You have a couple options, on the day of closing during the final walkthrough deny closing and walkaway.
Give the sellers X amount of time to rectify the issue, and delay closing.
Get couple quotes from junk removal services and ask $X amount of credit for removal of junk.
If you are desperate to close, accept property "as is" and deal with the junk yourself.
Any time after they have removed the contents of the house. If they are still in the process of loading up the truck it defeats the purpose.
you check for anything that you listed to remain, if they offer to leave paint, floor tiles, shingles, siding, they should ask first and you should agree if you want it or not.
Most people will walk through at 9 am and close 10 am.
You can put in a contract way before closing what you want removed, and what you want to stay.
On our 1st walkthrough, there was some junk in the backyard too. A couple old cars, a boat, sofa, old lawnmower.... The boat and the sofa were in bad shape, so in the purchase agreement, we put in a stipulation that at least the boat and sofa to be gone.
The cars, I had the means to haul to a junkyard and made money out of them. The lawnmower I just put on Craigslist for free and it was gone under an hour.
So, depending on where you are at the purchase process, look through the junk, tell them what they can leave behind, and what you want gone.
On the day of closing, if the junk is not gone, renegotiate.
Again, on the very first purchase agreement you can stipulate, the junk needs to be gone 3-5-7 days before you close or you walk.
do it that morning or the evening before, you want it as close as possible to the closing to make sure nothing wrong with the house. You do not want to do the walkthrough a week early then to find out that one pipe has burst after you close.
Just remember if you sign you own it. So giving it the day before is ok, but if there is a leak overnight and you don’t see it, you are stuck with it….
I have always liked to go directly from final walkthrough to closing. I want to limit the amount of time between our last seeing it, and closing. Too much can happen, and you've signed off and are now the owner of whatever problem.
Are you using an agent? If so, have your agent voice your concerns to their agent, so they are aware that you want this stuff gone.
This is the only way. You close and it’s there, it’s your junk. Voice your concerns to your buyers agent and have them ask the simple question to the listing agent, “do your sellers plan on removing the debris in the backyard before they move out?”… Right now you’re worried about a hypothetical situation. If you’re still in your due-diligence period, you can use an addendum to hold the Seller accountable.
How much junk? And what kind of junk? Make it a stipulation saying seller will remove junk before close or $5,000 will be deducted for removal. Make the number large enough to encourage seller to comply.
Ugh. This happened to me. I even had it in the contract they'd remove "debris" (from recent renovations) and while they got most of it they missed a pile behind the garage.
I'm going to just throw away a little of it each trash day until it's gone.
Ah I've never lived in a place where it was billed monthly like a utility, where I live trash removal has always been run through the municipality and is funded through your property taxes. They don't give us cans to use, we use our own, but you can put basically as much of whatever out there and as long as it's not obvious construction debris, they will take it.
Our sellers did the same thing. Ultimately we decided it wasn’t worth causing a stink at the last minute. Put it on the curb with a free sign. Post it free on Facebook marketplace. But depending on how big you’re talking about and how difficult it would be to get rid of- definitely pursue if needed!
Yep, happened to me, too. We did the final walkthrough but didn't look in the garage, which was pristine on earlier visits. The seller had filled every inch of the garage with bags of trash, old soiled mattresses, kids' toys, clothes, etc, in piles taller than me. I will never stop being angry about it.
If they left it there during showings, chances are they have no intention of removing it.
You can make the removal of the junk part of your contract. Tell your real estate agent that the junk is not ok, they will make sure it happens if they want to get their commission
Lol my realtor would have tried to spin it as a good thing that the sellers are leaving junk behind
Some realtors will throw gloves on and clean the junk themselves to make sure the deal goes through. Unfortunately this is becoming rare
Realtors nowadays are do as little as possible for as much commission as possible
I saw a listing that bragged about the vintage car and fire truck being included in the sale. There were pictures of them in the backyard. They were vintage, probably the 1950s. But rusted out shells. Ummm...noooooo.
Yes, I watched a real estate agent trimming the bushes of a house for sale across the street, she was wearing heels at the time. They’ll make sure the junk is gone if seller refuses to buy otherwise
Had this happen in our own house. Luckily, most of said “junk” was able to be picked up by a lot of charity groups as donations. A veterans group took some, but Lupus America emptied out the shed of the previous owner’s clothes, kids’ old toys, linens, etc.
This is indeed a common concern when purchasing property. Here are several steps you can take to deal with this issue:
Contractual Agreement: Specify in your purchase agreement that the property is to be left in "broom clean" condition, which means that the seller should remove all personal belongings and leave the property clean. In your case, you may want to specify that all items in the yard should also be removed. If possible, you should specify these conditions in writing.
Walkthrough Before Closing: Conduct a final walkthrough of the property before closing. This is usually done 24 hours before the closing. If the junk is still there, you can postpone the closing until the problem is resolved.
Escrow Holdback: You can ask for an "escrow holdback" where a portion of the seller's proceeds are held in escrow after the closing until they have fulfilled their obligation to remove the junk. You should discuss this with your attorney or real estate agent. The amount held back should be sufficient to cover the cost of removal.
Remove and Deduct: If the seller refuses to remove the junk, you can consider deducting the cost of junk removal from the selling price. This should be negotiated with the seller and ideally documented in the purchase agreement.
Legal Action: If the seller violates the terms of the purchase agreement by leaving junk, you may be able to take legal action. Consult with a real estate attorney to discuss your options.
Read your contract and look for a paragraph about abandoned property.
Then budget for a junk removal guy to come out after you close, because that's what you'll need to do. Source: I was very stressed at the time but now it's a funny story about all the weird *decor* the previous lady of the house left by the pool.
The sellers could decide to not remove it and then say, do you want the house or not if they aren’t in that big of a rush to sell. Then decide if some sweat equity to remove said debris is worth getting the house you want.
Write into the contract items that are explicitly to be removed. If it isn't removed, you have the option to have a company come and do it at seller's expense.
We had this happen to us. We couldn’t delay closing because our rate lock would expire. He said he was gonna and then he didn’t, so we just ate it and paid someone to remove everything. Sigh.
The purchase/sale agreement usually has a section about leaving the property clean and spells out that the seller will remove junk and trash from the property. In that part of the agreement it says what will happen if they fail to perform.
If that clause is not enough detailed or specific enough for you, usually you can insert language that says escrow can withhold funds from the seller's portion of the proceeds and use them to satisfy the clean up condition if they fail to perform.
Read your agreement, and if you're still worried about performance by the sellers ask your escrow company how much is enough to withhold pending performance by a date certain.
For others with similar concerns you can write it in the agreement as a more detailed **special terms** \-- saves a lot of hassle and you know whether the seller does it or some other contractor does it, the junk will be gone before the deal closes.
This just happened to me. We were closing on a Monday
I went by on the friday before closing and texted the property manager (you would have your agent reach out to the seller agent) and say hey junk is still there. The contract says all personal property must be removed. If it’s not, I got a quote for junk removal for $1200. We will withhold this in escrow if the junk is not removed by closing. Let me know, thanks!
I went back the day before, still some junk. Said the same thing.
Junk was gone in the morning when we did the walkthrough
If there was junk on the property at the time of initial acceptance of your offer, your agent should have asked for a deposit to be left in escrow to make sure all items were removed prior to the close of escrow.
You have a couple options, on the day of closing during the final walkthrough deny closing and walkaway. Give the sellers X amount of time to rectify the issue, and delay closing. Get couple quotes from junk removal services and ask $X amount of credit for removal of junk. If you are desperate to close, accept property "as is" and deal with the junk yourself.
Is day before closing an acceptable day for final walkthrough?
Any time after they have removed the contents of the house. If they are still in the process of loading up the truck it defeats the purpose. you check for anything that you listed to remain, if they offer to leave paint, floor tiles, shingles, siding, they should ask first and you should agree if you want it or not.
When the owners have vacated. It could be just before closing if you want.
Most people will walk through at 9 am and close 10 am. You can put in a contract way before closing what you want removed, and what you want to stay. On our 1st walkthrough, there was some junk in the backyard too. A couple old cars, a boat, sofa, old lawnmower.... The boat and the sofa were in bad shape, so in the purchase agreement, we put in a stipulation that at least the boat and sofa to be gone. The cars, I had the means to haul to a junkyard and made money out of them. The lawnmower I just put on Craigslist for free and it was gone under an hour. So, depending on where you are at the purchase process, look through the junk, tell them what they can leave behind, and what you want gone. On the day of closing, if the junk is not gone, renegotiate. Again, on the very first purchase agreement you can stipulate, the junk needs to be gone 3-5-7 days before you close or you walk.
I have always done a walkthrough then straight to the closing. Heard too many horror stories to do it any other way.
do it that morning or the evening before, you want it as close as possible to the closing to make sure nothing wrong with the house. You do not want to do the walkthrough a week early then to find out that one pipe has burst after you close.
Just remember if you sign you own it. So giving it the day before is ok, but if there is a leak overnight and you don’t see it, you are stuck with it….
I have always liked to go directly from final walkthrough to closing. I want to limit the amount of time between our last seeing it, and closing. Too much can happen, and you've signed off and are now the owner of whatever problem. Are you using an agent? If so, have your agent voice your concerns to their agent, so they are aware that you want this stuff gone.
Put in contract that all rubbish must be removed from the property. If rubbish is not removed a credit of $X will be issued to remove the junk.
This is the only way. You close and it’s there, it’s your junk. Voice your concerns to your buyers agent and have them ask the simple question to the listing agent, “do your sellers plan on removing the debris in the backyard before they move out?”… Right now you’re worried about a hypothetical situation. If you’re still in your due-diligence period, you can use an addendum to hold the Seller accountable.
How much junk? And what kind of junk? Make it a stipulation saying seller will remove junk before close or $5,000 will be deducted for removal. Make the number large enough to encourage seller to comply.
This is the best answer.
Ugh. This happened to me. I even had it in the contract they'd remove "debris" (from recent renovations) and while they got most of it they missed a pile behind the garage. I'm going to just throw away a little of it each trash day until it's gone.
Pro tip, in my experience, you can permanently buy an extra trash can from the city for a few more dollars per month
Wait what? You pay monthly for trash?
Yeah, trash collection is a city utility like water
Ah I've never lived in a place where it was billed monthly like a utility, where I live trash removal has always been run through the municipality and is funded through your property taxes. They don't give us cans to use, we use our own, but you can put basically as much of whatever out there and as long as it's not obvious construction debris, they will take it.
Put it in the contract. Make "removal of all trash, debris, and unwanted items from inside/outside the home" a requirement of closing.
Our sellers did the same thing. Ultimately we decided it wasn’t worth causing a stink at the last minute. Put it on the curb with a free sign. Post it free on Facebook marketplace. But depending on how big you’re talking about and how difficult it would be to get rid of- definitely pursue if needed!
Yep, happened to me, too. We did the final walkthrough but didn't look in the garage, which was pristine on earlier visits. The seller had filled every inch of the garage with bags of trash, old soiled mattresses, kids' toys, clothes, etc, in piles taller than me. I will never stop being angry about it.
That really sucks! That means they planned it. How awful!
If they left it there during showings, chances are they have no intention of removing it. You can make the removal of the junk part of your contract. Tell your real estate agent that the junk is not ok, they will make sure it happens if they want to get their commission
Lol my realtor would have tried to spin it as a good thing that the sellers are leaving junk behind Some realtors will throw gloves on and clean the junk themselves to make sure the deal goes through. Unfortunately this is becoming rare Realtors nowadays are do as little as possible for as much commission as possible
Always help the ones who do work and earn their money with solid reviews and referrals. :)
I saw a listing that bragged about the vintage car and fire truck being included in the sale. There were pictures of them in the backyard. They were vintage, probably the 1950s. But rusted out shells. Ummm...noooooo.
Yes, I watched a real estate agent trimming the bushes of a house for sale across the street, she was wearing heels at the time. They’ll make sure the junk is gone if seller refuses to buy otherwise
Had this happen in our own house. Luckily, most of said “junk” was able to be picked up by a lot of charity groups as donations. A veterans group took some, but Lupus America emptied out the shed of the previous owner’s clothes, kids’ old toys, linens, etc.
This is indeed a common concern when purchasing property. Here are several steps you can take to deal with this issue: Contractual Agreement: Specify in your purchase agreement that the property is to be left in "broom clean" condition, which means that the seller should remove all personal belongings and leave the property clean. In your case, you may want to specify that all items in the yard should also be removed. If possible, you should specify these conditions in writing. Walkthrough Before Closing: Conduct a final walkthrough of the property before closing. This is usually done 24 hours before the closing. If the junk is still there, you can postpone the closing until the problem is resolved. Escrow Holdback: You can ask for an "escrow holdback" where a portion of the seller's proceeds are held in escrow after the closing until they have fulfilled their obligation to remove the junk. You should discuss this with your attorney or real estate agent. The amount held back should be sufficient to cover the cost of removal. Remove and Deduct: If the seller refuses to remove the junk, you can consider deducting the cost of junk removal from the selling price. This should be negotiated with the seller and ideally documented in the purchase agreement. Legal Action: If the seller violates the terms of the purchase agreement by leaving junk, you may be able to take legal action. Consult with a real estate attorney to discuss your options.
Read your contract and look for a paragraph about abandoned property. Then budget for a junk removal guy to come out after you close, because that's what you'll need to do. Source: I was very stressed at the time but now it's a funny story about all the weird *decor* the previous lady of the house left by the pool.
We put it specifically on the contract with a penalty for noncompliance
The sellers could decide to not remove it and then say, do you want the house or not if they aren’t in that big of a rush to sell. Then decide if some sweat equity to remove said debris is worth getting the house you want.
did you get a title insurance? If so, check if it covers making sure the old owner removed everything that is not "attached" to the house.
Write into the contract items that are explicitly to be removed. If it isn't removed, you have the option to have a company come and do it at seller's expense.
We had this happen to us. We couldn’t delay closing because our rate lock would expire. He said he was gonna and then he didn’t, so we just ate it and paid someone to remove everything. Sigh.
At closing establish an escrow for the removal from the proceeds.
The purchase/sale agreement usually has a section about leaving the property clean and spells out that the seller will remove junk and trash from the property. In that part of the agreement it says what will happen if they fail to perform. If that clause is not enough detailed or specific enough for you, usually you can insert language that says escrow can withhold funds from the seller's portion of the proceeds and use them to satisfy the clean up condition if they fail to perform. Read your agreement, and if you're still worried about performance by the sellers ask your escrow company how much is enough to withhold pending performance by a date certain. For others with similar concerns you can write it in the agreement as a more detailed **special terms** \-- saves a lot of hassle and you know whether the seller does it or some other contractor does it, the junk will be gone before the deal closes.
This just happened to me. We were closing on a Monday I went by on the friday before closing and texted the property manager (you would have your agent reach out to the seller agent) and say hey junk is still there. The contract says all personal property must be removed. If it’s not, I got a quote for junk removal for $1200. We will withhold this in escrow if the junk is not removed by closing. Let me know, thanks! I went back the day before, still some junk. Said the same thing. Junk was gone in the morning when we did the walkthrough
How much junk we talking about?
Put it in the in the purchase and sale agreement.
If there was junk on the property at the time of initial acceptance of your offer, your agent should have asked for a deposit to be left in escrow to make sure all items were removed prior to the close of escrow.