Clearly, I have a one-track mind this week. Sorry if you’re bored with my house buying/selling posts. At the very least, I should move on to bitching about house redecorating/renovating soon, if that makes you feel any better.
Sadly, I don’t have any news to report regarding the prospective buyer who came through here for a second look last night. Apparently, she still hasn’t made her decision between our place and the other one she had placed in her “top two.” Our realtor says that most buyers aren’t moving very quickly in this market, so I guess we just have to be patient. Kind of difficult to do when you’re running out of time!
Earlier tonight, I spoke to the woman who is interested in renting, and now she is throwing a curve ball into the situation–she is contemplating buying, too! This could obviously be a good thing, it could end up being nothing, or it could be a bad thing. The way we see it, this could turn out one of three ways: 1) She could end up buying our condo, which would be amazing (obviously). 2) She could end up ditching the idea of buying and rent, like she originally planned. Or 3) She could decide she wants to buy, but not buy from us, which would suck (obviously). Needless to say, until she wraps her head around what she’s going to do, we’re in a holding pattern there, too.
Add on top of all of this a wild card… another prospective buyer came through here a week ago with our old realtor, but said it would be a few weeks before she made a decision. We don’t expect to hear from her again, but I guess you never know.
ALL OF THIS SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME.
Now, on the buying side… we learned today just how much we truly hate our sellers.
I got a call today from our realtor, saying that she had heard from the sellers’ realtor with some bad news. “He says the sellers can’t be out of the house until probably 5:00 p.m. Friday,” she tells me.
What the WHAT?
We’re closing at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday), mind you. They close on their new place immediately afterward, at 2:00 p.m.
I called our attorney immediately, and upon hearing this, she got angry on our behalf and said that there is no reason why they can’t be out of the house tomorrow. She said that if they had planned properly, they would have their stuff all packed up before going to closing, at which point they receive the keys to their new place and can take the stuff over right away. She said she was going to call the sellers’ attorney to find out what the deal is.
What do we end up finding out? The stupid sellers scheduled the moving truck for Friday morning. You know, a good 18 hours after the house is OURS. Apparently they didn’t realize that when you close on the sale, THE HOUSE IS NO LONGER YOURS. What kills us is that we were originally supposed to close today (Wednesday). And they didn’t schedule movers until Friday? Who the hell are these people?
After a lot of back and forth, (“We can’t be out until Friday evening.” “You WILL be out by noon.”) yada yada yada, it has been determined that we will be entering into a post-possession agreement with the sellers during which they will be paying us “rent” for every day that they continue to occupy the damn house. So, at the very least, they will owe us for Thursday-Friday. If they’re not out by noon on Friday (our specified deadline), they will owe us for ANOTHER day. In addition, they need to put a lovely chunk of cash into an escrow account at our attorney’s office until we are able to get in there for our final walk-through.
Hopefully this encourages them to haul ass.
Apparently this is not an unusual situation, but our attorney said that it kills her every.single.time. People just assume that they can stay in the house after closing. I cannot comprehend this way of thinking AT ALL.
Our sellers have been less than stellar to work with throughout this entire process, so we’re certainly not in any hurry to do them any favors. And I’m sure we’re not going to be on the top of their “nice list,” either, so I’m sure we can expect the house to be left in less-than-ideal condition. Oh well, it’s not like we weren’t going to get in there and scrub it from top to bottom anyway.
We better have keys to our house on Friday. I’m just sayin’.
12 Responses to House Drama
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
When my husband and I closed on our house it was a friday. We found out at the closing we couldnt get in until Sunday because she did the same thing with booking the movers over the weekend!!! Then to top it off we had a big huge portable storage unit in our driveway for 6 days!!! Being the first home buyers we were we just went along with it. That wont happen again. Best of luck with your move and just know I guess its all over the US with sellers doing that. We live in Kansas.
*Rachel*
PS-I like hearing about your move, would LOVE to see pics of your new house ASAP!!
That sucks. In some states, you used to be able to live in your house 30 days AFTER the closing. It apparently used to be really popular. How crazy is that?!? At least they’re going to be paying you for the time they’re there.
Ugh, what a pain in the ass! So sorry your sellers are so annoying. Very happy that you’ll be getting rent (as you should be!), but I know you just want YOUR house! Hopefully once you’re in there this weekend it will be better!
I have no idea who these people are. I mean, WHO thinks they can be in a house they don’t own? It kills me.
Our vendors left as I got to the house with the key I had picked up from the realtor. In England I am pretty sure you have to get the key on the day that funds arrive at the vendors’ lawyers.
I am SURE they will be out by Friday. It’s just damn lucky for them that you have somewhere to live – we had to vacate our apartment on the day of completion, so if our vendors hadn’t been ready to move out we would have forced them out!
I too love to hear about your move/sale – can’t wait to see pics of your new home xxx
That really sucks. We closed on our new house a few weeks ago and the seller refused to give us the keys until “he had his money” aka the bank funding the mortgage. Apparantly that sometimes takes from a few hours to a few days. Luckily it only took a few hours since we had everything ready to go and movers showing up 3 hours after closing. What a nightmare!
The exact same thing happened to my sister except that they never told them they were still there!! My sister had all her stuff packed in a moving van at closing ready to go to the new house – and the ‘old’ owners were stuff was still in the house. Needless to say the house was a wreck when she moved in and they left tons of shit behind. Totally bad situation. GL with your closing! This is why I am relieved when I bought my house from people that had already moved out!
Grrr frustrating! Same thing happened to us when we bought our house. We closed on a Friday, and our sellers closed on their new house immediately afterward. However, we couldn’t move our stuff in until Sunday. Exactly the same kind of deal y’all are going through. Fortunately, same as you, we had a place to live because we still had our apartment for another couple of weeks. And thankfully they left the house in top-notch condition so it really was fine. Still a ridiculous concept though, but yeah, I guess it is pretty common!
I don’t know if your lawyer addressed this with you, but what are the legal ramifications if there is a fire in the house (legally yours and covered by your insurance policy) with the previous owner’s stuff still in it? That’s a big liability.
I can’t believe these people are pulling this kind of crap on you. It really stinks and I hope it’s over very soon! Wishing you the best in your new home and with the condo!
Just out of curiosity, because my husband and I will be selling our condo in the next few years, is there a reason why you are using an attorney to handle the purchase of your home? Is it better to have an attorney involved instead of a realtor?
I can’t get over the fact that this has happened to so many people. The idea of it completely baffles me, so to know that it is so common is ridiculous. But it’s nice to know we’re not alone in having “crazy” sellers!
@Vanessa–RIGHT?! That’s what kills me the most. The ASSUMPTION that they could just stay there until they’re ready to leave. Like you say, how do they know that we don’t have to be out of our current place today? UGH.
@Kelsey–All very good questions, and something my husband brought up last night (the liability factor). We will definitely be asking our attorney today!
@Laura–We did use a realtor, but once you are under contract, you need an attorney, too. When you bought your condo, you probably had to go to the attorney’s office to close, right? The attorneys handle all of the contracts in order to transfer the property from seller to buyer, and handle the transfer of funds between buyers/sellers and the banks. Our realtor recommended a real estate attorney for us, and because her office works with them so often, we got a bit of a price break on the attorney’s fees. But you can use any real estate attorney you want. We’ve had a good experience with this attorney so far, so we’ll probably use him/his office again as sellers, if/when we finally sell our condo.
Some states are Realtor only and some state require attorney review and closing. They have tons of nerve as you and many have thought. Most folks DO NOT have anywhere to go. Some can incur added cost from their movers or rental places. As far as leaving JUNK there….that is why the final walk through occurs hours prior to the closing on the same day. If they leave their JUNK a junk hauler is called for a quote and that amount is held in escrow in case the Junk is never picked up. I hope it all works out. I had all this happen too, due to a lazy realtor who did not finalize things and do her due diligence. I feel your pain!
I have never heard of such a thing – in England if you are not ready to move out the sale gets delayed, but I have never heard of someone being in the house after it is no longer theirs. It’s downright ridiculous.
Re insurance, I am sure the lawyer has thought of it. In England you exchange contracts for sale (and you are legally bound to sell at that point) but don’t ‘complete’, ie. transfer funds, till some later point usually. In the interim, we had the vendors insure, it’s a common thing for lawyers to bring up. Also I would assume that your real estate laws provide that the property has to be in substantially the same condition as when you first viewed it. Don’t worry too much, hopefully it will all be over today. SO EXCITING!