Start packing to move out? When? Commonly asked questions when your home goes under contract.
Do not start packing to move out until, among other terms, the below four contract contingencies have cleared between you and the buyer.
- Inspection: Upon completion of property inspections within the inspection period established between seller and buyer, the buyer may withdraw or renegotiate their offer based on inspection findings. So do not start packing.
- Clean Title: This is a seller contingency. So as long as seller provides a clean and marketable title, the buyer cannot utilize this contingency to withdraw or renegotiate their offer based on title findings.
- Appraisal: Upon completion of evaluation within the appraisal period established between seller and buyer, the buyer may withdraw or renegotiate their offer should appraisal value come at below purchase price. Again, do not yet start packing to move out.
- Letter of Commitment (LOC) or Loan Guarantee: Buyer must provide LOC to the seller within LOC period established between seller and buyer. Until then, the buyer can withdraw or renegotiate their offer based on the buyer’s lender’s inability to guarantee the loan.
There are many other terms to be on the lookout. But clearing these four contingencies makes it a safer bet to start packing to move out.
Start Packing To Move Out Handy Links
Below are a few helpful links to aid the process of “where to look” to get things done when you are ready to move to a new home.
- Change of address
- FPL (connect or disconnect electricity)
- Water (connect or disconnect water)
- Schedule a Bulk Waste Pick Up
- Yelp.com: go to this site and type “moving services” to check out companies and reviews on them.
- Amazon.com: type “moving boxes” on the search box and get great deals (free alternative: you can go to your local supermarket during product unloading time to get their boxes. This is usually done around 6am or 7 am).
- Evernote (for you techies that your life revolves around your phone, keep track of all items/schedules via this fantastic app).
Mario. My home is in process of going into escrow
When is a good time to start moving out.
They are suppose to close on May 27th
I need a least a two weeks to schedule moving
POD Vehicle transport Ect Ect.
Thanks
Will
that is a pretty complex question since there are many moving parts in a contract. but the short answer is when the buyer supplies you with loan approval or waives financing contingency upon contract deadline. that is when i tell my clients to start packing to move out.
Be careful. many american buyers will nit pick and try to play the renegotiation game post inspection to get a lower price, second thoughts, insecurities, etc….over trivial ,non imminent danger situations/or code violations.
Or the buyer only put down a minscule down payment e.g., 3.5%, 5% and now the appraisal/opinion of value comes in lower and they cannot buy the home because they only put down a tiny down payment and don’t have money to cover the gap in the appraisal. so they expect the seller to give them a hand out, or lower the price that the buyer agreed upon. Buyer beware. It was a debtors nations/fake house of folks living WELL beyond their means. 5% down is astoungingly bad idea. Guess many didn’t learn from 2008…
hi Margie. thanks for the comment. as in any business transaction, buying or selling a house has risks. the goal though is to mitigate those risks as much as possible in order to close the deal.
Why would anyone want to pay more than what the property is worth? So if they have to sell they lose money. It’s better to go in with some equity or at home value. Not unless you plan to do some updating to raise the homes value. Otherwise yes buyer beware.
In these situations, while negotiating price with buyer, I ask if buyer has any money to cover the gap if appraisal comes in below sales price. This way, the seller can know, up front, weather or not to go under contract with such buyer.