in their mind the thing isn't "attached".  The item that consumed my attention recently was a water filtration system installed on the kitchen sink.  The buyer wants it.  It is attached.  It isn't excluded.  It stays. 

If you have been in the business for any time at all, you probably have War Stories about Fixtures just the same as I do.  I'd love to hear yours.  Here are a few of mine.

Post closing, I got a phone call from my buyer.  He had arrived at the house to discover that all the shrubs had been dug up.  The prior owner had been a landscaper.  To further complicate things, the landscaper had lost the home in Foreclosure and my buyer had bought the house from the bank.  Technically, we don't know where the plants went.  All we know for sure is that the plants were gone.  My client called in a police report and claimed the lost on his taxes but that was all he could do.

Another situation involved a framed mirror in the half bath in a million dollar townhome.  The buyer wanted it.  The seller hadn't planned to leave it.  It wasn't excluded.  Buyer threatened to walk the deal.  We are talking about a mirror that could be bought every day in the average big-box home store for under $200.  The seller graciously conceded and we closed the sale.  6 months later, I went to see the buyer at her new home.  She was getting ready for a tag sale.  Standing there with her in her garage, I looked over in a corner and guess what I saw.  You got it.  The famous mirror.

Bottom line big of wisdom here for sellers?  If you want to take it with you when you move, get it out of the house before you put it on the market.  Please. I'm asking nicely!

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Li Read
Sea to Sky Premier Properties (Salt Spring) - Salt Spring Island, BC
Caring expertise...knowledge for you!

Terrific reminder to all of us to pay attention to this one...that selective hearing on either side can be an issue.   Your last sentence sums it up!

Mar 30, 2013 01:57 AM
Kathy Akers, ABR CRB CRS GRI
Fathom Realty NC LLC - Rocky Mount, NC
Your Trusted Real Estate Advisor

I concur on telling the seller to remove it before it goes on the market.  If the buyer sees it, they will want it.  

My worst story was the seller took all the curtain rods, boxed valances, wall mount for flat screen TV and left holes throughout the house.  Behind the TV he had cut a hole in the sheet rock to store the cable box.  He left the gaping hole as well.  Not to mention that he had not fixed any of the items on the repair request that he had agreed to.  Thankfully we caught it at walk through and was able to negotiate a dollar amount prior to closing.

Mar 30, 2013 02:18 AM
John Pusa
Glendale, CA

Judith - You are right. Generally, anything attached to the house stay with the house during the sale.

Mar 30, 2013 05:43 AM