Closing pushed off, buyer wants to rent until closing

[John H.]

I'm selling my home (owner occupied investment property) and my buyer just found out they can't close on time as planned. They asked for 2 additional weeks before the closing. I proposed we go 4 weeks instead as then I'll have owned the property for year 1 day and I will save on taxes. She asked if she can rent from me until the closing now slated for oct 30 (53 days away).

This is my first time doing this, any advice? All I have asked for is that she can't move in until I have a mortgage commitment from her. Anything else I can do to protect myself in case she can't get funding, or decides she doesn't want to buy it, and not move out. I need to sell it, I can't afford to rent it out.

Thanks.

[J Scott]

I can't think of any situation where I'd let a buyer move into a move-in ready home of mine prior to closing.

If for some reason the property doesn't close, the best case is that I have to wait for them to voluntarily move out, will have to touch up the paint, clean the carpets they messed up, clean the toilets/sinks/showers, and fix the nail holes in the wall. Worst case, I have to get them evicted, fix everything they broke, get the house repainted, re-carpeted, etc.

The only way I would consider it is if they were will to give me a non-refundable deposit that would cover all the basic cosmetic repairs (painting, flooring, cabinets, etc). This would be about $8000 on a typical property and would go towards closing if the property closed and would be lost (to me) if it didn't.

Even then, I wouldn't be very comfortable doing this...