Important Things To Know About Taking Early Possession When Buying A House
When a person buys a house, he or she typically will not receive possession of the house until the day of closing; however, there are times when buyers and sellers reach a mutual agreement that allows the buyer to move in early. This is called taking early possession, and here are a couple of things to know about this if you would like to have the opportunity to move into the house you are buying prior to closing on it.
You would need to reach an agreement on paper
In order to take early possession of the house you are buying, you and the seller would have to reach an agreement on paper before this could occur. This agreement would likely be called an early possession contract, and it would outline all the details of the arrangement. For example, it would include the date in which you could take possession, the amount of money you must pay the seller for moving in early, and the terms of the agreement. Without signing a contract like this, the seller will not be willing to allow you to take early possession of the house.
There are risks in this, especially for the seller
When a seller allows a buyer to take early possession, the seller assumes some fairly big risks. The main risk is that after the seller moves out, the buyer will end up not being able to close on the house. If this happens, the buyer might be living in the house and unable to get a loan to finalize the purchase. The seller would then have a major problem on his or her hands.
As a buyer, you also have risks, but the risks are not as serious, as you have less to lose in the deal. The main risk you have is that you may end up living in a house that you want to buy but cannot buy due to problems with the loan. The other risk is that you might move into the house and find out it has a serious issue that is costly to fix. After finding this out, you might not want to buy the house, yet you might be stuck buying it simply because you are already living there.
If you are interested in buying a house right away, contact a real estate agent. If you can choose a house quickly, you can close on it faster and take possession of it relatively quickly.