Seller requested 30 day close, mortgage company may/may not be able to accommodate

[Lois Stern]

I have a contract on a house.  Buyer asked for 30 days.  Being my first contract, I did not know that I had to ask the lender if this was possible - so I said yes.  Mortgage Co said they are trying to speed it along [usually use 45 day lead time] and the worst that could happen is we ask for an extension.

My question is this:  I have renters already lined up [my son and 3 college friends - w/parents as guarantors] but I can't draw up a lease without knowing the move in date.  I can't get the utilities arranged, nor an electrician lined up to fix some issues ... without knowing the move in date.

Suggestions??

[Darrell Shepherd]

Lots of ways to approach this kinda thing.  These days 30 days is pretty standard, not long ago it was 45, but if the lender is saying 45 and you have a 30 day contract I'd be a little worried if you're stealing the property, not so much if you are paying retail. 

I don't know about MD, but in Georgia you have a unilateral 7 day extension on RE contracts (either party can extend for any reason).  Past that you are at the mercy of the seller taking your E/M and walking...most wont because its a PIA to remarket and sell, the agent will be pushing to get it closed for the commission, but if you have a real deal and someone comes along with cash you could end up getting shafted.

If your seller will play ball you can do things like L/O it for 30 days or something to get utitlities switched and tenants in. Pretty rare they'll let someone move in the house before closing, but you never know. It helps that its family, doesn't help they are in college (and male). Biggest thing is to communicate and work together. I personally like working directly with the sellers, the agents tend to over formalize things with contracts and legal BS when "Hey, here's my situation, what do you think we could do that works for both of us?" works great with just about everybody.

If it were me, I'd try to pin the lender down some, coordinate with seller and just line everything up tentatively.  Find the electrician, tell him the date within a few days (he isn't going to be showing up precisely at 10 on 9/10 booked now anyway).  Then plan the move in with the kids, but tell them there may be a slight delay and to plan accordingly.  Call the utilities and schedule the transfer for when you think it'll happen, you can always call them and change the date.  Closings getting pushed by lenders is VERY common if you do a lot of this stuff.  A lot of what kind of reaction you will get from the other side will depend on why they are selling...