Our professional services plays a key role in ensuring your real estate purchase or sale successfully reaches the closing table. Depending on your experience with real estate transactions, you may have some questions about how we help you achieve that goal.
What is a real estate closing?
A real estate settlement, or 'closing', is the legal and financial act of transferring ownership of real estate from one owner to the next. When you are a party to a contract to buy/sell a property you generally select a 'closing date', which is the day you will sign final paperwork to officially own the property. BUT, there are many things that need to happen between signing the contract and closing ~ that is where we come in!
What is the typical process?
Once you select us as your settlement agent our team at Blue Ridge Settlement gets to work facilitating the process by bringing all the key players together. We work closely with lenders to ensure any loan requirements are satisfied. We communicate with all real estate agents involved on any post contract issues that may arise. We work to secure the necessary title insurance (more on that next), and finally we work with our local government offices to update legal documents and deeds.
Why do I need title insurance?
One of our most important responsibilities is to research the title on the contracted property. Title is the legal document that proves ownership of a property. We research many types of public records to see if there is anything that could hinder 'clean title' now or in the future. We work to clear up any title issues that may already exist. All of this allows us to help the buyer obtain a title insurance policy, which is essential protection from any title defects that could come to light sometime in the future.
What happens at closing?
On closing day you can either come into our office or close remotely, but we will need to know which you would prefer prior to the final day. We will walk you through the paperwork and answer any questions you have prior to you signing. We verify that funds have been successfully transferred and then work to get the new title document recorded.
Our job is to answer any questions you have, so don't worry if you don't understand everything. Our team is here to help!
