I placed an offer on a house yesterday...after a counter offer, I accepted
Contract is only missing sellers initials on the price change...
So when is the actual date of purchase of the house? I always thought it was the closing date and not the date of the contract. Which is it?

 

Escrow opens once all parties have signed...you still have not technically fully purchased the home until all condtions have been met and it closes and records with the county. So closing date when title has changed from seller to new buyer...thats also when you start paying, etc.

And Congrats!

 

like he said... ya don't own it till ya close it.

 

Closing... when you get the keys. Generally there's a final walkthru before the closing. Then the closing, you get the keys, and the deed is recorded.

Congrats !!

 

Let the stress begin. If you have never bought a house before you will soon know what I mean.

Anyway, congrats and enjoy it

 

that's what I thought...thanks guys
I'm setting up a home inspection for early next week and I've got 48 hours to do a walkthrough before the closing date. I can't wait to move in

 

Congrats!

Where did you buy (IL I assume)?

 

make sure your home inspection incudes roof and termite...if not, make sure you get those done...well they should be done seperately anyway. Good luck

 

Holly

The day before we bought our current house, the buyers of the house we were selling told us that they wouldn't have the $$$ until after we needed that $$$ to buy our new (current) house..... Good times those were...

Oh, and congrats....

 

Rockton, IL...just slightly north of Rockford. New commute to work, ~10 minutes

 

the guy will inspect the roof, though I'll have to ask him about termites. Thanks for the heads up

 

my sellers won't have that issue with me... I get to move out of my P's place

 

You live with Master P?

 

Just remember it isn't your until you sign for it. This is where the bank starts to get fussy, or you find out about easements you don't like, or leins they can't payoff, etc, etc

I'm a bit jaded because the first house I bought (brand new from a builder) fell through. A day or two before scheduled closing, his realtor called and said we couldn't close because he owed too much on the house playing financing games and couldn't clear the leins. I sued his ass and wound up freezing his bank accounts. I hope he was as pissed as I was not getting the house.

The second house I bought I used an affiliated broker because of an incentive and had a written agreement on the rate for the first mortgage but didn't realize I didn't have anything writen about the margin on the second. Wound up being 2.5% higher than we agreed and since htey dind't give me the docs until 5pm the night before we closed I couldn't do anything about out. I was pissed and probably should have sued/reported her to the department of commerce, but was too busy trying to get out of my old place because I only had two days to move and clean before I had to be out of my old apartment.

I just decided last week to go to law school, so anybody planning on screwing me on a house the future .... beware!

I guess what I am saying is to keep in the back of your mind it isn't yours until the papers are signed.

 

Parent's place

 

damn that sucks... My realtor was telling me about horror stories like what you went through when I asked her about closing, getting out of contracts, etc. Hopefully everything will go smooth. Good luck with law school!

 

Congrats, TRU!

 

Termite inspection and radon inspection (if there's a basement) are requred in some communities before a sale can be registered, but peace of mind calls for that in any case anyway. Our seller forgot to run the termite inspection, which we discovered AT CLOSING..... so we sat there, bickering with the seller's broker about it while Steve's Bug-Off made an emergency inspection. Unfortunately, they discovered some old termite tunnels..... and the seller, watching my face with real panic, asked who he needed to write a check to for what amount to "make it happen". Steve-s Bug-off did a complete termite demo job the next day, including poison rods in the soil around the house, for just under $1,000, and we all looked the other way while the contract was dated to the day of the sale.

As it happens, we did have a termite swarm about three years later, and hired an exterminator to come in annually. Now, as we move towards closing, the buyer has a sheaf of receipts for our annual extermination maintenance contract, adn we KNOW the place is termite-free....

 

I am in mortgages and in real estate sales. Don't let these people bring you down, the situations they speak of are few and far between.

You won't own it until the settlement date. Make sure inspections are done and everything is in line. Get your financing in place. Whoever you are using for financing should be able to close you within 30 days. If they are saying longer, cut them loose.

If you plan to get any work done to the house, attempt to bring contractors in early, before you even own it, so by the time you buy it, they are ready to go. Good luck!

 

Weird. Termite inspections are strictly the responsibility of the buyer down here.

 

I don't mean to be a downer, but BigPimp, that is terrible advice.

Don't pour any money into a building you don't own. Get everything setup so that the work commences immediately after closing. I closed around 9 o'clock. The deliveries and contractors I hired started rolling in around noon.

 

Congrtz ... hope everything went smoothly

 

Thanks everyone

so far everything is going smoothly. Had the home inspection today and only major thing was a hole in a wall (looks more like a baseball print). The rest were minor stuff I can take care of myself. The home owners were actually wondering if I knew how to take care of a pool and was willing to set up a time to meet with me and show me how they close the pool and go over care taking of the pool. Met their kids also and very friendly people. I think this closing will go very very smoothly

 

Congrats. Ive got relatives that live in Rockton.

 

and

 

It's been 5 weeks since I signed a P&S (as a seller) and still no word on a closing date... Broker that the buyer is using is SLOW.... If I don't get a date by friday, I'm going to have to look into pulling the plug on this deal, but with 5 weeks invested I'm hoping for the best.

I only took me about 2 1/2 weeks to close on my house...

 

wasn't there a closing date on the contract? I had to specify a date for my contract. And the selling agent requested we close at least after 30 days...so the sellers would be able to find another place to live in time.

 

the Rockton area is starting to grow...fast.. Good location to own property right now...property value has risen close to 45K in my soon to be neighborhood

 

Yo TRU. Congrats!

 

Estate lawyer is handing it... He's not a real estate lawyer It's a private sale, not agents involved.

I think he missed putting a clause in that says "buyer must have financing" by such and such a date... I looked at the P&S and it's not as good as the one he wrote up for another buyer (that deal fell thru - buyer couldn't get financing).

It's just another hiccup in what has been a nightmare for over 2 1/2 years... If anyone ever needs advice on how to handle an estate after a parent dies, I can tell you everything you shouldn't do