Friday is the most popular day for closings and I am off to one this morning. I am representing the seller so all she needs is her driver’s license or some other government-issued photo ID such as a passport or a state-issued ID card. The buyer needs to bring funds for closing as well as photo ID.
Sounds pretty simple and obvious, right? Yes… and no! I was recently at closings where there were issues with the buyer’s check in one case and with the seller’s driver’s license in another. Soooo….. here is an important reminder!
PHOTO ID must be current… that means not expired!
I learned an expired driver’s license is more common than you might think. In fact, I remember showing up at the airport one time where we learned that my husband’s driver’s license had expired for his ID! This can be easy to overlook because it isn’t renewed very often. But it won’t be overlooked at closing… make sure it is current!
FUNDS must be certified… that means not a personal check!
Many buyers wire funds for closing, but there are also many who bring a paper check. If you wire funds, make sure to schedule the wire to take place before closing day so there are no delays at the closing table waiting for the funds to come through. If you bring a check it should be made payable to the title company, and the funds must be certified… that means a cashiers check or a certified check, NOT a personal check. That also means that if you consolidated funds from different sources and deposited a check(s) to cover the funds for closing you must allow time for that check to clear before the bank can issue a certified check using those funds.
I remember years ago when we moved to the Twin Cities from Duluth we closed on our home there and deposited the proceeds check. Then we came down here the next day to close on our new Twin Cities home only to find the proceeds check hadn’t cleared so there weren’t enough funds in that account to issue a certified check for closing! We got it figured out but it would have been easy if we had just brought the proceeds check from the first closing to the second closing… what I always advise my clients to do!
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