Anyone ever buy a house and move in before Christmas?

ArtisticEngineer · October 2011

My husband and I have been looking at many houses and we're narrowing it down to three houses that we completely love. November is quickly approaching and I have a feeling that the owners will not want to move out/close right before Christmas. Did any of you have experience with that? How does it work out? Did you end up having a longer than normal closing time period over the holidays?

JulesDiane · October 2011

If they want to sell their house, they are probably going to be willing to move out before Christmas. It is really going to depend on the people, their circumstances, etc... Maybe you just ought to look to buy a house from a nice Jewish family. Of course, there is that whole Hannukah season to worry about too Wink

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jdbmjm · October 2011

We put in our offer at the end of November and *could have close/ moved around Christmas, but there was a major repair (that only took 2 days) they needed to do with the sewer and we were held up with the city signing off on everything, as they were closed for many days around the holidays, and they took forever to approve the dig, have an inspector come out, etc. So that is something to consider as well.

mainezilla · October 2011

We closed the day before Thanksgiving, when people want to sell they'll close when needed

EastCoastBride · October 2011

We sold our house on Dec. 16th and bought our new house on the 17th!. So, yes, people do move right before the holidays.

To us- we wanted to sell, we wanted to move. We weren't going to chance losing either side of this deal over it being the holidays.

Plus, I actually have to take the week between Christmas and New Years off - so it was a huge benefit to have that time to unpack and settle in more.

ArcadianDreams · October 2011

We closed on our first home two days before Thanksgiving and there were no problems. As the others said if they want out, they'll get out! Personally if I were selling I can't imagine that I'd be trying to decorate and pack at the same time, I'd just consider it a wash that year.

car_ramrod · October 2011

We closed on our first house December 23rd Big Smile

We moved in Christmas weekend since we had a few days off anyway. It was kind of fun. The sellers moved across the country the weekend before Christmas with their two little boys. We were willing to do a longer close but I think they just wanted to be done with it so it was led by them!

Sisugal · October 2011

Funny story about our fist house: We bought our first house and the closing was delayed into Nov. A number of friends volunteered they would be willing to help us move when we were ready. Closing finally was set for Nov 14th and we conacted friend to say we are ready to move the weekend of Nov 15th-16th. Almost everyone cancelled --- Sorry, we can't help then - that is opening day for deer (hunting) season! (And they would be hunting every weekend of the season)

Just a lesson learned the hard way - be sure not to schedul a move during other "major" events.

Closing dates can be negotiated. You never know - they may want to be rid of he house before the end of the year - or move prior to the end of the year to be closer to family etc.

Flirt01 · October 2011

We put an offer on our house last month and close next Tuesday (hopefully!). I wanted to be in by Christmas since this will be my first Christmas married. We got lucky and the owner of our soon to be house wasn't living in it, this was his second home. He just has a bunch of stuff he was storing in it he has to move out.

ArtisticEngineer · October 2011

Thanks everyone! I'm surprised by everyone's response. I was expecting more response where it'd be difficult to move around the holidays. Now I'm getting excited with the idea of possibly moving in before Christmas!

Also, I apologize for narrowing it down to "Christmas" and disregarded other religion such as Hanukkah.

Madringal · October 2011

We closed last year on Dec 22. We knew that if we didn't close on that date then we probably wouldn't close until after Christmas since a lot of the title companies and realtors offices are closed. We didn't experience any issues with being that close to the holidays other then moving in a freaking blizzard. But, because it was so close to Christmas we just decided to move in on the 26th. We had Christmas morning at the IL's. We both had the week after Christmas off and had a NYE party and 16 house guests the following weekend!

AndysKandi · October 2011

When we bought our house back in 2004, we closed in December. We didn't have an issue because the old owner was an older lady and she was going into an assisted living home. So really, whether or not it might affect your time line probably depends a lot on the circumstances. Not only that but even if the people are still in the house, if they really want to sell they probably will do what they can to get it going.

Spin313 · October 2011

I think it's doable...we put the offer on our new house in September and (after some delays) we're closing this week. We are hoping to have enough of the reno done to move in before Christmas.

Anyone ever buy a house and move in before Christmas?

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