What can you expect at closing day?
Q: We are buying our first home, and they’ve set a date for the closing. What should we expect, and what should we look out for? Anything we should do in advance? — H. R.
A: If you or the seller is using a broker, that’s the person to arrange a last-minute walk-through for you. Perhaps your sales contract stipulates that, but in any event, it’s reasonable to request it on your part. You want to see that nothing much has changed since you made your offer — no newly broken windows, any furniture or appliances included in the sale still in place. The house may not be spotless, but you can expect broomclean condition.
You won’t notify the utility companies of change of ownership till after the actual transfer of title — there’s always the possibility of something going wrong.
Your email doesn’t tell me where you’re located, and customs vary widely. In Maine, they “pass papers.” In California, they “go to escrow.” The process may be called settlement, transfer or closing. If each party is using a lawyer, you may meet in the office of the older one, the county courthouse or maybe just online. In some areas, all the parties gather around a table. In any case, what happens is:
• The seller proves marketable title (unchallenged ownership).
• The buyer pays for the property. This often involves final settlement with a lender and proof of insurance coverage at the same time.
• Financial details are adjusted between buyer and seller. These might include items like prepaid or unpaid property taxes, water or sewer charges, heating oil left in a tank, or personal property like furniture or appliances being left with the real estate.
• The seller signs and delivers the deed that transfers ownership. Though that deed will then be entered in the county public records office, you become owners at the moment it’s placed in your hands. You seize the deed, and your ownership is known by the legal term “seisin.”
You’ll be handed keys to the house, though you will probably change the locks as soon as you’ve moved in.
Be sure to get remote garage door openers and security alarm codes.
It’s been years since I’ve attended real estate closings, and I’m sure they’ve changed a great deal in the internet age. It’d be interesting to hear how they’re run in different areas. Even in my day, there were big variations in local customs, particularly from one state to another.
Q: The reader’s comment, “I love the fact that our children will inherit a paid-for timeshare” reminds me I’ve been meaning to write that timeshares are considered real estate. If a person resides in New York but owns a timeshare in Florida (or North Carolina or Hawaii, etc.), transferring upon death requires probate or administration proceedings in the state where the timeshare is located. —G.C.
A: Hope you’re not a lawyer, because I’m going to question your statement. Not all timeshares are owned as real estate. Some are organized as leases or “right to use.”
And even when they’re real estate, there may be legal differences in how they’re treated.
Contact Edith Lank at www.askedith.com, at edithlank@aol.com or at 240 Hemingway Drive, Rochester NY 14620.