Checking The Pulse Of The Kansas City Real Estate Market

I was at a final walk-through with a Lenexa home buyer and I see him staring intently into the 1/2 bathroom. My buyer asked if I knew whether the mirror over the vanity was staying. I said, if it’s screwed or glued to the wall then it’s staying. Otherwise it’s not a fixture and he should expect the home seller to take it with them when them moved out. Well, the mirror was just hanging on a nail and in all likelihood the mirror would be gone when my buyer took possession of the home. Fortunately this seller either didn’t want the mirror or didn’t realize it wasn’t a fixture because the mirror was still there after closing.

Many Kansas City real estate agents use the phrase “anything nailed, screwed or glued to the home stays with the home”. Really though, it’s more complicated than that. The Residential Real Estate Sale Contract (used in probably 99% of residential home sales in the Kansas City area) states that fixtures include items “buried, nailed, bolted, screwed or glued” to the property. But that paragraph in the contract becomes a little vague with the verbiage “or otherwise permanently attached to the property”. In most cases though it’s pretty clear what items are a fixture, equipment or appliance — and thus expected to stay with a home.

To make things as clear as mud, there’s a whole section of the base contract devoted to spelling what is a fixture in a home. Some of the interesting items include “Central vacuum and attachments”. Of course the central vacuum is a fixture but somewhere along the way, some squirrely seller must have taken the attachments with them when they move out. Fireplace glass doors that are attached to the firebox would stay. But fireplace doors just sitting on the hearth would not. Garage door openers obviously stay but since the remotes are NOT attached to the home, the contract is clear that those too are fixtures too. Humidifiers stay, right? Well, the one’s that are attached to the furnace do. But humidifiers sitting on the floor next to the furnace don’t.

The base contract says all built-in kitchen appliances stay yet that doesn’t include the refrigerator. The logic is that the refrigerator isn’t attached thus making it personal property. I’ve never seen this disputed but I wonder when the time will come that some seller will take the range/oven with them at closing. Like refrigerators, most ranges are not attached to the cabinetry or floor in any way — they simply slide in and sit on the floor.  One day a buyer is going to show up after closing to find the seller has taken the range with them. Could make for another good Judge Judy episode.

What about that shelving in the unfinished basement or garage? If it’s screwed into place then it stays. If it’s just sitting there on the floor, it doesn’t. One items that is seemingly a fixture but which does NOT stay with the home is a satellite dish. I assume that’s because many satellite dishes involved service contracts that bind the seller to continue paying for their service for the duration of the agreement — irregardless of where the seller lives.

Another of my favorites is outdoor play-sets. Those clearly are NOT fixtures but some sellers just leave them behind. It’s not right and if a buyer didn’t express interest in the play-set, the seller is probably going to have to come back and remove the play set from the property.  In an attempt to avoid this becoming a problem just before or after closing, I recommend writing into the additional EXCLUSIONS section of the contract that “play-set does NOT stay”. And about those ever confusing window treatments… blinds are fixtures but curtains are not. The rods the curtains hang on however are fixtures because they’re secured to the home.

Posted by Jason A. Brown