Restaurant closings

Despite the downturn in the housing market, this is not, as the title seems to suggest, about restaurants that are going out of business. The restaurants in Colorado Springs, at least, are doing very well. 

No, this is about mortgage loan closings.

One of the conveniences of having the closing done by a notary signing agent is that the borrower can choose where they want to do the closing. For many of the closings that I have done, the borrower chose to do it at a restaurant.

This can be for many reasons. They are doing the signing of their loan documents during their lunch break. Or they want to have breakfast. It could be that they just want to get out of the house.

The locations vary. I have done closings at Denny's, McDonald's, Subway, Village Inn, Red Robin, and Panera Bread, ... to name a few.

Yesterday's closing was at one of the Red Robin restaurants in Colorado Springs. I had done a closing at a Red Robin before, so I knew right away that we wanted to have a large booth.  Signing loan documents in a small booth for 2 people just doesn't work. You need space to lay out the documents.

Although we're closing in a restaurant, I don't order anything to eat while we're signing the documents, for obvious reasons. Nor do I have anything to drink.

The waitress we had yesterday was understanding. I told her that I would order something to go after we had finished the signing.  Once we were done I ordered a Sonoma Turkey Burger.

Restaurants aren't the ideal place to do a closing. Sometimes there are distractions. There are occasionally curious passersby. They can be loud -- like the closing I had a few months ago in a small cafe that played loud rock music.

If I had a choice of restaurants, I would pick Panera Bread. Those have always been the nicest. And they have free Wi-Fi.  On one occasion I was able to check my email for a document that the title company sent during the closing.

But it isn't my choice. It's always the borrower's choice. That's part of the convenience. They can have their closing whenever and wherever they prefer.