The primary job of your Charlotte, NC real estate closing attorney is to provide you with “Clear Title.” This means title free of defects including mortgages, liens, judgments and potential lawsuits. While this is true, the actual closing experience you have with your real estate attorney is a journey from contract to closing, and involves much more than simply providing you with clear title.
Communication is at the heart of a successful real estate closing. Typically, you’ll begin the process with a Charlotte Realtor or mortgage broker, and they will often have a list of preferred closing attorneys from which you can choose. Generally, that list is a result of the Realtor or mortgage professional’s positive experience with each of those law firms, and is reflective of not only the attorney’s ability to do the job but also reflective of the way that firm communicates during the process.
Once the signed contract is submitted to the closing law firm, the firm will start a title search. Additionally, the closing law firm will immediately establish contact with the agents, seller, buyer, and mortgage lender on the transaction. This is important because the seller must provide the law firm with critical information regarding any existing mortgages and assist the firm with obtaining accurate payoff information for those mortgages.
The Realtors on the transaction will work with the paralegal at the law firm to make sure that all invoices associated with the transaction are paid through the settlement statement. These items have the tendency to change throughout the process, depending upon whether repairs are done to the property, or if buyer and seller negotiate a repair credit from seller to buyer in lieu of repairs. While this side of the transaction develops, the law firm will review the title search results and clear any items on the seller side as you approach the closing date. Generally, this includes mortgage payoffs and review of any other items which come back on the title search. On the buyer side, the firm will work diligently with the buyer’s mortgage broker to make sure the final numbers on the law firm’s settlement statement match the lender’s Closing Disclosure or “CD”.
As closing day approaches, the law firm paralegal will circulate a draft of the final settlement statement for all parties to review, and coordinate the delivery of closing funds from the buyer to the law firm in advance of closing day. This is typically done by a wire transfer to the law firm from the buyer.
Buyers also have the option to obtain a survey prior to closing, and if they choose to do so, the closing attorney will review the completed survey with the buyer’s agent and the buyer to discuss any concerns with the survey or confirm that there are not existing issues such as an encroachment or setback violation. These items are the seller’s responsibility to ‘fix’ prior to closing. Once the buyer purchases the property, any survey issues become the responsibility of the buyer.
On closing day, the closing attorney will sit with the buyers and sellers with the agents in attendance. Sometimes all parties sign together, but often the sellers will sign first. Sellers also have the unique option to sign on a date prior to the buyer’s closing date and the law firm paralegal will coordinate this signing if it is requested.
Once all funds are confirmed as received by the law firm and the deed is recorded, the law firm will disburse the closing funds as dictated by the signed settlement statement. Most law firms will wire seller payoffs to mortgage companies and wire seller proceeds to sellers as part of this process. Agents also receive their commission checks as part of the disbursement process.
Given the short time frame between contract signing and closing day, it’s critical to have a Charlotte real estate law firm that communicates clearly and regularly with all parties to coordinate the process each step of the way.
In the end, while the primary role of the attorney is to provide clear title, the buyer, seller and agents will mainly remember the closing experience based on whether or not the law firm did a good job of keeping everyone informed about each step of the process.
We know that purchasing a home is the largest investment most individuals make in their lifetime and we pride ourselves on understanding that buyers and sellers both need confirmation along the way that the transaction is being handled correctly by the law firm. The Layton Law Firm has built a reputation in the Charlotte real estate community as one of the most transparent, efficient and caring real estate law firms around, which makes us a great choice for your next real estate closing.