Closing & Possession on Different Days

As the week comes to a close, I am starting to get very excited about closing on Monday!!!

However, we received word from our attorney last night, that we will not take possession of the house until Thursday

We have a walk-through scheduled for Sunday afternoon, since the close is basically first thing in the morning.

Has anyone been in a situation like this, where they closed one day and didn't get the house till a few days later?

Did you get any money for the homeowner's still living in the house?

When did you change the utilities to your name?

Did you get 2 walk throughs?

What happens if there is damage after they move out?

What should I expect at the walk through?

Any other advice?

THANKS!!

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

I've never heard of this. Isn't the end result of a closing that the house is now yours? The sellers of our house were still moving stuff out the morning of our closing when we did the walk through, they were closing on their house that same afternoon. But they were out once we had the keys.

I would talk to your attorney and/or real estate agent.

ETA: Congrats on your new house!!!

Message edited 6/22/2006 10:59:29 AM.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

in my contrat it says if the sellers aren't out of the house by closing day they pay us $150 per day to live in "our" house. you probably have the same. contracts are all similar.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

Posted by MrsSchwags

As the week comes to a close, I am starting to get very excited about closing on Monday!!!

However, we received word from our attorney last night, that we will not take possession of the house until Thursday

We have a walk-through scheduled for Sunday afternoon, since the close is basically first thing in the morning.

Has anyone been in a situation like this, where they closed one day and didn't get the house till a few days later?

Did you get any money for the homeowner's still living in the house?

When did you change the utilities to your name?

Did you get 2 walk throughs?

What happens if there is damage after they move out?

What should I expect at the walk through?

Any other advice?

THANKS!!

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

Check your contract. we are in contract now and they have 5 days after closing to leave the house. If any damage happens after our walk through they have to give us $2500. If they stay after the 5 days they have to pay us rent....

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

They are staying there a few extra days because we needed to close by the 27th in order for our loan to go through since there was a time limit on the loan.

i actually dont have a copy of the contract...the lawyer is a good family friend so i dont have to worry i just wasn't sure if anyone else had to do this.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

We closed on like monday or tuesday maybe and didn't move in until saturday! They paid US to live there

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

I had it in the reverse when I sold my first place. I was able to stay living there for five days after closing and anything after that I would have to pay a per-diem. I wanted that clause in case there was any delay with the closing of the house we were purchasing. Luckily, we moved out two days after.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

When we bought our co-op we closed about two weeks before we took possession. The sellers had to put money in escrow and our contract stated that any time after the agreed upon 2 weeks would require the sellers to pay is per day. The money in escrow was to cover any damage they might have caused in those 2 weeks.

As far as electricity and telephone...we told both Con Ed and AT&T when we would be there and they started it all as of the date we gave them. For the 2 weeks that the sellers were there they used their own utilities.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

It may be contigent on transfer of money.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

We closed on a Wednesday and didn't take possession until Friday. Money was held in escrow in case of any damage and the seller had to pay our mortgage and taxes for the days she was there (basically like she was renting from us). We did a walkthrough the day of closing as well as one when I came to get the keys. It's fairly common actually.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

This happened to us...see below

Posted by MrsSchwags

As the week comes to a close, I am starting to get very excited about closing on Monday!!!

However, we received word from our attorney last night, that we will not take possession of the house until Thursday

We have a walk-through scheduled for Sunday afternoon, since the close is basically first thing in the morning.

Has anyone been in a situation like this, where they closed one day and didn't get the house till a few days later? We closed on a Thursday and got keys on Wed.

Did you get any money for the homeowner's still living in the house? No money for the owners stuff by law they have a certain amount of days to vacate the property. I believe it was 5 days. We only got our interested back.

When did you change the utilities to your name? We changed them as of the closing date. The owers sucked and they left us with no heat, so we were worried they would shut the rest off.

Did you get 2 walk throughs? We did a walk thru on the closing date. We got a second walk thru only because we had them hold a lot of money in escrow pending the 2nd walk through. These people cause so much damage to the house between the time we signed the contracts to keys that we had to protect ourselves. Make sure you keep money in escrow for the 2nd walk thru, but you must state exactly what that money would be going to otherwise when you fight for it they may not have to give it up. Money is to be held in escrow for specific things...or at least that is our both of our lawyers handled it.



What happens if there is damage after they move out? We had money held in escrow for this reason.

What should I expect at the walk through? Our sellers weren't even packed. I hope yours are, but don't expect see the walls.

Any other advice?

Be very specific about your concerns for the 2nd walk thru. We were concerned with the heating, so we had them hold $XXX just for the heating, XXX just for the roof. ETC.

This made getting money back from the sellers much easier because they knew exactly what we were looking for.

FM me with any questions...good luck!


THANKS!!

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

Yes, closed on June 30 took possession on July 15

Did you get any money for the homeowner's still living in the house? No

When did you change the utilities to your name? Once we took possession.

Did you get 2 walk throughs? Yes.

What happens if there is damage after they move out? We kept $ in escrow and released it after we took possession

What should I expect at the walk through? Our walk through was basic. We checked outlets, basement for leaks, etc. plumbing. We took our video camera.

Good Luck...FM if you want some more info.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

Posted by 2Pisces

Yes, closed on June 30 took possession on July 15

Did you get any money for the homeowner's still living in the house? No

When did you change the utilities to your name? Once we took possession.

Did you get 2 walk throughs? Yes.

What happens if there is damage after they move out? We kept $ in escrow and released it after we took possession

What should I expect at the walk through? Our walk through was basic. We checked outlets, basement for leaks, etc. plumbing. We took our video camera.

Good Luck...FM if you want some more info.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

We also closed but didn't take possesion until a few days later. They had a five day grace period, then money was held in escrow (I believe it was $5000) and they had to pay us $150 per day that they stayed after the five days.
There is no problem with bringing a measuring tape at the walk through for blinds, carpeting, paint etc. We did that, but then ended up just doing it all over once we were in the house. I didn't trust my measurement after all cuz I was working around all their stuff.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

We have 3 days from closing to possession.

they pay per diem- which is the interest on your mortgage for the amt of days they are there.

We changed over utilities for the day we were taking possession.

Only had one walk through where they just show you where everything is (water mains, sprinkler valves, etc) and how everything works.

CONGRATS!!

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

I did we closed on a Wednesday and didn't take possession till Sat because the sellers had to close on their other house and move. Your contract allows the sellers to stay in the house for 5 to 7 days depending on what yours says after the closing date. It shoudl also say that you will adjust from that date not the date that you closed so all taxes should be adjusted from the date they are moving out as well as any oil. In addition your attorney should have an agreement that if they don't move out by that date you are entitled to $150-$200 a day for every day after Thursday that they remain in possession. Also you can ask that the seller pay the interest on teh mortgage that you are taking out for the 4 days that you are paying for it without being in possession. I did a walk through the morning or my closing as well as the day the seller officially handed me the keys. Money shoudl be held in escrow if for any reason damages are done to the house after you close. I would do 2 walk throughs 1 the day before an done the day you get your keys. Any problems you shoudl contact your atty immediately and he will work it out with the sellers attorney. This doesn't happen with every purchase but it does happen when a seller can't close on the house they are buying till after they close on the house they are selling due to the fact they don't have the financing to buy the second house without the sale of the first. Just make sure that you are protected all the way around and that you get what you are suppose to. If you have any questions please FM me...I am also a real estate atty.

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

I had my attny email me a copy of our contract. It does say they have 5 days and anything over that is $200 a day.

I guess I just got my hopes up. We had all these plans for Monday after the closing, we will just have to wait till Thursday to get the keys!! Hopefully we can get them early!

We are doing our walk-through on Sunday. Can't wait!!!

Re: Closing & Possession on Different Days

I had this issue... We closed on a Tuesday and didnt takje possession for TWO WEEKS... It was killing me to pass MY HOUSE and not actually be able to go in it... What we did was had then hold additional money in escrow and on the day we got the keys did a walk thru with both RE agents - Once we were happy I called my lawyer and said it was OK to release the money...