What are Your Responsibilities for Closing the Sale?

Closing

What are your responsibilities for closing the sale of your house?

Congratulations! You’ve sold your house and have agreed with your buyer on a closing date. And everything that happens from the time escrow is opened until the final paperwork is recorded at the county courthouse is known as the closing.

Escrow will order the preliminary title report, the payoff balances from your lenders, the property tax balance due either to you or the county and other essential paperwork needed to complete the sale. But as the seller, what are your responsibilities for closing the sale?

Your Responsibilities as the Seller

During this period known as the closing, your responsibilities as the seller are to:

  • Maintain the house
  • Negotiate and repair issues the buyer’s inspector finds. Make sure repairs agreed upon are completed for the buyer’s final walkthrough.
  • If your buyer’s lender requires a survey of the property, review the document. If you think something is wrong, question the boundaries.
  • Notify your utility companies of your last day of service
  • Finish packing, loading up and moving out by the closing date

But don’t cancel your homeowner’s insurance policy yet. Wait to cancel it until the transfer of ownership has been recorded.

Your Responsibilities on Closing Day

On the day your home transaction closes, your deed is sent to be filed at the county courthouse. You and the buyer will sign a stack of closing documents at the title agency at separate times. You as the seller usually sign your stack of documents before the buyer signs their stack.

Agent commissions, mortgage payoffs, and down payments will all be paid on closing day. And if there are proceeds coming to you, you will receive a proceeds check.

At the time the buyer signs their stack of documents, they will receive the keys, remotes for the garage doors, and possibly receipts from any work that was agreed on to be done.

Bring the following with you on closing day:

  • The deed to your home, if the home is paid off and has no mortgage or liens
  • Your driver’s license or passport for a photo ID
  • If required, bring a certified check for the amount told to you by escrow
  • The keys, garage door openers, and security codes for the house

If you have been keeping warranties and instructions for heating, cooling, and plumbing systems, as well as for the appliances that will stay with the house, leave them for the buyer when you move out.

Your Responsibilities for Expenses as the Seller

  • The outstanding mortgage
  • Real estate commissions
  • Property taxes, utility bills, homeowner’s insurance, and condominium dues, if any are due (most of this is prorated at closing)
  • Escrow, title and/or attorney fees

Warranties are a kind of insurance policy that guarantees the mechanical systems and appliances for the year. If you live where home warranties are popular, this could mean another expense for you.

If your sales price doesn’t cover the total cost of paying off your loan and the other costs of sale, whatever you agreed to pay at closing will be deducted from your selling price or proceeds.

You can determine your closing costs will be here.

For more information on what your responsibilities as seller on closing day are, contact Charles D’Alessandroyour Brooklyn Real Estate Agent with Fillmore Real Estate at (718) 253-9600 ext.206 or email [email protected]. With over 30 years of experience in the Brooklyn real estate market, Charles is a Brooklyn Real Estate Agent you can trust to sell your home from the beginning of the home selling process to closing day.


Charles D’Alessandro

Your Brooklyn Real Estate

718-253-9600 ext. 206

[email protected]

Resource: zillow.com

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