"Does This Convey?"

Oh, boy. The question hasn't actually been asked yet in this case, but I immediately pictured a wild scene at the final walk-through. Railings and bannisters clearly are "fixtures" in a house, meaning they must stay put for the buyer. But what if the basement stair railing was fashioned from, ehm, a gun?

That's what my buyers -- both Europeans who couldn't believe what they saw -- and I came across in Potomac, a well-to-do DC suburb, yesterday. There was a lot more interesting about this rather unusual house that needed work but sat on a 4 acre lot with a smashing view that included hills, woods and a large pond. But just this one feature might raise all kinds of legal questions.

"Of course, I had to extend the barrel a bit," explained the proud homeowner, an elderly widower who confessed to a love of shotguns. Two brackets hold the weapon in place. None of us felt a great desire to try, but it looked pretty solid.

There was a clever balcony high up off the family room that streched between three major areas of the house. You had a nice view of the valley with the pond from there.

I really wouldn't want to be a deer stepping out of the woods on this property.