How to Avoid Common Closing Snafus
How to Avoid Common Closing Snafus
Closing delays have reportedly been a rising problem in the real estate industry, from properties not appraising at the agreed upon selling price to financing problems.
Columnist Dirk Zeller, a real estate author and sales coach, says that documentation and verification is a common sticking point at closing.
“Lenders [need] to assemble considerable paperwork and complete dozens of documents based on information submitted by the loan applicants,” he writes in a column for Realty Times. “The document preparation and information verification process takes time. Counsel your buyers that if they fail to submit the required information on a timely basis, or if they turn it in piecemeal and bit-by-bit, delays are certain to result.”
Repairs can be another sticking point at Closing. That’s why Zeller recommends that when agents represent a seller they include in writing that only “lender-required repairs” will be completed. This will help prevent buyers from coming back with a long checklist of items that they want repaired.
“A lender-required note at Closing usually limits repairs to structural, mechanical, or health and safety issues—with not a word about nicks in a walls or non-matching door knobs,” Zeller writes.
Source: “Avoiding Closing Derailment,” Realty Times (Sept. 24, 2012)
