Expect the Unexpected when it comes to Closing Day
If you have ever purchased or sold a home with me you’ll know that my contract date (closing day) is never a Friday. Ever. Any other day of the week, except the Tuesday after a long weekend. Thursday’s are my favourite :)
Let’s start with the Buyer perspective…
The real estate world (legally speaking) comes to a dead stop at 5 pm. If there’s a delay in funds arriving at the lawyer’s it’s possible that the money can still arrive after 5 but there is no way to register title in the new buyer’s name so the money sits until the next business day. If this were a Friday, you’re done until Monday. So no romantic pizza on the floor at 11 pm once you’ve sent everyone home that helped you unload, you’re stuck outside looking in and nooooone is happy.
From there it’s a messy domino effect. Will you owe money to the Seller for the delay? Is your Mover available to change the schedule and accommodate you Monday? Unlikely and not without extra fees. If you’re having appliances delivered first thing the next morning, internet people are coming, you get the picture - all delayed and at the mercy of a reschedule or a penalty. For this same reason, never book anything with a specific time frame on Closing Day. You could receive your keys anytime between 9:30 am (RARE!) and 4:30 pm, but most often we find it’s between 2 and 4.
Now for our Sellers…
Always keep your insurance in place a few extra days, the utilities aren’t that difficult to call and have extended but insurance can be a pain (and is SO necessary). Never close the sale of your home and purchase of the next one on the same day, it isn’t that expensive to “bridge” for a few days or a week and allows you to anticipate any hiccups like we just explained your buyers may face. Make sure that you talk to your Mortgage Professional or your Financial Advisor about the details but having the cushion of time for not only the delay, but also to get cleaned up for your buyer, is priceless.
In the last month we’ve had 2 closing delays but luckily our closings were Thursday’s ;). The first one was the bank sending our Buyer’s funds late. They had closed on their own sale weeks before so the money was “there” but sending it through the wire was what caused a delay - apparently the second time they sent it worked but the money arrived at 5:05 I kid you not.
The second delay was for our Seller and related to the funds being transferred from the buyer’s account, not my client so I don’t know all the details but we found out at 4:51 it wasn’t closing until the next day.
Moral of the story according to Bob Dylan, “Doesn’t expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected?”