so you are wondering what happens at a
real estate closing guess what we're
gonna find out right now
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hey everybody I'm Tiffany Weber a North
Carolina real estate attorney now I'm
going to talk to you today about what
happens between when you sign the
contract and when you actually closed on
the property the closing itself is the
culmination of weeks of hard work by all
the parties involved including you the
buyer or seller depending on which party
you are both Realtors lenders and the
law firm the very first thing that has
to happen after you sign the contract is
your attorney has to perform a title
search in North Carolina attorneys
represent buyers in a real estate
closing so we're gonna make sure that we
do a full history report on the property
to make sure that there is nothing that
can impede your ability to own that
property free and clear a title search
can sometimes reveal that there are
easements affecting the property perhaps
the seller might have a lien or a
judgment or a bankruptcy affecting the
property that has to be satisfied so
that it doesn't affect the buyer the
title search will also prove that the
seller actually owns the property
especially in cases of an estate after
the title search is done there are a lot
of things that have to happen all at
once whether it's by our law office by
your lender or by your agent so some of
those things include you're likely going
to need an appraisal if you're
purchasing a home with a lender they're
gonna want to make sure that the house
is worth what they're actually gonna
lend you the money for there's also
going to need to be inspections on the
property to make sure that the condition
is good that way you can ask your seller
for repairs if necessary and they can
decide whether or not they'll complete
those also while all of this is going on
your lender is hard at work gathering
all of the information from you
necessary to make sure that you can get
approved for the loan at the terms that
you want also our office recommends to
every single buyer that you should get a
survey on the property that you're
buying it's so important for a lot of
reasons that I'll go into in other
videos but the main thing you need to
know is that a survey is going to
identify the boundaries of your property
and make sure that there isn't anything
as far as an easement or encroachments
affecting the property that you should
definitely know about you would be
surprised to hear the horror stories
that can come about when you don't get a
service
I can't believe it but this actually
happened I've seen a situation where a
person was buying a property where the
boundary line actually cut through the
middle of the home I know it's crazy but
it can happen especially with family
land and lack of surveys so usually
those things are simple fixes that
require a couple extra pieces of
paperwork a couple extra filings but it
still has to be done and all of that
could have been prevented with a survey
while everything else is going on we're
at the law office preparing your closing
documents now that's a long thick stack
of paperwork that you're gonna have to
sign at the closing table and it
includes a lot of official documents
that will be recorded with the Register
of Deeds to make sure that you gained
official ownership of the property
during this process if we come across
any issues we'll let you or your agent
know so that we can get everything
cleared up before the closing date and
once your lender gives us the clear to
close that means that you can come in
and sign all the paperwork so you are at
the closing table you're wondering what
am I going to sign well it's a lot and
that's starting with we're going to show
you a plaque or some sort of visual
reference of the property to make sure
that you're buying what you think you're
buying again another horror story that
thankfully didn't happen in our office
but it's happened before we're without a
survey someone bought a property that
they thought was actually the property
down the street and they didn't know it
until months later so in our office we
always like to show you the property
right there on a piece of paper and ask
you is this what you're meaning to buy
next we're gonna go over the title work
which I mentioned earlier is the history
report on the property so we'll call out
anything that you should really be aware
of whether or not there are restrictions
on the property that might affect what
you want to do with it for example some
neighborhoods you can't have chickens if
you really want chickens that's not a
good place for you to live also we'll
talk to you about whether there aren't
restrictions on the property what rules
you do have to follow because you still
have to follow a local zoning laws or
the state the laws of your town or state
so after we've talked to you about the
title reports we're going to go over the
document known as your closing
disclosure now you get this at the very
very beginning of the process and it's
called a loan estimate from your lender
so what your lender
this comes up with a really close guess
of what your closing costs will be what
charges will be assessed to you at the
closing related to you getting a loan
but because that can change over time
depending on what inspections you may
need whether you get a survey or not
then you have to get what is an updated
closing disclosure right before the
closing now most of the time people will
get that see it in their email disregard
it so that's why we spend time at the
closing going over every page of that
disclosure so you understand what your
charges are related to the closing so
that includes what your down payment is
do you have any escrows and escrows that
means that if your lender is going to
pay your taxes and insurance it'll come
out of your monthly payment every month
rather than you paying it separately
we'll talk to you about that too we'll
also talk to talk to you about features
of the loan meaning do you have any
weird terms that you should be aware of
is that out of the ordinary
does your rate fluctuate will you be
paying the taxes and insurance yourself
can you prepay we'll talk about all of
those things and finally we'll talk to
you about how you can get in touch with
everyone that was involved with the loan
or with the closing and that'll also be
included on your closing disclosure next
we're going to go through a series of
affidavits or affirmations where you can
tell us your marital status because it
is important in North Carolina what your
marital status is because it affects how
you hold title to property so we're
gonna affirm that with you make sure
that we've got everything correct on the
deed speaking of how you hold title
meaning how you own the property we're
gonna look at the deed with you and make
sure that your name is spelled correctly
and also make sure that we have a good
mailing address this mailing address is
where the tax office is going to send
you your tax bill every year just so you
can be informed during this process
we're going to have your cell or affirm
that there are no liens that could
affect the property meaning there's no
one that's done work on the property
that hasn't been paid and we're also
going to make sure that the seller
affirms that if someone perhaps could
claim only on the property and hasn't
done so yet that they'll make sure they
handle it for you after this part your
seller is usually done with the process
and everything left is for the buyer to
sign and first up is your promise to pay
the money back yes you have to that is
done by using the note
so the promissory note is where it lays
out the terms of your loans such as when
you begin to repay the money at what
rate and if you default what the
percentage points might be that you have
to pay as a penalty following that
you're going to sign your deed of trust
and that's the instrument that gives
your lender its security interest in the
property which is a really fancy way of
saying if you don't pay you don't stay
after you've done those two very
important legal documents we'll move on
to the other documents that your lender
wants you to sign usually that includes
your loan application where you affirm
that you haven't quit your jobs since
you applied for the loan and that your
income hasn't changed substantially you
didn't run off buy a bunch of furniture
or appliances or a boat next we'll look
at your amortization schedule which
shows you how principal and interest is
applied to the loan over time so which
portion of your payment's actually goes
to paying down the loan depending on
your lender there could be several more
documents that you sign that affirm your
tax identification number or if you have
an FHA or a VA loan then you're going to
have other documents specific to the
program that you're using I know this is
a lot of information that every closing
is different so this is a general idea
of what you can expect at your closing
and then once you've signed everything
all that's left is for the deed to be
recorded then the home is yours
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alright everybody I hope that
information was helpful at our law firm
we want to educate everyone and
demystify their real estate buying and
selling process as much as possible so
if this helped you make sure that you
subscribe like comment ask us whatever
questions you have and we'll see you at
the next video
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