The final walkthrough is your last chance to make sure the house looks the way you expected before signing the papers. For one couple, that walkthrough uncovered a change they definitely weren’t expecting.
They were scheduled to close on their new home that afternoon when they noticed something different about the front door. A beautiful colonial brass rim lock they had loved was gone, replaced with a cheap aluminum door handle.
The sellers hadn’t mentioned removing it.
The original brass lock was gone
The buyers said the sellers had not only removed the brass lock but patched the holes left behind before installing the cheaper replacement.
When their real estate agent questioned the sellers, they claimed the original lock had stopped working, and they had thrown it away. The buyers weren’t convinced, especially since the house was being sold by six siblings whom they described as already being difficult to deal with.
Now, just hours before closing, they had to decide whether the missing lock was enough reason to hold everything up.
Reddit told them to take another look around
Many commenters felt the buyers shouldn’t simply ignore what happened. One of the biggest concerns was that if the sellers were willing to swap out the front-door hardware, there was no way to tell whether anything else in the house had been removed or replaced.
Some shared similar experiences of sellers taking light fixtures, switch plates, and even swapping expensive appliances for cheaper versions before closing. Several encouraged the buyers to carefully inspect the house again before signing anything.
Others suggested asking for the original lock back or getting enough of a credit to purchase and install a comparable replacement.
The sellers’ agent finally stepped in
The situation didn’t end up stopping the sale. According to an update from the buyer, the sellers continued to insist the lock had been broken, but their agent apparently had enough of the disagreement and provided $500 from her own commission to resolve the issue and keep closing on schedule.
The buyers ultimately went through with the purchase. They later explained that it wasn’t really just about the lock; it was the fact that something they expected to be part of the house had disappeared without any discussion.
Would you have delayed closing over it?
A door lock might sound like a small detail compared with the price of an entire house, but original features can be part of what makes an older home appealing in the first place.
And finding one replaced just hours before closing would certainly make you wonder what else might have changed.
Would you have accepted the $500 and closed, or refused to sign until the original lock was returned?
