First Time Homebuyer Question What is Immediate Possession?
Immediate possession after closings is good for both the homebuyer and homeseller in a real estate transaction. In Minnesota, time of possession of the property is negotiated. But it is in everyone’s best interest that the buyer be given the keys to the home at the time of closing along with full possession to access the property.
As a REALTOR® who works with first time homebuyers, move up homebuyers, downsizing homesellers and everyone in between, it has been part of my job to navigate the moving day obstacle course for clients on more than one occasion. From time to time there will be a chain of transactions that all will close on the same day…i.e. The first time homebuyer is purchasing from a homeseller who then goes to the next closing to become a homebuyer, After the second closing, the seller will become the buyer in a third closing…sometimes the chain can be longer too. This "chain of home sales" can have kinks in it when homesellers don’t understand possession they negotiated their move out time at the time the purchase agreement was written.
Minnesota purchase agreements allow the possession time to be negotiated. Whether working with a homebuyer I always recommend that we ask for immediate possession of the property at the time of the closing. When reviewing a purchase agreement with a homeseller, I always recommend giving over full possession to the new home buyer immediate after closing.
On occasion, a homeseller will request 24 hours or more after the closing to have all personal property removed from the home. An agreeable buyer might think this is being accommodating to the seller but it can cause problems for both parties. Here's why: the buyers now own the home and now the new homeowners' insurance policy in place. What if something of the seller's is stolen? What if the house is damaged by movers? What if the sellers don't get everything out in the specified time frame? How is the situation resolved when there is a loss and the transaction is complete? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer and these situations can get ugly and end up in court.
Here are just a few examples of situations that I know have occured when full possession was not immediate.
- Pets left unattended in home. Sellers arrived to the closing and told the buyers they would need to stop to pick up the last load of laundry and their dog from a Forest Lake home right after the closing. They were going to use the electronic entry on the garage to get into the home. The buyers said okay as they had to do errands prior to moving in. When the buyers arrived to their new home later that afternoon, they had quite a nasty surprise. The seller’s dog had been left unattended in the second bedroom for several hours and had soiled the light colored carpet. The sellers did not clean it up and left as a welcome gift for the new home owners.
- Irresponsible Previous Owners Though immediate possession had been written into the purchase agreement for a Lino Lakes home, at the closing table the homebuyer graciously offer that the homesellers take their time getting their last few items out as they didn't plan to move in for a few days. When they arrived at their new home later in the week, the seller had left all of their garbage inside of the garage and the every door to the home unlocked. Luckily the home had not been damaged but as it was in late August and very warm, it took several days for nasty smell out of the home and the buyer was stuck paying for the trash removal.
- Squatters! Homebuyers for a Ham Lake home were agreeable to allowing an additional weekend for the homesellers remove the remaining personal items to their new home. But when the homebuyers came to get the keys because the sellers were obviously moved out, the sellers refused to relinquish the final set. It wasn’t that they needed more time to get their possessions; they just sat in the driveway of their old home drinking beer with the neighbors for several evenings until the agreed four day possession time ran out. During this time they flat out refused to let the homebuyers into their new home.
So take as much time as necessary when reviewing the details of the homebuying transaction but insist on immediate possession at the closing. It protects buyers and sellers in the real estate transaction. In this part of the home buying process, demanding the keys for immediate gratification is a very good thing!
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