When buying a house for the first time, it's easy to get a bit lost in the process and think of things as moving in one neat, straight line when in fact, oftentimes they don't.
Things don't always fall into a tidy schedule.
One of the things you should be aware of is that part of the process called buyer possession.
Say for example that you're in the market to buy La Jolla real estate and after browsing La Jolla homes for sale, you made an offer on a particular house.
You went through the process of loan preapproval, escrow, inspection and everything.
You're currently renting so you had the move-out date from your current house set to specific timeframe because that's when you are expecting for the closing process to be done.
The date draws nearer and you're rudely surprised by the fact that the seller is still in the house, not ready to move out.
Unless you made a contract contingency about early occupation, sellers will usually only turn over the house itself when the money changes hand, all conditions of the contract have been met, and the deed is drawn.
In some cases, the seller can wait until the change in the title has already been made and the deed has already been recorded.
Possession is usually something you arrange when you and the seller agree on the purchase contract.
Sometimes how the occupancy would go actually depends on the real estate market.
During a seller's market, sellers can make demands that they will occupy the house until the title has been changed and the deed recorded (depending on the location, this could translate to several weeks).
Buyers tend to agree with this because it's a seller's market and being willing to agree to this demand of the seller may give them an edge over other people who want to buy the house.
During a buyer's market, the seller may usually be persuaded to vacate earlier, even when the deed has not been recorded yet.
To be sure that you can move in the soonest time possible, you can also put down a contingency in the contract indicating an agreement on an early move date.
This means that you can move in on the house even while the property is in escrow; you'll just pay the monthly rent until the house is officially yours.
This could be a great way to already settle in and start unpacking while waiting for the title to be transferred and for the registrar to record the deed.
While early possession and occupancy can theoretically be a good idea, it's generally considered as a risky move on both the seller and the buyer's part.
After all, many things can still go wrong in the process, even up to the last minute that you're waiting for everything to be completed.
It's a lot safer to wait until you can really say that the house is yours before you move in.
It would be quite a hassle if the negotiations fall through for some reason at the last minute.
You may end up scrambling to find a house, packing everything you've unpacked, and moving out.