You did the final walkthrough and saw the status of the palce. Why on Earth did you not go back for a walkthrough right before closing?

Wow - nasty! It amazes me the number of trashy people out there who could care less about anyone esle. Sorry you have to deal with that mess. Your realtor is right - there is nothing (legally) you can do. It could have been a lot worse, so just clean it up, and don't let it bother you too much.

Resale homes are sold "as is", unless you had something in your contract specifying that the sellers would have the home professionally cleaned, I think that you are SOL.
Sorry :(

Vacuuming won't help that rug anyways....

Next time, you'll know to do another walk through!

"Resale homes are sold "as is", unless you had something in your contract specifying that the sellers would have the home professionally cleaned, I think that you are SOL. "

A common clause says 'broom clean.'

Since you did not take action at settlement you are probably SOL.

Any leverage is gone.

Lesson learned: don't close until sellers are moved out and walk-through complete.

But for consolation, think that the person who lived like that probably wouldn't "broom clean" to your satisfaction anyway.
I saw how the owner lived in a house I was going to lease (clutter, dust) and was reassured that they would "have it cleaned" (note: not "would clean it") I must've used 10 gallons of bleach getting the grime off the kitchen and bathrooms to my satisfaction, and I'm not a clean freak by any means. It's just that my dirt isn't as gross as someone else's dirt.

So pay a service $200 to deep clean it and another $200 for carpet cleaning and you'll feel better. Or apply elbow grease and rent a carpet cleaner. Whatever you can afford. Easier to clean empty.

To answer your question, ncrealestate, DH made me promise not to say anything because he was worried they would back out- which I highly doubt, as it would have cost them money. The house is clean now, I guess I was just hoping for some form of redemption.

Glad to hear the home is clean now. Your agent should have advised you to go back on the day of closing. People that have no self respect for themselves are not going to show you any either.
As Brickeyee says, most contracts state that the house must be left "broom clean".
Just go forward enjoying your new home, and just chalk it up to finding out that some people are disrespectful slobs.

Maybe this will make you feel better. The seller of a house we bought left us a freezer FULL of rotten meat. I mean, liquified, maggot-infested meat. When we opened the lid, we dropped it and ran, that's how bad it was.

LoveInTheHouse, that is horrendous!

"Lesson learned: don't close until sellers are moved out and walk-through complete."

Or require a painfully large amount of funds to be escrowed at settlement to be released on your signature.

You should see how clean a place can be when the seller realizes they have $20,000 held back and a deadline.

As a seller I will not agree to vacate my property until closing, ie money in my hand.
I don't want to give that much leverage to the buyer before closing.
In the end, it isn't too big a deal for you.

ncrealestateguy has it right: "Your agent should have advised you to go back on the day of closing."

If they did provide the appropriate advice, then your decision not to object leaves you with no recourse.

If your agent failed to provide advice that you were at risk doing a final walk-through so far in advance of possession, they should be held accountable - ask them to pay for cleaning & escalate to their broker if required.

The sellers asked for two extra days and we agreed.

Does this mean that you delayed closing for two days or that you closed and then let them stay in your house rent-free for two days?

They stayed rent-free. This is one of the reasons I am so bothered by this- we were very understanding and lenient with these people. DH even helped them move by doing a dump-run for them. But I also feel our Realtor was very unprofessional. First, she took us to view 3 houses that turned out to have already been sold. One of them we were very interested in and she tried to cover up her mistake by saying it had just been sold that day- a quick search on the internet revealed that it had been off the market for weeks. Then she failed to enter in our contract that we wanted their furniture and ride-on mower (which they said we could arrange.) Because she failed to enter this, they reneged on that offer. And yes, I realize it was absolutely our mistake to not read it more carefully, but we were right behind her as she was writing it up- I don't see how she failed to include that. They also left their cat here, and it's constantly crying for attention but I am so not a cat person. Not to mention their punk son who has come back three times because he "forgot something." I so badly want to yell, "of course you did, you left all of your junk here!" But alas, DH says to let it be. I guess that is why I'm venting on here- because I need to speak my mind and he won't let me.

They left their CAT ???! Please, continue to take car of the poor creature, because certainly it is a victim of their selfishness and abuse, just as you were. You may not be a cat person, but you should bond together on this. The cat probably understands your feelings better than your husband does with regard to this immature and slobbish family.

You think the punk son forgot his bag of weed that he had hidden under a floor board? Haha

Wow - and they even left their cat.......pretty pathetic people. If you aren't a cat person and don't want to keep it - please try to find a friend or relative to take it who will take good care of it. Taking it to the Humane Society seems like the right thing to do, but unless it is a cute playful kitten, most cats end up being put down - I have heard as high as 70% don't make it. Sorry to sound negative.

Thats also really crappy you were so nice to them (overly nice) and then they got away with all that crap. You know what they say - give someone an inch, they will take a mile. Use this as a learning experience and try not to feel so bad about it. They are the scumbags who will continue to be scumbags for the rest of their lives. You are the better person and will continue to be. Your realtor sounds like they couldn't care too much about you, and did a poor job of handling your requests - but unfortunately, you carry some of that blame too. You signed off on the paperwork that did not include the conveyances. Next time try to be more careful.

Don't feel too ripped off that you didn't get the furniture or riding mower. Judging by the way they left things, and the kind of "people" (and I use that term loosely) they are, the furniture was probably all flea-infested and the lawnmower was probably a piece of crap anyway.

Good luck - hope things get better for you. Try to enjoy your new house. Don't give scumbags like this the power to bring you down. You are better than that.

Cas66ragtop (I really need to find an acronym for your name), your last post was right on. Hope your selling is going well.

Thank you all. We are trying to find the cat a home but are, of course, keeping it fed in the meantime. It was nice to get this off of my chest.

Thanks NC. An easy name for me could be CAS or CAS66 or you could just call me SH*THEAD.

Selling is going "ok" - we have had lots of interest, just nobody making an offer. I wrote an incredibly long story about whats going on, but haven't posted it yet - I don't want to bore anyone with it and I don't want to jinx myself with some of the negativity either. I'm trying to stay positive and hoping that something will happen soon. Thanks for asking.

Are you sure it's their cat? Was it IN the house when you took possession or does it have a collar with their name on it? Or is it possible that it's just a stray cat that they might have fed occasionally and it is just coming to the door expecting you to continue the tradition?
If you are sure it's theirs, have you informed them that you found it? Maybe they lost it during the move and are worried sick about it.

If they had any concern at all for their cat, they would have called or stopped by the minute they realized it was missing.

It's their cat. They had asked us if we'd keep it and we'd said no. Then they gave us sob stories every time we saw them, saying, "oh, I guess we're just going to put him down then." They also had the nerve to ask more than once if their son could rent a room from us, and tried to make us feel guilty about that, too. "Well, who knows what will happen to him. He has nowhere to go." Crazy people- who leaves their teenage son behind? But don't worry, the neighbors took him in.

They also had the nerve to ask more than once if their son could rent a room from us, and tried to make us feel guilty about that, too. "Well, who knows what will happen to him. He has nowhere to go." Crazy people- who leaves their teenage son behind? But don't worry, the neighbors took him in.

Wow!

I don't know if it helps, but sometimes I find that imagining someone's "story" to be helpful in mustering my patience. Whatever leads someone to have no pride in how they live or how they present themselves and abandon their cat (!) and their son (!!!) must have been a long hard road. Can you imagine how they were raised? I'm real glad not to be them.

Anyway, it all sounds very frustrating, but I hope one day it will be something you can laugh at.

Geez - this story just gets worse and worse every time I check in. It started out with dirt and trash, then the "rent-free" and furniture/lawn mower, then the cat (!) and now the teenager (!!). Yikes!!!

Where on earth were they going that they couldn't take their son? Commune? Homeless shelter? Rehab? Jail?

"They left their son behind"
As soon as I read this I just had to laugh out loud. Not because it is a funny situation, but it just caught me by surprise.

SH*THEAD, we want to hear your story when you are ready... Again, good luck.

Are you sure the guy is even a their son? Are you sure he's a teenager? Too many grown-ass men act and live as punk teenagers for decades.

If the son is done with high school, it's time to get out of the parents house anyway.

Wow, given what the did to their kid, the cat is small potatoes and the dirty carpet and drain? Hardly noticeable.
I'd burn some sage and try not to think of them again.

So by "teenage son", are we talking 13 or 18. Big difference. If he's 17 or 18, then maybe he really wants to finish his final year of high school with his friends and doesn't want to move to a different district. That's understandable and I could see why the previous owners would be trying to find him a room in his current area. (However, pressuring you is not acceptable.)

I too am shaking my head over this bizarre story. I agree that a dirty left house pales in comparison to leaving a cat and son behind and whining to you about both. Is this for real? How could you put up with this situation without taking a firm stand? This is truly unbelievable.

It is bizarre, isn't it? But it all seems to be over with. The son hasn't come around for a few days. The cat doesn't bother us- we feed it and DH seems to even be taking a liking to it. In the end it was all worth it and the house is coming together beautifully. One more tidbit I left out (and I'm sorry this story keeps getting more complicated) but we had originally expressed interest in their glass top coffee table. They had said we could negotiate on it but that there were scratches on it because of their daughter's cocaine problem! Needless to say, we decided against it! Well, it has been nice venting about these crazies. Peace and love to all of you, I feel a weight has been lifted!

"They had said we could negotiate on it but that there were scratches on it because of their daughter's cocaine problem! "

They actually TOLD you that?!? OMG. The cat should be sending you thank you notes by this time, just for taking it in and saving it from those crazies.

Something tells me this family will appear in this forum in the future. Perhaps another thread along the lines of "you won't believe the crazies who just moved in next to us".

Anyway, I'm glad things worked out for you, and the house and your family is doing well. Congratulations on your new home.

ynnej - You definitely win this year's prize for the craziest house buying story!

ynnej - Please tell us that you have had the locks rekeyed or changed!!!!

Just because 'the son hasn't come around in a few days' doesn't mean he won't be back. Daughter using cocain? Red flags all over the place.....

Unbelievable! I'm sorry you had to go through that. Hopefully you'll remember that no good deed goes unpunished in the future. And seriously, it would be worth the price of a locksmith to have everything re-keyed. The former homeowners are a piece of work.

theres a lot of disgusting people out there

Yes, there are indeed scum out there, some of us even get the opportunity to call them "relatives"
My story. :)
My parents lived in a house for nearly 32 yrs. My brother ended up buying it from them at a great price. My brother's wife is a total spendaholic and who just can't say no to nice things. They lived in the house for the past 10 years. They ended up filing bankruptcy and put the house into it as well (this, in itself, ticked me off b/c my brother makes good money -right around 6 figures-their money issues have nothing to do w/ $$$ just bad spending habits). The week before the bank was to take possession I told my sister to call me as soon as they had left town (my bro and SIL decided to start anew half way across the country, dragging their 4 kids with them).
My sister arrived first (I live about 1 1/2 hours away)and there were already scavengers at the house (my SIL had told them they could come and take whatever was left -they had already sold ALL appliances, including the pool heater). We sent the scavengers away and proceeded to spent the next 9 hours cleaning. We had no electricity, so it was priminitive at best. At the end of the day we had btwn 35-40 black bags of garbage! It was absolutely disgusting and shocking that my brother could leave a family home like that. BUT the best part about it all? My SIL (and my bro..I'm sure b/c of my nutjob SIL) went psycho on us, threatened us and told us never to speak to them again.... all for cleaning a house? If I can find the pics, I can show you the before and after. Absolutely unbelievable. And, this was FAMILY!!

I hope you had all the locks changed and if there wasn't an alarm on the house I hope you have one installed.

A daughter w/a coke habit means friends that have drug habits as well. Had a dear friend whose sister was murdered in her home because a her lousy coke head brother's "friends" came back looking for him.

PLEASE take extra care to make your home secure.

"The cat doesn't bother us- we feed it and DH seems to even be taking a liking to it. In the end it was all worth it and the house is coming together beautifully."

Glad to hear the house is coming along and that cat isn't going to have to be casualty of your white trash sellers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

...and that cat isn't going to have to be casualty of your white trash sellers.

Why are you assuming that the sellers are white (oops, I mean ... pigmentally challenged)? That's racist! ;)

'Pigmentally challenged'. I like that!

No racism intended. Glad the cat is ok.

I wonder if the OP might be interested in having a cop with a K9 dog over to see if the son left any drugs in the house?

The family who purchased the house across the street from us found their new home not even this clean. Around the house, mostly in the basement, were broken chairs, broken TV stands, basically just broken stuff all over. The pipe underneath the kitchen sink leaked, and a pair of vice grip pliers replaced one of the shower handles.

As the snow melted, the strange lumps underneath turned out to be...more broken junk, tossed out of the house but never taken to the dump. Well, you can't put furniture in the trash, you have to take it to the "transfer station," aka dump, and pay for disposal by the pound.