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High Expectations - Closing with Empty Home

I am thrilled to say I had a closing last Friday and my buyer has been sleeping with a smile since the move.

There are contracts which seem difficult in today's market due to credit changes and we were caught in some of that. I was honest and forthright with facts to the listing agent and was not surprised when we were able to keep moving forward to closing. All was working out toward a smooth closing from the buyer's end.

Why we had problems before closing...was upsetting to my buyer and I found it unacceptable. When we arrived at the home before closing we found the seller's personal items throughout the home!

There were things like:

bed in one room
kitchen cabinets with bowls and items
computer & many parts in the basement
refrigerator with lots of stuff including wine & liquor
gargage also full of garbage and other items

The Listing Agent was shocked when I said there was no way we could close with the home in this order. It was completely unacceptable to expect us to close with his belongings in the home.

We were able to close later that day, but had to wait and the seller had additional help arrive to his home to get the home in the proper order (finally).

We closed, but it wasn't easy.

My buyer is happy! That is the most important part of this post and I'm thrilled for her.

P.S. If I come with a buyer for your listing, you can plan on the requirement that the home must be empty to close.

Posted by Karen Moorhead Ann Arbor Area Real Estate on 06/03/2008 07:43 AM

Comments (19)

buyer, seller, closing

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19 Comments on High Expectations - Closing with Empty Home

JUN

2008

it's different here in NY, the sellers have a few days after closing to move out...what happens if there are unexpected issues at closing and it doesn't close or is delayed?

nice post every closing and evry buyer and seller have different hot buttons

Once the property changes hands here in Texas, anything left on premises becomes the non-real property of the buyer, so if the seller is foolish enough to leave personal belongings in the home past funding and keys are turned over, locks are usually changed and unless the buyer just wants to be a nice person and let the seller back in, they get all the stuff the seller left behind.

Karen - I read from Kim above that things are different in NY. Isn't that funny how we all have different protocol? Here we would have had to have a seller possession after closing if their things weren't moved out and the buyer would have the right to collect "rent" for the number of days that the seller was still in the home. That would have had to have been arranged before closing. In your case since it wasn't then yep, I wouldn't have closed either until ALL belongings were out of the house. Good for you for taking such good care of your clients!

Yes, things are different here too. The buyer almost always has posession after the close, so the seller usually hasn't moved yet during a final walk through.

Karen, I'm glad you held off, who knows when they would remove their stuff. Money is the great motivator.

Paint cans, remnant pieces of carpeting, wood, broken sporting equipment -- what definition of "broom swept" do people not understand? It's arrogant and impolite. No one wants to inherit some else's junk. Would they leave a pile of money? Been there.

Could for you for sticking to your ideals -- you can represent me anytime!

JUN

2008

Congratulations on the closing Karen. Good for you that you held the line and made the sellers move their stuff out. Far too often I see junk in attics and crawlspaces left behind by the sellers. I put in my reports to have the sellers remove personal items so that my clents don't have to bear this expense.

JUN

2008

Broom clean is a great expression; think how little can really be pushed with a broom! I'd have to say that putting it out for the trash that is not collected before closing is pretty low too but is that against contract? The only time we appreciated having things left behind was a Philly rowhouse where the family left behind a painted sword that we later had evaluated as a historic Civil War weapon!

JUN

2008

If athe home wasn't ready to move into then the seller needs to get it ready in order to sell. Good for you to hold your ground.

Karen

When I represent the seller in a transaction I usually recommend that they not move out before closing. We will ask for 3-5 days and are willing to pay rent. I am not interested in having your buyer back out, not be able to get financing at the last moment. I have had a closing cancelled because the buyer had a heart attack n his way to closing. He survived but had to quit his job and couldn't get finanacing. What about the times your seller is selling to buy a new home and needs to close on their existing home to close on their new home?

Jeff, I'm sure you would arrange all of that prior to closing and thereby cause no discomfort for anyone. Problem is my buyer was expected to close with all of the items in the home, without the arrangement put together in advance.

I understand that> I read that you always expected the home to be vacant. My apologies for the confusion

JUN

2008

Agree with you on the ps. The deal I closed as a buyer's agent included an addendum that said all personal materials must be removed from the home prior to closing. I guess you can read through the lines...your experience is not all that uncommon it would seem.

JUL

2008

Hi Karen...Here in our part of Virginia the buyers take possession at settlement even though the seller may not receive their funds for a day or so, sometimes longer if we settle late on a Friday and it does not get recorded until Monday (forget long holiday weekends).

It is a complicated situation. However, we expect items that are not conveying to be off the property not left in the garage, refrigerator, etc. when we do the walk through.

Kathleen

JUL

2008

Hi Karen,

As an experienced home stager, I was very interested in this post and your preferences. I work in your market, and I stage many vacant houses. Several times my clients have asked that I hold off until after closing to remove my inventory, as many deals are falling apart at the closing table. I've actually never had someone (including the Realtor) require that my inventory be out before the closing, so I was surprised and enlightened by your article. I have, however, de-staged houses a few days prior to closing, at the seller's request, (they wanted to prevent additional staging rental) only to have the deal fall apart. That was unfortunate for everyone--the seller, the Realtor (no longer marketing a staged house), and the stager! I do now always check on what the occupancy date is, though, so that I'm sure the house is empty and neat.

JUL

2008

Kathi, I think in your case you must ask for the current owners to rent back a few days to clear the home. That is an excellent policy. The closing we had asked for immediate occupancy and therefore the home is expected to be empty. Thanks for stopping by.

AUG

2008

Well we have often found that this is just the case. It seems that sellers leave themselves little time to move everything out and get the house in tidy order before closing thinking that the new buyers will not care. I'm with you. The house should be pristine and I emphasize this regardless of whether I am working with the buyer or the seller. Good going.

Carole Lhuillier
Keller Williams Realty

AUG

Sorry. Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly? I am from Timor and also now teach English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "A digital clock is the inspiration for dot timeassociation dot net which allows you to to share associations with the numbers on the clock." Thank 8-) Ravenne.

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