Does a Garage Refrigerator Go with the Seller or Stay for the Buyer?

Are you one of the many people that has a refrigerator in your garage? Do you plan on having one in your next home? Here’s what you need to know for a smooth closing on your next real estate transaction.Garage refrigerators used to be a constant source of problems for real estate agents in Southwest Florida. The refrigerator in the garage should go with the seller since it isn’t the one in the kitchen. Or, should it stay? Who knows! What do the real estate contracts say? Southwest Florida has two main contracts that are used for the purchase of real estate—the Naples Area Board of Realtors Sales Contract or the FAR/BR (statewide) Residential Contract. Both of these contracts have changed to handle the garage refrigerator in a very concise way.The Naples Area contract reads: …and together with the following personal property existing on the Real Property on the Effective Date: refrigerator(s); Notice the “(s)” on the end? That was added to cover all refrigerators on the premises. Even wine coolers fall under that heading.The State of Florida FAR/BR contract has the same: Unless excluded in Paragraph 1(e) or by other terms of this Contract, the following items which are owned by Seller and existing on the property as of the date of the initial offer are included in the purchase: range(s)/oven(s), refrigerator(s)… Again, we have the “(s)” on refrigerator to show that they convey. Are there still problems with refrigerators? Sure. A lot of sellers fail to read their contracts and not all agents seem to know what the contract says! That leads to the disappearing garage refrigerator problem when the sellers vacate their property. What can be done? The easiest solution is for the seller to bring the refrigerator back but sometimes it is too late—the seller may have put it on the curb for trash collection.In this case, a credit at closing would need to be issued. The selling agent and buyer’s agent would need to work toward a dollar amount for the used refrigerator in the garage and credit that back to the buyer at the closing table. Have you experienced problems with the garage refrigerator? Let us know in the comments. I’d love to hear your story!

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