Home Buying: Schedule the Closing

The inspection resolution deadline has passed and your appraisal is back. It’s time to schedule your closing date. But it’s not as simple as just putting a date on a calendar to sign (a lot) of paperwork. Related Reading: Steps to Buy a Home

Click here to download our Home Buyer Guide

Things to Consider Before Scheduling the Closing

The closer will need to know:

• Will you be in town for closing?
• If there is more than one person signing the closing documents, will ALL be present on the day of closing?
• A Power of Attorney will be needed for any signing person not present during closing. The Power of Attorney will need to be real estate, title specific, and property specific. This document can be scanned in for temporary purposes, but the original has to be presented no later than the time of closing.
• Buyers using a Power of Attorney may provide a preliminary one to do all the work prior to closing day, but the original document has to be in the title company’s hands no later than the day of closing.

Out of town buyers have 3 options:

• The title company can email you the documents, you print them out, and sign them in front of a notary.
• You can hire a traveling notary to present the documents to you.
• You can use your lender’s notary if they have a location near you. Regardless of the option you choose, you can call the title company and go through the documents one by one with the closer.

Important: all parties including the lender, title company, and broker (not the seller side) will need to know about your plans for closing day.

You can also only sign these documents at the predetermined date of closing. Your signatures on the day of closing mean you are actually closing that day, but funding will not occur until the title company receives the original documents. This is another consideration if you reside in a place where overnight shipping service is not an option.

Tips for Closing

Our transaction coordinator will contact you about the best time to close, and she will schedule and confirm the closing date and time.

NOTE: Depending on your loan, your lender might re-confirm your employment the day of or before closing. 

1. Once you receive your closing confirmation email, we recommend you:
   • Schedule time off from work.
   • Estimate about 2 hours for closing to be on the safe side.
   • This event can get boring very quickly for kiddos. Some title companies have kids’ rooms with movies and toys. You might want to arrange for a babysitter depending on what works best for your family.
2. Schedule your moving truck and arrange for movers or moving help.
3. Schedule carpet and home cleaning if necessary. Keep in mind that you will not have access to the home prior to closing, and the carpet might take a day or so to dry.
4. About 3 days before closing you will receive a Closing Disclosure (CD) from your lender via email. It is very important that you open and sign it immediately. By law, this CD has to be delivered to the borrower no later than 3 days prior to closing.
5. Discuss the CD with your lender to make sure that all charges are explained and confirmed by you. Your real estate agent will not see the CD in most cases.
6. The lender will tell you the amount of funds you will need to bring to closing. You can bring a cashier’s check or you can wire the funds to the title company. The cashier’s check should be made out to the title company. If you choose to wire the funds, call the title company directly for wire instructions. There has been a lot of wire fraud in the past few years. I always recommend that you call the title company to get that information. We will never email you with wire instructions.
7. Sometimes the amount that you wire or get a cashier’s check for is too much. If this is the case, the title company will cut you a check with the overage. It’s more complicated if there is a shortage for some reason. Hopefully, you’ll learn about a shortage early enough that you can get an additional cashier’s check before closing.
8. Another version of the CD is the settlement statement. This will be emailed to me to make sure that all real estate charges are listed in accordance with the contract. I will look at HOA charges, any concessions the seller provided, and any other credits from seller and compare it to the contract.
9. Set up your utilities. Most of Colorado Springs is served by Colorado Springs Utilities for gas, electricity, and water. If not, here is a detailed list of water providers.
10. Set up other services. If your HOA does not cover trash then you’ll have to set that up. Schedule your internet and TV providers for installation.

What if your closing date changes?

The closing date can change at any time. Will you be able to change your time off work and childcare at the last minute?

This can be particularly stressful if you have a back to back closing. Maybe you closed on the home you sold at 11 am and wanted to close at 2pm on your new home.  But now the new home does not close until the next day. If all your worldly possessions are on your moving truck, there will be extra expenses for the additional time and you might have to get a hotel room. Have a backup plan in case closing dates shift.

Remember, our team is always here to help and answer questions: susanna@co-regroup.com/719-321-0800.