There’s nothing quite as exciting as having an offer accepted by a seller. However, you haven’t quite bought the house just yet. The sale won’t become official until the closing. The closing date is generally agreed upon by the buyer and seller. Usually, it’s between 30 and 45 days from the time you submitted your offer. This gives everyone enough time to gather all the necessary paperwork and for the lender to approve your mortgage. The following are some of the things that you can expect on the day of the closing:
- You will perform a final walk through – During the closing day walk through, you’ll want to make sure that everything is in good condition and that any agreements made between you and the seller have been kept (for example, if the seller agreed to remove all the rubbish from the basement or if they agreed to allow you to keep the chandelier hanging in the dining room). Receipts for repair work should be provided by the seller.
- Your lender will provide your mortgage funds – Without your mortgage funds, you will not be able to pay for the house. It’s why it’s important to make sure that you’re not only approved for a loan ahead of time, but that you have a property valuation done ahead of time. If the property valuation ends up being less than the cost of the house, your lender may not approve the amount that you need to make the purchase.
- You will need to bring money – Not only will you be responsible for paying for the down payment of your home, you will also be responsible for a number of other costs. These costs include a property valuation fee, home inspection fees, a property survey fee, land transfer tax, legal fees, title insurance, prepaid property tax and utility adjustments, home insurance and GST/HST tax where it’s applicable.
- You will need to bring ID and proof of insurance – Make sure you have two forms of ID and proof of property insurance with you.
- You will interact with a lot of people – The people who will be present will include you, the seller, both of your real estate agents, both of your lawyers, a representative of the title company and potentially a representative for your lender. They are there to make sure that all of the paperwork that’s needed has been gathered, that everything is in order and that all of the final costs have been properly calculated.
- Legal documents will be exchanged and signed – ?Your lawyer will prepare the documents that you will need to sign, which include the title transfer, mortgage forms, statement of adjustments and property transfer tax forms.
- You will be given the keys – Once all payments have been made and all necessary documents have been signed, the keys are yours!
You can expect a lot to happen during the closing process, which is why you should make sure that you are properly prepared when the scheduled closing day comes around.
