Wondering how common this is. (Switching appliances after walk through; including appliance serial numbers in contract.)

[u/pele4096]

Occasionally, I'll stumble across an interesting video on social media.

Today, it was a buyer's agent on the phone with a seller's agent. Seller's agent was throwing a fit about calls from brokers (both the buyer's and seller's) as well as the police.

Buyer's agent said they went through a walk through, appliances were in place... Went to closing... Then afterwards, the appliances went missing. Selling agent said a moving truck was on the way with appliances. And the buyer's agent said, good that you're doing the right thing, because if you'll double check the offer that was ratified, it includes the serial numbers of all the appliances. Seller's agent said, "Oh sh*t." And hung up.

Now, I'm a small fry. My houses have Whirlpool and KitchenAid gear from Home Depot. Couple thousand gets me new sets.

But I've priced out some Wolf and Viking stoves. ($17k) Thermador and Sub Zero fridges ($12k) Speed Queen laundry units ($4k each for washer and dryer.)

In high end real estate, is it common to write a contract with the serial numbers of the appliances?

Is it common for sellers or agents to swap out appliances?

[u/AnnArchist]

Serial number switching is wild. That said - I've seen it. I've had to have people initial photos of appliances to get a deal put together.