A Big House Full Of Entitlement

My brother and his wife are moving from one state to another. They’d gone house hunting, and found a place that needed a little TLC; mostly updating, since the owners are 70+ years old. 

They drive and get in to a hotel in town the night before closing (late) with a UHaul full of all their stuff. They arranged with UHaul to have people there to unload at noon the next day, after closing.

The next morning they go do the walkthrough before closing, and the house is…not packed up. It looks like people are still living there.

Realtor: “The current owner might not be ready to give up possession at closing.”

Brother: “Uh, that’s a no go. We don’t have the hotel for another night, and we’ve already arranged and paid for people to help unload. So no, contractually, the current owner needs to be out.”

Realtor: “The current owner says they need to stay in the house again overnight.”

Brother: “Again, no. It’s not arranged in our contract. We only had the hotel for one night, and I have the unloaders scheduled.”

Realtor: “Well, in my day, we just sorted this stuff out, it didn’t need to be in a contract.”

Brother: “Okay, when were you going to tell us? At this point, it’s too late. We’ve made plans based on taking possession today. So unless your client will pay to reschedule the unloaders, pay for another night in a hotel – and with a pet deposit, since we have two dogs –  this won’t work. This is why it’s contracted, so that I can do things like not drive down here until the house is move-in ready.”

They come to find out the old house owner’s realtor is NO LONGER PRACTICING, as in, was retired but came out of retirement to do this for the old owner. 

So closing proceeds, but the current owner and all their children and children’s spouses are there, just hanging out. Not packing. Not getting things out. Just chilling.

Brother: “Um, so can I help you with anything?”

Crew: “Nah, we’re good.” *Resumes chatting.*

He repeats this every fifteen minutes for about an hour and a half, including adding that he has people coming at noon to help him unload. At 11 am, they tell my brother that they’re ordering a pizza, and does he want some?

Brother: “No. I do not want pizza. I’m celiac and can’t eat pizza. However, I do need you to get your things out, so I can move into my house.”

The pizza arrives, and they continue to offer him some. At 11:30, he finally loses it.

Brother: “No, I don’t want pizza. I need your UHaul out of the driveway in half an hour, because I will be moving my UHaul into my driveway to unload my things into my house.”

They finally caught a clue. Cue chickens running with heads cut off for the next half hour, during which my sister-in-law brings the dogs in. The wife of formerly current, now previous owner speaks up:

Former Owner’s Wife: “You can’t bring dogs in here! I’m allergic!”

Sister-In-Law: “Yes, I can bring my dogs into my house. And you had no problem getting gluten-filled pizza all over my house when my husband told you that makes him very sick.”

Former Owner’s Wife: “Well, what about the floors?”

Sister-In-Law: “Yes, what about my floors? This is our house now. You need to leave.”

They finally got their stuff and left.