Do you attend your closings? If you can't make the closing, do you let your client know? Do you make arrangements for another person to be present in your absence?
The reason I am writing this post is because on Friday my associate, Rebecca Brillhart, had her first closing as a mortgage broker. She had all her ducks in a row for the closing. She confirmed with the title company, the buyer, and the Realtor as when and where the closing was to take place. She reminded the buyer on how much to bring to the table and who to make the check payable to.
The big moment occurs. She is sitting at the table with the buyer and the title agent (seller was a mail-away). They were waiting for the Realtor to show up. (Note: The Realtor was representing both the buyer and the seller). After some time went by, it was evident that the Realtor was not going to show. It would have been nice if he answered his phone when everyone tried calling him.
Anyways, no problem... the title company says that they can close without him being present. So the closing proceeds. First document to go over, the HUD-1. PROBLEM!!! Yep, a problem on the real estate side of the transaction. Nothing that Rebecca or the closing agent can do. The buyer decides to go ahead and take the issue up later with the Realtor. Everything else went pretty smooth on the deal.
Now, all the closings that I have been to where it is a purchase transaction (and I attend all of them) the Realtor was/is present at the closing. I mean, why would you not go. It is their paycheck, too. After doing some asking around, I found out that quite a few Realtors never show up at the closing table... They do not want to have to deal with the "war" that could happen at closing over their commissions.
Now that is the lamest excuse that I could ever think of as to why one would not show up at a closing. I mean come on. If you don't show, it makes it look like you are admitting that you charged too much. At least if you show, you can say that your fee is fair and show them that you did earn that commission.
So do you attend you closing? If not, why? What do you do if you have a legitimate reason for not being present? Please share...
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