We finally have an offer on our house and hopefully closing will actually happen. There have been some questionable things that have happened. The person who made the offer, 2 weeks after we accepted the offer, they sent us a form adding the wife’s name to the offer, and it turns out the wife is the same person as the realtor. It seems like they hid this info from us, until 2 weeks after we accepted the offer. Then a few days later we received a form to acknowledge that the realtor is indeed the wife of the peson who made the offer. (apparently it was kosher for them to make sure we knew this…) So, we have now been a little nervous about these people. I highly suspect that the title company is run by a relative of either the husband or wife of the Buyers. A couple days ago, 2 cars arrived in the driveway, filled with people and they had thought they were going to enter the house and show all the relatives the house. We are not living in this house, there is some nice furniture staging it. We saw them on our security cameras, so that is how we knew they were there. Fortunately we had moved the lockbox inside the house a few days prior. They made no call to our realtor before arriving and tryng to gain access to the house. This made us a little irked. The inspection went well, and the appraisal went well, and right now it seems that closing will happen in 9 days. My question to you all, is how can I avoid going to closing at the same time as these people. I assume they will do a walk through the prior day of closing, at which point we will have to allow them to enter the house. Then should we as the sellers, sign the documents AFTER them? To make sure we receive a check at closing? I really do not want to be in the same room as these people, if I can avoid it. Thanks for any advice on how to not deal with them. I appreciate it.
Tell your realtor to handle the walk through and remind the realtor that you do not want any of them on your property until the check has cleared your bank account. They should be able to wire the money directly to your account. You do not want them on your property because if the check does not clear it might be hard to get them out.
Similar events happened when I sold my house in NJ in '06. I had negotiated terms with selling realtor to give buying realtor a better commission. He accepted those terms but buyer turned out to be a realtor who claimed the buyers commission. Not much you can do about it. The best laid plans of mice and men . . .
They were tricky to deal with. Buyer cancelled the contract a day after I agreed to stop showing the house if they paid full price. What do you do then?
You do not need to be present at the close or walk through. Realtor can do both for you. And in one of mine, I was out of town for the close. Realtor got check and deposited it in my account. Of course now days you might ask for electronic transfer.
Thanks Pauleckler. Now I am starting to wonder just how shifty they might be and thinking we might have the money wired into our bank account and not give them a key until the money is there. I did a little research today and it appears the title company may be related to the realtor and her husband (the buyers), I am not sure how a scam would happen, so don’t want them to have a key to my house if the cashiers check has a problem. It’s too bad selling our house is turning out this way. We would normally show the new buyers all about the house and be friendly, but these people have made us nervous. Thanks again for your reply.
Hi again Pauleckler. If you were out of town for the closing, I guess you signed the paperwork prior to going out of town? So, the title company would have the signed paperwork and could (hope not) turn over the keys before the money has been wired? Just trying to understand how things could unfold.
Do you have an attorney representing you for the deal? Your attorney (or realtor) can sign any documents with a limited Power of Attorney granting them the rights to do that. IMO you should have your own attorney, it is their job to protect your interests. Your Realtor does not have the same duty as they have a vested interest int he deal closing. The fact you have concerns is more reason for your own attorney.
It is also the Title companies job to manage the money related to the deal. Be careful of how you provide the information related to the wire transfer. Since you are receiving the $ it is slightly less likely, but there has been fraud related to wire transfers & house deals.
Generally sellers sign first because the buyers signing is dependent on the money being available to wire as soon as the papers are signed. You can ask the title company if you can sign second, but that’s not really going to make it any more or less likely that you will get paid.
I don’t think you have to worry about this. I have been the buyer or seller in 25 real estate transactions since 1986, when I bought my first house. I haven’t sat in the same room as the other party at a closing for over 30 years. Remote closings with mobile notaries for the required wet signatures (i.e. have to be done in person, so the ink is ‘wet’) are very common. In fact, the house that I live in now was signed for in a hotel room during my 2600 mile trip from my old house to this house.
AJ
That’s not really correct. You do have to be physically present at the signing of documents. It’s just that the signing doesn’t have to be at the title company. It can be at your home or anywhere else you want to have it (even out of state) with the use of mobile notaries. I closed on the house I own now in Denver while I was traveling from my old house in Texas to the new house in Washington state.
AJ
Yes, signatures are usually required. You would think witnesses are needed and signatures might need to be notarized to be legal.
As to signature required they do say a disabled person can sign by putting hand to the document.
I’ve only purchased one home and have never sold a home, so I have very close to zero experience with it. However, I do recall my closing about 30 years ago and I remember that it took place at my lawyers office. I signed many documents, I handed the cashiers check (that I got at the credit union the day before) over to the lawyer. All the money (including from the mortgage bank) was given to the lawyer and was in some sort of escrow account until all the property transfer stuff was done. Then there was this form (HUD-1 maybe? Or whatever the settlement statement was called back then) that showed who gets which money. Seller got most of it, real estate agent got some of it, lawyer got some of it, title company got some of it, the county got some of it (recording fee), the lawyer got some of it (fee), and I got some of it for prorated rent for the remainder of the current month (because there was still a renter in the house when I bought it), and something like $2500 for stuff the house inspector found that needed to be repaired.
Since it was a corporate relocation, there were sums of money that came from me (down payment in the cashiers check), from the seller (the earnest money that I gave them when we shook hands, and the ~$2500 for needed repairs), from the company (they paid some of the closing costs*), from the mortgage bank (the bulk of the money). But it all went to the lawyer into their escrow account. And all the checks they disbursed came from their escrow account. At least as well as I can recall.
* I clearly remember that the company didn’t pay for the home inspector and I paid him $250 directly. He made one critical mistake that I suffered with for over 15 years. He had this newfangled gizmo that measured the hot water temperature. And he dutifully measured all the faucets and showers to see if they had adequate hot water. And they did. But he failed to see if they had cold water. And one of the showers did NOT have cold water. The mixer was broken. And due to a less than thoughtful remodel, I was never able to access that mixer to replace it. So it waited 15 years (and we never used that shower, it was the 3rd one in the house) until we did a remodel that included breaking down all the tile, and breaking down the walls, and installing all new plumbing … including a new mixer for the new shower. I’ve written about my home inspector saga here a few times over the decades.
Yeah, that’s why I said:
AJ
Thanks everyone for the great replies. We got our attorney involved and now we feel much better about the scoundrels buying our house, LOL Hopefully closing will be fine and we will be rid of the house in a few days. Hope so.
I think you are overthinking this:
- Title company is the middle-man and will confirm funds have settled and either wire you funds or send you a cashier’s check.
- Final walk-through is done prior to closing so you are going to need to let them into the house. Typically buyer’s agent does that…not your agent.
- Are they CTC (Cleared to Close)? If so, should have nothing to worry about. CTC is from lender stating no other conditions and buyer is final approved.
- You don’t need to be at signing same time as them. You can pre-sign your docs. Speak with the title company.