Real estate closings aren’t exactly known for being speedy affairs, but that doesn’t mean they have to drag on for long periods of time. If you’re buying a house, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that your closing goes quickly and smoothly. If you follow these three steps to prepare for your closing, you’ll be able to spend spend less time negotiating and more time decorating your new home.
1) Give yourself enough time. Real estate closings might only take an hour or two to complete but that doesn’t mean you should try to fit yours in during your lunch break. When you schedule your closing, make sure you keep at least three hours free from the start of the meeting. While it’s uncommon for the process to last that long, it’s definitely not unheard of – and if you have to run out early it could be weeks before all the parties involved are free to meet again.
2) Remember all of the paperwork. You’re going to need your driver’s license, copies of your homeowner’s insurance and a cashier’s check for closing costs in order to successfully complete your real estate closing. Forgetting just one of these documents could stall the title transfer for days, so it’s a good idea to put them all in your car’s glove box the night before to ensure that you’ll have them on hand.
3) Make sure everyone’s on the same page. If you’re buying a house, the responsibility falls on you to coordinate your closing with your seller, your title agency and your lenders. You need to make sure that your closing is scheduled before your lender’s interest offer expires and that you give your title agency enough time to draft an HUD-1 document to present to the lender at the meeting.
When buying a house, good planning is the best way to ensure a good closing. By making sure that all the parties involved are successfully communicating with one another and allowing enough time in your schedule to see the process through, you’ll have be holding the keys to your new home in no time.
