Horrid Closing Process

With more lenders and settlement agencies trying to extend their geographic tentacles, quality of service inevitably suffers. In Virginia, the purchaser the Purchaser usually selects the settlement agent. Typically and thankfully, no other attorneys are involved unless there is a dispute between the buyer and seller. We had a closing yesterday that no one particularly cared for. Everyone was ushered into a conference with a speaker phone and a Notary Public, who was not overly familiar with anything she notarized. The settlement agent was located in North Carolina and proceeded to minimally review forms and contracts to be signed by both parties. People kept getting lost, were reluctant to ask questions and were very uncomfortable with the entire closing. We'll be certain to ask if the settlement agent is going to be "present" the next time we see a name on the contract we don't recognize.