What to expect at closing?

[joenali]

I'm sure I'll know by the end of today as we are supposed to close tomorrow. But I'll ask here first. What should we expect? How long? Etc.

[sjh722]

You all sign the HUD-1 (settlement statement), sellers sign a small stack of papers, buyers sign a bigger stack of papers.

Everyone sits and makes small talk while the closer submits docs, makes sure funding is approved, wires received, etc, and cuts checks.

Usually about 45 minutes - 1 hour.

[WOT?*]

Lots and lots and lots of papers to sign. Depending on whether you read it, review it, or the agent just goes over the high points and you sign it, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours.

We sold and bought twice and in none of the transactions did we sit down with the sellers.  It was me, DH and the agent.

[redheadk]

Ours took about 30 minutes or so. Expect a lot of signing your name. Bring your drivers license.

If you want to read through everything, ask for copies in advance. If you don't, they will sometimes put you in another room rather than sitting with you while you read. DH reviewed all the documents before our closing. The person from the title company should still explain what you are signing for each document. This part varies by state, I'm sure, WRT who handles closings but that is how it is done here.

ETA: The title company we use has sellers sign first then buyers sign, but you don't all sit in the room together. Buyers are scheduled about 30-45 minutes after sellers. Much less awkward!

[RoxMonster]

It took us about an hour, or maybe a little longer. The sellers did not have to sign much, but we did get to meet them and their realtor and then they took off after about maybe 15 min. H and I had a shit ton of papers to sign. At the end, we got the keys!

[ellipsis]

Everyone sits around a table and signs stuff. The sellers may or may not be there (ours were out of state so we didn't have to awkwardly sit there and make small talk). An hour and a half, probably. As long as you review the HUD statement beforehand and make sure it all is correct then you don't really need to do much.

[joenali]

I can't wait to get the keys! We were supposed to close this past Friday and move today. I just want to be out of our rental. We have to move on Thursday as our movers are booked all next weekend because of the end if the month.

I just feel behind by a few days, I'm stressing a bit. We have packed a shit ton of stuff and have gotten rid of tons of things, still so much to do. We are also going to hire cleaners to take care of our rental, we are just running out of time.

[cats]

Ditto everyone else... except the sellers being there. I have purchased three homes and the sellers have never been there during closing.

[isabel]

The sellers were there for most of our closing. I think they left toward the end when they weren't needed anymore. It probably took close to two hours. Lots and lots of papers to sign, but basically it's pretty simple and they walk you through everything.

[RoxMonster]

Re: sellers being there. I should have said in my OP, our sellers were closing on a house themselves at the same title agency where we did our closing, so after sitting through what they needed to for ours, they left to go to their own closing in a different room. Had they not been closing at that place, too, they may have not had to be there.

[shamrockshake]

Same as everyone else though all three times bought/ sold/ bought we were all there together. First two wasn't that bad, though when we bought our current house the seller (70something widow, sweet as could be) brought her middle aged daughter with her and there were some words, that was awkward! House still had some stuff in it, and a large dumpster in the drive- we we're fine with emptying the rest of the stuff- wasn't much, just asked that they leave the dumpster to do so and the daughter flipped out that they weren't paying for us to use the dumpster  (huh) It was their stuff lol   ^o) She made a medium sized scene over it 

[marylennox]

I may have missed your post about it, did you end up going with the townhouse? Or something else? Either way congrats! I am also so ready to be out of our rental and have a place that's our own.

[escrow]

You just sign your life away, no big.

[joenali]

Jan 25, 2015 11:00:04 GMT -5 escrow said:

You just sign your life away, no big.

So fun!

[cherryvalance]

It was pretty anticlimactic. We had reviewed the paperwork beforehand with our mortgage broker and the lawyer took us through it all again on the day of. The sellers weren't there. The highlight was the walkthrough that morning and seeing everything as "ours" for the first time.

[partiallysunny]

We did a final walk through. Then signed a ton of papers, wrote out a check, and shook hands. Pretty painless and a little anticlimactic.

[moolarkey]

Both times we've bought homes, the sellers were not present. Both times they were out-of-state so their paperwork was signed and faxed, their real estate agents represented them.

They each took about an hour.

You'll receive a statement that shows the buyers side of the deal and your side of the deal, I've forgotten what it's called but on the first house we bought, when we looked at that statement is when we realized the sellers were losing $14,000 on the sale of the house. They owed the bank 7K more than we paid them and they had to pay their relator another 7k. It wouldn't have changed what we offered them, we made an offer and they accepted. They had been living out of state for a year and were glad to just be done with the house and moving on with their lives.

[joenali]

Jan 25, 2015 11:37:06 GMT -5 carrotsmakemefat said:

Did you get the place with the roof issue? What happened?

Congrats BTW!

We did and we both Agreed to each paying for part of the roof as well as the realtors gave up part of their commission to pay for the roof.

[janegold]

Check over the settlement statement closely to make sure all the terms are consistent with everything you've been told. We had some numbers off, and my parents did when they bought a few years ago, too.

Seller sent his attorney to closing in our case.

[revolution]

In my state, buyer and seller are there. Lots of signing, chit chat. About and hour or so.

[joenali]

Jan 25, 2015 15:17:04 GMT -5 revolution said:

In my state, buyer and seller are there. Lots of signing, chit chat. About and hour or so.

Lol! I just read this as "singing". DH should bring his guitar and we can jam a bit before we sign.

[revolution]

Jan 25, 2015 15:18:12 GMT -5 joenali said:

Jan 25, 2015 15:17:04 GMT -5 revolution said:

In my state, buyer and seller are there. Lots of signing, chit chat. About and hour or so.

Lol! I just read this as "singing". DH should bring his guitar and we can jam a bit before we sign.

It would be more fun that way, that's for sure.

[polarbearfans]

We asked for all papers in advance so we could review them at home to make sure all the numbers matched up. It made it go a lot quicker since everything had been read in advance and we just had to verify it was the same papers. We had all questions ready.

Sellers were there signing their papers at the same time and turned over the keys. We've had some contact since closing for items they want info from like paint colors and us with some questions about the house. Also some mail/packages came for them.

[Gato]

Ours took a little over a half an hour. Our attorney, our real estate agent, and the sellers' attorney and REA sat down around a table, where H and I signed a lot of papers. Our attorney explained what we were signing. At the end, our REA gave us a bottle of champagne, and our attorney handed us the keys and garage door opener. It was easy.

[joenali]

Jan 25, 2015 15:38:08 GMT -5 Gato said:

Ours took a little over a half an hour. Our attorney, our real estate agent, and the sellers' attorney and REA sat down around a table, where H and I signed a lot of papers. Our attorney explained what we were signing. At the end, our REA gave us a bottle of champagne, and our attorney handed us the keys and garage door opener. It was easy.

Attorney? Why?

[Gato]

It's the only closing I've ever done, but I thought that this was normal. Everyone uses an attorney, don't they? Ours charged a flat fee and handling the closing was part of her service. The closing was held at her office, and she ran the show, explaining each document we signed as we signed it, confirming some things with the sellers' attorney and REA, then gathering everything we needed in a folder.

[sjh722]

Jan 25, 2015 15:38:50 GMT -5 joenali said:

Jan 25, 2015 15:38:08 GMT -5 Gato said:

Ours took a little over a half an hour. Our attorney, our real estate agent, and the sellers' attorney and REA sat down around a table, where H and I signed a lot of papers. Our attorney explained what we were signing. At the end, our REA gave us a bottle of champagne, and our attorney handed us the keys and garage door opener. It was easy.

Attorney? Why?

This is state specific. In some states, you need an attorney for RE transactions. In others, an attorney is optional, and the closer at the title company handles explaining all the closing docs and administrating the closing. 

Attorneys are optional in my state but required in an adjacent state. I've had a few buyers from that adjacent state request one; typically they review the contract, review docs before the closing, and then give buyers a very similar one-sentence explanation of each form to what the closer would normally say. :-)

[Deleted]

A celebratory bottle of wine from your realtor.