Buyer wants to close early and get more PITI (extended stay, rental)

[akadawn]

We received and accepted an offer from our potential buyers that has a closing date of 4/15 and one month PITI as they would give us one month to vacate.
Now they want to move up the closing date to April 28th to lock in a rate with their lender and want us to pay them more PITI (about $800) on top of their rate savings (close to $1k for them).
I don't really want to pay more PITI. I'm happy help them lock in a rate with the earlier closing date and would offer $1/day or something of the like.
This does no benefit to us, we are in no rush to sell and have no mortgage.
Any suggestions? Don't want to lose the buyers, but it put a sour taste in my mouth that they want more money on top of the savings they'd see with their lender.

[leroythelion]

Do you have a contract yet? If so, too bad for them.

[CSD610]

If you have a contract then abide by the contract, it appears they are being a bit greedy and don't realize that they need you more than you need them, even though you don't want to lose the sale.

[MI-Roger]

I googled PITI to make sure I knew its definition.

I read your message three additional times to be sure I didn't miss anything.

Now I have questions:

1. Why are you still in the house since you have no current mortgage?
2. Why do you feel you can live in "their house" post closing without compensating them? I'm sorry, but $1/day is laughable. Try renting a hotel room for $1 per day. I would charge a MINIMUM of 125% of the new PITI just to get any previous owners to skedaddle along. One month in an extended stay hotel, one month of storage for a house of furniture, a second moving fee, added costs for meals since they will not have any means to prepare their own food. It adds up quick. My 125% is probably stupidly low.

The compensation can be incorporated into a lower selling price or a straight monthly fee, but it will be their property following closing and they should receive payment in some method.

[teachbeach]

We did this when we closed, so that they (buyers) could lock in a lower rate. We did not have a mortgage on the home we were selling, and had cash purchased our next home. The move was major on our part, in that it involved movers and packers scheduled to come from where we were moving to, we were locked in to when they could get to us and get our contents loaded. Our listing agent negotiated the rent back fee of $1000 month, or daily fee of $33.34 for each day we stayed past closing. He said that this was standard in the area of the country that we were in, for the size and value of our home. We did cancel our homeowner's insurance and changed all utilities, and secured renter's insurance for the 10 days that we "rented back" our home from new owners. We were out one day ahead of the promised date, house was professionally cleaned and left at better than move in ready. I would think that the realtor's should be handling these issues for you (and for them) so that everything is according to contract or written agreement.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by akadawn

We received and accepted an offer from our potential buyers that has a closing date of 4/15 and one month PITI as they would give us one month to vacate.
Now they want to move up the closing date to April 28th to lock in a rate with their lender and want us to pay them more PITI (about $800) on top of their rate savings (close to $1k for them).
I don't really want to pay more PITI. I'm happy help them lock in a rate with the earlier closing date and would offer $1/day or something of the like.
This does no benefit to us, we are in no rush to sell and have no mortgage.
Any suggestions? Don't want to lose the buyers, but it put a sour taste in my mouth that they want more money on top of the savings they'd see with their lender.

I can only assume that you meant to write that your closing date is scheduled for May 15--not April 15.

If you're only paying their anticipated Principal, Interest, Taxes and Insurance for one month, you're not paying enough. To make it fair, you should be paying at least a fair market rental rate for the house. I don't know what that amount would be for your house, but I doubt that $800 would cover it. Work that out and be done with it. You do wish to sell, correct? Put yourself in their shoes.

As to what they might save on their mortgage, though, that's of no concern to you. But, they could probably pay more to the bank to lock in their rate. That's where negotiations may come into play. If the contract is set, you can be firm...but if they walk, you may only end up with their deposit (if that) and not the purchase price.

Again, put yourself in their shoes. It's unreasonable for you to stay in their house after closing without paying for that right. Many people would just want you out, period.

[akadawn]

Thank you for your replies - yes I did mean May 15th and not April for the original contract closing date. We've worked out the situation to agree to their earlier closing date but pay no more PITI. The earlier closing was of no advantage to us so it would have been two wins - 1) locking in a better rate for the buyer with the earlier closing date and 2) earning more rent back from us - for the buyer and no upside for us. We didn't WANT to move out any earlier than the date listed on our MLS listing. We did them a favor by letting them lock a rate by allowing the earlier closing date, but since it wasn't an advantage for us, we refused more PITI. I don't know what went on between the two realtors, if they offered to deduct the PITI out of their commission or what, but the buyers accepted. We were in no rush to list so early (just our realtor was in order to get her check) and would have moved on to another buyer had they insisted on the two proposed changes in original offer.
I understand that we will be living in the house longer after they technically own it, but they forced that upon themselves. We didn't want to move up the closing date, they did. It's like asking to own the home longer to make more money off of us. The $800 would have been for the additional 14 days above and beyond the original full month of PITI agreed for the time period of the original closing of May 14th to vacating the property June 15th.

MI-Roger
1) we owned the home outright from purchase, we paid cash. Never had a mortgage. We still live here because we are currently working until we move to our new location and new jobs.
2) Keep in mind that they buyers are the ones who want the earlier closing date, not us. We are doing them a favor by letting them lock in a rate rather than to just stick to the original closing date THEY agreed to of May 14th. So they wanted to 1) get a lower rate to save money AND 2) make more money off of us as a bonus for the favor. We agreed to the original full-value PITI without hesitation for the original contract dates.

House buying takes preparation. If you aren't prepared to find temporary housing and pay for said housing until you can move in to the house of your choice, maybe you shouldn't be looking. We are already paying a month's rent at our next location during which the house will sit empty until our arrival, but we expected and budgeted for that in order to get the location we wanted.