Closing time! (Insert bad 90’s music here.) But, wait, let’s back up a few feet and I’ll tell you all about the fun times with the previous tenants.
If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you may have seen my recent ranting about the tenants that refused to leave before we could close. To summarize, there were three units being occupied when we first looked at the place. Two legal units and… one questionable basement unit. Fast forward to our home inspection. The owner and the basement occupants have moved out and only the tenants in the first story unit are left (all eight of them). We were assured that they would be gone by closing. Except that the date for closing came and went and they were still there. We received all sorts of excuses from the listing agent. “They couldn’t possibly move into an unpainted apartment!” Or, “They can’t get a truck before Saturday!”
In quiet (or not so quiet) desperation, I Googled “bought short-sale tenants won’t leave”. The forums came back with some interesting ideas, but the best idea was the Cash for Keys concept. Basically, we would bribe them to move out so we could close (and not be out a chunk of money while losing the place completely). I called our agent three days before the final deadline and offered this solution. She passed it along to the listing agent with the deadline of 5:30pm on Friday.
So, we strolled by the house at 5:30pm on that Friday. And guess what? They were packing up and looking like they were moving. (Yay!) But, they weren’t even close to being done actually moving. (#$@*^!) We talked briefly to the listing agent who said that they would be out that night and the place would be empty by Monday’s closing. With this tiny bit of hope in our minds, we left and went home.
An hour later we receive a call from our agent. “They want the money.” WHAT? Umm, they weren’t moved out by the deadline. “The listing agent is making the argument that since they weren’t living there anymore that they were moved out.” That’s nice, but no dice, people. They had to be out by 5:30pm or the money was off the table. She agreed with us and that was that. Or… so we thought.
The next day another call from our agent. “They are threatening to leave the place filled with their junk and garbage unless we give them some money.” At this point I am not sure what to say, so I hand the phone to Matt. He tells our concerned, but excellent agent that we aren’t giving them a single cent. She’s worried about garbage but we can handle garbage. We just can’t handle inheriting disgusting, ignorant people. So long as there wasn’t a single person in the house, we were prepared to change the locks with a mountain of garbage in the house.
Happy Ending! It turns out that the listing agent and the owner paid people from across the alley to haul the garbage out so when we closed the place was mostly garbage free. They aren’t happy about it (and tried to get money from their lawyer at the closing), but hey, it’s their problem. After we closed then it becomes our problem. And, it has definitely become our problem.
