Real estate closings can be tricky. With so many people involved and so many variables it is no wonder they fall apart or get delayed. However, if you are the one with a big earnest money deposit on the line or you are facing foreclosure and simply can’t afford for your real estate closing not to happen on time you must take a proactive approach to managing the closing process.
The biggest killer of real estate closings today is financing. If anything holds up a mortgage approval the closing isn’t going to happen. Buyers must be prudent and act to clear any underwriting conditions as soon as possible. Sometimes these documents and items are kicked back in reviews and must be adjusted or redone. It doesn’t matter if your closing is 3 months away, get everything into the lender immediately. Most importantly talk to the loan officer or mortgage broker and find out which other items an underwriter could come back and request at the last minute. Anticipate this and have them ready ahead of time. Sometimes loan officers are afraid of scaring their clients or upsetting them by giving them bad news about additional items they need to obtain. Make it clear that you need to know about any potential issues immediately and will help to resolve them. You can’t help if you don’t know about them.
Inspections can also unearth other potential issues and should be ordered and arranged the day you go to contract. Appraisals need to go through reviews and quality control and home inspections could uncover repairs which need to be remedied before a real estate closing can happen.
Note that the day and date of your real estate closing can also present issues or make it more likely that delays will arise. Ask your agent about the best days to schedule the closing before signing the sales contract. The last week of the month is incredibly busy for everyone involved in real estate, people like to cut out early on Fridays and holidays can see everything moving at a snail’s pace.
Always have extra liquid funds available in plenty of time before your real estate closing. Things happen, transfers get dropped and costs always seem to come in higher than expected. Whatever you do, don’t forget you will need a valid government issued ID in order to close.
While your real estate agent or mortgage broker ought to be on top of the real estate closing process make sure to be in contact with them regularly. Not so much that you actually prevent them from making progress on your transaction but enough to keep them moving and your deal as a top priority for them.
