Did you ever meet your home buyer/seller? The last 2 times we've closed on 2 properties, we never met the other party. Is this the usual thing now?
When I bought my first house, both seller and buyer were at the closing. On the last 2 closings we've had, each party went to sign at the title company 2 different times.
For my condo - yes, the husband and wife came to the closing when I was the buyer. When I sold it, I met the buyer when I was going to sell because he wanted to come by to show his daughter where she was going to live and I was home. I did not go to the closing.
We never met the seller of our current home. Which is probably for the best because we thought she was a pain.
We bought our house last year, and met the wife half of the divorcing couple several times. She was always home during showings and was at the closing. We didn't chat much or anything, because she was usually trying to make herself scarce and wrangle 2 large dogs
When I sold my condo, I met with my buyer. She had two other sellers back out on her and was freaking out that I might do the same. She wanted reassurance that I was really selling. We walked through the house and she asked questions about what things were (the gas lines running to the hot water heater) and whether I was taking the light switch plates (yes, she really did ask that question).
Post by rooster222 on Apr 16, 2015 14:58:07 GMT -5
We met the sellers shen we bought our most recent house. We also had a 3 hour closing so got to know them fairly well. The wife was a little cool but the husband was a hoot and did his best to fill us in on all the neighbors and who may have kids the same age as ours. It was nice in the end but I was a little nervous going in since we had quite a few back and forths during negotiations.
We haven't sold yet, but we met our sellers twice - once at our second showing, and once when they were in the front yard when we did a drive by and invited us in, lol. We had great sellers. They were so nice and welcoming, and answered all of our questions and then some.
We met our sellers a couple times. They showed us the house, were present for the inspection, and we saw them again at closing. (The first two were a little awkward.) They had an agent, but she seemed kind of absentee through the process. (I'd have been annoyed to pay her commission if I were them.)
Post by orangeblossom on Apr 16, 2015 15:49:08 GMT -5
We've only bought new construction.
That said, as someone who just recently tried to sell their house and black, if really only want to meet them at closing.
There are crazy people out there who will not buy a house if a black person or other POC has owned it. I recently ready an article, "selling a house while black". I don't need any other issues preventing me from selling a house.
Yes, the other party was present at both of my RE transactions. When we bought our current house, the husband had already moved to Florida to oversee the building of their new house. The wife had power of attorney and handled it all. She brought her MIL with her. It was weird. The seller was in her 60's. She did nothing but trash her husband during the entire closing. We heard about how he never got along with the neighbors, how he never, in over 10 years, ever built the deck the wife wanted, etc. etc. The weird part was that instead of defending her son, the MIL sided with the wife and ganged up on the absent husband. It was VERY uncomfortable.
I had an equally weird closing when I sold my first house. The house was in just my name, since I was single when I had bought it. The husband was a mysogynistic asshole who clearly did not like dealing with a female. The original offer was for about $10k less than asking.I countered with $500 under asking to send a message that I was not really willing to negotiate. They really wanted the house so they accepted my counter. The husband turned into a raging asshole with daily demands during the escrow period. He kept wanting 6 months worth of heating bills, then the next day it was 3 months worth of electric bills, etc. and he kept wanting to allow trades people into the house to measure and quote for the basement remodel. We disagreed on whether a support beam in the basement needed to be reinforced, etc.) I'd had it checked out by a stamped architectural engineer (my SIL) prior to when I bought the house and it was fine. He had a "contractor" look at it, who said it needed to be replaced. (No shit, of course the contractor is going to tell you that you need to hire him to do work on your house!). We hire someone for a 3rd opinion, who sided with me, but the asshole threatened to walk away from the deal, so I offered another $500 bucks toward his basement renovations. So after daily phone calls pulling me out of work for his stupid demands and me throwing a mere pittance his way, we get to the closing table. He is being an absolute dick to his wife. He was putting a big show on for everyone, trying to prove what a financial genius he is and belittling his wife in the process. The woman from the title company who was handling the closing stepped out of the room for a moment so there was a lull. The wife looked at me apologetically and said she was sorry for all the extra "requests" they had made prior to closing, she hoped it hadn't been too inconvenient for me. I looked her DH right in the eye and said, "Oh, it was my pleasure to do whatever it took to close this deal, quickly. I never imagined I would ever get such a high price for my house so the minor requests were no problem at all. I was happy that you didn't press harder regarding the money issues, so a little bit of my time was well worth it." He clearly wanted his wife to think he was a real wheeler/dealer and I made it look like he had been taken advantage of by a little woman.
The truth is, I was ready to kill him at many points during the escrow and his "requests" that called me out of work were a HUGE inconvenience to me. But I was not going to let him think he had gotten the better of me. I hope he still wonders to this day if he could have gotten my house for less money. I NEVER would have sold my house for less but now he'll always wonder. When they left, my RE agent said "OMG, that was brilliant how you took that asshole down."
ETA: I should clarify that the second scenario was almost 20 years ago. You couldn't just look up 6 months worth of bills online. I was traveling for business and he had to have them THAT day or lots of threats about walking away. So I had to call the utility company from the hotel business center, have the hard copies faxed to my realtor to pass on to him. It was instances like this, over and over during the escrow period, that made him an asshole. If he could have waited a few days, I could have pulled the old bills from my filing cabinet (again, 20 years ago) when I got home from traveling.
Post by crashgizmo on Apr 16, 2015 16:50:13 GMT -5
My first house was a new build, but I met the buyer when I sold it. She came by to take measurements after I had accepted the offer and she wanted to show her mom. She was super nice and I was glad I got to meet her.
Our 2nd house, the sellers had moved to Vegas, so no. We never met the buyers, but I spoke to the woman on the phone. She called when there was a package delivered that had my phone number on it.
This house was owned by an investor, and we never met him, which is good because DH might have punched his cheap ass out.
We met the owners of our house at the closing. They were really nice, she even gave us a nice housewarming card with their info in it in case we ever needed to get in touch with them.
First house I bought -never saw the sellers. Sold above house- met the buyers 4 or 5 times because I was selling by owner and they rented the house for a month before closing and bought some of my appliances/furniture. House my husband bought was from a builder and when we sold it by owner but the buyers had an agent (we paid the commission so it would sell). We never met the buyers. Current house, we never met the sellers.
In our market buyers/sellers don't usually don't meet at closing.
Post by FishChicks on Apr 16, 2015 17:18:12 GMT -5
As far as I know, we never met the buyers of either house we sold. I'm not completely sure because I'd already moved out of state, but DH never mentioned meeting them, and closings are not done in person in that state. We did meet the sellers of all three homes we've bought.
We spent "quality" time with the sellers of our second house because they didn't move out for several days after we were supposed to take possession. We eventually set up chairs and a table on the patio and glared at them until they got out.
Our house was a new build so we only met the sales person and the contractor. We didn't meet the buyers until after they moved in because it is right next door to my parents. I also met the people that bought it after the people who bought from us. And now it is being rented out. I think H has met them but I have only seen them in passing.
We bought our house from the kids of the deceased homeowner. After we signed everything we had to go sit in the lobby. I commented on the lady stuffing croissants and bagels in her purse. It was the daughter that was selling to us. Her and her brother came over and asked if we were the buyers for our house address. Then they told us all about their parents and the neighbors and how they would stop by periodically for a tour so they could see what we did with the house. Luckily they haven't stopped by!!! The whole conversation was very awkward and uncomfortable. I wish we never had met them.
The original owner of our house was 80 years old. He invited us over to show us how "everything works." He went room by room flipping each light switch, but it was very sweet and he did give us a few good tips. He and his wife still come back for neighborhood parties occasionally. They were not there to sign papers at the same time we were though.
Post by Balki.Bartokomous on Apr 16, 2015 18:25:58 GMT -5
Our first place, yes, we met the seller because we all signed everything at once. I kind of wish we hadn't because she was not too happy that she had to bring $8k to closing & it was awkward.
Our second & third places, no, we hadn't met either buyer or sellers. Out here it seems that things are just done with the notaries. I like it much better. So convenient.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Apr 16, 2015 18:37:41 GMT -5
Both times that we bought we met the sellers. When we sold we did not meet the buyers because we had our attorney represent us at closing so we didn't have to drive up.