Depends on who has more power in the transaction.

We accommodated the sellers' request for a long closing period on our current home, and they subsequently would not allow us or our agent any access to the house before closing. It created some bad blood and made us suspicious that they were hiding something, but I'm sure they didn't care.

when we sold our house and had a rent back period, our buyer asked for access, but made it very convenient--two several hour slots at our convenience. it was no issue and he was accompanied by his agent.

when we bought our house, we did the same thing. I picked a morning slot, between 9 and 12, asked if that was okay, scheduled all contractors/measuring, their agent was there and it was fine.

but both negotiations were very straightforward so there was plenty of good will all around. i would not allow multiple days, wifi password, unaccompanied visits, etc.

Good will has a limit. Most people ask far less and are grateful. We asked to bring my Mom by the house since she wouldn't be in town again for another year. I'm sure even that gave them pause - maybe Mom would voice fault with our purchase.

This is something that should be part of the contract. We were buying an estate sale that needed work and was empty. We put in our offer that we wanted to be able to have access to the property with 48 hour notice during the escrow period for contractor quotes. The sellers agreed. It's so much better if the amount of pre-closing access is negotiated as part of the deal.

Of course I would allow it. When we bought our home we asked the seller (after contingencies had expired) if we and a contractor could stop by on X date at X time so that we could get an estimate for work that we wanted done before move in. Seems pretty petty not to allow that. Are you afraid they will notice something that you've hidden?

My sellers let us move very large item into their (vacant) garage because we were selling our prior house and has no where to store it. I was extremely grateful and overlooked a few small issues that arose in the days leading up to closing and after closing as pay back for their kindness.

I would not permit it given the previous interactions. I think you're just opening yourself up to more and more requests.

Personally, we're thinking of buying a house that needs lots of work/remodeling and our plan is to move to a temporary apartment for a few months so we have PLENTY of time post-closing to get estimates, consider them, and have the work done. We are budgeting this into our total moving and purchase costs. We have two young kids and a dog, so it will be very inconvenient, but I've learned from experience that trying to get into a house and quickly rush through estimates and upfront remodeling is not always the greatest idea (especially if there's extensive work... of course I'm not talking about just hanging drapes or whatever, but kitchen and bathroom remodeling, etc.). We might have a contractor come through during the home inspection just to get a rough ballpark, but no way would I try to meet with a bunch of contractors and finalize remodeling plans prior to closing.

Why not? In reason, all parties should be willing to cooperate until the DEAL is closed. Testing wifi sounds a bit ridiculous to me.

WTF?? Was the BA part of this plan? Where was this??

Yes, the BA was part of the plan --upscale suburb. They said they would get $2500 taken off the lowest offer, no matter what. The buyer went with that. When the buyer saw that he was going to lose the house, he told the BA to back off. They would have lost the house. I would not let the buyers into the house anymore than necessary. That is the advice I have been given repeatedly as we have moved. Standard advice. But do what you want. You do not know these people -- they are in your home -- they may want to reopen negoiations. Its all clear to the agents --you are the only one on the dark. It day to day for them, once or twice in a lifetime for you. Who has the advantage?

We let our buyers come with their contractor to look at the kitchen. They brought several family members, too, which we did not expect. They were not at all friendly to us. Our family was home and stayed out of their way. It was really uncomfortable!

Anonymous wrote:We let the buyers into the house for the inspection. They attacked the HVAC with a hammer in the hopes that we would replace it for them. Our handyman put it back together the best he could. Later the buyers agent wanted a rebate on the HVAC -- hammer dents all over it. We said something to the effect of accept the hammer marks or let the contract lapse -- your call. Another buyer will come. They accepted. Later the BA "confessed" How odd. How hard to believe. But it happened. The buyer was stuck in the middle as he knew that we (seller) would be just as happy to keep the house. When is comes to real estate, anything can happen.

WTF?? Was the BA part of this plan? Where was this??

OP, I get where you're coming from (except for the "our realtor made us sell the house now"). I'd give the buyers an hour and make sure your agent accompanies them. Tell the buyers that after that you're going to be too busy dealing with the move, etc., and that they should make sure to get everything done in that one hour. Make sure your realtor tells them that most buyers don't make this kind of request and most sellers don't grant lots of access before closing, but you are granting this last request out of good will. You should also have your agent tell them about the nightstand drawers; that would have pissed me off.

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Because when we entered into the contract we didn't know he was a shoddy builder known for pulling stunts like this. Remember I said it was before email, yelp, etc.? How would we know? It was only during construction as we got to know the subcontractors and heard their stories - which led us to other unhappy purchasers - that we figure out what was going on. We had only the BBB then and getting records out of them was like pulling teeth because nothing was computerized.

You should let them bring contractors for estimates, etc. But your listing agent should accompany them. (Or say they can only come while you are home, if you're more comfortable that way.)

We are closing on our house in a few weeks. We had access for the inspection and appraisal. We will do a walk through too right before closing. Other than that, I am not going to bother the sellers for access until we close. I am sure they are busy enough coordinating their own move.

Would I like to come in and do final measurements on some things before? Yeah, sure, but it is still their house. Let them take care of what they need to, and we will wait until it is our house. I would feel pushy and rude asking for access. And as to the wifi access. I wrote handwritten notes during that. I can't imagine being pushy enough to ask someone for their password for Internet access. You should have said no.