episcomama
<strong>Why are people not packed and out the night before? I'm in the US; when you buy a house you usually do a final walk-through of the empty house the day before. Then you go to the closing the following day, sign the paperwork and pick up the keys. Much more civilized system.</strong>
Q Where do people keep all their furniture in between houses?
You stay in a motel if you can't get possession of the house immediately.
Your furniture stays in a storage pod, or you can rent storage. Or dump it all in the garages of family or friends.
The process of buying a house in the US is designed to reduce the likelihood of unpleasant surprises and to ensure that buyers and sellers who are using real estate agents to represent them (there are buyers agents) are acting in good faith.
The buyer makes an offer, puts down earnest money, the offer is accepted by the seller, and the process of the buyer eliminating reasons to back out begins. The buyer has a set period, stated in the contract, in which to get the inspection done, the appraisal done, the survey, and find a mortgage and insurance.
In a typical US residential real estate contract process, the buyers offer is usually contingent on an inspection that satisfies the buyer by a qualified house inspector in which structure and all mechanical components of the house will be examined (water damage, condition of walls, floors, stairs, roof, gutters, chimney, flue, windows, basement, attic, garage, asbestos, lead paint, plumbing, water heater, drains, electrical, heating and AC systems, building code violations, appliances if staying in situ, radon, etc) and in which faults may be flagged, and ability to obtain a mortgage for the price of the house minus down payment (this requires appraisal by the mortgage lender). A survey is also done by a qualified surveyor, to correctly identify the property lines/encroachments. A title search is completed, ensuring there are no liens, and rights of way or easements can be identified. There can be other contingencies - pest inspection, termite inspection, history of flooding, availability of flood insurance - depending on region and circumstances. Any buyer with their own house to sell first will include sale of their house by a certain date as a contingency.
The buyer can back out if the contingencies are not met to their satisfaction, and earnest money is returned by the real estate agent. If the process goes ahead, the earnest money can be used to pay a portion of the closing costs.
Backing out usually doesn't involve losing the earnest money, but the offered contract needs to be watertight on the subject of contingencies or financial loss can occur. In every state except New Jersey, the seller cannot back out once an offer has been initially accepted. The buyer and seller can negotiate a reduction in price or can negotiate various ways of funding appliance or mechanical insurance or replacement/repair prior to closing or afterwards, based on issues flagged by the house inspector.