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Well, I had a FUN (sarcastic) closing yesterday. Closing was scheduled for 4:00 PM, so I met my clients (the buyers) at house for final walk-through at 3:00. We arrive at house at there's a u-haul truck parked in street in front of house. I knew (from listing agent) that the sellers had back-to-back closings yesterday....closed on their new home, then on existing home. I thought.....ok, they'll come get the truck with their stuff after we close and be on their merry way. Open the door, walked in to discover they had not removed 1 single thing from the house. Nothing! There were some boxes stacked on the dining room table & in the kitchen, but it was by no means packed & ready to go. Garage was full of stuff, the closets still had clothes hanging in them, towels still hanging in the bathrooms, etc. Our contract said possession to be given "at closing", period. There was no retention of possession agreement, nothing. My buyers were mad, and mostly upset, because they have to be out of their apartment by Monday morning. They turned in their notice 2 months ago when we got the contract ratified. (so sellers have had 2 months to get their sh*t together).
So, I pull closing attorney aside, explain what was going on, and of course he didn't want to close. I didn't want to close. But my buyers were adamant that we close. So we added a clause to the contract giving sellers until Noon today to vacate the house and escrowed $2000 of their proceeds to cover cost of any damages done to home during their move-out, any expenses incurred by buyer if they can't move in today, cleaning fee, etc. So, I"m meeting my buyers at the house at Noon today for our final walk-through. If seller isn't out and place isn't reasonably clean, they don't get their $2000. This was a bad situation and the best compromise we could come up with under the circumstances.
The seller's excuse for not having the house emptied? "They just closed on their new house, so they didn't have anywhere to take their stuff." BS!! You get a larger moving truck, put all your stuff in it, and drive it to your new home after closing on it. You don't wait until closing on your existing home and THEN start emptying out the house! They acted genuinely shocked that we were upset about the house not being vacant.
Apparently the seller's "good ol' boy" agent had told them they could get moved out today, and the buyer could move in Sunday. Really???? In that case, there should have been a retention of possession agreement for 1 day. I blame the seller's agent because WHY would he assume the buyer would be ok with seller taking their sweet time to get out? I also blame the seller because come on.....you've bought a house before and should know how this works. I also found out (because I have a friend who lives on same street as the property) that the sellers were gone this week on a camping trip! So they clearly had no sense of urgency with regards to vacating the home. WTF???????
I'll let you know what happens today at Noon. Stay tuned!
Buyers erred.
Against agent advice. Against attorney advice. Buyer error.
This is why we have motels.
This is why buyers' agents confirm the status of seller move-out.
But contractually, sellers should have been out. Buyers did nothing wrong. Why should they be punished? Sellers agent knew our walk-through was scheduled. He should've verified status of their move-out and advised me. It's his responsibility to make sure his sellers are abiding with the contract; not mine.
But contractually, sellers should have been out. Buyers did nothing wrong. Why should they be punished? Sellers agent knew our walk-through was scheduled. He should've verified status of their move-out and advised me. It's his responsibility to make sure his sellers are abiding with the contract; not mine.
I said "Buyer erred." "Error" does not equal "Wrong."
They should not have closed when the seller did the wrong thing. Buyer error.
And, in real estate, a great agent always assumes that they are the only one doing their job until proved otherwise. That is covered in Real Estate 101.
To take care of the client, a great agent probes for confirmations, even of the other guy's responsibilities.
It's a service industry, and that confirmation is good service.
Could you have made your buyers happier with earlier notice of the failure to move out? Could you have pushed for vacancy earlier than just learning of it less than an hour before closing?
That would have been improved service over the situation they found themselves in by surprise.
This is where TRID is the curse of the industry. In the dark ages, we would have moved things to the 31st without missing a beat. The original CD could have stood thru a date change, as long as the rate didn't require an extension fee, or if an ARM, an Index didn't move outside of tolerance. We are actually testing sending CD's out at the time of approval and are tweaking to see if we can successfully incorporate that into our process.
Closing against attorney advice was a gutsy (actually another word comes to mind) move. The thing that concerns me is $2000 could have been inadequate, and then what? Chances are they would be going after some commissions. Did the attorney ask the buyers to sign a statement they were proceeding against attorney advice? I recently saw a real shiishow move forward, only the problems with the the property were a bit more involved, a higher repair escrow was held. I was totally against it, but it was not a condition of the appraisal, and we don't concern ourselves over seller's proceeds. The reason why it was pushed (actually, rammed) through? The agent's cap on commission ended on the 30th and on the 1st of July they started all over again.
I hope the OP's buyer's walk thru went as well as it possibly could. There are just too many ways it could go wrong.
I've only had two possession issues like this in my 14 years as an agent. Both those sellers were licensed real estate agents in Oregon. Their principal brokers got an earful from me.
I've only had two possession issues like this in my 14 years as an agent. Both those sellers were licensed real estate agents in Oregon. Their principal brokers got an earful from me.
LOL
I had a FSBO couple who were absolutely self-focused and uncaring about others.
I helped move them out, putting stuff at the curb and using my pickup to haul other stuff with them.
Well, I had a FUN (sarcastic) closing yesterday. Closing was scheduled for 4:00 PM, so I met my clients (the buyers) at house for final walk-through at 3:00. We arrive at house at there's a u-haul truck parked in street in front of house. I knew (from listing agent) that the sellers had back-to-back closings yesterday....closed on their new home, then on existing home. I thought.....ok, they'll come get the truck with their stuff after we close and be on their merry way. Open the door, walked in to discover they had not removed 1 single thing from the house. Nothing! There were some boxes stacked on the dining room table & in the kitchen, but it was by no means packed & ready to go. Garage was full of stuff, the closets still had clothes hanging in them, towels still hanging in the bathrooms, etc. Our contract said possession to be given "at closing", period. There was no retention of possession agreement, nothing. My buyers were mad, and mostly upset, because they have to be out of their apartment by Monday morning. They turned in their notice 2 months ago when we got the contract ratified. (so sellers have had 2 months to get their sh*t together).
So, I pull closing attorney aside, explain what was going on, and of course he didn't want to close. I didn't want to close. But my buyers were adamant that we close. So we added a clause to the contract giving sellers until Noon today to vacate the house and escrowed $2000 of their proceeds to cover cost of any damages done to home during their move-out, any expenses incurred by buyer if they can't move in today, cleaning fee, etc. So, I"m meeting my buyers at the house at Noon today for our final walk-through. If seller isn't out and place isn't reasonably clean, they don't get their $2000. This was a bad situation and the best compromise we could come up with under the circumstances.
The seller's excuse for not having the house emptied? "They just closed on their new house, so they didn't have anywhere to take their stuff." BS!! You get a larger moving truck, put all your stuff in it, and drive it to your new home after closing on it. You don't wait until closing on your existing home and THEN start emptying out the house! They acted genuinely shocked that we were upset about the house not being vacant.
Apparently the seller's "good ol' boy" agent had told them they could get moved out today, and the buyer could move in Sunday. Really???? In that case, there should have been a retention of possession agreement for 1 day. I blame the seller's agent because WHY would he assume the buyer would be ok with seller taking their sweet time to get out? I also blame the seller because come on.....you've bought a house before and should know how this works. I also found out (because I have a friend who lives on same street as the property) that the sellers were gone this week on a camping trip! So they clearly had no sense of urgency with regards to vacating the home. WTF???????
I'll let you know what happens today at Noon. Stay tuned!
When I read stories like this I feel like an idiot for being conscientious when I sold sold my house. Even though it was very difficult I had everything completely out early so that I could wash, clean and make everything completely spot less before the final walk-though the day before closing.
I'll be curious if the sellers are out of the house by noon or just decide to take the $2,000 penalty. My money is on them not being finished.
Well, miraculously they were out! And according to one of the neighbors who are just so happen to know, they pulled out about 20 minutes before we got there for our walk-through. The house needs cleaning, and they forgot to leave the garage door opener's, but otherwise all is well. I've been nervous about this all morning, and was so relieved that they actually did get out in time. But I have learned a big lesson!
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