Walk-through prior to closing on house - what''s standard?

[drk]

We''re closing on our first house next Friday, and our real estate agent just told us that we''d used up our two specified visits, when most people normally reserve one for the pre-close walk-through. Would have been nice if she''d mentioned this to us ahead of time!

I was just wondering what all of you did when closing? Did you walk through within 24 hours of closing to be sure all was ok? Our seller was open to contact and very friendly initially, then decided he''d had enough of us and has become quite adversarial. We''re concerned that things may not all be as we''d expected, and would like to verify that prior to closing.

Any advice would be helpful!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I would ask to do another walk through to confirm that the sellers took care of any issues that arose during the inspection.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Is the guy still living in the house? It's strange that you're closing in about a week and he'd still be in there. . .can you sneak in

That said, I do not recall ever having a specified number of visits. Then again, our agent has been a long-term friend of ours (same age as us and DH and him go out all the time) and he's pretty casual when it comes to following the rules. lol Also, aside from our first house, every other one was empty when we were looking at buying. We were even let in once just to measure the rooms to plan out how we were going to arrange furniture.

Oh, and IMO it's a bit late to decide to back out when closing is so near! That's why it's a good idea to spend a lot of time visiting when considering purchasing. We usually spent a couple hours at each visit and even took photos.

 

[crystalheart1]

Hmm... This sounds very odd.

I just went through the sale of my house and the Buyer did two walk throughs the day of closing. One in the AM, we had a bad snow storm , and the PM after we did our final cleaning.

You want to make sure all necessary work/repairs have been completed, and there was not any damage done to the house
while the owners moved their furniture out.

I never heard of using up your visits.. that sounds like something she made up.

You are making a major purchase and have every right to make sure things are the way they should be.

Too bad - Your realtor should have your best interest at heart .. It sounds like you have to push back on this one

GOOD Luck and Congratulations on your purchase

 

[crystalheart1]

Also, In our state (PA) it is MANDATORY to do a walk through the same day of closing..

 

[purrfectpear]

Your agent appears to be a bit confused. She works for YOU, not the other way around. Don''t ask, TELL her that you will not close until you''ve had a final walk through. Tough love baby

 

[movie zombie]

there is no lmaximum to visits....and the final walk through within 24 hours of closing is mandatory. you have to make sure the house is in order the same as when you made your offer: clean, property in place, and unoccupied...unless you''ve agreed to rent back to the owner. do not sign off unless you do the walk through. do not sign off if there is someone living there that you did not say could be there and have a rent agreement with. do not sign off unless everything is in order. to try and rectify any of these situations after you sign will make you wish you had never bought in the frst place.

mz

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 1/7/2010 1:44:14 PM
Author: purrfectpear
Your agent appears to be a bit confused. She works for YOU, not the other way around. Don''t ask, TELL her that you will not close until you''ve had a final walk through. Tough love baby

Agreed. If she wants that commission she''ll make it happen. You NEED to walk through to make sure everything was taken care of.

 

[soocool]

We did a walk through on both homes (one was a previously owned home, the second was new construction) the same day as closing to make sure that nothing was removed that was included in the sale and that everything was ok . Write things down and take digital photos of any problems to have a record. Many things could have changed since you were last there. Check for any water leaks, especially around the windows, ceilings, walls. Take a look from outside at the roof to make sure you aren''t missing any shingles, look at the gutter, etc. (One of my neighbors took alll the screens before he moved and replaced the expensive drapes he was supposed to leave with cheap ones and the new owners did not realize it until months later) Turn the lights on and off, turn the water on, flush the toilets. Check the basement also, especially the utilites.


This way at closing money will be witheld (escrowed) at closing to make sure everything is taken care of after you move in.

Also, unless you already know this, rekey your locks immediately and change the code on your garage door openers.

 

[Mara]

is it a new build house? or a resale? is there a warranty?

in our walk throughs we tried to nitpick every little thing we saw so that either the builder (new) or RE agent/seller (resale) could be tagged with fixing them. our RE agent drew up the paperwork based on our walk through and then everyone signs it. most of what we marked was fixed before we moved in (and sometimes bank requires it before closing)... and then there were time frames around fixing the rest of the items. our RE agent told us to mark every little thing.

it sounds odd that you are 'using up a visit'..what the heck is that?

ditto on rekeying and garage codes. we did the garage code asap but we lagged on rekeying, thankfully did not have an issue but i finally made us do it a few months later.

eta: screens on windows ...totally agree. some things you just don't think to look for but one of our windows was missing a screen. sure we could have replaced it ourselves but why if the seller could (they had it in the garage apparently).

 

[crystalheart1]

SOO COOL,,, That does not surprise me at all... I have heard some stories.

My Husband and Mother kept urging me to replace some expensive lighting and mirrors prior to moving.

I kept the ones that were shown with the house. I believe I got a good price for my house due to the designer finishes.

I did take down my Dining room chandelier prior to even putting my house on the market, knowing I was not going to include it.

 

[soocool]

Date: 1/7/2010 2:01:17 PM
Author: Mara
is it a new build house? or a resale? is there a warranty?

in our walk throughs we tried to nitpick every little thing we saw so that either the builder (new) or RE agent/seller (resale) could be tagged with fixing them. our RE agent drew up the paperwork based on our walk through and then everyone signs it. most of what we marked was fixed before we moved in (and sometimes bank requires it before closing)... and then there were time frames around fixing the rest of the items. our RE agent told us to mark every little thing.

it sounds odd that you are ''using up a visit''..what the heck is that?

ditto on rekeying and garage codes. we did the garage code asap but we lagged on rekeying, thankfully did not have an issue but i finally made us do it a few months later.

eta: screens on windows ...totally agree. some things you just don''t think to look for but one of our windows was missing a screen. sure we could have replaced it ourselves but why if the seller could (they had it in the garage apparently).

With our new construction with a private builder we hired a real estate attorney to look over the contract and build in protection for us. It was a well spent $400.00. We included a clause into the contract that if the house was not completed by a certain date set by the builder that the builder was responsible to pay our living expenses untill the house was completed, if we closed and moved out of our existing home.

 

[drk]

Thanks - I'm not sure what's standard in Ontario, but your comments are certainly enough to make me try to push more for what we want. The seller has gotten very stubborn though, so cooperation is a challenge. Our agent put something in the schedule A about us being allowed 2 visits prior to closing. OK, we had more than that, but I should think that a visit the day of or the night before ought to be possible too. I can't imagine he'll still be living there next week, so I'd hope it would be possible to go in for a reasonably quick walk-through.

Any Ontarians with comments?

We definitely spent time prior to purchasing - met for an hour or so with the seller and his agent to get more info on the house, spent 2-3 hours on the house inspection. It's a great place, but I would certainly like to go through it earlier in the week to double-check that all is in order and there are no outstanding questions about the built-in wiring/cabling, the light system, the alarm system (like changing the code as soon as we get possession), the heat exchanger (we don't even know where it's located, or how to get access or turn it on!). There were no real issues during the inspection, so we can't use that one.

 

[Haven]

I hate to tell you that I would never buy a home if I couldn''t do a final walk through, especially if it isn''t a new home.

We had our initial inspection about two weeks before closing. Our inspector arrived two hours before our scheduled time, and then spent another four hours going through the house with us, writing up his inspection, and basically teaching us how to care for everything.

Then we renegotiated the contract based on the inspection, the sellers made the changes that we negotiated, and then we brought the inspector back to make sure all the changes were done correctly. The second inspection was done just a few days before closing.

Then, on closing day we did the final walk through of the home. My DH, FIL, and my own father went through the home with a fine-toothed comb to make sure nothing was damaged while they were moving out. I think we were all there for a couple hours that day. I don''t even remember what it was, but we found some issue in the house during the final walk through, it wasn''t major, and we ended up negotiating for $1,000 back when we went to sign the documents. I can''t remember how they did it, but we ended up spending $1,000 less that day.

I will say that my husband and his family are more thorough than most people. His father owns a lot of rental units, and they own a furniture company, so they have a lot of experience buying residences, and seeing how much damage can be done if movers aren''t careful moving furniture out of a home. They''re also just over-the-top careful about these things.

I hope your realtor can push for a final walk through. I''ve never heard of such a situation, and I hope that it gets worked out.

 

[drk]

Thanks Haven - our agent and lawyer said we have to go in 2 days before closing to sign the paperwork. I''ll be in touch with the lawyer tomorrow to see what the deal is if there are any issues with the house when we close if we can''t get hold of our agent and arrange a final walk-through through her. Home ownership is nerve-wracking!

 

[hlmr]

Hi drk!

Ontarian here. I call bull@#$%. Simply tell your agent that you won't be closing until you have a final inspection. She can work around that Schedule A if she chooses to. Closing is when she makes her $$$, so I am sure she will a way to accomodate you. Especially the day before you close, as the seller should be gone by then.

Best wishes in your new home!!!

 

[gardengloves]

We closed on a sale of one home as seller and closed as buyer on another within one week. Have perspective of final walk through as both buyer and seller.

During the inspection phase of the sale of old home which was in top shape, with many upgrades that we installed, crown molding, wood floors, granite countertops, etc... the buyers came back with some very minor requests, we just said nope. The deal went through anyway. We just said no.

In our state, there is no contact between buyer and seller - only agents negotiate and talk. I think that's to keep the annoyance factor from getting out of hand, keeping it purely a business transaction. As a seller, its unsettling to have someone come through the home you still live in, demand access to your home with your things in it, and have to leave while they take pics and measure for drapes.

On the buyer side - we did a walk through the morning before closing on our new home. It's mandatory in this state. Found a few construction items that were supposed to be removed, agent got on phone to seller's agent, and by the time we came back from closing- everything was cleaned up. The house has great bones, and we did not sweat the little things since DH has construction skill and can renovate.

We also sold our old home a week later. We moved out the day before the sale closing, that' s not so unusual. Left everything broom clean, we even spackled and painted over holes from picture hooks - so no problems.

Someone mentioned the sellers took expensive drapes, and replaced with cheaper ones. No is required to leave personal decor items like drapes, unless the sale was negotiated. It is required to provide window covering, shades or cheaper sheers. Permanent fixtures attached to the house must remain, that does not include your silk taffeta drapes! Same with expensive lighting fixtures, as long as there is a lighting fixture that is what is required, unless they negotiated for your crystal chandelier or Conran's modern lighting!

And by the way, congratulations on your new home and best of luck- it's a crazy time, but also a great time

 

[movie zombie]

yes, agent doesn''t get $ until it closes.......and she won''t be there after to help you with problems as she''ll be on to the next sale/closing.

in california it is illegal to show the house with one set of drapes and then remove them prior to closing....and replacing them with a cheaper set is not ok.

if its attached to the house, it goes with the house. here it always pays to show the house just exactly as you''re willing to let it go. remove any drapes or light fixtures before showing. and that goes for that rose that aunt mary gave you: no, you cannot dig it up and take it with you after you''ve signed the sale papers.....unless you''ve made it a clause in the sale contract or the listing made it clear.

mz

 

[Haven]

Date: 1/7/2010 9:55:15 PM
Author: movie zombie
in california it is illegal to show the house with one set of drapes and then remove them prior to closing....and replacing them with a cheaper set is not ok.
mz

Yes, it is the same here in IL. The family from whom we bought our house tried to change out some of the drapes with cheapy ones. I noticed the change during our home inspection, our agent called their agent, and they restored the original drapes to the home before we moved in.