You have always loved the area around Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair, and it has long been your goal to buy a house there. You have now reached the point in your life where this has become an affordable and attractive option. Since this has been such a big goal of yours for so long, you want to make sure you get all the details right.
One of those details is when you are actually allowed to go into the new home and take ownership of it. At what point does the property actually become yours?
Signing over the home
As a general rule, this is going to happen at closing. That’s when the current owners are going to sign the deed of the house over to you, and it is then going to be listed in your name. Closing can take a fair amount of time and you have to sign dozens of documents. Once you have gone through this, you will typically be given the keys and you can go to your new house at that time if you would like.
However, there are some exceptions. For example, some sellers will agree to sell their home only if they are then given a set amount of time to buy another home before they have to move out. In some cases, people who previously owned the house will actually rent it back from the new owners so that they don’t have to move out right away. You can certainly negotiate for a different date for the ownership transfer.
As you can see, this may be a little bit more complicated than you assumed, so be sure you know what legal steps to take so that your closing goes as anticipated.