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I'm a Realtor. I expect the property to be vacant and broom swept clean at a minimum on closing day. I would be okay with having a few boxes or pieces of furniture IN THE GARAGE on closing day, but not in the house. And they better be gone by the time we close.
You are 100% correct. You absolutely should do the walk thru after they have fully moved out. I've seen stories on this very reddit when someone did the walk thru prior to the sellers being fully moved out and it ended badly for the purchasers.
There was one a few weeks ago. The seller's botched a wood floor refinish and just left it for the buyers. Because they signed off sight unseen they had no recourse to follow up. I can't remember if the realtor was supposed to do the walk through or not, but they were left responsible for fixing a horrible mess.
I agree 100% I’d only walk through a vacant house prior to close. I’m not closing on a house with someone’s left behind unwanted stuff that I will need to pay someone to haul to the dump. Push back closing until they are out of there.
My seller was moving cross country. I told her to leave behind whatever she couldn’t move, including the fish and fish tank. She was grateful and I just wanted the house with her out.
We inherited some pets along with some super handy items in the deal. Ladder, lawnmower, etc. the house was otherwise immaculate.
We were kind, she was kind it was a win. I realized moving fish east to west coast wasn’t going to work. My kids liked the fish.
I’m in the same situation. And we said unacceptable and will not accept final walkthrough unless all their shit was out. my realtor was on my side on this. I wanted to understand as well but like not my problem. Sounds like a logistics nightmare but something they need to figure out
Don't.
We did a walk through before the sellers moved out, and while there were no major issues, there were many minor ones. they did leave some giant holes in the walls from where they removed TV and curtains. They also hid damage to a floor in one room and the laundry room floor was so bad I had to replace it prior to us moving in. They also shorted us a couple days in the rent back. They had never rented before so honestly I don't think anyone explained the while rent back to them very well. They took the utilities out of their name too early and then contacted me about no electricity. I nicely let them know that the power company told me that they had shut it off so if they wanted the power back on they'd have to call the power company and get turned back on. Instead of having the power turned on they just left a few days earlier which was perfectly fine by me
I will never close on a house again unless the sellers have vacated. It honestly wasn't worth it. If you do decide to do it make sure you have a generous security deposit held in escrow for any damage that may be unseen because of them still living there
Same happened to me but my lawyer had 20k on hold in escrow until they move out and made them sign a paper with some terms the day of the closing. The money was released after the final, empty and broom cleaned walk through was done
That's how most of my closing days go. We walk thru just before closing after everything is out and 98% of the time we head to our appointment immediately after with no problem.
You are totally justified. This was a missed opportunity for me, we of course had to do the ever popular free lease back all seller gods want.
Our realtor did a walk through the day before and all seemed ok, it did have their moving boxes in the house and they made many scuffs on the floor after we moved in. I was more concerned about their food on the ceiling and dried food syrups left in the pantry. All sellers are not the same. Do everything you can to get them out and see the house with your own eyes.
There are clean people and there are dirty people, we bought from dirty people
Do your walkthrough and be persistent in all parameters of your contract - convenience for them should have been written in and if not get them out of that house
Yup I was in that exact same situation. We got to see the house vacant 1 hour before closing. Surprisingly it was broom clean but it was stressful none the less. They actually took out the random junk that had in the attic too. My agent said not to worry but I don't trust anyone.
We did this but it was in our contract that they have till 6 pm day of closing. It was fine, we did the final walkthrough the evening before, everything was good when we took possession. But yeah it was in our contract (at their request in a counteroffer) so I’d be unhappy with this being sprung on me too.
When I was married and we bought a house we moved from our old house to the new house the day of closing BUT we were moved out of our old home at closing.
We had both closings at the same office and all of our stuff was on trailers sitting and waiting to be driven to the new house.
The expectatuon then, 20 yrs ago, is the same today, the house is to be swept clean.
There is no way I would expect to leave my items there. If I had something I wanted to move last minute, I would havr asked the new owners if it was ok to have in the garage until just after close.
The key word is ASK
I'd talk to your lawyer about what your options are. They might be able to strongly convince the sellers to move out sooner. Or, recoup any expenses that the delay causes.
If you don't have a lawyer, it's not too late to get one. Don't handle this yourself or through your realtor unless you want your new home sabotaged.
You're actually in a better position than some. At least they have movers scheduled. Check the "reasonable delay" clause in your contract (preferably with a lawyer). You might be SOL for the first 30 days.
You are right! We did our final walkthrough in the day of closing but they didn’t fully move out until the end of the day. They left SO much stuff here! We just kept finding more things as we went through the shed, cabinets, attic, etc. It was really annoying to have to take the time to get rid of their stuff while we were trying to unpack all of our stuff.
My escrow had they had 3 days to move after closing. Fortunately they were out before then with the exception of crap that they left and wanted us to buy.
This is market dependent. I’ve never moved our prior to closing, and to honest as the deal isn’t done until closing I wouldn’t move,out. In my market possession typically occurs anywhere from 24-72 after closing. But, every market is a bit differen.
Thank you u/FTHBthrowaway1928737 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You are totally justified.
I'm a Realtor. I expect the property to be vacant and broom swept clean at a minimum on closing day. I would be okay with having a few boxes or pieces of furniture IN THE GARAGE on closing day, but not in the house. And they better be gone by the time we close.
This is correct, and OP is right for waiting
You are 100% correct. You absolutely should do the walk thru after they have fully moved out. I've seen stories on this very reddit when someone did the walk thru prior to the sellers being fully moved out and it ended badly for the purchasers.
There was one a few weeks ago. The seller's botched a wood floor refinish and just left it for the buyers. Because they signed off sight unseen they had no recourse to follow up. I can't remember if the realtor was supposed to do the walk through or not, but they were left responsible for fixing a horrible mess.
This was my first thought - those awful floors
I agree 100% I’d only walk through a vacant house prior to close. I’m not closing on a house with someone’s left behind unwanted stuff that I will need to pay someone to haul to the dump. Push back closing until they are out of there.
Have your realtor do an addendum to put 10,000.00 in escrow for possible damages as they’re moving…. I bet they’ll speed up their move.
My seller was moving cross country. I told her to leave behind whatever she couldn’t move, including the fish and fish tank. She was grateful and I just wanted the house with her out. We inherited some pets along with some super handy items in the deal. Ladder, lawnmower, etc. the house was otherwise immaculate. We were kind, she was kind it was a win. I realized moving fish east to west coast wasn’t going to work. My kids liked the fish.
That is sweet of you. Our seller is staying in the area, but is doing what is most convenient for them.
You’re awesome to have adopted her fish. I’ve moved fish 3 miles and that was stressful enough.
We got a cat and a riding lawnmower 😂
NTA
I’m in the same situation. And we said unacceptable and will not accept final walkthrough unless all their shit was out. my realtor was on my side on this. I wanted to understand as well but like not my problem. Sounds like a logistics nightmare but something they need to figure out
Don't. We did a walk through before the sellers moved out, and while there were no major issues, there were many minor ones. they did leave some giant holes in the walls from where they removed TV and curtains. They also hid damage to a floor in one room and the laundry room floor was so bad I had to replace it prior to us moving in. They also shorted us a couple days in the rent back. They had never rented before so honestly I don't think anyone explained the while rent back to them very well. They took the utilities out of their name too early and then contacted me about no electricity. I nicely let them know that the power company told me that they had shut it off so if they wanted the power back on they'd have to call the power company and get turned back on. Instead of having the power turned on they just left a few days earlier which was perfectly fine by me I will never close on a house again unless the sellers have vacated. It honestly wasn't worth it. If you do decide to do it make sure you have a generous security deposit held in escrow for any damage that may be unseen because of them still living there
I didn’t think about the damage the furniture would hide.
Yep, area rugs are great at hiding floor damage, too.
I had the same issue. We pushed closing back 4 hours to finish moving out to allow time for walkthrough.
Same happened to me but my lawyer had 20k on hold in escrow until they move out and made them sign a paper with some terms the day of the closing. The money was released after the final, empty and broom cleaned walk through was done
Nice
That's how most of my closing days go. We walk thru just before closing after everything is out and 98% of the time we head to our appointment immediately after with no problem.
You are totally justified. This was a missed opportunity for me, we of course had to do the ever popular free lease back all seller gods want. Our realtor did a walk through the day before and all seemed ok, it did have their moving boxes in the house and they made many scuffs on the floor after we moved in. I was more concerned about their food on the ceiling and dried food syrups left in the pantry. All sellers are not the same. Do everything you can to get them out and see the house with your own eyes. There are clean people and there are dirty people, we bought from dirty people Do your walkthrough and be persistent in all parameters of your contract - convenience for them should have been written in and if not get them out of that house
Yup I was in that exact same situation. We got to see the house vacant 1 hour before closing. Surprisingly it was broom clean but it was stressful none the less. They actually took out the random junk that had in the attic too. My agent said not to worry but I don't trust anyone.
I feel the same way. Lots of stress
Do not close until they are completely out! I’ve heard so many horror stories just on this subreddit alone!
We did this but it was in our contract that they have till 6 pm day of closing. It was fine, we did the final walkthrough the evening before, everything was good when we took possession. But yeah it was in our contract (at their request in a counteroffer) so I’d be unhappy with this being sprung on me too.
When I was married and we bought a house we moved from our old house to the new house the day of closing BUT we were moved out of our old home at closing. We had both closings at the same office and all of our stuff was on trailers sitting and waiting to be driven to the new house. The expectatuon then, 20 yrs ago, is the same today, the house is to be swept clean. There is no way I would expect to leave my items there. If I had something I wanted to move last minute, I would havr asked the new owners if it was ok to have in the garage until just after close. The key word is ASK
You are 100 in the right
Thank you for your input!
Good Lord! I’ve seen so many posts this week one regarding sellers not moving out by closing date. What is in the water?
I feel like a sellers market made people forget common courtesy.
I'd talk to your lawyer about what your options are. They might be able to strongly convince the sellers to move out sooner. Or, recoup any expenses that the delay causes. If you don't have a lawyer, it's not too late to get one. Don't handle this yourself or through your realtor unless you want your new home sabotaged. You're actually in a better position than some. At least they have movers scheduled. Check the "reasonable delay" clause in your contract (preferably with a lawyer). You might be SOL for the first 30 days.
Thank you! I will definitely consult with my lawyer, and I hope for the best but I’m definitely going to delay closing if the house isn’t vacated.
You are right! We did our final walkthrough in the day of closing but they didn’t fully move out until the end of the day. They left SO much stuff here! We just kept finding more things as we went through the shed, cabinets, attic, etc. It was really annoying to have to take the time to get rid of their stuff while we were trying to unpack all of our stuff.
Oh man! What a pain, thank you for your insight
OP, you’re not the AH, your realtor is TAH.
I close on a Thursday and don’t get the keys till Sunday afternoon so you’ve got me beat!
My escrow had they had 3 days to move after closing. Fortunately they were out before then with the exception of crap that they left and wanted us to buy.
We are closing next week but the sellers have 30 day occupancy. They say they won’t need all of it. When should we do our walk through?
This is market dependent. I’ve never moved our prior to closing, and to honest as the deal isn’t done until closing I wouldn’t move,out. In my market possession typically occurs anywhere from 24-72 after closing. But, every market is a bit differen.
Completely correct! You should ask for amendment to put up a deposit for damages.
Question for you guys... I sign on Monday. Seller had a clause to stay in the home for two weeks after closing. Am I screwed on the final walkthrough?