What’s a fixture? When in doubt, spell it out

What you see is what you get, right?

The buying and selling of property does not necessarily follow that course, unless both sides go out of their way to document expectations and assumptions and make them known to all parties involved in the deal.

I needed to give more thought to that fact when we purchased a home in a downtown neighborhood several years ago. The living room included a fireplace with an insert. I remember feeling some sense of relief that the house could be heated by wood and that I would not have to either consider whether I wanted an insert or do research on every fireplace insert available in the free world.

When moving day finally arrived and we began to set boxes in the living room, I noticed the insert was gone. How could this be? If this was not a “fixture” that was to stay in the house, what exactly was a fixture?

Through our real estate agent, we learned the seller was an attorney who said he never even considered leaving the insert behind. The topper was that the seller had no place to re-insert the insert. But he would gladly sell it to us or keep it in his garage. We bought our own insert. I was shocked, upset, and out about $1,500.

The insert was gone because our earnest-money agreement had not included a definitive list of items we expected to find when we took possession of the house.

Multiple Listing Associations typically review and generally add to their list of “fixtures” included in a residential sale. Here is some standard language:

Any of the following personal property located in or on the property is included in this sale: built-in appliances, wall-to-wall carpeting; curtains, drapes and all other window treatments; window and door screens, awnings; storm doors and windows; installed television antennas; ventilating, air conditioning and heating equipment; woodstoves; fireplace inserts; doors; gas logs and gas log lighters; irrigation fixtures and equipment, electric garage door openers; water heaters, installed electrical fixtures; lights and light bulbs; shrubs, plants and trees; hot tubs; and all bathroom and other fixtures.

If you want it, make sure the seller knows it. When in doubt, spell it out.