No, you may not get the keys early!!

Lee Ann

I had one seller which did so against my advice to so and the buyer burnt down the house before close. Fortunately, I insisted the buyer have the proper insurance and it cost my seller no money, but a big pain. cheers cvc

Lee Ann  That is excellent advise and should be followed best to be safe then sorry

HelpfulHannah

Fact is, if they don't own the property and they enter it without their agent, they are TRESPASSING.

Oh this is so true!  Don't take it personal, but the house ain't yours until . . . and if we "authorize" them to have the key OMIGOSH I can just hear them complain "Well, you told us we could go in early" If they want "early possession" work it into the contract, otherwise wait until the deal closes. 

Lee Ann:

I have never given the keys to a house before the actual close of escrow.  But other agents have taken the keys from the lockbox and given them to the buyers.  One buyer started tearing a bedroom apart(the home was empty).  When I found out I hit the ceiling.  The buyer's agent asked for the key back.  All I could think of was the liability my client may have had. 

Admittedly we were those clients who asked for (and got) the keys early on the last two houses we bought. In one case, Mel had already moved to our new area and stayed in the house for a couple weeks before it closed. As a professional, I wouldn't suggest it to my clients. Obviously, we knew we could be trusted to occupy the house before closing, but sellers just can't know that about just any buyer.

Gretchen

So much liability here giving the keys out early. What IF someone falls in the property??

Lee Ann, when we are new and we know the buyers, we trust them to do right thing and we give them keys but....

I appreciate the buyer's excitment but they usually just have just a few more hours to wait, and yes, they can make it!  This is a conversation I have at the beginning of the transaction, during the transaction, and at the closing table.

Early occupancy can become a nightmare!  I have also had the opposite problem of of getting sellers out after close of escrow.  It hasn't happened often but when it does it can be uncomfortable.  A more humorous case came when an electrician bought a house.  It closed on a Tuesday morning, and by the following Saturday morning, the sellers hadn't moved, and didn't look like they had even began packing.  So what did the buyer do.  He shut down the electricity to the house, and began doing a panel change.  His brother turned off the water, and began installing a sprinkler systerm.  It's amazing how a lack of electrical power and water can act as a quick motivator to get moving! 

Would I recommend getting a seller to vacate in that way?  I'm not an attorney, and always suggest getting legal advice for such matters:-)

On the flip side...what make someone think they have the authority to keep keys days after the closing?

Some agents think that they cannot give the keys out until the BANK authorizes them...days after closing.  IF it is not specified differently in the contract, the keys need to be distributed at the closing table.

Eve in Orlando

Geesh!  The nerve of some people.  I have had a few buyers ask the same thing and the answer is always no.  No no no.    

Never let someone into the property until they own it. If our seller client agrees to this, they are advised to get legal opinion and insurance opinion.

Lee Ann, you are so right on this one. The answer should always be no. Buyers don't realize the liability for moving in prior to the closing date.

On several occasions we secured permission to do showings to potential renters several weeks prior to closing, of course no leases were signed until after closing.  There was one other time when we wished that we had secured permission to do some maintenance on a home, the lawn was very tall and my son was ready to get it mowed the minute that it closed, however the city had their workers over there mowing it while we closed, guess who got stuck with the bill?