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I am buying a house that is a short sale and we close in 45 days. Can I rent the house till the closing date?

I close on my current house in a week and I would like to move into the "short sale" house right away and rent it. I don't want to put my stuff in storage or rent another place. But our buyer's agent tells us that the bank does not want us to rent. There is something about "you cannot rent a short sale house." I want to find out if that is true or not. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Public Comments

  1. a short sale, seller carry back sale institutional financing sale are all sales, contract based deals. ALL contracts can be negotiated. Thus, ask the seller!
  2. You can ask, but they don't have to agree. What if they let you move in and then the deal fails to close?
  3. The bank which holds the current paper for this property needs to sell the property as soon as possible, particularly in the current environment. If your purchase does not close, the bank will have to take additional losses while you find another home and move back out. While you can ask the bank, it seems unlikely that they will agree. Unless you can move up the closing, meaning your financing is all set, you are probably stuck renting. Or, there's always the proverbial In-laws' place......
  4. On a short sale, "the bank" has no say so in whether or not you can move in early. They don't own the house - the seller does. You CAN negotiate with the seller to move in early, but I wouldn't if I were you. On short sale deals, you might end up closing in 45 days, you might end up closing in 7 months, you might not end up closing. If it ends up not closing and the house gets foreclosed upon, you have to move again.
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