Allowing Buyer Access To Your Home Before Closing

[Anonymous]

Never give out your wifi router password to someone you do not know. If they know how to hack, they can easily access private information. Someone professional, like a house inspector should have their own internet connection through their phone or computer. That is strange. Change your password ASAP.

You allowed access several times. Enough is enough. After purchase, they can enter as often as they want. It is a liability to have them in the home.

[Anonymous]

Change your wifi password and require your agent to supervise them throughout their presence (meaning your agent commits to follow them around and not leave them or their contractora alone in your house) and they get one visit, they have to coordinate everything then or they can wait until you move out. Your agent wants the sale your agent can ensure nothing of yours is touched this time.

I would be pissed off about the drawer and the fingerprints. OP does not need to sell, the buyers are demanding and inconsiderate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We would have been happy not to sell our house as we did not need to and told our agent to take it off the market so we didn't have to deal with any of the sale crap before we moved out. She instead insisted on bringing this offer. We would have been thrilled not to sell it right now.

There is no financing or appraisal contingency on the contract, so no we did not have to let the appraiser in. I did not realize home inspections these days included inspecting our WiFi router, especially since that moves with us.

Oh come on. If you would have been so thrilled not to sell, why did you accept the offer? Or were you "railroaded" into that too? What kind of gun does your agent carry?

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would allow it. When we bought our home I did not trust the builder, so I did the last walk through to make sure the toilets weren't clogged with wet cement, etc., while my husband finished the closing. He didn't finalize the closing until I gave the all clear. The builder had a nasty habit of not paying his subcontractors. They would take revenge by pouring cement into the toilets, dismantling electronics, trashing whatever they could. The subs had keys. Under VA law (well at least then) the subs could place a lien against the house for any unpaid bills and the owner then becomes responsible. We forced the builder to buy us an insurance policy against unpaid sub liens. We had enough evidence to know his standard practice even though this was before email, yelp, etc. He went bankrupt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you do it?

We have already allowed access for a home inspection, appraisal and so on, and of course that doesn't include multiple visits before the contract was entered into. The contract is not contingent at this point.

I think if they wanted to have a contractor come look at stuff they could have brought him along previously or closed on the property and rented the house back to us. But they didn't and they don't own it yet. Our agent keeps going on about building good will, etc., but so far they have not shown any consideration towards us. They even insisted we give them our WiFi passcode during the home inspection in case they needed to get on the internet for anything, and their inspector - or somebody - either went through or carelessly dumped out all the drawers in our nightstand and left dirty fingerprints everywhere during the inspection.

I am really not happy about being railroaded into this by my agent. What do others think? Do I really have to let them in whenever they want when they don't own it?

I would give them 2 dates and times of 1 hour to pick from for contractors. Your agent should be present. The drawer is odd. Without the password how can you test the wifi? It would show as a network but you couldn't log in and see speed etc. The wiring stays with the house and you just take the router that plugs into the modem. They might have been walking around with a laptop - or wanted to have the smart phone feed off your wifi.

We have tiered passwords for routers etc. The basic login is easy and I allow guests to access it. I no longer have any networking and printing is done via usb's plugged into laptops.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw I don't think you're being petty.

The buyers are ridiculous to think they have rights to your wifi or the contents of your drawers. I wouldn't let them in again until after closing. They should have been more respectful and less obnoxious if they wanted "good will."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw I don't think you're being petty.

The buyers are ridiculous to think they have rights to your wifi or the contents of your drawers. I wouldn't let them in again until after closing. They should have been more respectful and less obnoxious if they wanted "good will."

+1. we bought our home 3 years ago, went in with the inspector (we had a inspection contingency), and never went again until the morning of closing, for the final walk through before signing the docs. it was an estate sale and the house was empty. we never asked the owners to be able to go in before closing. we waited until we bought the house. these people have already accessed, and had outrageus requests (like the WIFI password - you are simply insane or a real pushover in giving it to them - as others have said, change the password immediately). if you want to be generous, let them in after you move out, at the condition that your agent is there with them the all time, so she can contribute to the building of the goodwill with her time. otherwise, they can wait until the house is theirs, just two weeks more, not the end of the world. it seems to me that they were less than nice and respectful to you, so I do not see what kind of goodwill you need to build.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP sounds pretty mean to me...such a shame

Be happy you sold the house, the other stuff is really petty as somebody else made a similar remark. Also, counting the appraiser visit and the home inspector as "letting" the buyer is ridiculous, that's part of the selling process. Try "not letting" these in and see if you would have sold your house.

What? That is crazy. Yes, let them in, but they should not be there unsupervised, ever. And, at this point (after multiple requests) it would also be fine to ask them to consolidate all their coordination issues -- measuring for furniture or bringing contractors or whatever they're doing -- into one or two more visits so they don't disrupt your lives.

OP, FWIW my appraisal was done from the exterior only and the seller's realtor was present for the home inspection and for the walk-through on day of closing. The seller's realtor also was kind enough to show the house to us once more, after contract but before closing, because my in-laws were visiting from out of state and wanted to see it. Everything else waited until we moved in (after rent-back to the sellers).

[Anonymous]

What is the big deal? We just sold our house and let the new buyers come in a number of times to measure for drapes, etc. who cares?

[Anonymous]

They do not get to test your wiring. People have a choice of service providers and speed tiers and the idea that you have guaranteed a levelnof broadband is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I don't think you are being petty. I think letting someone in before closing is reasonable but it is still your home until you close. So, while it is good for you to have flexibility, the buyers should have consideration for your house and your time. The visits wouldn't probably be a big deal but for the open drawers and fingerprints. That would just make me uncomfortable leaving them in without supervision and then that requires coordinating.

I agree with the prior posters that there is a middle ground. You can probably let them in before you move but make sure someone is present. You should ask them to consolidate their visits so those that are critical are taken care of. If they can't fit them all in, then they can wait until you move. They don't need your wifi. They should be in with their contractors taking measurements, etc. If they need to look something up, I would be surprised if no one had an iphone or couldn't print out information beforehand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I would allow it. When we bought our home I did not trust the builder, so I did the last walk through to make sure the toilets weren't clogged with wet cement, etc., while my husband finished the closing. He didn't finalize the closing until I gave the all clear. The builder had a nasty habit of not paying his subcontractors. They would take revenge by pouring cement into the toilets, dismantling electronics, trashing whatever they could. The subs had keys. Under VA law (well at least then) the subs could place a lien against the house for any unpaid bills and the owner then becomes responsible. We forced the builder to buy us an insurance policy against unpaid sub liens. We had enough evidence to know his standard practice even though this was before email, yelp, etc. He went bankrupt.

Why on earth would you buy a house built by a known shoddy builder?

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised by all those who let that much access. Other than the walkthrough right before closing, it never occurred to me to ask if I could have access to the house before closing. After all, at that point it's the house of strangers, it didn't belong to me.

[Anonymous]

I've had agents say not to allow access post inspection before closing so they don't see something that makes them want to back out. I would allow access, but I don't think it's mean not to. I'd offer dates and times that work for you or tell them they can do it the 2 weeks after you move out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they ask again, you can insist that your listing agent accompany them so that nothing untoward happens.

I would do this. Who knows - you might need the goodwill. There is still the last "look over" right before the papers are signed, something might break etc...