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.
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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