Clarifying Possession Saves A Lot of Grief

Most of us are familiar with shopping. Me, I go online, pick out what I want, put it in my cart, click "check-out," and it arrives on my front steps within a matter of days. My husband, on the other hand, pushes a four-wheel cart around the grocery store, puts his stuff on the conveyor belt, hands the clerk a debit card and brings home the bacon.

But what happens when you buy a house? You can't bring that home with you, and you don't get the keys as soon as you sign on the dotted line. When do you get possession? Some of the nastiest fights in real estate are over buyer possession.

Except for turtles. Turtles don't fight. Turtles just carry their houses from pond to pond.

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_{©Elizabeth Weintraub, Licensed to About.com}

_{At the time of writing, Elizabeth Weintraub, DRE # 00697006, is a Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate in Sacramento, California.}