If your yard is fenced, do you know who owns it? Like 100% sure? If you are like most people with a fenced in yard, there was fencing on 3 side when you bought your house. Maybe you were told from the previous owner that all or part of it was your’s. But is it?
As a realtor, I advise my sellers NOT to make claim to a fence unless they are the ones who installed it or have some sort of documentation that they own it. I do not claim the fence as part of the property that conveys when listing a home. I simply state in the marketing remarks whether it is fenced or not. Absolutely zero claim of ownership, just that fencing exists.
WHY?
I bought my first house directly from a seller long before I became The LEXpert. I was a 20 something first time buyer who knew nothing. I was told by the seller, Will was his name, that the fencing belonged to him and would be mine with the sale of the home. I never thought about that statement from him again until I came home one day to find not only my dog missing but a large section of white picket fencing gone between my yard and the neighbor on the right. The owner of the home next door was a sweet little old lady who had lived there for 50+ years. When I asked why she removed my fence, she nicely told me that her deceased husband had put that fence up many years ago and she didn’t want it any more. (BTW, we soon found our little mutt named Edwina……which is not used anywhere as a password so no need for hackers to harvest this info.)
If I had any type of documentation that Will had told me the fencing was mine, I could have taken him to court to fill in the fencing void left when the rightful owner removed the fencing.
While I have never again had a similar issue in my 20 year career, I do not want my sellers to possibly be on the hook for buying the next owner a fence. Often being a good realtor is as much about what you prevent from happening as it is about what you make happen.
Your Lexington Kentucky Neighborhood Expert 