WhWhat happens between the time you put a deposit on a house & the time of closing?at would you like to ask?

Question

we are almost finished with the process of getting the house, my husband and i signed the contract & we gave a deposit on Friday 7/25 and on Monday 7/28 we had the inspector check the house everything came out well and so he said that he was going to send the paper work to the realtor so that they could run it by the Bank. when we signed the contract our realtor stated that the closing would be done by 8/15 or sooner! hopefully sooner but anyways, my question that i have been asking people and noone seems to know, what happens now before the closing? oh yea i forgot we are not financing, as the house was a foreclosure and they asked for a really small amount we are paying cash for the house, so we are not waiting on an approval from the bank, so what exactly is going on? what could take so long for the closing? i'm just anxious to move already. does anyone know why the closing takes so long?

Answer 1

The best realty agents call you every day to tell you what happened that day and what will happen tomorrow.  That is the least they can do if you ever see what they get paid.  

The answer is that , as a prospective purchaser, you are doing your best to protect your investment.  The paperwork portion could not be easier.  The seller will sign a deed.  You will deliver your cash.  The title company will verify that the seller really does own the house.  One good thing about a foreclosure is that it wipes everything else out of the way... the bank will definitely own it.  So there is nothing to check on.  The title company can do their work in 24 hours.  You could own the house tomorrow if you wanted and your money is ready.

The important thing is that you have to go back to the house every day.  Unattended house will get broken into sooner or later.  Don't let that happen.  Introduce yourself to every neighbor. Give them your phone number.  If they see anything, ask them to call you and the police.  If they meet you, they will call.  If you say nothing, they won't.And you need to do some homework.  Do the neighbors know of any work that was done on the house.  Do they remember who the workers were. Was the house ever in a fire?  Flood?  Get to work. /

Answer 2

Since you are paying cash there isn't anything other then the title search.

The selling bank already signed the acceptance?   They are the only bank involved, I am not sure your inspection would have to go by them at all.

Answer 3

It does not sound like to bank accepted the offer yet. You are waiting on the approval from the bank to the offer. They will also be ordering title insurance & appraisal on the home I would imagine. Did you provide proof of funds to pay cash for this home?

Answer 4

The first thing that happens when a property goes into escrow is that a list of escrow instructions is drawn up that both the buyer and seller must sign. These instructions include what actions the escrow company will take in processing the sale, where all of the funds will be coming from, and how the disbursement of funds will occur.

One of the first steps in the escrow process is a title search. This is where a title company researches what liens or other legal claims anyone might have on the title to the property. They also verify the location, parcel number, and other identifying and historical information they can find about the property. When they have determined that the property has no legal claims or liens on it, they declare the title to be clear.

In the mean time, there is lots of paperwork that must be filled out, initialed, and signed by both parties. One of these items is a transfer disclosure statement, which is where the seller describes the condition of the property to the best of his knowledge, including any deficiencies. However, a bank is exempt from submitting a TDS on a foreclosure property. So, it's up to the buyer to do due diligence in determining the condition of the property. So, you hire a professional property inspector.

After the inspection, the inspector will prepare and inspection report listing the conditions of the property and it's contents as he found them. The buyer then has some predetermined amount of time (usually 17 days) to decide whether he wants to continue with the purchase. This is called an inspection contingency - the purchase is contingent on the buyer approving the sale after seeing what the inspector said about it.

As escrow continues, sometimes there are amendments to the purchase contract or the escrow instructions themselves. This then requires the approval of all parties (buyer and seller) before they are ratified. And, if forms have to be signed and faxed back and forth, this could result in addditional delays.

Three weeks is actually pretty short for an escrow. In more complicated purchases where the two parties go back and forth about fixing problems turned up by the inspection or whatever, you can end up in escrow for 60 or even 90 days. Just rest assured that the time they need is well spent, as they dot every i and cross every t to make sure there are no problems with your home purchase.