‘Get out of my house’: Home seller discovers buyer moved into their house before closing date, leading to legal dispute when seller demands she leaves

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
May 2, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

The general conception of a 'successful life' consists of a few things a person should achieve in their life, with the main ones unsurprisingly being – starting a family, having a successful career, and owning a home. While we can argue about all three of these concepts and their actual value to someone's life, let's take a moment to focus on the idea of owning a home.

Surely we can all understand the benefits of owning your own house – you don't have anyone to answer to, you can do whatever you please in your own space, it is a good investment that can benefit you in the future, and it simply secures you a space that is (hopefully) forever yours. But with all these great benefits, there are still some cons to the whole business, one of them being that the process of selling the house is a real pain, and can actually cost you more than you gained.

The woman in this Reddit story sure had a lot of pain when trying to sell her house to an extremely entitled lady. Scroll down to read the full story. After that, click here for a story of an employee who got a silent treatment from their manager. 

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  • 01
    "Take your things and get out of my house"
    via Canva
  • 02
    Entitled person bought my house and threatened to not show up to closing if she couldn't move in early.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 03
    This is a bit of a long story, so I apologize in advance. There's a bit of backstory that is relevant. This story happened several years ago, around 2015.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 04
    When I married my first husband, we bought a house built in 1960 with it's original aluminum shingled roof (this is somewhat relevant later). The roof looked bad but was in good shape as long as you kept the leaves off it.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 05
    After we got divorced, I kept the house and lived there until I moved in with my now husband. I kept the house empty for a couple years, checking on it regularly, just in case things didn't work out.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 06
    During that time, I didn't clean the roof off and the leaf build up caused a leak. This was immediately repaired and convinced me it was time to sell the house.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 07
    I listed the house for just what I needed to pay off the mortgage and waited. In three months time I didn't get any serious offers, just investors that low balled me. My realtor was getting really restless when finally I got an offer that wasn't
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 08
    terrible. We started negotiations. She immediately made it known that she was in the Air Force Reserves and retired from the Army or Marines (I forget which). My parents were in the Aire Force, so that isn't something that I care about and she wasn't
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 09
    getting special treatment from me for it. I'm used to people that use their military experience to get stuff. She was getting a VA loan and at the time that meant stricter requirements for inspections.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 10
    She kept trying to get me to lower the price and finally used the roof leak against me. She claimed the roof needed to be replaced and found a roofer willing to back her up on it. It kind of forced my hand, so I agreed to pay half the expected
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 11
    replacement cost, but she didn't want that paid to the roofer, she wanted it paid directly to her. It was clearly an excuse to get the price lowered. It me off but there wasn't much I could do since I needed to sell this house.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 12
    We finally agreed and the house was put under contract, closing date set for a month away. The inspections started. After the first one she asked for a few minor things to be fixed, which I did. Then we had the second
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 13
    inspection for the VA loan. This was about three weeks away from closing. I went by the house the day after and as I pulled into the driveway I found a package addressed to her in the mailbox, a metal shelf and outdoor swing sitting in the driveway. I'm not happy, but
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 14
    more confused than anything. I then went into the house. The house is a Tri-level, with the "basement" being just 5 steps down from the kitchen. The basement had been redone to be a primary bedroom prior to me buying it, but I only used it as a family/media room.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 15
    The first thing I noticed was the basement. She had completely rearranged it. There were Ikea wardrobe/closet things she had pulled from the wall and ripped apart (they were s❤ d together) flipping them around.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 16
    She had moved a mattress from the upstairs into the basement. The floor was damaged while they moved things around. Furniture was completely rearranged.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 17
    Then I went upstairs to the bedrooms, I found cans of paint and packages of curtains in all the upstairs rooms. These are not my things and I'm angry. The house isn't hers yet, she shouldn't be leaving things there or rearranging.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 18
    I called my realtor, who called her realtor, who called her. It was relayed to me that she had dropped some things off outside (there were also bunkbeds on the back deck that I hadn't seen yet) but she insisted she was never in the house. It's an obvious lie to
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 19
    cover the trespassing. I then went outside and found a circular burn in the grass, after which I found a burned paint stick inside the house. Now there's vandalism. In an effort to appease me, the buyer agreed to move up the
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 20
    closing date. It was supposed to be within a week. That ended up not happening and we only closed three days early, on Monday instead of Wednesday. Other than the delays, nothing else happens until just before the closing date. On the Friday
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 21
    before my realtor called me and said the buyer wanted to move in over that weekend instead of waiting for closing because she's military and doesn't get many days off and wouldn't be able to move until that next weekend. Not my problem. I immediately say no, not happening.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 22
    The realtor called again later saying she's really pushing the military thing, she really wants to move in early, would I be willing to do a lease agreement. I again say absolutely not. I get another call saying that the buyer has now called anyone
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 23
    and everyone involved with the sale, the loan officers, insurance company, realtor, realtor broker, commanding officers, to try to find anyone that can force me to let her move in early. She was now threatening to not show up to closing if I didn't let her move in. I asked what
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 24
    would happen if she didn't show and was told that she would still have to pay the commissions for both realtors and that since there was a contract I could take her to court and force her to complete the sale. I again said she was
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 25
    not moving in early and told my realtor that she could convey anything of what I was about to say to the buyer. I told her that I didn't press charges for the trespassing and vandalism because of the contract. If she failed to show up to closing I
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 26
    would not only pursue all my legal rights regarding the contract but I would also be contacting police about pressing criminal charges. I don't know how much of that was relayed, but I got a call a few minutes later that she
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 27
    would be showing up to the closing but she wanted to sign her papers in a separate room. The closing went off without a hitch and I'm glad to be rid of that house. I don't think she ever replaced the roof.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 28
    KombuchaBot. 14 hr. ago Once she had relayed to you that she had never been in the house you could have disposed of all the stuff she left there. It obviously must have been yours and you just forgot about it, can't have been hers as she had never been in your house.
    via u/KombuchaBot
  • 29
    Sephie2000 OP. 14 hr. ago I really concidered that. It was really tempting.
    via u/Sephie2000
  • 30
    Super_Selection1522. 16 hr. ago Good for you for standing your ground
    via u/Super_Selection1522
  • 31
    Ok-Fun7759 8 hr. ago How did she get the keys prior to closing? Makes no sense to me. +5 + Reply Share Sephie2000 OP. 8 hr. ago She didn't. She had access when the inspections were done. I think she either stayed after the inspector left or left a door unlocked for herself.
    via u/Ok-Fun7759
  • 32
    DIANABLISS19. 3 hr. ago NEVER let the buyer move in early. They only have to change one thing, a lighting fixture, paint, anything and the house becomes theirs without the closing and the mortgage transfer. You are out the house AND the money. Don't let it happen.
    via u/DIANABLISS19

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buying a house reddit story entitled Reddit home entitled people selling drama house revenge legal homeowner dispute funny buying a new home
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