Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Making offer to buy home - advice needed
From: Sandra Loosemore 
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 22:45:42 GMT

miscsyl_98@yahoo.com (John Amp) writes:

> We (myself and my wife) plan to move to Palmdale, CA area in
> mid-september time frame.  We found the house we are interested and
> decided to make an offer. However, there is one issue. The seller can
> not move out of the house until the end of November 2003. He bought
> new house and it won't be ready until November. The seller wants to
> rent the house until November after the escrow closes. If this
> happens, then we need to find an apartment until November - and move
> twice.  I belive the house is priced lower than the neighborhood homes
> - thus, it makes very attractive to buy the house.

I would never, ever consider doing a rentback to the seller.  If you
really want this house, offer to close at the end of November and
insist that the house be delivered vacant.  Tell the seller you do not
want to deal with liability and the legal and tax issues of being a
landlord between closing and the time you take occupancy.  (I don't
know what it's like in other states, but in MA the landlord/tenant
laws are heavily biased in favor of tenants, and it's an expensive and
drawn-out process to get an eviction if your tenant doesn't move out
by the agreed-upon date, for instance.)  If your seller balks at this,
you can always try offering them more money to cover the
inconvenience to them....

In any case, certainly get a local attorney to draw up your offer, and
make sure you get the details fully worked out *before* you submit it
to the seller.

-Sandra the cynic