Dec. 27, 2006 - Closing and Keys

Closing and keys should be simple if you follow these basic steps.

1) Closing generally happens in the late afternoon or evening, so sellers SHOULD take off from work and make sure the home is empty and clean by noon or so.  Buyers should NOT take off from work and plan to move in the day after closing or the weekend following closing, if possible.

2) You sign your papers in advance of closing, so don't think the house is yours when you stand up from the table...that's East Coast, not West Coast stuff.  West Coast is "escrow" where you sign days in advance of the actually transfer of property.

3) The key to the house is in that little blue box.  If the seller's agent leaves the box on, your agent can get you in and the owner should have left all remaining keys and garage door openers, etc inside in a "pre-designated" spot.  Easy...except when the agent takes the box off too soon...which is all too often.  You agent can hand you the keys anytime after the call from escrow that says "property has recorded" UNLESS possession on the first page of your contract does not say "ON CLOSING".

Dec. 29, 2006 - re: Closing and Keys

Dec. 30, 2006 - re: Closing and Keys

There are pros and cons.  If you are selling and need the money from the sale to close on your new home, it's hard to do it all in one day.  Not impossible, but difficult. 

On the East Coast several families have their belongings sitting on a truck waiting for the money from the sale to get to the purchase.  Settlement on the sale might be 10 a.m. and settlement on purchase for that same family at 1:00.  Everything sitting on a truck and the movers waiting around to see if it closes.  Not a pretty picture sometimes, and the sellers have to pay for the truck while it is just sitting there, and pay the movers to stand around waiting for the second closing.  Can get pretty tense if the closing is delayed or extended to the next day.

It's not about a buyer's market or seller's market.  It's about the sellers having no where to go until they can close on their new house, after receiving the money on the sale.  

Think about it this way.  If you are renting and the seller needs to close on their new home after they get the money from their sale, would you really want to force them to put all of their stuff on a truck overnight and stay in a hotel if you didn't NEED to move in anyway?  Try to think of a seller with 5 kids and three pets :)

On the other hand, the buyer has no leverage on the West Coast even if there is no post possession clause.  On the East Coast the buyer can walk through the property before they sign their papers and can refuse to sign if there is anything wrong at the walk through.  On the West Coast the buyers have already signed before the sellers leave, so if there is something wrong, it's harder to do anything about it.

I've done  8 years East Coast and 8 years West Coast.  There are pros and cons, but I like East Coast better.  Most times there's not much difference.  If the property is vacant, or if the sellers do a bridge loan and close on their new home first...then there is no need for a post possession.  But never on the West Coast have I seen the line of moving trucks hanging out waiting for people to close.  So it seems the movers have an easier time of it and movers don't get paid to stand around doing nothing.

Pros and cons to each.

Nov. 20, 2007 - RE: Closing and Keys