How many garage door opener remote controls sell with a house?

I figured I would point out something all Sacramento home sellers ought to be keenly aware of when filling out disclosure documents when selling a house...

The short answer to the question posed in the title of this blog post is: "as many as the sellers disclose they have."

An automatic garage door opener is a "fixture" in a real estate transaction. A fixture is basically an item that is attached to the house, and by its attachment becomes part of the house. Other examples of fixtures are things like the kitchen sink faucet, door knobs, built-in shelving, etc. Those items are generally included in the sale of a house. Sometimes those items can be specifically excluded from a sale, but that's another blog post for another time.

In the case of an automatic garage door opener, in addition to the device being a fixture itself, usually garage door openers have remote controls. And remote controls are also items that are conveyed with the property in the sale.

In the Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), there is a section where the seller checks off items that are part of the house. Under the "Automatic Garage Door Opener(s)" checkbox, there is also a line for "Number of Remote Controls" and a line to fill in with the number. Usually a seller will fill in that there are 2 remotes. Makes sense...garage door openers usually come with 2 remotes.

For some reason, home sellers seem to lose track of garage door remotes. Perhaps wife lost one of them a long time ago and husband is the person filling out the disclosure forms...or perhaps the remotes got packed away during the move. Whatever the case, if a seller notes there are 2 remotes on the TDS, then they must provide the new owner of the home with 2 remotes. Not 1. And definitely not 0.

I cannot tell you how many times in my real estate transactions, whichever side (buyer's agent or seller's agent) I have been on, the seller has noted more remotes on the TDS than they have in their possession. Numerous times, sellers have had to purchase new universal (programmable) garage door remotes to remedy this situation so that buyers are provided the number of remotes noted in the TDS. SO -- sellers, make sure that you note the actual number of remotes that you will be able to transfer to the buyer, even if that number is 0.

Or perhaps its a safe investment strategy to buy stock in the universal garage door opener remote control manufacturing companies.