I'd go sooner rather than later. It ALWAYS seems to take longer to move than you expect.

Don't you have 30 days after closing to get out? We did.. We didn't take the whole 30 days but we could have...

Never ever heard of 30 days after closing. The new people want in immediately on the next day usually.

Larke -- some areas of the country it is very common for possession to be a set number of days after closing as long as it is agreeable to both parties.

In this market there are a lot of deals falling through at the last minute. I'd be just as nervous as the OP about moving out too soon. I think you have to have some kind of gut feeling about how things are going. If you're pretty confident that the closing is going to happen without a problem, then waiting til the last minute could yield it's own set of problems. On the other hand you could incur extra expenses you're not counting on if you move out and the closing doesn't happen. How confident are you, your realtor and your husband that the closing is going to happen on time?

We have 24 hours after closing to be completely out.

Everyone seems to be pretty confident the closing will take place. It's an FHA loan & the appraisal and inspection have both gone well. Our realtor has spoken with their lender and was told everything looked good. You've made me very nervous Cordovamom :)

OP -- didn't mean to make you nervous!! If your realtor and the lender say it's looking good and the appraisal and inspection have gone well, and everyone seems pretty confident it will happen, then that's a good thing. If it was going to fall apart at the end, I think you would have seen some signs by now. One of my brother's faced delay after delay for the closing of a home he was selling. His realtor finally told him, it will be a miracle if this home closes and it fell apart. Someone I know that was buying a home was on her way to closing when told a last minute issue had come up and the loan was no longer going to be funded. Those things happen, but if all signs are positive, then you have to think positively.

We moved out the day of closing; really had no choice. We were not sure it was even going to happen; and in the end it sounded like the buyer was going to back out. Movers got there at 7am; most everything was out by walk through at 10ish. They had to find another truck. Hub went to closing & by the time they needed me (11:30) we were out.

Buyer was ticked we'd shut all utilities off. I was running the vac for the last time & power went out. Their relative "realtor" never told them to turn everything on in their name I guess. It soured the closing table.

Are you moving yourself or using a company? I had a hard time getting a truck on the day following Memorial weekend

"Their relative "realtor" never told them to turn everything on in their name I guess. It soured the closing table. "

Don't you like being held responsible for others mistakes?

I have always had the utilities put in my name the day of closing, and never encountered anyone who had them actually turned off before the day of closing.

A day or two extra on the bill are insignificant.

Thanks everyone.

I'm going to stick to my guns and we won't be moving until the night before or day of closing, better safe than sorry.

We are moving ourselves but have a large trailer and can get another one from a friend if need be. We have planned to shut off utilities the day after we close. That should give the buyer ample time to get them in their name, I hope.

" We have planned to shut off utilities the day after we close."

If the POCO is on the ball they should see the new owners change and realize that they only need to read the meter.

Here, it is common for the previous owner to be out before the owner-to-be does the final walk-through, which occurs the day before or the day of closing.

When (if) we sell our house, my DH says that we are not moving out until everything is absolutely final~~~ My daughter and husband were in a "three buyers" deal....they moved into their "new" house and then the first one's loan fell through...then both other buyers had to move back into their original house....what a nightmare!!!!

We were so lucky because the gal that bought our rural home was so good. She let us stay a weekend, but we had most of the stuff packed. We also either sold or left alot for her, which we could not fit into the new (to us) place, and she needed it. We left the utalities on for a week, as she was a teacher for special students and just could not get stuff done very fast and it was a distance into town. She really appreciated. But then it was March and snow could have come anytime. I made sure to leave all the instructions for the house etc. I arranged to have someone ( a neighbor) to clean, and while we were leaving, she and her friend arrived and found out that neighbors son in law knew her friend as they both were in law enforcement.

"I'm going to stick to my guns and we won't be moving until the night before or day of closing, better safe than sorry.

We are moving ourselves but have a large trailer and can get another one from a friend if need be."

Hope you either have a lot of friends or not many belongings. Moving yourself isn't an easy proposition even for those that have done it before.

Fortunately we've had the luxury (or misfortune) of having 2 houses for the last 6 months while we've moved. We closed last Monday on the house we'd had on the market for about 9 months. Not happy about that but relieved to be done with it.

"Never ever heard of 30 days after closing. The new people want in immediately on the next day usually."

Possession 30 days after closing is the norm where I live. Immediate possession is rare and is something thrown in to sweeten the kitty.

It all boils down to how the contract reads. When I discuss with a realtor the terms of a contract, it is my call when I want to set the possession date for the new owners before they sign on the dotted line, whether they like it or not. After it's set and agreed upon, it is cut in stone unless both parties agree after the fact that a deviance is acceptable.

When would I start the moving process before a closing date? If I had somewhere to go (like a home I'd just bought) it would be as soon as I knew I had it for sure..........so as to leave time for unforeseen circumstances, and to clean the unit I am leaving for the new owner. Of course contingency deals may throw a different light on the matter, if your new home purchase was contingent on your old one closing.

Since you've only allowed yourself a tiny, and I mean TINY window of opportunity to move I'd suggest you at least have all the smaller articles packed in boxes, marked and stacked and ready to be loaded. Please remember how absolutely wasted you'll feel from the physical move and then you'll have the privilege of reversing the process and unpacking to your new residence. It makes me tired just thinking about it. Have you already closed on your new house? Obligated to rent and signed a contract? Well, that means whether your old house closes or not, you have obligations to two residences, lol. What difference would it make moving sooner? What if you don't accomplish removing all your belongings before they take possession? Would you like to pick up your stuff from the curb? Impose on your buyers to work around your belongings as they are trying to move in? Don't go there.

As for utilities...........I always call my utility companies in advance, tell them the date I shall be moving and schedule a cut-off about three days after that date for the final meter reading. This I do as a kindness for the people who buy my home, to give them time to contract to take over the utilities. Then I let my realtor know so they can let the buyer's realtor know the window they have to accomplish this business before their utilities are shut off. It's a courtesy, and the chances of someone else using a small fortune in electric/gas or water in a day or two are small. It's all about not being a real butt to deal with. A little understanding and concession go a long way toward making the other party not be hostile after the fact. You don't want that anymore than you want to be a door mat.

We sold our house in March and moved out completely a week prior to closing. I see no reason to wait until closing because the title doesn't change until the papers are signed. What is the point of putting it off?

We never shut off our utilities, I contacted the electric Co. and told them the day of closing and they transferred the accounts to the new buyers. Only cable was stopped.

The day before closing, I had the house cleaned and polished. The morning of closing, we went to the house, left a fruit basket, flowers and some candy for their kids on the kitchen counter.

We handed over the keys at the closing, walked to our car and cried our eyes out.

Jane

You can't just transfer utilities here to a new buyer. You own that household obligation until you are no longer owner of the house, and the new occupant arranges to open an account. And, they can't open it when you still own it, unless you accompany them to the utility office and do it together. And most of them don't want to take over the account when you are still living there, in case their closing doesn't fly. So you leave them a time interval to get there and get it done. If you just wait for them to go in, they may not for many moons. LOL. Guess who's liable?

I've never had a utility company that would put the utilities in the new owner's name by just my saying so!! I would always let the new owner know when I was having the utilities shut off in my name. If they didn't want an interuption in service then they had to get all the utilities put in their name effective when my shut off order would go into effect. Likewise when buying a home once,the sellers were not on top of putting in a shut off order, I kept calling to see if I could put utilities in my name and the utility company said not until a shut off order was put in by the current owners. I'd call every day until finally the sellers had called to have utilities cut off.

I'm glad it isn't the norm here to give the seller 30 days to move out. The buyer legally owns the house but can't live in it? I must be missing something. Who pays for the homeowner's insurance during that time? What if the sellers take longer than that? I wouldn't close until I could see that the house was completely empty and ready for me to move into.

I live in NY and use Con Edison for electric and gas. When I called them and told them we were closing on March 1, they said the utilities would not be shut off but transferred to the new owners. Our name came off the account on March 1.

Cable was another situation. We had to turn in our boxes and they closed our account. The new owners took care of their own cable connections.

Our buyers had electric and heat when they moved in. We received our final bill, 2 months later, which showed electric usage until March 1.

Jane

You are going to find utility companies all over the board about setting up and shutting off accounts. I owned a home into which my daughter and her husband were moving. They tried to transfer the account to their name and had to have me traipse down there, and sign an agreement that even though they were transferring the account, as owner of the house, I was legally responsible for the bill. Likewise in many localities if you buy a house at auction or foreclosure you might get a surprise when you go to turn on the utilities. LOL. You may have to pay somebody else's bill to EVER get service. No matter how large.

"They tried to transfer the account to their name and had to have me traipse down there, and sign an agreement that even though they were transferring the account, as owner of the house, I was legally responsible for the bill. "

Sounds more like they had no credit (or bad credit).

In around ten states i have never shown up at the utility office to change service.

Every utility (POCO, gas, water, phone) has managed to match up the sellers termination of service with my establishing service and read the meter on the correct data.

Even the electric co-ops were on the ball enough to match things up.

Also, we are renting for a year and when we moved in, we had electricity and heat. I never contacted the utility yet the bill came the following month, in our name, for usage starting March 1. I assumed the landlord took care of it.

Jane

Hi Orv1

We have already downsized considerably for when we listed. We are basically living with the bare essentials. We have even packed up all our plates, cups, etc and are living off plastic & paper.

It won't be easy, but I think it will be doable. We have several friends & coworkers that have already offered to help.

I think the most time consuming part, which I should probably get started on, is patching up all the small holes were pictures and other wall decor was. Oh, and there is the huge crayon drawing my son decided to do on the wall the other day, nice!

I would definitely wait until the day before or the day of closing. When I bought my house there were some issues. As a buyer, I was terrified that the bank would call me an hour before closing and say WHOOPS, big problem, no closing!

It is not done until it is DONE. There are a lot of deals out there falling apart due to the financial mess that everyone is still dealing with.

Luckily our house was vacant so the seller did not have a situation. But if I were a seller, I wouldn't move out until everything closed. We ended up closing a month and a half later than we should have....things happen. I'm lucky it closed at all.

I have always insisted on possession at closing with the sellers completely out for the pre-closing walk-through. If the sellers aren't out when the deal closes, they become tenants with all that implies.

"They tried to transfer the account to their name and had to have me traipse down there, and sign an agreement that even though they were transferring the account, as owner of the house, I was legally responsible for the bill. "

Sounds more like they had no credit (or bad credit).

You know, I knew when I posted that you'd come on with that comment. It had nothing to do with credit. They went on to buy a home shortly thereafter. It's just policy for that utility company in all cases where the occupant is not the owner. Period. I'm sure the policy was initiated because of non-owner occupants leaving unpaid bills, however.

Just thought i'd update. We did close and everything was fine! It was a bit of a pain to move out in 2 days, but we had a ton of help. It's been more of a hassle getting internet hooked up at our rental :).

I'm still in shock everything went as smooth as it did, I guess that was contributing to my paranoia about closing.

"If the sellers aren't out when the deal closes, they become tenants with all that implies."

Rarely does landlord tenant law apply to a seller 'holding over' (maybe in a place like New York city).

At the most they are 'tenants at sufferance' ad you can have them removed as trespassers.

They have NO legal right to remain in the property without some type of written agreement.

In usually make the fee they pay (not rent) equal to the new daily mortgage (PITI) and double that if they are not out by the agreed on date.

The expected costs along with a heft damage deposit are held in escrow at settlement, and only released after they vacate and I inspect of damage.

As a purchaser if the house is not empty at the pre-closing inspection I demand significant cash be held in escrow until an inspection for damage is completed.

I never move out until closing. If the there are any problems and the buyer sees I've moved it gives them more leverage.
I've never had a buyer request an empty house at final inspection..

I guess we had pretty laid back buyers. We hadn't moved much at all when they did their final walk-through. In fact they weren't going to do one at all, but our realtor called at the last minute and asked if they were sure they didn't want to.

Here funds are not transferred until 24 hours or so, sometimes more, after closing. It was made clear to us the property was ours until funds were officially transferred, so I am not sure how the buyer would have required our stuff be out before then. Luckily, they couldn't have cared less and everything worked out.

Here funds are not transferred until 24 hours or so, sometimes more, after closing.

That's the difference between signing and closing. In many states (especially in the west), you will sign all your documents at the Title/Escrow company, then the loan docs are overnighted to the mortgage company for final review - and I have seen cases where the docs were returned for missing signatures. When everything is done to the mortgage company's satisfaction then funds are wired to the Escrow company, funds are distributed and the sale is recorded. At that time the deal is considered closed.

"That's the difference between signing and closing."

It is more complicated than that.

Closing and close refer to more than one thing.

It is used to indicate the 'sign the forms gathering' as well as the final disbursement of funds by lenders.

There are 'wet' closing states (~41) and dry closing states (~9) with various timing rules for each.

'Wet' states require lending banks to disburse funds within a period of time (usually a day or two at most).
Virginia is a wet state and funds must be 'collected' (in the settlement attorney/companies possession) at settlement.

The settlement company is on the hook for any checks the seller writes at the settlement table since the funds are not in their possession.

'Dry' states sign documents, but money does not change hands at that point.

The property is conveyed to the new owner as soon as the deed is signed.

Possession of the property can be subject to contract terms or law.

I don't know about other places, but when I went to the office to "close", the documents were immediately faxed to US Bank and the monies were ACH'ed/transferred to the seller within an hour. Only then could the title company scoot down to the county office to switch ownership. It sure didn't take a day or two.

"Rarely does landlord tenant law apply to a seller 'holding over' (maybe in a place like New York city).

At the most they are 'tenants at sufferance' ad you can have them removed as trespassers."

You don't want the sellers to be tenants of any kind. If they are living in a house they don't own, they are tenants.

State laws vary. In some places, eviction procedures can take months. In all states, tenants have certain rights and can sue if those rights are violated. Their rights may differ little from those of tenants at will.

Language in the sales agreement that makes it financially painful for the seller not to quit the premises entirely by closing helps immensely.

"Tenants at sufferance' are rarely covered by ANY landlord-tenant law.

They are hardly more than squatters, with no right to be in the property except at the owners tolerance.

Criminal trespass charges have a very motivating affect on folks.

We took possession of all our homes (4 different closings) at the time of the closings. The sellers were out so we could see the empty house during the walk through before closing. That is the only way we would do it. I wouldn't want anyone in my house once we took possession. We were out for our buyers, we expect the same from the sellers. NancyLouise

On our last move, we paid the new owner's rent for 30 days to allow us time to move. This was mainly due to the fact we have livestock and were moving 900 miles away. I would not recommend doing this - it ended up being a total nightmare. The new owners were very nasty about everything. They came weekly to inspect the house to "make sure we were not damaging their house". This was a high end home on acreage that we had built and cared for. It was very stressful being accused like that. Then, the transporters for our horses were caught in a tornado in the midwest and were behind on their schedule. So, we had to leave 2 horses at the farm for 12 hours after the buyers moved in. We talked to the boyfriend/buyer who said no problem, it was fine. Then the girlfriend/buyer called animal control to say we had abandoned our horses! The whole thing was a disaster. Then to top things off, we found out they had financed the place 100% and never made one payment. They were foreclosed on within 6 months of purchase and they totally destroyed the home.

It isn't at *all* uncommon for a seller to move out after closing;
the contract should have a "Seller's Temporary Residential Lease" attached.

easy peasy.

What a horrible story, Cymraes! I can't even imagine.

Jane

Our house has to be vacant and broom clean for the final walk-through prior to closing. If any of the dominos fail to fall, it will be disasterous for us. That's the way it is done here in NY (not the City of).

So...... as the seller, I am expected to have a completely empty house, with ALL the work that entails, for the final walk through? What, may I ask, is the point of a walkthrough? I would assume it is one last check to make sure nothing is wrong, as subjective as that sounds, before closing. That being the case it would appear that I the seller am burdened with hoping the all powerful buyer doesn’t back out the day before closing after secretly finding out they’re pregnant. Thus, leaving me with the work of moving back into the house paying movers for nothing and then resetting the home for showings. Forgive my vulgarity but this sounds dumb as hell.

Well, dont do it then. Make sure your realtor or attorney writes up your counter offer the way you want it.

What CA Kate z9 said. Why did the guy above dust this off after eight years?

Hu knows?

Clearly, not you. Another post from a non-contributor .

Yes, Hu-2145. That is exactly what I expect when purchasing a house on the finally walk through. Either the day before or the morning of the closing. Empty house. I want to make sure all clauses of the contract are fulfilled. Items that are supposed to be left are and no damage has been done. That is why I prefer the morning of the closing. If the contract is not fulfilled, i didn't sign or monies were deducted. Have had a sleazy seller and realtors before. Hasn't happened to us again.