Buying a House with Appliances? Beware

An issue in house closings that has come up with increasing frequency is the issue of the purchase of appliances that are included in the purchase price.

Usually, a resale property will typically include existing appliances and most buyers never give much thought to the issue. Sometimes, following the closing, the buyer arrives at their newly purchased property to find that the appliances they believed would be included in the purchase price have been substituted with different appliances, usually older models. What do they do now? Usually, the first call they make is to their lawyer. The agreement will typically state that the existing appliances are included in the purchase price. The difficulty is that frequently, there is no documentary evidence as to what exact appliances were included in the price of the home. I recommend to my clients to take photographs of the appliances and obtain the serial numbers for each appliance and list those appliances in the agreement of purchase and sale. Without this evidence, any litigation which may ensue after closing boils down to which story the judge believes at a trial of the matter, the buyer's or the seller's.

As a result, I recommend that buyers ensure that when they have the agreement of purchase and sale prepared, to make sure that they take digital photographs of the appliances that were present when the offer was signed and to make sure that the photos are time stamped (details of the date and time of the photo) and readily available in order to prove without a shadow of a doubt as to what appliances were present when the offer was signed.

This small step can save you thousands of dollars and aggravation if the appliances you thought you were buying mysteriously disappear on the closing. As part of my service, I ensure that a separate schedule including the list of appliances and the serial numbers would form part of the agreement of purchase and sale.

Tune in to my blog next week when we discuss the trials and tribulations of  buying and selling a home on the same closing day.

Steven Klein