Closing is one of the most exciting parts of the whole real estate process because it means that you have finally reached the finish line. What does it take to make closing an easy process, though? What can you do ahead of time to make sure that all goes according to plan? Follow these steps, and you should be all set!

You will need at least one government-issued ID.

When buying a house, one of the easiest ways to make sure you have a clean and easy closing is to make sure that you bring a government issued photo ID with you. What exactly qualifies? Typically you’ll be pretty safe with a driver’s license or passport, but every attorney’s office has its own requirements, so just check before closing what they will ask for. In fact, sometimes you may even need more than one ID, so make sure that you check in with your agent before closing so that you know that you are bringing exactly what you need to closing.  

You'll need to wire your money ahead of time.

According to Georgia Law as of the time this article is written, amounts in excess of $5,000 must be paid in the form of a wire rather than a check at closing. Since most closings require far more than this amount, make sure that when you are purchasing a property, you send the wire with more than enough time for it to arrive for closing. Sometimes you can do this through your online banking portal, but some banks require you to go in person if the amount is large enough, so make sure you know which applies to you before closing day. There’s very little that’s as stressful as figuring out the day of closing that you need to rush over to the bank and then hope the wire goes through quickly. 

If you don't sign, you don't buy/sell.

While it’s rare to find a buyer or seller like this, you’ll occasionally find someone who wants to read every single word of every single document before they are willing to sign. There’s nothing wrong with this (if this is you), as you have every right to make sure that you understand the documents, but you still need to know that if you don’t sign, you don’t buy/sell the property you came here to transfer the ownership of. Standard forms are used, and a closing is simply not the time for litigation or conflict. The major exception to this is making sure that the ALTA/Settlement statements look correct, as those are unique to each transaction, and you want to make sure that the document looks the way you’ve been expecting it to, especially because those can be edited if they have errors to rectify issues at closing. 

Closings typically take between 45 minutes and two hours.

One of the most common questions we get about closings is how long clients should expect to be there. The unfortunately vague answer is that it depends. However, a good rule of thumb is that most closings take between 45 minutes and two hours. Cash closings can be as short as 20 minutes due to the much smaller amount of paperwork, and if a lender takes a long time to fund, financed closings can occasionally take a ridiculously long time to go through. Both of these situations are relatively rare, however, so to be safe, go ahead and block out at least two hours on your calendar for closing day. 

You'll have to sign in blue pen.

Want to bring your lucky pen to closing? Go for it! But, just a heads up that you’ll only be able to use it if it’s a blue ink pen. Why blue, though? Why can’t you use black? The easiest answer is that blue is more difficult to reproduce because it’s a different color than the text used to write the contract documents. This is usually a lender requirement as well so that the “originals” can be easily distinguished from any copies of the documents.

We hope that all of this information helps to prepare you for your next real estate closing! Want us to help you get there? We’d love to help! Send us a text or give us a call at (678) 242-9981. Or, use our new messenger feature to send us a direct message straight from this website. No matter how you reach us, we look forward to helping you get to your next closing.