Closing on Your Home

photo courtesy of www.propertyissueresolved.co.uk

Once an offer to purchase is accepted the goal of the buyer, seller, and Realtor is to get this house to closing.  There may be some bumps in the road and some deals may fall apart.  I wanted to write a quick post that would hopefully clear a few things up about a real estate closing. 

First of all, in North Carolina real estate closings take place at an attorney's office who represents the buyer.  The attorney will prepare the seller's documents as well but ultimately the due diligence of the attorney is to the buyer.  As a buyer you should be prepared to bring in a certified check written to the attorney for the amount of your down payment plus any closing expenses that you may owe.  You may not know what this amount is until the day before closing or sometimes even the day of closing.  The attorney will have the buyer and seller sign all document relating to the settlement of the property.  The most important point that I want to get across here is that the buyer does not own the home until the attorney gets the deed recorded which is typically the next business day.  Therefore, the buyer should not be given keys and should not move in the home until the deed is in fact recorded.  If the buyer insists on moving in on the day that the documents are signed then a buyer possession before closing agreement should be signed by all parties and both the buyer and seller should inform their insurance companies.  You may ask why this is so important.  Well, most of the time everything should be ok.  But lets say that a closing took place on Friday morning and the attorney was not going to get the deed recorded until Monday.  Over the weekend the kitchen catches on fire and half of the house burns to the ground.  The buyers insurance company will not take care of this issue because the buyer does not technically own the home.  The sellers insurance company will not cover this because the seller who they insure does not occupy the home.  My advice, you have waited this long to buy or sell your home, now wait the extra day or two to avoid a costly mistake.

photo courtesy of www.ihs.gov