Real Estate --- Move In Day

The day of move in can be extremely exciting. All the bare walls and empty rooms seem to be shouting, Decorate me! Any new homeowner can be flooded with new ideas as to how to rearrange the furniture, clean, and unpack. One may want to paint and put up curtains right away.

When the buyer makes an offer on a property and it gets accepted, the planning starts. People have actually had a calendar marked as a countdown to the big “M”. Moving Day. The question always comes up, “When can I move in?”. The big day actually depends on your contract with the seller.

Most of the time the buyer will be given the keys to the new home on the day of closing. This is when the property actually changes hands. The seller has signed his rights away and the buyer has resumed them. Sometimes things can happen a little differently.

The seller may ask for a few extra days to ensure everything they want is out of the house. They may need some extra time to locate a property or even close on the new one they are buying. When a seller is having a home built, delays can occur which can defer the sellers moving on an expected date. There may have to be concessions made to accommodate the sellers.

It is possible the seller will permit to have the buyer move in prior to the closing. This generally can be done if the house is vacant and it is a strong buyer. If the buyer had difficulty getting hold of the loan, or asked for certain concessions, the seller may not feel comfortable permitting the buyer to move in until the closing has been finalized. This is just added protection against anything which could go wrong. Either way the seller usually has a week to week lease with the buyer to allow occupancy prior to closing.

You will find some real estate agencies have rental agreements on file which can be signed by the seller and buyer for either one to live in the home during the time prior to closing or shortly thereafter. These forms are used to protect each party so there is no question about what is going on. The seller may pay rent to the buyer in lieu of letting them stay longer. The buyer may also be required to pay if he or she moves in prior to closing. The agreements usually consists of a clause concerning the utility usage during the times of occupancy.

In all reality, very few times any more do the sellers need to reside in the home after closing. It is only on rare occasions the buyer would need to move in before closing. So the real answer to when you can move in is actually entirely up to the people involved in the sale.
 

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