We did 30 day close with a 30 day rent back. Then when we sold our place, we asked for 30 day close - 14 day rent back to make sure we had wiggle room. Could have done a 45 day close, I suppose but I would rather know earlier if something is going to blow up at the last minute.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we talking about a rent back where you actually pay the rent or where the buyer gives you a free rent back, which I’ve seen mentioned here?

Does it matter?

It matters because I’m a buyer, and I’m wondering what is common/expected. I would be willing to give the seller a rent back where they pay. I would not be willing to give free rent. But I have no idea what other people are doing in this crazy market.

We had to offer free 60-day rent back on a house we liked recently, in order to be competitive. (didn’t get the house)

60 day rent back very common in the spring market, no seller wants to move before school is out, also in the DC area, many sellers have other reasons that needs rent back (in military, foreign services, etc.)

Anonymous wrote:As a buyer I already feel taken advantage of with a 2 month rent back. Longer and I would not bid.

+1. i'd go 90 d max

As potential buyers, we've seen a fair number of 60 day rent backs, presumably to finish out the school year. Seems that'd be typical.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mortgage lenders will allow 60 days.

Oh brother why would you even tell your lender? That is ridiculous.

it's a rent-back, not a "rental". #hit happens. You start out intending to do a 30 day because you need to find a house. That 30 turns into 60 because you still can't find a home.

You can't not tell your lender. The provisions of the rent back are in the contract, which the lender gets. Are you saying the buyer should accept the seller arbitrarily extending it because they cannot find a house without any protection for the buyer after it's legally their house?

That's what we did when we sold. Was supposed to be a 30 day rent back and that was in the contract, Then we had to extend to 60 days, which turned into almost 90 days. We drew up a separate short term rental contract at the start of the 60 days and we got rental insurance. Nothing arbitrary about it. We kept in constant communication with the buyers and we continued caring for the home as if it was ours.

Why would the buyer agree to this? Don't they need to move in?

Because they are first time buyers and have flexibility.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mortgage lenders will allow 60 days.

Oh brother why would you even tell your lender? That is ridiculous.

it's a rent-back, not a "rental". #hit happens. You start out intending to do a 30 day because you need to find a house. That 30 turns into 60 because you still can't find a home.

You can't not tell your lender. The provisions of the rent back are in the contract, which the lender gets. Are you saying the buyer should accept the seller arbitrarily extending it because they cannot find a house without any protection for the buyer after it's legally their house?

That's what we did when we sold. Was supposed to be a 30 day rent back and that was in the contract, Then we had to extend to 60 days, which turned into almost 90 days. We drew up a separate short term rental contract at the start of the 60 days and we got rental insurance. Nothing arbitrary about it. We kept in constant communication with the buyers and we continued caring for the home as if it was ours.

Why would the buyer agree to this? Don't they need to move in?

We lost an offer recently where the sellers asked for 60 days free rent back - we said fine, not thrilled to have to do it but that’s the game right now, put it in our offer. As the sellers are reviewing, it’s down to ours and one other (same top price, both waived everything). The sellers agent comes back and says “Oh yea forgot to mention, the sellers actually need 90 days free rent back” (on top of the 45 day close). They want it to be you, but you have to agree.” We said we couldn’t (current lease is up this summer and we would’ve been without a home for a month), so they went with the other buyers. Our agent even said “you can just not tell your lender!” and my head almost exploded. We are first time buyers, LYING to our lender sounds beyond foolish.

The imbalance in the market right now is disgusting - I don’t fault any seller for trying to get the best deal, but there’s a point where it just feels predatory. They purposely didn’t mention the 90 days until after we paid for pre-inspection and submitted the offer. If we had known upfront, we would have passed. But as long as buyers keep agreeing to these ridiculous demands, sellers will continue to take every ounce of flesh they can. It’s gross.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we talking about a rent back where you actually pay the rent or where the buyer gives you a free rent back, which I’ve seen mentioned here?

Does it matter?

It matters because I’m a buyer, and I’m wondering what is common/expected. I would be willing to give the seller a rent back where they pay. I would not be willing to give free rent. But I have no idea what other people are doing in this crazy market.

Common practice is the seller pays a rent amount that is equivalent to your new monthly mortgage amount. For example, even if rentals in your area are going for $3K a month but your mortgage is $4500, they pay $4500.

Common practice, but not in the current market. Agree you need to offer free to win in a competitive situation around here.

Rent backs are vert common here in Arlington, my neighbor got 2 months free rent back (closed in March 2022), a friend also recently did 2 month rent back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we talking about a rent back where you actually pay the rent or where the buyer gives you a free rent back, which I’ve seen mentioned here?

Does it matter?

It matters because I’m a buyer, and I’m wondering what is common/expected. I would be willing to give the seller a rent back where they pay. I would not be willing to give free rent. But I have no idea what other people are doing in this crazy market.

In this market if it's a multi-offer situation you would almost certainly need to offer free rent back to be competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we talking about a rent back where you actually pay the rent or where the buyer gives you a free rent back, which I’ve seen mentioned here?

Does it matter?

It matters because I’m a buyer, and I’m wondering what is common/expected. I would be willing to give the seller a rent back where they pay. I would not be willing to give free rent. But I have no idea what other people are doing in this crazy market.

Common practice is the seller pays a rent amount that is equivalent to your new monthly mortgage amount. For example, even if rentals in your area are going for $3K a month but your mortgage is $4500, they pay $4500.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we talking about a rent back where you actually pay the rent or where the buyer gives you a free rent back, which I’ve seen mentioned here?

Does it matter?

It matters because I’m a buyer, and I’m wondering what is common/expected. I would be willing to give the seller a rent back where they pay. I would not be willing to give free rent. But I have no idea what other people are doing in this crazy market.

To answer the question, every offer we wrote for a home currently occupied it included a 30-45 day close followed by a 30-60 day rent back. One was 45 day
close plus 60 days because they were foreign service and that was the government relocation timeline. We eventually won a home that was unoccupied/staged and obviously no rent back. Every offer we wrote our agent either found the rent back request (demands?) in the notes or called the seller’s agent to ask what the sellers wanted. I think if you’re upfront and not over priced in this market you’ll get a decent offer and the rent back.

Anonymous wrote:Are we talking about a rent back where you actually pay the rent or where the buyer gives you a free rent back, which I’ve seen mentioned here?

Does it matter?