Closing Maryland Real Estate

Closing Maryland Real Estate

Closing is the last step in buying a home. Unless you are paying
cash for the piece of Maryland real estate, you cannot buy without backing from a lender,
which comes in the form of a commitment letter. The lender will
require that you have a homeowner's insurance policy on the property,
so you will need to arrange this before the closing.

At closing you will be asked how you want to hold the title, which basically
refers to ownership. If you alone will own the piece of Maryland real estate, it's sole
ownership; joint tenancy applies when two or more people are purchasing,
but each holds the right to dispose of his or her share. Tenancy
in common applies when the property is owned jointly with an agreement
that if one owner dies, the share goes to his or her heirs. Tenancy
by entirety is only an option for married couples who will make
joint financial decisions and, if one spouse dies, the property
is inherited automatically by the survivor.

Maryland Real Estate Closing Process

The down payment is due at closing and must be provided in the form of a
cashier's check. Usually there's already a deposit on Maryland real estate listings
being held in escrow by the real estate agent; the deposit is produced
at closing and included in the down payment.

Closing costs are an aggregate of itty-bitty administrative fees incurred
behind the scenes to process the loan, the appraisal, the title
search, and so on. These many individual costs add up, but they
are also beyond your control, so it's really a matter of accepting
the inevitable early on. When you first apply for a loan, the lender
is required by law to give you a Truth-in-Lending estimate of what
the closing costs will be.

Acquiring Loans for Your Maryland Home

Costs payable in connection with the loan alone include points, loan origination
fee, assumption fee, application fee, credit report, appraisal fee,
home inspection fee, and processing fee. Depending on the loan package
you select, you may not have to pay points. Consider that one point
is equal to about 1 percent of the loan amount. This is negotiated
when you decide on a lender.

The main purpose of Maryland real estate closing is to review and sign all appropriate
documents.

While it is essential that you understand everything you sign, it's
not feasible to read through the volume of documents put before
you on the actual day. Whenever possible, try to get documents you
will be signing ahead of time so you can review them. This way,
you can get your questions answered before you sign.

After all signatures are on the dotted lines and the money is transferred
to the proper accounts, you are finally the proud owner of a home.
Many Laurel Maryland real estate buyers make the mistake of thinking they can move out of the
old and into the new on a very tight schedule. It's far wiser to
give yourself a five- to seven-day overlap in case loan closing
gets delayed or the seller doesn't meet the deadline. In the long
run, paying a little extra rent is not nearly so expensive as holding
up moving trucks and camping in hotels. Plus, you'll have that added
peace of mind at a very nerve-wracking time.