Question:
“I’m really nervous about rushing to move out the day escrow closes. Escrows don’t always close on time, so how can I be expected to move with very little notice?”
Answer:
It can be stressful. I handle it for my clients this way:
First, I explain to my clients up front that we can’t know if escrow will close on time, but as it gets closer to closing we’ll have a better idea if it will.
Then I suggest that we try to negotiate for my client to have 72 hours in the home after closing, often at no rent. I’m successful about 90% of the time getting that.
If my client feels 72 hours isn’t sufficient, then we try to negotiate a 4-30 day “rentback” with the seller paying rent equal to the greater of fair market rent or the buyer’s loan, property tax, insurance, and HOA cost.
The longer the period, the harder it is to get the buyer to agree. And if the buyer is getting an owner-occupied loan, the buyer’s lender typically doesn’t want to see a rentback longer than 60 days.
