The last step before you receive the funds from the sale of your property is closing. You’ve accepted the offer, negotiated your way through the results of the home inspection, and come to an agreement on each detail of the sale. You trusted your realtor to walk you through each step of the process, and he hasn’t let you down.
Your house went under contract and you’ve waited all month for the appraisal to come in. You know that in order for your agreement to lead to a sale, the appraiser will need to come to the home, inspect it, and report to the lender the value, which he bases on reviewing the recent sales of comparable properties in the nearby area. The lender will not agree to terms that put the mortgage at risk; in other words, the lender will not lend more money that the house is worth.
The process has been arduous and at times a tense experience, but it’s just about over and about time to celebrate. As you near the finish line, you realize what a good decision you made when you hired a professional realtor. You’ve been able to call this professional day or night, weekdays or weekends. He has had the answers to your questions and offered strong advice that has helped you sell your property for the highest price and in the least amount of time.
You have an appointment for closing at the title company and your realtor meets you there. He doesn’t have to be present, as there are no papers for him to sign, but he wants to see you through to the very end, and wants to see your pleasure at signing the final papers. When you arrive, you will find that you’ll need about forty-five minutes to sign the stack of legal papers required to transfer the property. Your title agent will explain each paper before you sign and you’ll have time to ask any questions that might arise. Upon granting your John Hancock on that mountain of paperwork, page by page, you will probably receive a check for the funds left over after paying off your original mortgage (if you owed one at the time of sale), realtor fees, and all closing fees. After the documents are recorded by the title company, the keys to your property will be handed to the new owner.
All is well…you’ve lived through an exciting time, from the first moment you decided you might sell your home, to choosing a realtor to guide you through the weeks of waiting for an offer, to considering and negotiating the specifics of the agreement, to this day when you handed over the keys and collected the profit that will allow you to move on to your next home. Hopefully you’ve got the moving van packed and you’re ready to roll!