Having worked in REO for many years, I am not without my experiences and confrontations with buyer’s who have taken possession prior to recording and without permission from anyone but their agents (OK, sometimes, but very rarely do their agents not know).
Many buyer’s and their agents have the mentality “well it’s bank-owned they won’t care or know if we move in early”. Well they do find out and they do care.
Damaging the property in any way before the buyer legally owns it is illegal. This includes getting inside to paint, tear up old carpet, repair plumbing or electrical, etc. Moving into the garage is considered taking possession. If the garage was broken into and you items stolen or a fire broke out and your items damaged, do you think your home owner’s insurance would cover you? No, they won’t you didn’t own the house yet. Do you think the seller’s insurance will cover you? No it won’t, they will consider you a tenant and will not cover personal items. So in the end, you lose, was it worth it?
I have seen buyer’s climb through second story unlocked windows to get inside to paint and clean the interior, why because they had to rented out for 5:00 p.m. on the day of recording and needed to get in and get minor repairs done. Um, sorry not on the seller’s time. What if he had fallen off the roof of the house and injured himself?
I have seen buyer’s move freezer loads of meat into the garage. Usually I arrange for power to be disconnected the day or recording, they power company is sometimes early and buyer’s don’t always remember to change the utilities over. Can you imagine what would have happened to that meat in the freezer if it had defrosted?
I have had buyer’s allowed possession and given permission by their agent to tear out carpet, remove blinds from windows and move in a refrigerator 4 days before recording. Needless to say that agent was called before the real estate commission.
A recent incident was the buyer changing the locks. I drove 30 miles to pick up my sign, lockboxes and keys to find I couldn’t get in the house. I had a task due to the seller for a weekly property condition inspection that included time and date stamped photos of the interior and exterior. How was I suppose to get in? It wasn’t scheduled to record for 3 more days. I eventually got in that day, but it took one or two veiled threats to get the keys to the property and remain in possession of them and an additional trip back to the property. Waste of my time, money and gas and all for a $35,000 property, but required by my seller. Can the police be called and a report filed? Absolutely. As a matter of fact the seller of an REO/bank-owned property requires a police report to be filed.
In the end, I have a duty to my client, the seller, whether it is a bank-owned property or not. I have tasks to complete and I have agreed to take care of the property and check it weekly as part of my listing agreement with the seller.
The worst offenders are investors purchasing for a rental or to flip the house. Most buyer’s that are going to occupy the house are respectful and patiently wait, some don’t, but I think that has a lot to do with their agent not counseling them properly.
Please don’t plan to move in or start repairs early it could cost you in the end.
