? about closing on house

[cinmell]

The closing for our 1st house is next Friday on Halloween . Our lawyer told us he would attend the closing if we wanted, it is up to us. I always thought they attended. Did your lawyer attend your closing?

Also, what can go wrong at closing? I've always heard people being nervous about this and now I'm getting really nervous. We have the bank committment letter, we paid the year's insurance like we were required and have the documentation which has been forwarded to the lawyers, we haven't bought any cars or furniture therefore no charge activity, the sellers are supposed to be moving into their new house this weekend so I'm pretty sure they are all set. So I want to know, what are people so nervous about? Do we have everything covered?

Sorry for all the questions!

 

[KimRaye]

Congrats on the house!

Sounds like you have everything covered. IF something comes up at closing, it's usually involving the lender and their documents. Most, if not all, problems are fixed and, the closing takes place. I don't know MA law but, here in Illinois, lawyers DO attend the closing....that's part of what you hire them for (I work for a real estate lawyer). If you have a question regarding any of the documents, who will answer them?

Some other issues at closing might also be problems after the 'walk-through' of the property. If something is damaged or removed etc.

Real estate agents/brokers are helpful in this area also.

Good Luck!!

 

[Tina]

You may want your lawyer there to assist with any "junk fees" that may be added to the final HUD statement. If you are unsure of what a junk fee is, follow this link and do some reading. http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=junk+fees&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-top
If you see some of these fees on your current HUD statement, have your lawyer address them now. Also, be aware that the numbers on your final HUD could differ from your current. Be prepared and be persistant. It will pay off in the long run. If you've already settled on the lawyer's fee, make him come along. You just might need him.

 

[mtemm]

we didn't have our lawyer there on our first closing in NH, but in NY they seem to always do it...we've closed on 2 homes in NY and both times we had to hire our own lawyer and they pretty much took charge.

As for things going wrong...well, we've had smooth closes and not so smooth closes. On our second house we did a 80/5/15 loan and the money for the second house hadn't been wired or something like that...seriously, our mortgage guy, who we spoke to daily, just forgot. Thankfully we proceeded and the next day the money was there.

I would just keep in touch with your mortgage person and double check all your ducks are in a row, and the amount, etc. even if he says its fine one day, call a few days later to make sure it still is.

Congrats and hope you have a nice easy close!!!!!

 

[CamColt]

Congratulations! You must be so excited!

We sold & bought on the same day, but had to go to 2 different lawyers offices for closings. Our lawyer came with us when we were the sellers, but he told us there was really no reason for him to be there when we were buying. It was a new house and we were buying from the builder so I dont know if that had something to do with it or not. Regardless, everything went smoothly, we just signed our lives away, grabbed the keys and were done.

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Hi!! Congratulations and lots of luck to you!!

I am a real estate settelment clerk, and most of my closings run pretty smooth. 98% of the times people do not bring an attorney to closing, unless they know a problem could come up. Me personally, when an attorney comes, it ususally works in my favor, as they tend to go over all of the mortgage documents with the buyer and that just gives me more time to take care of other things. But I have to say, sometimes they attorney can do more harm then good by running on and on about things and picking things apart, etc.

I hope your settlement runs nice and smooth

 

[cinmell]

Thanks for the responses everyone and thank you for the link Tina!

 

[4greatboys]

No one but my x and I were at the closing of our house 15 years ago.
My dh and I close on our "new" this Friday and no lawyer will be there but our agent will be there.

 

[mark & sandra]

When we closed on our house (1989), our lawyer was there. Sellers "decided" they wanted to get paid for oil remaining in tank and pass on unpaid lien for water main installed 13 years prior. Quick consultation between lawyers outside, problem solved. Your lawyer is there to represent you and your interests without having problems like feelings get in the way. At our last refinancing, we had lawyer present again. Mortgage company wanted certain cheques to be certified, but forgot to request it in wrinting. They decided to cancel closing and reschedule to a later date and our lock in rate would have risen as well as add. costs and fees. Our lawyer offered to represent us in a suit against them for failing to make certain requests in writing to us prior to our closing, at no charge, and to through in a couple of other suits that I still don't understand, again outside consultation with mortgage co. attorney and "viola", problem solved. It seemed that since we legally have 3 business days to back out of our deal, we also had 3 days to get the cheques certified and into their hands. Remember that you'll be spending a couple of hours signing documents and writing cheques and the only legal knowledgable people in the room aren't there in your behalf.

 

[cinmell]

Originally posted by mark & sandra
Remember that you'll be spending a couple of hours signing documents and writing cheques and the only legal knowledgable people in the room aren't there in your behalf.

A couple of hours?? Ugh. Our bank will only accept certified checks for closing but we won't find out until the day or 2 before closing exactly how much to get the check for. Our lawyer will review all of that and ok it the day before (they don't give you much time at all) but we still decided to have him at the closing. Hopefully having that set will cut down on time. Thanks again everyone, I appreciate your responses.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Oh yeah, and be sure to limber up that signature hand! You will get writers cramp with all the signatures!

Good luck, and enjoy your new home!

 

[mtemm]

Originally posted by cinmell
A couple of hours?? Ugh. Our bank will only accept certified checks for closing but we won't find out until the day or 2 before closing exactly how much to get the check for. Our lawyer will review all of that and ok it the day before (they don't give you much time at all) but we still decided to have him at the closing. Hopefully having that set will cut down on time. Thanks again everyone, I appreciate your responses.

That is one of the most frustrating parts, isn't it? Every time we've closed my dh and I just look at each other and start in about why can't they give us an amount earlier than a day or 2 ahead of time???????? The last time was the kicker. We still have a New England bank account even though we are in NY now. There is a whole long story behind it I won't bore you with. Well, took forever to get the number so the morning of the close my dh had to drive to MA (we're only about an hour from the border) to the bank to get the check and back.

Sounds like you have your ducks in a row!

 

[tar heel]

You are really lucky if you get the information a day or two before. When we closed on our current house, we got the info. less than two HOURS before we closed. Problem was that our ditzy mortgage broker had made a teensy little mistake of over $9,000. Because we had what was essentially a bridge loan on our old house that was for more than the downpayment, we had expected to leave the closing with a check from the lender for a few hundred dollars! We had to sell stock and have the $ wired to the lawyer's office. If we had it to do over, I would not have done this. I would have told them to fix it and call us when they were ready. We were not moving for a month, so it wouldn't have bothered us a bit. The builder, the mortgage broker and the real estate agent were all there with their hands out, though.

Here's what the broker had done. He had used our downpayment to the builder as part of our money on hand for the downpayment. That money, of course, had already been paid to the builder and was not available for additional downpayment! Our mortgage, of course, is $10,000 less than it was supposed to be, which is good in the long run, but it wasn't good that day. He had previously failed to lock in our rate after I told him to, which left us paying an 1/8 point higher than we should have. And he was surprised b/c we had no interest in refinancing with him . . .

 

[cinmell]

Wow, I thought a day or two before was cutting it close but I guess I'll be ahead considering what could possibly happen that day. Thank you for help everyone, I appreciate it and I'll let you know how it goes next week. Our appt. is for 9am!