Out of State Lenders and Title Companies

It’s great to have choices. But sometimes there are too many, and it makes making good choices hard. Here’s an example of what happens when you try to save a buck.

 

We had a property listed for sale in Barre. When the offer came in, we negotiated, worked through the inspection, appraisal, everything. Honestly, it was a pretty straightforward transaction for the first month of escrow.

But...the buyer (not our customer) chose to work with an out of state lender, and an out of state title company. That’s where things got complicated.

The lender and the title company couldn’t, or wouldn’t, communicate with each other. They both sent emails to the buyer’s Realtor and to me saying that they couldn’t reach the other. That made zero sense, but it led to many delays.

After a few emails where we were told “We just need this one more thing…” everything looked ready to close. But the title company wouldn’t schedule a closing date. Days passed. A week passed, and neither the lender nor the title company would agree to a closing date.

Then, magically, we got an email that we were closing on Friday. This was on Tuesday. So, in three days, all the documents had to  be prepped, prorations calculated, documents reviewed, travel arrangements made, clean out of the house completed, and more. (My daughters and I spent a Friday evening cleaning out the basement and throwing things away.)

Josephine and Willoughby helping clean out the basement on a lovely Friday evening.

 

Since it was an out of state operation, and since we’re doing remote closings these days, we had to figure out the logistics of signing. The seller side, which was Green Light Real Estate, had things lined up, documents signed, power of attorney in place. The title company never told the buyer how much he needed to bring to closing, or that it needed to be in a cashiers check. They didn’t give any instructions to the notary public they hired to oversee signatures.

Since instructions hadn’t been given, the buyer showed up without funds. We worked for three hours with an out of state deposit institution, and out of state lender to get funds transferred by wire. That turned out to be an impossibility. 

 

Closing started 15 minutes ago...but I was the only one here.

 

Closing was delayed, and the buyer couldn’t move in until Monday. I’m not sure if the buyer saved any money on fees. He probably didn’t. But he did get to pay for a weekend of hotel, additional missed time from work, additional fees for moving, and massive stress.

I’m not saying that things always go perfectly smoothly with local lenders, but having a three hour closing and still not closing for two more days created a huge problem for the buyers. With a local lender, we could have talked with an actual person we know, and sort out problems. A local attorney would have known how to handle the situation, and not put everything in crisis mode.

 

So please, please...make things easier on yourself when you’re buying or selling real estate in Central Vermont. Use a local lender. Use a local attorney.

 

Call Green Light Real Estate at 802-225-6425 and speak with any of our awesome agents and brokers

Or email Info@GreenLight-RealEstate.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram or check out our listings on www.GreenLight-RealEstate.com