One thing we all know and love about real estate...it's always changing, and no two celebrations are the same! Just when you think you've heard it all, you learn another question to ask your Buyer...especially if they are moving from out-of-state.
Where IS Your Buyer's Bank?
I have a Buyer that is relocating from Boston to Atlanta, and his closing was this afternoon. In Georgia, by state law, any funds over $5,000 must be wired to the closing attorney's account, prior to closing. That's fine...I advise all my clients of this as we go through the buying and loan process. But who would ever think to ask their buyer where they bank?
Thursday morning I get a call from my buyer. "Thom, I've got an issue." (Oh crap!) Turns out, he banks with a bank that has no branches in Boston! He thought he could just do the wire transfer over the phone, but because of the amount of the transfer, the bank required he be at the bank in person to order the wire transfer!!! Ah, yeah, Houston we have a problem.
He was scheduled to be in Atlanta for a meeting, but was not arriving until 8pm, and therefore was doing a mail-away closing. He was going to sign his loan documents in Boston on Friday, fax a copy to the attorney for closing that afternoon, and FedEx the originals to the attorney. I advised him to do his wire transfer on Thursday (as I advise all clients to do it a day in advance) just to make sure there are no problems.
Well, he scrambled, and changed his flight to a 7am flight to arrive in Atlanta at 10:30am, for an 11:30am appointment at his bank (which DOES have branches in Atlanta!) to complete the wire transfer. Because of all of this change, a mail-away was no longer needed and he was able to attend the closing!!!
I met him at the bank, and after that, we did a final walk through of his condo ( I had done one the day before on his behalf) and then grabbed lunch before heading to closing!!
His lender attended closing, and after that we headed across the street for a Celebration Cocktail!!!
Whoo Hoooo!!!
So now added to my Buyer Check List is "Where Do you Bank, and is there a branch there, or here?"
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