Pre-Closing Checklist

People are often confused with respect to what they need to do just prior to closing, and what they need to bring to the closing. We created this checklist to ensure that this often stressful event is made less stressful for you.

If you’re like most people, the period just before closing on a home purchase is extremely hectic: scheduling a mover, packing countless boxes, calling for new utilities, obtaining a new phone number, notifying people of your move, etc. Few other situations in life afford more opportunity for confusion and mistakes. Professional One put together this checklist for you to review prior to your closing, just to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. We hope this helps get you through this traumatic time.

Download this pre-closing checklist in .pdf format.

Homeowner’s insurance

Contact your lender to obtain details as to what is required. Typically, you will be required to bring an original homeowner’s insurance policy to closing, along with an original paid receipt. Try to take care of this at least a few days prior to closing..

Mortgage closing costs

Contact your lender to obtain this information. This represents the closing costs specific to your lender. Contact your lender several days prior to closing to obtain this amount; that way, if you have any questions or issues, you will have time to resolve them prior to the closing.o.

Other closing costs

Contact your realtor to obtain this information. This represents all of your costs OTHER than your mortgage costs. These costs are detailed in the closing documents (see next item). Conceptually, this amount is calculated as follows: (Sales price + tax pro rations + association dues pro rations) – (deposit + mortgage amount) = Other closing costs.

Closing documents

These are the documents prepared by the title company that you will sign at the closing. Contact your agent a week or so prior to closing to request these documents. Understand that the listing agent selects the title company, so your agent may have little control over when these are made available (some agents are very conscientious and have these disseminated a week or more before closing; other agents don’t concern themselves with this at all). Try to obtain these at least a day or two before closing so that you can follow up on any questions you may have prior to the closing, as opposed to at the closing itself. Obtaining and reviewing this information in advance will help to make the closing a smooth and efficient process.

Cashier’s check(s)

You will need to bring a cashier’s check (or two cashier’s checks) to the closing. The total of this check is calculated as: mortgag closing costs (as per above) + other closing costs (as per above). You can bring one check covering the total of these two amounts, or you can bring two separate checks, one for the total of the mortgage closing costs, and one for the total of the other closing costs. Most title companies prefer that you make the checks payable to yourselves (and you then endorse the checks over to the title company at closing). If the total of your check(s) is greater than the amount actually needed, the title company will write a check back to you for the amount o the overage. If the total of your check(s) is less than the amount actually needed, you will likely have a problem, as most title companies will not accept personal checks..

Utilities

Call the utilities companies a business day or two prior to closing to transfer the service into your name. Phone numbers of the utilities are as follows:o.

Driver’s license

Self explanatory