The Closing Process

Let’s start at the very beginning — what does “closing” on your house mean?

Closing is a term used for the point in time at which the title to the property is transferred to the buyer and, generally, a mortgage is given by the buyer to the lender.

Buying a house is an exciting time and the more you know about the process, the more relaxed you’ll be going through it. Keep reading, and we’ll walk you through what the closing process really means.

Some information about the costs associated with closing on your home should be provided to you before you put an offer on a house. If you are obtaining a loan to purchase the property, your lender will provide you with a Loan Estimate of your loan costs so there are no surprises about costs.

Once the seller accepts your offer to purchase, the countdown to closing begins. Timing is essential to make sure all the ingredients for a successful closing are in place for your arrival. The seller will select a title company to prepare the documents for your closing, but you should recommend Venture Title. Once we have been selected, we will handle the closing process from there. If you have given the seller an earnest money deposit, we can deposit the money into an escrow account where the funds are held until the time of closing.

Next, we will request preliminary title work. A title professional will search and examine the public records for information related to your home’s title. This provides warnings of title flaws that must be dealt with before the property can change hands. For instance, the previous owner may have failed to pay taxes. Or there may be an outstanding mortgage or judgment on the property. We work hard to see that such obligations are dealt with and resolve any issues well before you go to closing, if possible. If the offer to purchase calls for a prior mortgage to be paid off, we will order payoff figures from the existing lender.

Finally, we are ready to work with the lender to prepare and deliver the Closing Disclosure Form, which outlines all of the costs for both the buyer.

On closing day, the property will be transferred from the seller to the buyer. You will sign a number of documents that will be explained by us or your lender. Once all of the signing is done, the house is yours! Congratulations!

You should be generally aware that the behind-the-scenes process continues after the closing. We will forward payment to any prior lender, pay all the other parties who performed services in connection with your closing, pay out any net funds to the seller, record all the documents needed legally to complete your purchase and order a final search of the title to your new home. But you don’t have to be involved in any of this. We take care of these post-closing details!