Question for the home owners here

karnovking · #1 06-26-2005, 12:11 PM

I'm buying a house. Settlement occurs on friday. My wife got pressured into an agreement to allow the seller to stay in the house the night after closing.

I am completely against this, and called to inform (our) real estate office. I got a bunch of Sh*t from them about how they already sent the agreement of this to be signed by the seller and how this is going to cause a problem.

I told them I will not sign/agree to this and I want the keys to the house to be in my hands at settlement and the seller to be out.

I never did get good vibes from the sellers and they are moving to somewhere near San Francisco, quite a distance from here to say the least. They have also been a complete pain in the *ss through this entire thing.

Anyway, I am concerned about damage being done to our new home by them. What if by chance they did something like that? They got my check and they will be off to the west coast and i'd be stuck with the damages.

Anyway, can I get some opinions on this from you all?

Knifeblade · #2 06-26-2005, 12:18 PM

Not to seem flippant, but I've seen this on a Judge Judy type- TV show before. If there was no damage inventory done before the move-in date, you'll likely lose any damages, as they can state it was a pre-existing condition.

Take pic.'s anyway as soon as U are in the house, but since there seems an agreement they could stay the day, you are without recourse.

ec437 · #3 06-26-2005, 12:18 PM

Is there anything in the contract that says they stay there, but any new damage is to be paid for by them?

karnovking · #4 06-26-2005, 12:44 PM

no, nothing in the sale contract that they stay there. This is an additional thing that has come up a week before settlement.

Yeah, i'll have good luck collecting on damages from someone 3000 miles away

ec437 · #5 06-26-2005, 01:02 PM

actually, its more like 2500. But yeah, good luck.

jswillmon · #6 06-26-2005, 02:04 PM

If it is not in the contract then you should get the keys and be able to move in right away. If they want to be a pain about this then tell them your going to walk on the deal. You should be able to walk thru the house and make sure there is no dammage the day before the closing that should be fixed before you buy the house (at least this was the case when I bought my new house, but I think should work the way in the case of an older home).

Edit: Keep in mind your realestate agent is going to try to get you to agree with whatever the seller wants, If you don't agree then this may delay the closing an delay their proffit. Your agent should act as your lawyer and represent your wishes, If they give you shit about it then threaten to get rid of his/her ass.
They should have moved the closing back a few days if they couldn't be out by that day.

lamehonda · #7 06-26-2005, 02:54 PM

To have a contract, you have to have something for something. What are you getting out of the agreement for them to stay the extra night? If you aren't getting anything out of it, you don't have to hold up the agreement as you never had a contract. I would tell you to threaten your agent with your backing out of the deal.

Good luck!

sivic02 · #8 06-26-2005, 02:59 PM

The house would be owned by you the night that they are staying there. If it doesnt say anywhere about them having privacy while in your house, just stay there and harass them all night until they leave.

Im not a lawyer, but if there are 2 legal doccuments, one where during the closing the house comes into your posession and a seperate one where the seller is allowed one more day in the house. The first one preceeds the second and therefore SHOULD be the main legaly binding agreement and should be held over the second one. I would think anyway.

lamehonda · #9 06-26-2005, 03:10 PM

The way your agreement is set up according to you. The house sale contract is seperate from the extra night.

And as I previously stated, if the second agreement doesn't give you any benefit you don't have a contract.

So once you closed, you could throw all of their crap out in the street and they would have no recourse. You would get a fine for littering though

Andydg · #10 06-26-2005, 05:47 PM

I'm not a homeowner but when my family moved into the house we live in now we had a walk through the day of the closing. We walked through and there was all kinds of damage to the carpet and they took the fridge and oven/stove when they moved and we agreed in the contract to keep those in the house. We went to the closing and told them if they don't reimburse us for it all then we are walking. That would be a huge pain for them and the realtors so they got their asses in gear and made things work.

drunken monkey · #11 06-26-2005, 06:12 PM

2nd rule of contract law.
contracts do not have to fair.

this isn't really about house buying.
it's more to do how your contract of sale and agreement of their staying is worded.
as the other guy said, one of the things that should've been done pre-sale is an itenary of existing damages which would be taken as reference point in case of further damages.
however, seeing as they're going to be there after agreed date of exchange, the itenary won't mean much in terms of whether or not they have caused extra damages because the itenary would only be accountable for the period between sale and date of exchange (completion).
but anyway.
you've already said you were not going to sign the agreement.

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