Bathroom mirrors - fixture or personal property?

[k3am]

We recently bought a new house. We got the keys yesterday, but there was no official walkthrough. I don't recall how it happened with our first house, but with this one, the sellers called us, asked us to come over, showed us how a few things worked and gave us the keys. 

They have been very diligent throughout the whole process - our offer was to include all appliances in the home, and they had a huge wine fridge in the laundry room. We didn't expect that it would stay, and they made sure to confirm that they could take it. (They wanted to, but if we'd thrown a stink, they'd have left it). 

I stopped by yesterday after they'd finished moving out, and they took the bathroom mirrors. It's somewhat amusing because I had specifically asked our realtor if we could take our mirror, and his answer was no - unless we replaced it with something comparable or had it specifically written into our contract. So the fact that there are no mirrors was surprising. 

Our agent is going to contact the seller's agent about it, but what I've seen on the internet has been a mixed bag. Apparently if it's hung like a picture, they can take it, but if it's hung like a fixture, they need to leave it. These were hung with screws - is that like a picture or fixture? Would you escalate this?

At the end of the day, it's not a huge issue, but we paid a ton of money for this house and it's just one more thing we need to buy... 

As a side note, our mirror is mounted with toggle bolts, so I assume that's definitely a fixture, not a picture. (As much as I love the mirror, even if I could take it, at this point, I wouldn't want to do the same thing to our buyers.)

[k3am]

Hah. This is not where I meant to post this at all.

[HeartofCheese]

As a legal matter, I know the difference b/t fixtures and personal property is pretty grey, so you're most likely to resolve by agreeing one way or another than having the law squarely on your side. Have you priced out how much it would cost to replace them? If significant, I'd give the sellers the option to replace (especially if you loved them) or to compensate you somehow. You've already closed, right? If you can't get the sellers to come around to some kind of compromise, you'll be stuck without mirrors, b/c - in my opinion - it would not be worth your while to sue.

[k3am]

HeartofCheese, it would definitely not be a suing matter. (I was pretty impressed I had the energy to make a "homemade" dinner of bacon and eggs last night. I don't have the energy to research an attorney, let alone try to sue.) But I wasn't even sure if it was worth having the realtor approach theirs about it.

We're probably looking at $500-600 to replace them.

[sdlaura]

I think it’s pretty weird that they took them. That said, my bathroom mirrors cost $60 each and I love them, so unless those mirrors were particularly high end and amazing, it’s probably not worth negotiating over, and now you can get the exact style you want.

[HeartofCheese]

I would totally mention it to my realtor and ask that they be replaced or some kind of cash to offset the cost of replacing them. $500+ is significant in my mind.

[covergirl82]

IMO, although I'm no realtor or attorney, if something is bolted to a wall or ceiling of a home, it's a fixture. When my parents moved out of the house I grew up, I asked my mom if we could bring my light fixture. I know she and my dad made it a point to change it before they put the house up for sale. At the first house DH and I had, we had a chandelier my parents bought us for a house-warming gift that I wanted to put in the new house. I thought I asked our real estate agent about it, and she said we should switch it before we list it.

I feel like bathroom mirrors are pretty standard things that stay in a home when it's sold. I think it's worth pursuing asking the sellers to pay you money to replace them. I agree that $500+ is a significant cost.

[2chatter]

It doesn’t hurt to ask your realtor. Worst case you get no compensation.

Check out FB marketplace in your area - decorative stuff is all over ours and a few local realtors use it to post and sell things people have left in houses that their clients who have closed don’t want/don’t want to deal with.

[traveltheworld]

If they were attached with screws, then it should be considered a fixture.

I'd probably just mention it to my realtor. No harm in that. But I wouldn't pursue it further than that.

Ikea has surprisingly good and cheap bathroom mirrors.

[186momx]

When I was a naïve 24 year old moving into my first house I should have pushed more for being compensated. I didn't get a walk through before I got the keys and after they had moved out. I moved into holes in the doors, the fixed dry rot in the bathroom with just the linoleum laid over the hole. It didn't add up to a ton to fix but it was a big headache and luckily my dad was able to do all the fixes himself. They also took all the window coverings but did leave the blinds built in so 75% of the windows were bare. It took me almost a 2 weeks of painting/fixing before I moved into just 1 room of the house. Now as a much smarter 35 year old I would speak up and push for compensation/replacement especially if I paid as much as you did over the asking price.

[k3am]

We're getting a check for $500

[mustardseed2007]

VICTORY!

[k3am]

Apr 19, 2018 13:03:25 GMT -5 mustardseed2007 said:

VICTORY!

Now to fight with the mortgage company who has decided that I can't pay with ACH, can't log into their website from work, and can't pay without including a payment stub, so setting up recurring checks are not an option... 

[sandandsea]

I would probably just buy one and replace it. Not worth the hassle to deal with it. But super annoying as I think it’s a fixture.

[sandandsea]

Apr 19, 2018 13:35:51 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

I would probably just buy one and replace it. Not worth the hassle to deal with it. But super annoying as I think it’s a fixture.

Saw the update. Yea!!!!

[akafred]

Apr 19, 2018 13:00:39 GMT -5 k3am said:

We're getting a check for $500

Yay! I was going to say my coworker's sellers took all the light fixtures. Their realtor was supposed to write it into the contract, and didn't, so the selling agent ended up cutting them a check for $2500 just to get the deal done.

[2chatter]

Yay for shopping for free!

Our former mortgage servicer was like that. I went so far as to ask them how many lates it would take for my loan to be sold to a new servicer and what the credit impact/length of impact would be. It made me SO MAD. Physical check or money order only with paper stub. A paper, so no rhyme or reason to it.

[k3am]

Apr 19, 2018 14:52:25 GMT -5 2chatter said:

Yay for shopping for free!

Our former mortgage servicer was like that. I went so far as to ask them how many lates it would take for my loan to be sold to a new servicer and what the credit impact/length of impact would be. It made me SO MAD. Physical check or money order only with paper stub. A paper, so no rhyme or reason to it.

I already emailed (a friend) the broker to ask the likelihood of them selling it, and he said pretty slim since they like to keep them. So lame. 

I really liked Wells Fargo and was hoping we'd eventually end up back at a big bank with their consistently easy to use online web features. (I work for a small bank, and our website/online banking is definitely not a selling feature)

[sweetptater]

Our sellers took the half bath mirror and left the two in the master bedroom. It was really annoying, since the last thing I had time to do during moving and the first month or so was shop for a mirror that would fit the space. But they were hung like pictures, meaning just a screw in the wall, vs being actually sunk into the wall like a medicine cabinet. I had still assumed they were fixtures though.

I love your update! Yay for free money!