Eight Home Closing Essentials
By: Gretchen Faber
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this
article.
Real estate purchases can entail hours searching online for possible
homes, days in the car with your real estate broker looking at those
homes. Discovering that sometimes the pictures don’t exactly
match up with the reality, and then finally pulling the trigger and
preparing an offer.
Now what?
The period of time we call “under contract” in
Colorado Real Estate, sometimes known as “in
escrow” in other states, can stretch out for weeks and make
time feel like it’s moving at a snail’s pace. There
is much to be done, though, and these eight real estate closing
fundamentals are important to know:
Property Inspection - The home should be inspected, and you should
definitely accompany the inspector while he or she is there. This is a
great time to ask questions, and get a sense of whether the property is
truly the right one for you, as well as whether there are any material
defects you will want to ask the seller to clarify or repair.
Underwriting Period - We build time into our Colorado Real Estate
contracts for appraisal, underwriter review of your financial situation
and final loan commitment. Each step is essential to getting your loan
finalized for the closing day. In Colorado, we schedule a
pre-determined closing date. This means that the loan must fund and the
documents finalized and delivered to the Title Company by the date
you’ve chosen as your closing date. Make sure your lender
knows the procedures in Colorado.
Title Review - The Listing Agent will order the title commitment from
the closing company. You and your agent will have time to review the
document to ensure that you’ll be receiving clear title to
the property. You can also choose to have an attorney review any and
all documents throughout the closing period. In Colorado, we typically
don’t use attorneys to close residential real estate, but you
may certainly choose to do so. Especially if it’s a somewhat
complicated transaction.
Scheduling Moving Day - Another customary practice in Denver Real
Estate transactions is for the buyer to take possession of the property
a couple of days after the closing. With a vacant property, possession
is typically granted the day of closing. Make sure to check the dates
and deadlines in your contract before you schedule the movers.
Walk Through - Most buyers choose to have a walk through the day or so
before closing. In the real estate contract, it states that the buyer
has a right to walk through and verify the condition of the property
prior to closing. Some buyers who are buying a vacant house and have
been through it a few times state that they don’t need to
have a walk through, but it’s really a good idea to do so.
This is your time to check that all of your requested repairs during
the inspection negotiations have been completed.
Utility Transfer - The water departments here in Colorado have lien
rights on properties, so the Title Company will transfer that utility
for you on the day of the closing. They’ll arrange to have
the final reading done and the final payment withheld from the
Seller’s proceeds. Other utilities such as gas and
electricity, satellite or cable and phones should be contacted a couple
of weeks prior and you’ll need to arrange to have them
transfered the day of closing. The Seller should also call and give
permission for the utilities to be removed from their name and put into
yours.
Final Closing Documents - As I said, the Colorado real estate contract
calls for a pre-scheduled closing date. Everyone comes to the title
company on the designated closing date and signs the closing documents,
then the deed is transferred and the keys handed over to the buyer. We
like to say that there are “two closings”. The
usual order of the two closings is to close the real estate portion of
the transaction first, then close the loan portion. There are many
documents to sign and there will be little time to review them word for
word. It’s important to look at the key fundamentals, and
always feel free to ask questions if you aren’t sure what the
document means. It’s certainly appropriate to request a full
packet of the closing documents ahead of time to review before you come
to the closing. This isn’t typically supplied by the Title
Company, so you’ll need to have your agent request it at
least a few days prior to the closing.
Pack and Move! - Many buyers say that they have more stuff than they
thought. You’ll save money with the moving company if you
have all of your boxes packed up ahead of time and moved to a central
location. The movers will be slowed down if you’re still
packing boxes while they’re moving you out, so plan on being
super organized for the moving day.
To view Denver homes for sale, see Gretchen Faber’s web site
at http://www.gretchensdenver.com To read more articles written by
Gretchen Faber, visit her blog at http://www.lifestyledenver.com.
If
you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest
in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know
a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take
a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com,
Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am
one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one
teaching technique. - Michael Harman 817-457-7572
mchfun.business@gmail.com
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