My Seven-Hour, Three-Day Closing Experience

Yes, it took seven total hours spread out more than 3 days!

We started on a Thursday and didn’t close. Moved to a Friday and didn’t close. And finally, three more hours on a Monday and we closed! You have to have some endurance to be in the real estate industry nowadays! Some people think they can do it on their own but let me tell you: this would have NEVER closed if it wasn’t for efficient real estate agents. And it’s important to have someone represent YOU, that’s why you hire us. After all, would you operate on yourself or represent yourself in a court of law?? We know some people do this and how does it turn out?

My clients were purchasing for the first time as a newly married couple. They came with a pre-qualification letter from a mortgage broker whom I did not know nor had ever heard of. I prefer to refer my clients to top notch mortgage professionals but these folks were adamant that everything would be fine. However, along the way, we started seeing the writing on the wall. There was no communication from the lender and therefore, we had no idea how the loan process was progressing.

As we came closer to the closing date, we were expecting a lender’s package to be sent to the attorney. One week before the closing, the file was still stuck in underwriting. Apparently, there were some paperwork issues regarding a previous deed for one of the buyers.  The underwriters finally got past this and two days before closing, the concern became that there was a lawsuit filed against one of my buyers. It wasn’t really her, just someone with the same name (what are the chances?!?!?). So she had to come in and prove she was who she said she was and not indeed the person mentioned in the lawsuit.

The day of closing, the package was not yet ready so the seller, who had flown in from out state, had to start the Power of Attorney process so that someone else could sign for him at closing. He was flying back that evening. There is always a chance of delay in a closing so it is risky if you’ve had to move away. Often, these are things the participants cannot control. Since we did not close on Thursday and we had to start again on Friday. When we arrived at the closing, the lender had requested more documentation for the power of attorney documents. They didn’t approve the ones we had completed on Thursday.

We turned everything in (with the sellers doing their part from another state) and it was 2:30 in the afternoon at that point. And guess what: the lender decided she didn’t want to work any longer on a Friday afternoon so she said we had to come in on Monday. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Yes, this is where the panic comes in and the clients turn to you for calm and control. Unfortunately, I left my sedatives at home J but I had to find a way to settle the situation. The buyers would have to cancel their movers, the sellers were concerned about several more days of interest payments, not fun all around…

Monday, we were calling the attorney hourly to get an update. We needed a new closing package, funding and then final approval. We arrived at 1pm and believe it or not, we stayed until 5pm. That’s right, 4 more hours. During this time, I was entertaining my clients, the closing attorney, the other agent. I had music on my iphone, photos, videos. Whatever I could do to pass the time while we waited  for lender approval. YIKES!

Honestly, listen to your realtors. This isn’t our first “rodeo” and we sure know the ropes so trust us! And we look forward to the 1 hour closings with you!

Karen Smyth www.topatlantarealestate.com 404-234-1196 karen@topatlantarealestate.com