The Closing Process as it should be: Simple, Efficient, Timely
1.Contract
Once you’ve done all of your searching and have decided on a house, a Real Estate contract will be drawn up that is signed by all parties. This contract will have all items associated with the sale of the property listed. Once the contract has been signed, and sent to us, we begin our title search and pre-closing work. The first step of this pre-closing work is to send out the Engagement Letter for all parties to sign. Following the signing of the Engagement Letter, we will schedule your closing appointment with the attorney and officially begin the closing process leading to your new home!
Approximate Timeline: 4-6 Weeks from Closing
4.closing
And finally, you’ve made it to the final stretch, closing! During this step, the closer will work with the lender to balance the closing disclosure according to current law and the guidelines set forth in the contract. This is the step where all the documents for the closing are put together for you to sign. This is the final step before you sit with an attorney and go over all of the documents.
Approximate Timeline: TRID requirement for Lenders is 3 days before closing. Our goal as the settlement agent is to get you accurate numbers NLT 24 hours prior to closing.
2.title search
Our firm will perform and supervise a detailed title search of the subject property. The title search will look at the history of the subject property to include the legal description, prior deeds, public registry searches, lien searches, and determine if clear and marketable title can be conveyed at closing. The attorney will review our findings to determine if any legal action needs to be taken in order to convey clear and marketable title.
Approximate Timeline: 2-3 Weeks from Closing
5.post closing
Post closing is responsible for submitting all documents for the lender. This includes, sending off the original loan package to the lender, recording of conveyance deeds and security instruments, and mailing out vendor checks. In addition, this step is used as a final eye on the file before it gets archived in our files awaiting for the final recorded documents and title policies to return to our office for mailing out to the respective recipients.
Approximate Timeline 1-4 Weeks after Closing
3.preclosing
During this step, we will take a second look at the contract as a whole. We verify the information in the title work and remedy actions needed to be taken in order to convey clear and marketable title. We verify that the contract is legally binding and that all parties will be present for closing. If there is a party that will be missing, a Power of Attorney will be prepared for the closing. This is also the “gathering” phase of the file. We will reach out to the realtors, home owner’s associations, current mortgage holder, etc. to obtain the items that will be necessary to facilitate and finalize the closing transaction.
Approximate Timeline: 1-2 Weeks from Closing
6.after the fact
Once recorded deeds are received back in our office from their respective court houses, we send them out to the owners and lenders. Final title policies are signed and sent along with deeds and the file is archived. We use an electronic archiving system, so files can be pulled at any time. This is the final step to the closing process.
Approximate Timeline: 4-6 Weeks after Closing