When Does the Buyer Get Possession of the House?

Decide the Day the Buyer Gets the Keys

On both forms below, possession is a term of the purchase contract. You settle it when you sign.

Paragraph 6(a) of the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar AS IS contract has you hand over occupancy and possession at closing, free of tenants and occupants, unless the box in paragraph 6(b) is checked. That box covers leases and occupancy after closing. If you'll stay on after closing yourself, the form sends you to Rider U, Post-Closing Occupancy by Seller.

Texas's resale contract, TREC form 20-19, uses two checkboxes in paragraph 10A: possession upon closing and funding, or under a TREC temporary residential lease form or another written lease. Stay past closing without a written lease, and the form says you've created a tenancy at sufferance with the buyer.

Your state may use a different form. Look for its possession paragraph, then decide before you sign: out by closing day, or a written agreement to stay.

Have the House Empty Before the Walk-Through

Book your move so you're out before the buyer's walk-through.

The Florida AS IS form says that by closing, you've removed all personal items and trash. You hand over all keys, garage door openers, access devices and codes. And you keep the property, lawn and pool included, in the condition it was in on the contract's effective date, except for ordinary wear and tear and casualty loss.

If the buyer does a walk-through, it comes the day before the closing date, or on closing day before the time of closing. The buyer picks which. So being packed out by the day before closing covers both options. The form limits the walk-through to two checks: the personal property included in the sale is still there, and you've kept up that maintenance standard and met your other contract obligations.

Texas's form 20-19 adds a smart-device step: when you deliver possession, you give the buyer written access codes, usernames, passwords and apps for the home's smart devices. You also remove every access and connection your own phones and computers have to the house and its accessories.

Pick a Closing Date You Can Move By

Your move-out plan hangs on one date. Pick the path whose closing date you can meet. Cash Flow Deals puts the Fast Cash Offer and the Premium Cash Offer in front of you, and you choose. Take 10 to 15 minutes to compare what each means for your move.

With the Fast Cash Offer, we give you our as-is number, buy your house and close. Your inspection period is 15 business days, and our team walks through once. You have no repairs to make.

With the Premium Cash Offer, a pre-approved FHA or conventional buyer we already have, ready to go, pays more and buys directly from you. You sign with us at an agreed number and give us permission to bring in a buyer in our place. That buyer signs a new contract directly with you. Their lender funds the purchase, title goes straight from you to that buyer once, and our pay appears as its own line item on the closing statement.

We cover repair costs, and we figure out a way, so nothing comes out of your pocket. On Premium, only what the buyer's lender requires gets fixed, with repair costs settled from the sale proceeds out of our share. With either offer, the number is agreed before any work starts, and it changes only if you agree. The one exception: if something structural surfaces that was not visible or disclosed before we signed — foundation issues, hidden moisture, old wiring, cast-iron drain failure — we re-cost it and bring the number back to you. You decide. You can walk away. We disclose what we know at offer time so this almost never happens.

If the buyer's loan falls through, that is our problem, not yours, and you can still take the Fast Cash Offer at its own number instead of the Premium Cash Offer.

Closing comes in 45 days or less, on a date you help pick. In our view, honest timing accounts for the inspection period and the time to close. Review both windows in your written contract and plan your move around them.